The actual landuse and the vegetation changes within the last few decades are compared in two regions with similar physical conditions: the Alb-valley around Bernau (Black Forest) and the Chajoux-valley near La Bresse (Vosges). It has been analyzed, whether parallel or divergent trends occur according to location and political conditions. Methods were a remote sense guided mapping of the present landuse and the vegetation formations, as well as retrospective conclusions about earlier landscape structures based upon an interpretation of historical air-photographs. Data about the agrosocial situation and the intensity of grassland farming were sampled by interviews. The own results are discussed in the context of the existing bibliographic records dealing with landscape transformations in both mountain areas. Both regions are quite identical regarding spatial patterns in the plant cover and in the percentages covered by forests, pasture ground and meadows. The tendencies in landscape changes during the 20th century (abandonment of arable land, increase of forest areas, intensification of pasture farming) are also similar. But they occur with a time lag in the french part. The modernisation of the agricultural landscape in the Vosges is delayed by one or two decades in comparison to the Black Forest and the pasture farming is not yet so intensive there. This results in meadow communities, richer in plant species, in pastures with more dwarf shrubs, and in a more dynamic forest-open land-border on the french side. The Chajoux-valley has a finer grain in landscape pattern and more multifunctional landuse types. Finally, the change of paradigms in the evaluation of the landscape potential during the 20th century is being discussed by the example of the winged broom-plant community (Festuco-Genistetum).
Archives of Nature Conservation and Landscape Research
Volume 41, 2002 - Issue 1