Land cover changes and forest succession trends in a site of Natura 2000 network (Elatia forest), in northern Greece

The aim of this study was to investigate the land cover changes and the trends of secondary forest succession during the period 1945–2009, as well as the existed environmental-successional trend relationships, in the area of Elatia Drama, northern Greece, which is part of the European Natura 2000 network, through the extraction of quantitative and qualitative information about the area with the available dataset. Spatial analysis was performed based on cartographic data of the two dates. In order to the estimate the factors affecting the forest changes, the distribution of the forest types of the newly established forests in relation to topographic factors (aspect, slope and elevation), bedrock type, and the distance from the old forest edge, were examined by performing spatial analysis. Data analysis showed that a great expansion of forests was observed in the area, though a secondary forest succession process resulted in covering almost all the area (96.79%) by forests. All the other land types that occurred approximately in the half of the studied area in 1945 were transformed to forests. However, the observed secondary forest succession did not result in a uniform forest type, confirming the environmental-successional trend relationships. Three main succession trends were observed: towards the formation of Pinus sylvestris forest, towards Picea abies forests, and towards Fagus sylvatica forests, all uniformly distributed in the area. The new forests distribution profiles were different from the old forests; Pinus sylvestris forests was most popular in the newly established forests, while P. abies and F. sylvatica comprise the dominant forest types of the old forests. All the environmental factors studied were found significantly correlated to new forests distribution in the area.

► A great forest expansion was observed in the area through a secondary succession.
► Forest succession was found related to the environmental factors.
► The distances from the forest edge seems to play the most important role.