Transformácia historickej krajiny Bošáckej doliny od predindustriálnej do postindustriálnej éry

Abstract

The transformation of historic landscape in Bošácka dolina valley from pre-industrial to post-industrial period The conversion of the land cover of Slovakia's rural regions has undergone dynamic changes in the recent decades, which cannot be slowed down even by large-scale interventions and subsidies. The aim of this paper is to analyze the transformation of the historic, agricultural land cover of the Bošácka dolina valley (White Carpathians, Western Slovakia) during a long-term period (1853 -2020) and to highlight the changing diversity of this historically diverse landscape, characterizing regions with scattered settlements. For this reason, detailed maps of the land cover of the monitored area were created for 1853, 1950 and 2020, including the identification of the most important processes of landscape transformation. To determine the changing diversity of the landscape, the hexagon quadrat analysis method was applied in combination with the Getis-Ord Gi* hot spot analysis. The results did not show any significant changes in the land cover between the years 1853 and 1950, apart from a statistically significant increase in the landscape diversity in the northern part of the territory. However, between the years 1950 and 2020, there was a dynamic transformation of the land cover, mainly due to agricultural extensification and afforestation. As a result of these changes, the landscape diversity has been reduced considerably, especially in the less accessible, fragmented, and marginal parts of the study area. Ultimately, the Bošácka dolina valley has seen an initial increase in the land use and in its diversity over the past almost 170 years, coupled with population growth in the first half of the 20th century. On the other hand, since the middle of the 20th century, the agricultural land has been abandoned. It has contributed to the decrease in diversity. Given the context, the future perspective of the Bošácka dolina valley is not favourable at all.