Landscape water potential as a new indicator for monitoring macrostructural landscape changes

•Analyses of historic changes in landscape functionality are a neglected issue.•Landscape elements were classified according to landscape water potential (LWP).•LWP is a functional characteristic based on the potential evapotranspiration.•The coefficient of LWP has increased as a result of different driving forces.•The LWP classification system needs to be corrected based on future investigation.

Many studies have recently been published on changes in land use/land cover, but only a few have been concerned with landscape functional changes. The studies that have been made in this field have focused on only a limited time period. Our study attempts to partly fill in this research gap by analysing long-term landscape changes, through differentiating landscape elements according to land use/cover (LULC) and newly developed landscape water potential (LWP) criteria. LWP seems to be an important characteristic of landscape functionality. The study was undertaken on the post-mining landscape of Sokolov (210 km2). Landscape elements were classified according to land use/cover (LULC) and according to LWP. LWP is a characteristic, based on the average potential landscape element evapotranspiration, which is affected mainly by the biotope character, and type of management. Information about the LULC and LWP has been read from Stable Cadastre maps (1842) and based on the field mapping of the present state of the landscape (2010). The data were elaborated using GIS and statistical analysis. In the study the Coefficient of LWP was developed as a new quantitative indicator to monitor landscape macrostructural change. Changes in the abundance of the arable land, barren land, built-up areas, forest land, grasslands, orchards and wetlands LULC categories were found to be statistically significant with trends very similar to the national statistics. The results led to the conclusion that mining has had a statistically significant effect on changes in the LULC categories mentioned above, not only in terms of mining but also of reclamations. As for the LWP categories, changes in LWP categories No. 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, and 14 were found to be statistically significant. Coefficient of LWP calculated for the total study area has increased very slightly from 1.3 to 1.4 taking into account many different and contradictory trends (increasing area of mining areas and urban areas, and increasing area of woody stands on the other hand). The study provides a valuable methodological conclusion, however the concept of LWP will need to be corrected by further measurements. Nevertheless, the different and methodically new way that we analysed landscape changes forms the basis for analysing landscape functional changes in the future. This may help us to better evaluate historic effects of anthropogenic activities on the landscape.