title: Monitoring land use/land cover transformations from 1945 to 2007 in two peri-urban mountainous areas of Athens metropolitan area, Greece.
abstract: The aims of this study were to map and analyze land use/land cover transitions and landscape changes in the Parnitha and Penteli mountains, which surround the Athens metropolitan area of Attica, Greece over a period of 62 years. In order to quantify the changes between land categories through time, we computed the transition matrices for three distinct periods (1945-1960, 1960-1996, and 1996-2007), on the basis of available aerial photographs used to create multi-temporal maps. We identified systematic and stationary transitions with multi-level intensity analysis. Forest areas in Parnitha remained the dominant class of land cover throughout the 62 years studied, while transitional woodlands and shrublands were the main classes involved in LULC transitions. Conversely, in Penteli, transitional woodlands, along with shrublands, dominated the study site. The annual rate of change was faster in the first and third time intervals, compared to the second (1960-1996) time interval, in both study areas. The category level analysis results indicated that in both sites annual crops avoided to gain while discontinuous urban fabric avoided to lose areas. At the transition level of analysis, similarities as well as distinct differences existed between the two areas. In both sites the gaining pattern of permanent crops with respect to annual crops and the gain of forest with respect to transitional woodland/shrublands were stationary across the three time intervals. Overall, we identified more systematic transitions and stationary processes in Penteli. We discussed these LULC changes and associated them with human interference (activity) and other major socio-economic developments that were simultaneously occurring in the area. The different patterns of change of the areas, despite their geographical proximity, throughout the period of analysis imply that site-specific studies are needed in order to comprehensively assess the driving forces and develop models of landscape transformation in Mediterranean areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forestry & Management of the Environment and Natural Resources, Democritus University of Thrace, Pantazidou 193, GR-68200 Orestiada, Greece. Electronic address: gmallin@fmenr.duth.gr.
authors.forename: Giorgos
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mallinis
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, University of Patras, G. Seferi 2, GR-30100 Agrinio, Greece. Electronic address: nkoutsia@upatras.gr.
authors.forename: Nikos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Koutsias
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology & Systematics, Faculty of Biology, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis - Ilisia, GR-15784 Athens, Greece. Electronic address: marianou@biol.uoa.gr.
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arianoutsou
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002947:Cities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D018556:Crops, Agricultural; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D065928:Forests; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006115:Greece; D058998:Remote Sensing Technology; D014507:Urbanization / Q000639:trends*
keywords: Intensity analysis; Landscape change; Mediterranean areas; Protected areas; Socioeconomic factors; Systematic transitions