Confluence of the Morava and Dyje Rivers: a century of landscape changes in maps

In this paper we analyse and present land use/land cover (LULC) changes that took place over the last century. Using aerial photographs from the years 1938, 1953, 1976 and 2009, we differentiate 24 categories of LULC with a special focus on forest management.

The most important detected changes are (i) closure of open/structured woodlands, (ii) change from an agricultural mosaic into large-field arable land, (iii) regulation of water courses, (iv) decrease in grassland area and (v) increase in forest logging intensity. LULC trends in this area differ significantly from the general LULC development within the Czech Republic. The results are presented in six map sheets showing LULC in (a–d) the studied years, (e) processes of LULC changes and (f) LULC change intensity.