Abstract (eng)
Landscapes are constantly changing, both because of natural drivers but also because of anthropogenic use. Agricultural landscapes, such as the “Neumarkter Passlandschaft”, are predominantly shaped by human land use, which directly or indirectly affects the species and associations the landscape houses, but also its ecological functions and scenery. The thesis at hand analyses landscape change by analyzing the landscape structure based on the methods used in the SINUS project - “Spatial Indicators for Land Use Sustainability (Wrbka et al. 2003)”, and by comparing data from 1996 and 2003. Additionally, selective biotope mapping was performed to obtain more detailed results and the eligibility of applied methodology to measure landscape change was evaluated.
In line with trends that can be observed in the whole of Austria, the results of the analysis show that there is an increase in forested land and settlement areas as well as a decrease in arable land, grassland and small biotopes such as hedgerows, small woodlots and field margins. The analysis of 96 biotopes shows a decline of their extent and ecological significance. However, at a regional scale, there are also sings of a more extensive use.