Geographia Polonica (2013) vol. 86, iss. 4

A map of sequences of ’forest/non-forest states’ over the last 200 years in the borderland between Poland’s Masuria and Kurpie regions

Jan Marek Matuszkiewicz, Jacek Wolski, Anna Kowalska

Geographia Polonica (2013) vol. 86, iss. 4, pp. 393-402 | Full text
doi: https://doi.org/GPol.2013.31

Abstract

Presented here are the means of generating and possibilities for applying a digital map of sequences of ‘forest/non‑forest’ states in a study area, as based on topographic maps for seven instances in time (between 1800 and the present day). There is also a brief description of cartographic material used, as well as the methods applied in generating a variability model. The study area was then analysed from the point of view of differences in the aforementioned sequences of ‘forest/non‑forest’ states, this revealing marked contrasts between two Polish regions that are adjacent, but were conditioned differently in the past, in political and social terms. The study ends by considering the relationship between the distinguished sequences and habitat type, as referred to in terms of potential natural vegetation.

Keywords: historical maps, changes in forest cover, potential natural vegetation, habitat variation, central Poland

Jan Marek Matuszkiewicz [jan.mat@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland
Jacek Wolski [j.wolski@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland
Anna Kowalska [aniak@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland