This research has been carried out in the frame of the project SISTEMaPARC.

The project SISTEMaPARC (Spatial Information Systems for Transnational Environmental Management of Protected Areas and Regions in CADSES) is part of the Community Initiative Programme INTERREG III B CADSES andpart-financed by the European Union.

IntroductionIntroduction

Landscape change as the alteration of land use and land structure considerably affects the environment and its processes.

Land use and land use structure have changed significantly in the last century, mostly due to human impact. Consequently, processes affecting the environment have changed as well. Soil erosion as one of these processes in particularly affected by changes in land use structure. As soil erosion depends on surface runoff, which is regulated by the structure of land use, the effects of changes in slope length due to landscape change on erosion displacement can be significant.

MethodsMethods

Leibniz-Institut für ökologische Raumentwicklung e. V.

References

BORK, H.R.; H. BORK; C. DALCHOW; B. FAUST; H.-P. PIORR; UND T. SCHATZ (1998):Landschaftsentwicklung in Mitteleuropa. Stuttgart.

DESMET, P. AND G. GOVERS (1995): GIS-based simulation of erosion and depositionpatterns in an agricultural landscape, a comparison of model results with soil map information. Catena, 25: 389-401.

RENARD, K.G.; G.R. FOSTER; G.A. WEESIES; D.K. MCCOOL AND D.C. YODER (1997):Predicting soil erosion by water: A guide to conservation planning with the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE). USDA-ARS Agriculture Handbook 703. Washington D.C.

RICHTER, G. (1998): Bodenerosion und Kulturlandschaft. In: RICHTER, G. (Hrsg.):Bodenerosion – Analyse und Bilanz eines Umweltproblems. Darmstadt.

There are various established methods to model soil erosion, although there is no appropriate method to determine historical displacements due to changes in land use structure. Therefore, a new method is proposed to examine historical developments of soil erosion depending on changes in land use structure.

By the example of the National Park Region of Saxon Switzerland (see figure 1), a timeframe of about 100 years was used to study the effects of landscape change on soil erosion. Historical maps were used for this to determine the changes in land use and land use structure.

ResultsResults

Agriculture has altogether withdrawn from steep slope positions since 1900. Thus, erosion displacement was reduced in this timeframe on average. However, when analyzed more precisely, erosion displacement has increased significantly due to changes in land use structure.

Besides the regional development, an analysis of the development of erosion by agricultural units has been carried out (see figure 5).

While the spatial distribution of soil erosion within the National Park Region did not change from 1900 to 1992 distinctively, it has changed within the agricultural units due to landscape change (see figures 2+3). Nearly 40 percent of the agricultural units had an increase in erosion displacement (see figure 4). In particular between 1940 and 1992, erosion displacement increased due to the aggregation of agricultural units and thus longer slopes.

ConclusionsConclusions

Investigation and evaluation of changes in land use structure seems to be an appropriate method to analyze the historical development of soil erosion, in particular for larger areas.

The results confirm the strong dependence of erosion displacement on land use structure. Therefore, it is vital to include land use structure in erosion modeling. Otherwise the amount of erosion displacement will be underestimated.

Further work could lead to a decision tree based spatial planning tool for governmental institutions and NGOs for a sustainable development and to prevent hazardous anthropogenic changes in land use structure in the future.

EffectsEffects of of landscapelandscape changechange on on soilsoil erosionerosion

in the National Park Region of in the National Park Region of SaxonSaxon SwitzerlandSwitzerland

Sebastian Wolf1, Ulrich Walz2, Arno Kleber3

1Institute of Plant Sciences, ETH Zurich, Universitaetsstrasse 2, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland (sebastian.wolf@ipw.agrl.ethz.ch)2Leibniz Institute of Ecological and Regional Development, Weberplatz 1, D-01217 Dresden, Germany (u.walz@ioer.de)

3Institute of Geography, Dresden University of Technology, D-01062 Dresden, Germany (arno.kleber@tu-dresden.de)

Figure 1: Study area

19001900

19401940

19921992

Flächennutzung:

Siedlungsfläche

Industrie-, Gewerbe-, Verkehrsfläche

Abbaufläche, Deponie, Baustelle

Ackerland

Grünfläche

Garten- und Grabeland

Streuobst, Obstplantage

Wiesen und Weiden

Flächenhaftes Feldgehölz

Baumreihe

Hauptstraße

Nebenstraße

Fahrweg

Feldhecke

Gewässerlauf

Graben

Feuchtfläche

Wald

Felsfläche

Wasserfläche

Land Land useuse structurestructure Erosion Erosion displacementdisplacement

Development 1900Development 1900--19921992

Erosion displacement based on agricultural unitsErosion displacement based on agricultural units

Bodenabtrag in t/ha/a

< 25

25 - 50

50 - 100

100 - 200

> 200

0 42km

±19401940

Bodenabtrag in t/ha/a

< 25

25 - 50

50 - 100

100 - 200

> 200

0 42km

±19001900

Bodenabtrag in t/ha/a

< 25

25 - 50

50 - 100

100 - 200

> 200

0 42km

±19921992

Erosion displacement in t/ha/a

Erosion displacement in t/ha/a

Erosion displacement in t/ha/a

Bodenabtrag in t/ha/a

< 25

25 - 50

50 - 100

100 - 200

> 200

Erosion displacement (t/ha/a)

Veränderung

starke Abnahme

Abnahme

keine Veränderung

Zunahme

starke Zunahme

Alteration

strong reduction

reduction

no alteration

increase

strong increase

Land use

0

510

1520

25

3035

4045

50

Flä

ch

e i

n P

rozen

t

starkerRückgang

Rückgang keineÄnderung

Zunahme starkeZunahme

Veränderungen des Bodenabtrags von 1900 - 1992

Figure 4:

Alteration of erosion displacement from 1900 to 1992

Are

a i

n p

erc

en

t

increasereductionstrong

reduction

strong

increase

no

alteration

Alteration of erosion displacement in the National Park Region of Saxon Switzerland 1900-1992

Figure 5: Erosion displacement based on agricultural units from 1900 to 1992Fig. 2: Land use structure 1900-1992 Fig. 3: Erosion displacement 1900-1992