Using archival maps to analyse changes in forest ecosystems caused by human activity, it is only possible to determine changes in forest range. However, this is not sufficient to assess the degree of their transformation by a human.
In the article published in “Resources”, Dr Michał Sobala and Prof. dr hab. Oimahmad Rahmonov show based on forest habitat studies that the influence of the historical forest management on forest ecosystems in the Skrzyczne and Magurka Radziechowska massif (the Silesian Beskids) was more significant than the historical maps indicate. The former forest management contributed to the domination of Norway spruce in the stand. The sites characterised by natural conditions occupy only 28% of the forest land and anthropogenically transformed ones dominate (over 50%). Moreover, artificial spruce monocultures were died-off and large felling areas (almost 40% of the study area) were created at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Sobala, M.; Rahmonov, O. The Human Impact on Changes in the Forest Range of the Silesian Beskids (Western Carpathians). Resources 2020, 9, 141. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources9120141
