The impact of plot spatial properties on the conversion of arable land into brushwood
2015
Maasikamaee, S., Estonian Univ. of Life Sciences, Tartu (Estonia) | Mandel, M., Estonian Univ. of Life Sciences, Tartu (Estonia)
Land use change has caught scientist’s attention all over the world and in the perspective of globalisation the pressures on agricultural land are increasing. However, the agricultural land abandonment is still evident. This phenomenon has no single definition and its driving forces are varying among different regions and countries. In this paper agricultural land is considered as abandoned while there is evidence of shrub and bushes on agricultural land according to the orthophoto and Estonian base map comparison. The aim of this paper was to test the impact of arable land plot spatial properties: plot area, ratio of arable land area in the surrounding of plot and plot compactness. General hypothesis is that brushwood will more likely occur on the arable land plots with poor spatial properties than on arable land plots with good ones. The study was conducted in 15 rural municipalities across Estonia. Results are showing some impact of the spatial properties on the arable land plots conversion into brushwood. In nine municipalities out of 15, there was an arable plot area without brushwood larger than plots with brushwood and the percentage of arable land area surrounding plots without brushwood was higher in other 9 studied municipalities. As expected, the uncompact arable land plots tend to have more likely brushwood on them than the compact ones. Study results show that the impact of plot area and the ratio of arable land in surroundings of plots on the conversion of arable land plots into brushwood need further studies.
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