Environmental services

Landscape studies

Landscapes are dynamic expressions of continually changing natural processes (climatic, physical, biological) and changes caused by human activities. Landscape ecology assumes a relationship between spatial patterns and ecological processes which landscape indices try to express in a quantitative measure to monitor or predict the effects of changes, e.g. the effects of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity.

In GeoVille we are using information on land cover, transport networks and related changes over time to assess their impact on fragmentation and connectivity of habitats and landscapes. Through integration of planning data we are able to provide information about the impact of panned developments and their impact on habitats and protected sites.

For the analysis of landscape changes we apply the concept of “land accounting” developed by the European Environment Agency (EEA) – a method which allows to analyse the temporal and spatial dimension of land cover changes via a comprehensive set of aggregated land cover flows. Given the uneven distribution and value of ecological goods and services, knowing where change is happening allow to define timely measures to mitigate possible negative impacts.