<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Grasslands contribute to the ecological diversity of our cultural landscapes. In the last centuries, the most important trend was a constant loss of this valuable asset due to urbanization and the intensification of cultivation. Studies focusing on grasslands are not so abundant, and especially analyses on the spatial trends of grasslands in Eastern-Central Europe are scarce. Focusing on Hungarian local studies, we analyze our results from a macro-regional perspective, with a draft study of the V4 countries (Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland). The authors employed GIS and statistical methods to analyze data to explore trends of changes of grasslands in V4 countries, Hungary, and in three micro-regions of different landscape character. These include an open landscape, partly intensively cultivated (micro-region of Csorna), and two more diverse landscapes with different proportion of forests (micro-regions of Gönc and Veszprém). Our results show that very complex, sometimes opposite processes influence the area of grasslands. In spite of the fact that an increase in the area of grasslands is witnessed at both the national and the international level in absolute values, recently, unfavorable processes have started, and there are certain landscapes where grasslands are threatened especially natural grassland by forestation and grasslands where soil conditions are suitable for crop production. Our results showed that despite the different landscape conditions, the majority of grassland has been turned into arable land and into shrubs and forest area. The loss of pastures due to urban sprawl is a dominant process just around the built-up area of city of Veszprém in the most urbanized study area.</p>
</abstract>

Grasslands contribute to the ecological diversity of our cultural landscapes. In the last centuries, the most important trend was a constant loss of this valuable asset due to urbanization and the intensification of cultivation. Studies focusing on grasslands are not so abundant, and especially analyses on the spatial trends of grasslands in Eastern-Central Europe are scarce. Focusing on Hungarian local studies, we analyze our results from a macro-regional perspective, with a draft study of the V4 countries (Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland). The authors employed GIS and statistical methods to analyze data to explore trends of changes of grasslands in V4 countries, Hungary, and in three micro-regions of different landscape character. These include an open landscape, partly intensively cultivated (micro-region of Csorna), and two more diverse landscapes with different proportion of forests (micro-regions of Gönc and Veszprém). Our results show that very complex, sometimes opposite processes influence the area of grasslands. In spite of the fact that an increase in the area of grasslands is witnessed at both the national and the international level in absolute values, recently, unfavorable processes have started, and there are certain landscapes where grasslands are threatened especially natural grassland by forestation and grasslands where soil conditions are suitable for crop production. Our results showed that despite the different landscape conditions, the majority of grassland has been turned into arable land and into shrubs and forest area. The loss of pastures due to urban sprawl is a dominant process just around the built-up area of city of Veszprém in the most urbanized study area.

Spatial Trends of Grassland Changes Based on Hungarian Local Studies After 1990 with a Macro-Regional Perspective

Department of Landscape Planning and Regional Development

Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department of Landscape Protection and Reclamation

European Countryside

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Grasslands contribute to the ecological diversity of our cultural landscapes. In the last centuries, the most important trend was a constant loss of this...

Spatial Trends of Grassland Changes Based on Hungarian Local Studies After 1990 with a Macro-Regional Perspective

Published Online: Jul 11, 2022

Page range: 397 - 419

Received: Sep 16, 2021

Accepted: Mar 24, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/euco-2022-0020

Keywords
grassland changes, spatial analysis, Central and Eastern Europe, Hungary

© 2022 Krisztina Filepné Kovács et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Spatial Trends of Grassland Changes Based on Hungarian Local Studies After 1990 with a Macro-Regional Perspective

Published Online: Jul 11, 2022

Page range: 397 - 419

Received: Sep 16, 2021

Accepted: Mar 24, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/euco-2022-0020

Keywordsgrassland changes, spatial analysis, Central and Eastern Europe, Hungary

© 2022 Krisztina Filepné Kovács et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
grassland changes, spatial analysis, Central and Eastern Europe, Hungary