Ecological significance of land-cover based on interpretation of human-tourism impact. A case from two different protected areas (Slovakia and Serbia)

Abstract

This study analyses landscape components and human activities, in two different protected landscapes. The main purpose of this work is to measure landscape elements, mainly land cover patches within tourism zones. Outputs of the landscape quantification are numerical values, which is possible to interpret toward to the quality of an on-going ecologic process in landscape. The interpretation of the quantified data will be used to determine ecologic signification of landscape in selected study areas. This research examines land cover patches in the protected areas by a set of landscape metrics for area, size, density, shape and diversity (Number of patches-NP, Patch's density-PD, Mean patch size-MPS, Patch's size standard deviation-PSSD, Mean shape index-MSI, and Shannon's Diversity Index-SHDI). First landscape is represented by Protected Landscape Area of Štiavnica Mountains, located in Slovakia, and second landscape is represented by Special purpose area of "Fruška Gora" National Park in Serbia. The classification of land cover patches was based on Corine Land Cover 2000 (CLC2000) seamless vector data. The result of the tourism impact on the landscape in protected area (Slovakia and Serbia) is the fragmentation of land cover patches. Recreational activities are the main reason of disruptions the integrity of the landscape in researched tourism zones. The increase of the landscape fragmentation may lead to the decreasing of biodiversity in future.