Impact of Future Land Use Change on Large Carnivores Connectivity in the Polish Carpathians
The Polish Carpathians, like many mountain areas in Europe, are currently facing dynamic land use changes that will shape their future landscapes. As there are many different possible scenarios of potential change, we compared three different land use scenarios up until the year 2060 and assessed th...
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ftrepec:oai:RePEc:gam:jlands:v:8:y:2019:i:1:p:8-:d:194870 2024-04-14T08:10:10+00:00 Impact of Future Land Use Change on Large Carnivores Connectivity in the Polish Carpathians Dominik Kaim Elżbieta Ziółkowska Marcin Szwagrzyk Bronwyn Price Jacek Kozak https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/8/1/8/pdf https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/8/1/8/ unknown https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/8/1/8/pdf https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/8/1/8/ article ftrepec 2024-03-19T10:30:45Z The Polish Carpathians, like many mountain areas in Europe, are currently facing dynamic land use changes that will shape their future landscapes. As there are many different possible scenarios of potential change, we compared three different land use scenarios up until the year 2060 and assessed their impact on the potential habitat connectivity of two large carnivores—wolf ( Canis lupus ) and lynx ( Lynx lynx ). We first analysed the main directions of change within and outside the pan-European wildlife corridor located in the western part of the Polish Carpathians. Then we calculated and compared least-cost paths among randomly selected points for each land use scenario separately. Our results showed that the main direction of change—forest cover increase—may positively influence habitat connectivity for both wolf and lynx. However, due to the future spread of settlements, this positive impact might be locally limited. Therefore, to realise the potential conservation opportunities resulting from on-going land use changes, adequate orientation of spatial planning towards habitat connectivity is crucial. land use scenarios; large mammals; habitat connectivity; land abandonment; settlement development; the Carpathians Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus Lynx Lynx lynx lynx RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) |
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Open Polar |
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RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) |
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ftrepec |
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description |
The Polish Carpathians, like many mountain areas in Europe, are currently facing dynamic land use changes that will shape their future landscapes. As there are many different possible scenarios of potential change, we compared three different land use scenarios up until the year 2060 and assessed their impact on the potential habitat connectivity of two large carnivores—wolf ( Canis lupus ) and lynx ( Lynx lynx ). We first analysed the main directions of change within and outside the pan-European wildlife corridor located in the western part of the Polish Carpathians. Then we calculated and compared least-cost paths among randomly selected points for each land use scenario separately. Our results showed that the main direction of change—forest cover increase—may positively influence habitat connectivity for both wolf and lynx. However, due to the future spread of settlements, this positive impact might be locally limited. Therefore, to realise the potential conservation opportunities resulting from on-going land use changes, adequate orientation of spatial planning towards habitat connectivity is crucial. land use scenarios; large mammals; habitat connectivity; land abandonment; settlement development; the Carpathians |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dominik Kaim Elżbieta Ziółkowska Marcin Szwagrzyk Bronwyn Price Jacek Kozak |
spellingShingle |
Dominik Kaim Elżbieta Ziółkowska Marcin Szwagrzyk Bronwyn Price Jacek Kozak Impact of Future Land Use Change on Large Carnivores Connectivity in the Polish Carpathians |
author_facet |
Dominik Kaim Elżbieta Ziółkowska Marcin Szwagrzyk Bronwyn Price Jacek Kozak |
author_sort |
Dominik Kaim |
title |
Impact of Future Land Use Change on Large Carnivores Connectivity in the Polish Carpathians |
title_short |
Impact of Future Land Use Change on Large Carnivores Connectivity in the Polish Carpathians |
title_full |
Impact of Future Land Use Change on Large Carnivores Connectivity in the Polish Carpathians |
title_fullStr |
Impact of Future Land Use Change on Large Carnivores Connectivity in the Polish Carpathians |
title_full_unstemmed |
Impact of Future Land Use Change on Large Carnivores Connectivity in the Polish Carpathians |
title_sort |
impact of future land use change on large carnivores connectivity in the polish carpathians |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/8/1/8/pdf https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/8/1/8/ |
genre |
Canis lupus Lynx Lynx lynx lynx |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus Lynx Lynx lynx lynx |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/8/1/8/pdf https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/8/1/8/ |
_version_ |
1796307667666337792 |