Mapping Human Induced Landscape Changes in Israel Between the end of the 19^Th Century and the Beginning of the 21^Th Century

Abstract

This paper examines changes in Israel's landscape by comparing two time periods, 1881 and 2011. For this purpose we compared land cover derived from the Palestine Exploration Fund historical map to a present land cover map that was compiled from 38 different present-day GIS layers. The research aims were (1) to quantitatively examine what were the changes in Israel's landscape between 1881 and 2011; (2) to identify and explain spatial patterns in these landscape changes. Landscape transformation was categorized into five classes: 'residual bare' (no change in natural vegetation, mostly in desert areas); 'residual' (i.e. remnant; no change in natural vegetation class); 'transformed' (changes between different natural vegetation areas); 'replaced' (area which became managed); 'removed' (no or minimal natural vegetation). We found that only 21% of the area retained similar landscape classes as in the past, with the largest changes taking place in ecoregions that were favorable for developing agriculture - Jezreel Valley and the Sharon Plain. Two physical factors had a strong effect on the type of change in the landscape: (1) most of the agricultural areas and human settlements were found in areas ranging between 400-600 mm/year (2) natural land cover features were more common in areas with steeper slopes. We found that the majority of protected areas, 54.6%, are comprised of remnant vegetation classes (i.e. residual transformation class) however more than half of protected areas are located in desert areas and are thus biased in their representation of land cover classes.

The Human and Physical Determinants of Wildfires and Burnt Areas in Israel

“…The increase in the number of forest fires, and especially in the extent of very large wildfires in Israel, is related to changes in forest cover-due to field abandonment, changes in management, and decrease in grazing pressures (Tessler 2012). Due to Israel's past afforestation approach (preferring fast growing coniferous trees) and the halting of centuries long practices of overgrazing and cutting of vegetation that have once dominated this region, forest and maquis vegetation cover have increased dramatically in recent decades (Carmel and Kadmon 1999;Perevolotsky and Sheffer 2009;Schaffer and Levin 2014). The increase in the cover of forested areas, which are now recognized as important for recreation purposes (Perevolotsky and Sheffer 2009), some of which can be easily burnt such as uniform stands of Aleppo Pine (Pinus halepensis) (Carmel et al 2009), has contributed to the increase of large wildfires in Israel.…”

Advancing the historical geography of late Ottoman and British Mandate Palestine using GIScience: A review

“…The first attempts to use GIS and cartographic material of the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods were made only at the beginning of the 21st century by Frumin (2004) for studying Russian navy mapping activity, and also by Saidel and Christopherson (2005) to evaluate the survey conducted by Wooley and Lawrence at Elusa during the early 20th century. In general, maps were the main cartographic material being analyzed for detecting landscape changes (Levin, 2006; Levin, Elron, & Gasith, 2009; Levin, Kark, & Galilee, 2010; Schaffer & Levin, 2014, 2016; Schaffer, Peer, & Levin, 2016; Zohar, 2019), but gradually GIScience approaches have expanded and included the examination of other visuals such as paintings (Davie & Frumin, 2007; Zohar, Rubin, & Salamon, 2015), old photographs (Zohar, Rubin, & Salamon, 2014), and air photographs (Zohar, 2017).…”

In Its Southern Edge of Distribution, the Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) Is More Sensitive to Extreme Temperatures Than to Rural Development

“…obs.). In addition to the threat presented by climate change, Tawny Owl populations in Israel could also be stressed by the rapid land cover transformation [ 5 ]. Between 1881 and 2011 (a period which saw the rise of Zionism, the establishment of the State of Israel and consequent rapid development and fast demographic growth), the total built up area in Israel increased by more than 70-fold and the total area of orchards, vineyards increased by about 3-fold, while the total area of marsh lands, winter ponds, garrigues and vegetated dunes decreased by 93.4%, 70.4%, 59.2% and 32.0%, respectively.…”