Impact of Transhumance Extensification on Land-Use/Cover Changes on Mountain Vermio, Northern Greece: A GIS Based Approach

Transhumance is a practice of seasonal movement of livestock occurring between two fixed points. Transhumant flocks use the vegetation of medium and high elevation rangelands during late spring to autumn depending on the geographical area and climatic conditions. This study aimed to assess and interpret the impacts of transhumance extensification on the land use/cover on Mountain Vermio, for the period 1985-2009. For many years, this area has received high stocking rates from transhumant livestock. However, the last decades transhumance was dramatically decreased. The post classification comparison approach was implemented within a GIS environment to estimate the changes. Moreover, the rate and the spatial differentiation of land use/cover were determined by means of the dynamic degree index. According to the results, the acreage of grasslands and grazed open forests was decreased during the study period (3% and 83% respectively), while shrublands demonstrated an opposite trend with an increase of 25%. Furthermore, based on the index, the greater changes occurred in the conversion of grazed open forests and shrublands compared to other land use /cover categories. These changes could be attributed to changes in sheep and goats populations grazing in the area, also related to the dispersion of flocks in local rangelands. Moreover, this paper presents the results of a questionnaire survey on transhumant herders. These results, combined with an assessment of changes in the dynamic degree index, reflect the difficulties that farmers face in terms of access to rangelands and their increased awareness regarding the environmental role of transhumance. This abstract was accepted to be presented at the conference entitled “ 40 Years of Horticulture Education in Cluj-Napoca ” Cluj-Napoca, September 27, 2017, being included in ‘Book of Abstracts’ of this special-anniversary event ( http://conference.shst.ro ). All accepted papers will be published in a special issue of Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca journal.