Persistence in cultural landscapes: a pan-European analysis

Persistence in landscapes is determined by land cover types that remain unchanged over a certain period of time. Mapping and analyzing landscape persistence brings a new view to landscape-ecological research. The knowledge about processes, factors or driving forces stabilizing landscapes could help to protect and manage valuable landscapes in a rapidly changing world.

We analyzed and compared landscape persistence in Europe (EU27 plus Switzerland), as well as in six discrete case studies using historical maps which were harmonized regarding their thematic, spatial, and temporal resolution. The spatial resolution was adjusted to the resolution of the least detailed case study map. To get a thematically harmonized map set, the legend classes were assigned to a common map legend. For enabling a thorough comparison, a persistence index has been developed, taking into account differences in size of the study regions and in timing of the available historical maps.

The persistence index is expressed in number of years that would be needed for the complete transformation of the land cover in a considered area if the transformation would occur at the same rate as it occurred in the considered time period. For the whole area of Europe, the persistence index is 198 years. However, change is not happening uniformly across Europe: The persistence hotspots are located in the Alps, north and south Italy, north Ireland, Sweden, south Finland, Romania, and United Kingdom where the persistence index is higher than 500 years. There is a variation between the persistence of different land cover types as well. Natural rocks, quarries and beaches did not decline at all. Settlements and forests are highly persistent. Least persistent are grasslands and croplands, except olive groves.