{"title":"Human-induced landscape modification in the in the last two centuries in the Po delta plain (Northern Italy)","authors":"Luigi Bruno , Matteo Meli , Maria Luisa Garberi","doi":"10.1016/j.ancene.2024.100453","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Historical maps with high degree of accuracy permit quantitative reconstructions of past land use and land cover (LULC), crucial to assess the impact of human activities on landscape evolution. After georeferencing in a modern reference system, the <em>Carta del Ferrarese</em> commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte and completed in 1814, has been used to quantify the changes in LULC, occurred in the last two centuries in the Po delta plain. The map depicts a palaeo-landscape dominated by wetlands (49 % of the study area) and agricultural areas (41 %), whereas forests appear already largely depleted (5 %). The <em>Piantata Padana</em>, a traditional agroforestry system with live trees used to support grapevines, is dominant (62 % of the agricultural areas). The comparison with the 2014 LULC map highlights a dramatic reduction (85 %) of wetland areas and the replacement of the <em>Piantata Padana</em> with bare arable lands, with the consequent removal of 4–40 million trees. Soils of areas formerly occupied by wetlands show high organic-carbon content, highlighting the potential of humid areas in carbon sequestration. Land reclaiming, prompted by the introduction of steam pumps, favoured the economic development of the area, but concurred to CO<sub>2</sub> emissions through the oxidation of soil organic substances, energy consumption from pumping stations, and the extensive use of hydrocarbon fuels in agriculture. Although urbanisation is limited in the Po delta plain, this area appears nowadays largely shaped by human activities, with the dominance of lands devoted to agriculture, dissected by a dense network of draining channels. The landscape changes recorded in the last two centuries in the Po coastal plain have been uniquely driven by human activities, like in several coastal plains worldwide.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":56021,"journal":{"name":"Anthropocene","volume":"48 ","pages":"Article 100453"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Anthropocene","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213305424000304","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Historical maps with high degree of accuracy permit quantitative reconstructions of past land use and land cover (LULC), crucial to assess the impact of human activities on landscape evolution. After georeferencing in a modern reference system, the Carta del Ferrarese commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte and completed in 1814, has been used to quantify the changes in LULC, occurred in the last two centuries in the Po delta plain. The map depicts a palaeo-landscape dominated by wetlands (49 % of the study area) and agricultural areas (41 %), whereas forests appear already largely depleted (5 %). The Piantata Padana, a traditional agroforestry system with live trees used to support grapevines, is dominant (62 % of the agricultural areas). The comparison with the 2014 LULC map highlights a dramatic reduction (85 %) of wetland areas and the replacement of the Piantata Padana with bare arable lands, with the consequent removal of 4–40 million trees. Soils of areas formerly occupied by wetlands show high organic-carbon content, highlighting the potential of humid areas in carbon sequestration. Land reclaiming, prompted by the introduction of steam pumps, favoured the economic development of the area, but concurred to CO2 emissions through the oxidation of soil organic substances, energy consumption from pumping stations, and the extensive use of hydrocarbon fuels in agriculture. Although urbanisation is limited in the Po delta plain, this area appears nowadays largely shaped by human activities, with the dominance of lands devoted to agriculture, dissected by a dense network of draining channels. The landscape changes recorded in the last two centuries in the Po coastal plain have been uniquely driven by human activities, like in several coastal plains worldwide.
AnthropoceneEarth and Planetary Sciences-Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
CiteScore
6.30
自引率
0.00%
发文量
27
审稿时长
102 days
期刊介绍:
Anthropocene is an interdisciplinary journal that publishes peer-reviewed works addressing the nature, scale, and extent of interactions that people have with Earth processes and systems. The scope of the journal includes the significance of human activities in altering Earth’s landscapes, oceans, the atmosphere, cryosphere, and ecosystems over a range of time and space scales - from global phenomena over geologic eras to single isolated events - including the linkages, couplings, and feedbacks among physical, chemical, and biological components of Earth systems. The journal also addresses how such alterations can have profound effects on, and implications for, human society. As the scale and pace of human interactions with Earth systems have intensified in recent decades, understanding human-induced alterations in the past and present is critical to our ability to anticipate, mitigate, and adapt to changes in the future. The journal aims to provide a venue to focus research findings, discussions, and debates toward advancing predictive understanding of human interactions with Earth systems - one of the grand challenges of our time.