The visual characteristics of Icelandic Birch Woodland landscapes; their classification in a national context and the relationship between visual landscape diversity and biodiversity

• Main Author: Lina Andrea Johansson 1996-
• Other Authors: Háskóli Íslands
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Umhverfis- og auðlindafræði; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/44519

Landscapes are a vital aspect of Iceland’s national identity, but changes in vegetation and land use may have a far can impact on its characteristics. At present, there is growing interest in the large-scale restoration of the native birch ecosystems and the environmental, societal, economic and cultural implications of such changes are addressed in the cross-disciplinary EcoBirch project. This thesis addresses one part of EcoBirch: The impact of woodland restoration on the visual landscape. Using the approach of the Icelandic Landscape Project (ILP), I collected and visited 10 old woodlands across Iceland and adjacent non-wooded sites with similar main landscape features, assessing 21 visual landscape variables at small (community) and larger (panorama) spatial scales. Adding these woodlands to the nationwide sample of 108 ILP sites did not create new classes in a multivariate classification. Most community-scale and some panorama-scale sites fell into the class Well vegetated but homogeneous lowlands and heaths, with most panorama and a few community sites classifying with Diverse and open vegetated landscapes by mountains and Vegetated valleys with prominent water. Making use of vascular plant species richness and biodiversity, I also explored their relationship with community-level landscape visual diversity. Landslag er mikilvægur hluti af þjóðararfi íslendinga en breytingar á gróðri og landnýtingu geta haft afdrifaríkar afleiðingar fyrir sérkenni þess. Aukinn áhugi er á sjálfgræðslu og endurheimt birkivistkerfa og nú er í gangi þverfræðilegt rannsóknaverkefni (BirkiVist) sem beinist að umhverfislegum, félagslegum, hagrænum og menningarlegum ávinningi og afleiðingum af slíkri þróun. Þetta meistaraverkefni snýr að einum þætti BirkiVistar: áhrifum af endurheimt birkiskóglenda á hið sjónræna landslag. Beitt var nálgun Íslenska landslagsverkefnisins (ÍLV) og sjónrænar breytur skráðar í 10 gömlum skóglendum í öllum landshlutum og jafnmörgum skóglausum en að öðru leyti svipuðum samanburðarsvæðum á smáum ...