This study investigates today’s plant species richness and composition in cultivated and recently abandoned
arable land of Kosovo. Relationships between these aspects of vegetation and both environmental features
and agricultural management measures are studied at the regional and plot scale. In 2006, 432 vegetation relevés
with a standard plot size of 25 m² were recorded in cultivated fields. In 2007, data collection focussed on 41 plots
in arable fields that had been abandoned the year before. With respect to the environment, data analysis accounts

Appendix. Detailed description of materials
and methods

Mountain timber lines are relevant in the context of land abandonment and climate change. For Switzerland,
GIS-compliant delimitations of the tree line and the forest line are still lacking. Recent high-resolution landcover
information offers new possibilities for GIS-based approaches. In a Swiss-wide study, an analysis based
on slope zones was combined with a moving-window analysis to assess tree and forest line altitude, using
topographic data. The tree and the forest lines were delimited at the upper altitude reached by a tree or closed

The general trend of climatically-driven treeline advance is modified by regional, local and temporal variations. Treelines will not advance in a closed front parallel to the shift of any isotherm to higher elevations and more northern latitudes. The effects of varying topography on site conditions and the after-effects of historical disturbances by natural and anthropogenic factors may override the effects of slightly higher average temperatures. Moreover, the varying treeline-forming species respond in different ways to a changing climate.

The high variety of ecosystem service categorisation systems, assessment frameworks, indicators,
quantification methods and spatial localisation approaches allows scientists and decision makers to harness
experience, data, methods and tools. On the other hand, this variety of concepts and disagreements among
scientists hamper an integration of ecosystem services into contemporary environmental management and
decision making. In this article, the current state of the art of ecosystem service science regarding spatial

Wild herbivorous mammals may damage treeline vegetation an cause soil erosion at a local scale. In many high
mountain areas of Europe and North America, large numbers of red deer have become a threat to the maintenance
of high-elevation forests and attempts to restore the climatic treeline. In northern Fennoscandia, overgrazing by
reindeer in combination with mass outbreaks of the autumnal moth are influencing treeline dynamics. Moose are
also increasingly involved damaging treeline forest. In the Alps, the re-introduction of ibex is causing local damage

This paper elaborates and visualizes processes recorded in a recent regional and multi-site study of elevational
treeline dynamics during the period 1915 to 2007 in the Swedish Scandes. The purpose is to give a concrete face of
the landscape transformation which is associated with the recorded treeline shifts. The main focus is on stand-level
structure of past and present treelines and the advance zones, where climate change elicited responses by Betula pubescens

This paper tracks the evolution of the area covered by the dehesa in Sierra Morena from the mid 20th
century to the present day, in an attempt to identify those areas in which traditional land uses still hold
sway and others in which new land uses are appearing in relation to emerging business activities. These
new uses have brought about an important transformation in the landscape of the dehesa, which in some
areas is being replaced by other more profitable forms of land use, in particular with olive groves. In

Landscapes provide a broad range of services to society. To date, however, only few regional to continental scale
studies assess the capacity of landscapes to provide these services under changing environmental conditions. This
is required if the maintenance of current landscape multifunctionality remains a long-term goal. The presented
mini review highlights and promotes the concept of landscape functions, defined as the capacity or potential of
landscapes to provide services. Ultimately, spatially explicit landscape-function assessments may provide baseline

The impairment of landscapes is a concern constantly raised against wind energy developments in Germany
as in other countries. Often, landscapes or landscape types are treated in the literature as essentialist or
at least as uncontested categories. We analyse two examples of local controversies about wind energy, in
which “landscape” is employed by supporters and opponents alike, from a poststructuralist and discourse
theoretical angle. The aim is to identify and compare landscape constructs produced in the micro discourses

The scenic quality of a landscape is a natural resource that is to be preserved according to German and international law. One important indicator for the evaluation of this value is the structural diversity of the landscape. Although Landscape Metrics (LM) represent a well-known instrument for the quantification of landscape patterns, they are hardly used in applied landscape and environmental planning. This study shows possibilities for the integration of LM into a commonly used method to assess scenic quality by the example of a Landscape Structure Plan.

Land use and land cover (LULC) and their changes in share and number of classes can be documented by
remote sensing techniques. Information on LULC is needed for the assessment of ecosystem services and
is used as input data for mapping and modelling. This information is important for decision-making and
management of ecosystems and landscapes. In this study, LULC were analysed in two agricultural areas in
Northern Germany by means of a pixel-based maximum likelihood classification approach of 11 Landsat