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Interferences between the ecological network and urbanized areas in Poland
65-77Views:50This paper presents spatial relations between Polish urban areas and valuable habitats and links between them composing the country’s ecological network. The quantitative analysis for 891 towns and cities was conducted using GIS techniques based on cartographic vector data and statistical data. Valuable habitats and links between them, such as national parks, landscape parks, CORINE biotopes sites, wildlife corridors linking NATURA 2000 sites and ECONET areas, can be found in 72% of Polish towns and cities. The proportion of artificial surfaces in those areas is different depending on the size of a town or city and its location. Urban areas with the highest index of presence of valuable habitats and links between them are concentrated in the south of Poland, where settlement network is most dense. However, in the case of those areas the proportion of artificial surfaces interfering with the ecological network is lower than Poland’s average, being 16%. The pressure of anthropogenic land cover extending onto the country’s ecological network is most conspicuous in urban areas with a population of at least several dozen thousand residents where the average developed area is 20.8% of their total area. The danger for the continuity of the nature system is best seen in the north western Poland, where artificial surfaces interference in towns and cities is largest. The analysis performed identified 82 towns and cities, in which the preservation of the continuity of the ecological network should be a priority in spatial management because of a higher than average index of the presence of valuable habitats and links between them and large proportion of artificial surfaces in those areas.
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Geomorphologic analysis of drainage networks on Mars
15-30Views:83Altogether 327 valleys and their 314 cross-sectional profiles were analyzed on Mars, including width, depth, length, eroded volume, drainage and spatial density, as well as the network structure. According to this systematic analysis, five possible drainage network types were identified such as (a) small valleys, (b) integrated small valleys, (c) individual, medium-sized valleys, (d) unconfined, anastomosing outflow valleys, and (e) confined outflow valleys. Measuring their various morphometric parameters, these five networks differ from each other in terms of parameters of the eroded volume, drainage density and depth values. This classification is more detailed than those described in the literature previously and correlated to several numerical parameters for the first time. These different types were probably formed during different periods of the evolution of Mars, and sprung from differently localized water sources, and they could be correlated to similar fluvial network types from the Earth.
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Unsupervised classification of high resolution satellite imagery by self-organizing neural network
37-44Views:42The current paper discusses the importance of the modern high resolution satellite imagery. The acquired high amount of data must be processed by an efficient way, where the used Kohonen-type self-organizing map has been proven as a suitable tool. The paper gives an introduction to this interesting method. The tests have shown that the multispectral image information can be taken after a resampling step as neural network inputs, and then the derived network weights are able to evaluate the whole image with acceptable thematic accuracy.
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Protected areas in regions of intensive economical activity: conflict of nature protection and nature use (case study of Dovine river catchment)
43-56Views:69Nature protection and economical activity clash of interests is analysed on the example of Dovinė River catchment, situated in the south western part of Lithuania. It is a unique wetland complex consisting from Žuvintas Lake and the surrounding bogs (Fig. 1). Žuvintas Lake became the first protected area in Lithuania in 1937. However, the lake is situated in one of the most fertile region of Lithuania, where the methods of intensive farming activity is being employed for a long time. Eutrophication processes and overgrowth of this shallow lake has been very active during the several decades and the lake has lost its ecological value. Therefore the main goal of this article is to analyse the anthropogenic influence towards the water bodies and protected natural values situated in the territory of intensive economical activity. Cartographical material of different periods is being used for the evaluation of the hydrographical network transformations in Dovinė River catchment. Hydrochemical parameters of the periods 1953–1954, 1960–1961, 1980–1982; 1993–2003; 2004–2005 of the water bodies in Dovinė River catchment are being analysed. The field works in order to investigate the water quality in Dovinė River and it‘s tributaries were made in spring of 2005. Water samples were analysed in laboratory of the Institute of Geology and Geography according water quality analysis methods approved by Lithuanian Ministry of Environment (Table 2). Water quality was evaluated according maximum residue limits (MRL) in surface waters (Table 3). The results of the study showed that although Žuvintas Lake is being protected for 70 years, the farming activity intensified constantly in its catchment. Canalised river beds and sluice–regulated hydrological regime of the lakes diminished the natural self–cleaning abilities of the water system. The average annual decrease of the lake specular surface was about 1,1 ha in the period of 1961–2003. The average annual increase of vegetation area is about 0,14 ha. Even a strong protection regime did not preserve this territory. Therefore, in order to keep the sustainable development in the protected territories the anthropogenic loading from the neighbouring territories (catchment area, etc) must be evaluated. The objectives of nature protection in protected territory could not be attained if there is no regulation of economical activity in the territories surrounding the protected area.
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Stream gradient investigation in the Bükkalja using interpolated surfaces
23-36Views:123The geological, tectonic settings of an area can be examined with the analysis of drainage network. In the Bükkalja, the Miocene pyroclasts – mainly the welded ignimbrites – had taken decisive part in the evolution of drainage network. For the confirmation of their role, the breakpoints of stream profiles were analysed. However this method provides information only about the direct surroundings of the creeks. In the aim of getting informations about the areas between the streams, surfaces were interpolated from stream gradient data and analysed as stream gradient maps. The stream gradient data were calculated with Hack J.T.’s formula, but due to the false results it was necessary to modify this formula and to recalculate the values. According to the map interpolated from the modified stream gradient values, there is a clearly identifiable relationship between the location of the welded ignimbrites on the surface, and the gradient values. Areas with high values are on the eastern part of the study area, where these pyroclasts can be found, while in the west, where the surface is covered by less resistant rock types, the gradient values are much lower.
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Examinations on the air quality in Berehove (Beregszász, Ukraine) between 1997 and 2007
25-33Views:48First results of the examinations on the air quality in Beregszász (Ukraine) are presented in the present paper. Data sets of air quality monitoring network in Beregszász were provided by the Beregszász township office of National Health Service of Ukraine. Monitoring network consists of five stations in the industrial residential and recreational districts of the town. Measurements were carried out between 1995 and 2007 in the heating and in the non heating seasons. Spatial and seasonalű distributions of SO2, NO2 and particulate matter were analyzed using the Student t-test.
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Big plans and little plans: delivering land use change designed by landscape ecology
68-74Views:80In this paper I describe some of the ways in which landscape ecology principles have been incorporated into land use planning and change. In Scotland we have tried developing landscape-scale or regional plans for land use change to resolve issues of habitat fragmentation – the ‘big plans’ of the title. We have also developed ‘little plans’ – much smaller proposals based on individual designated sites. My conclusion is that both of these approaches are weak in directing land use change at the scale necessary, and that a system which ‘scores’ land manager-generated proposals is a more useful new approach.
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A spatio-temporal urban expansion modeling a case study Teheran metropolis, Iran
10-19Views:127During the past decades, urban growth has been accelerating with the massive immigration of population to cities. Urban population in the world was estimated as 2.9 billion in 2000 and predicted to reach 5.0 billion in 2030. Rapid urbanization and population growth have been a common phenomenon, especially in the developing countries such as Iran. Rapid population growth, environmental changes and improper land use planning practices in the past decades have resulted in environmental deterioration, haphazard landscape development and stress on the ecosystem structure, housing shortages, insufficient infrastructure, and increasing urban climatological and ecological problems. In this study, urban sprawl assessment was implemented using Shannon entropy and then, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) has been adopted for modeling urban growth. Our case study is Tehran Metropolis, capital of Iran. Landsat imageries acquired in 1988, 1999 and 2010 are used. According to the results of sprawl assessment for this city, this city has experienced sprawl between 1988 to 2010. Dataset include distance to roads, distance to green spaces, distance to developed area, slope, number of urban cells in a 3 by 3 neighborhood, distance to fault and elevation. Relative operating characteristic (ROC) method have been used to evaluate the accuracy and performance of the model. The obtained ROC equal to 0.8366.
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Morphometric characteristics of a tropical river basin, central Kerala, India using geospatial techniques
1-14Views:251The Thutapuzha watershed (TW) is one among the major tributaries of Bharathapuzha – the largest west flowing river in Kerala, India. Morphometric analysis was carried out to determine the spatial variations in the drainage characteristics and to understand the prevailing geologic variation, topographic information and structural setup of TW using Survey of India topographic maps and ASTER-DEM. Geoprocessing techniques has been used for the delineation and calculation of the morphometric parameters of the watershed. The TW sprawled over 1107Km2 and the study revealed that the watershed includes a sixth order stream and lower order streams mostly dominate the basin with a drianage density of 1.36 m/Km2 exhibiting highly resistant subsoil, dense vegetation, and low relief of surface nature . The study indicate that rainfall has a significant role in the drainage development whereas the drainage pattern is controlled by structure and relief. The watershed of TW is moderate to well-drained and exhibited a geomorphic maturity in its physiographic development. The shape parameters revealed the elongated nature of TW having less prone to flood, lower erosion and sediment transport capacities and drainage network development in the watershed. This study strongly brings to light that the drainage morphometric parameters have the enormou spotentiality to unveil the hydro-morphologicalcharacteristics of the river basins. Integrating hydro-morphological characteristics with conventional watershed assessment methods would have a beneficial effect on judicious watershed management, which helped to formulate a comprehensive watershed management plan.
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The Hungarian footwear industry in global production networks: the case study of Berkemann Hungary
188-193Views:284The highly internationalized, labour-intensive footwear industry showed two spectacular declines and significant restructuring in Hungary after the change of regime. In accordance with the approach the authors investigate, this phenomenon is associated with the integration ways and circumstances of the industry into global production networks. Sector-level assessment of the processes – including the changing geographical patterns of footwear industry which also indicate features of path-dependence – was performed in several previous works of the authors. On the basis of significant empirical fieldwork, recent study focuses on the current situation of an extraordinary foreign owned large company representing the challenges and development perspectives Hungarian footwear industry has to face with.
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Boundless settlements – tendencies and future of urban sprawl in the agglomeration of Budapest
75-88Views:213The Budapest agglomeration is a rapidly changing environment. Urban sprawl has been a prominent process in municipalities around the Hungarian capital, and its pace has significantly increased since the change of regimes. In our paper, we analyse the tendencies of urban development, the role of territorial protection and the types of land use mostly threatened by urban sprawl in two study areas within the Budapest agglomeration. A significant part of the Northern study area – located on Szentendre Island – is under territorial protection, while the Southern study area – located on Csepel Island – has a considerably lower amount of protected areas. We found that the settlements of the Northern study area have been expanding at a much slower pace than their Southern counterparts, where in the absence of effective restrictions, extensive areas – mostly former agricultural fields – have been converted into built-up areas. In addition, the Spatial Plan of the agglomeration allows the same tendencies to continue in both areas in the future as well.