DOI: 10.11118/978-80-7701-098-6-0008

LANDSCAPE CHANGES IN PROTECTED LANDSCAPE AREAS AND THEIR SURROUNDINGS

Tomáš Janík ORCID...¹, Roman Borovec¹, Anna Lichová¹, Alois Vokoun¹, Marek Havlíček¹

¹ Landscape Research Institute, Květnové náměstí 391, 252 43 Průhonice, Czech Republic

This paper focuses on landscape changes in selected Protected Landscape Areas (PLAs). We analyzed the period from the 1950s to 2020 using four time milestones (1950s, 1990, 2004, and 2020) within the selected PLAs and their 3 km buffers (both as a whole and within 1 km zones) to reveal differences in land-use change between these areas. Changes in arable land, permanent grassland, built-up areas, and buildable areas were evaluated. Across ten study areas—(1) Beskydy + Bílé Karpaty; (2) Blanský les + Šumava PLA and National park (NP); (3) Blaník; (4) Brdy; (5) Litovelské Pomoraví; (6) Moravský kras; (7) Poodří; (8) Pálava + Soutok; (9) Třeboňsko; and (10) Český les—arable land and built-up areas were significantly less represented within PLAs than in the surrounding buffers throughout the study period. In contrast, forest cover was more prevalent within PLAs. Moreover, buildable areas were more frequently located in the buffer zones, similarly to built-up areas, particularly within the closest 1 km buffer from the PLA boundaries. Although the trends in land-use change were similar across PLAs and buffers, the proportional shares differed significantly. The results indicate that landscape connectivity and ecological functioning beyond protected area boundaries may be threatened by differing land-use approaches.

Keywords: protected landscape areas, Czechia, surroundings, landscape changes

pages: 8-13, online: 2026