Monitoring of landscape change and functions in Saxony (Eastern Germany)—Methods and indicators

Important tasks of modern landscape ecology are to monitor and assess natural resources, to examine the impacts and effects of human intervention and, last but not least, to observe the state of the environment over long periods of time. Substantial goals of research at the Leibniz Institute of Ecological and Regional Development (IOER) are the development of methods for the detection of land use changes and for the description of this development by indicators, as well as the analysis and evaluation of the effects of such processes on selected environmental protection assets. GIS technologies were developed for the digital preparation and analysis of historical maps, and subsequent digital land use mapping.This contribution focuses on spatial indicators to describe the environmental effects of land use change. The results from a long-term monitoring project will be presented: the structural changes of land use and their impact on landscape functions in a rural area within the national park region Saxon-Bohemian Switzerland, and the development of landscape fragmentation by transport infrastructure over the whole Federal State of Saxony. The analysis of the structural landscape changes proved to be an important aspect.