Landscape history of Bükkös Stream (Visegrád Mountains, Central Hungary) in the last 257 years: changes in woody vegetation

Abstract

Urban sections of watercourses are increasingly valued today, especially if accompanied by trees. In many places, their reconstruction is beginning, for which it is essential to understand their formation and history. We studied the changes of woody vegetation and landscape use on the basis of military and cadastral maps from the 18th to the 20th century, aerial photographs from the second half of the 20th century, photographic records from the 20th and 21st century and satellite images from the 21st century in relation to the changes of the riverbed morphology along the Bükkös Stream in Visegrád Mountains (Central Hungary), thus tracing the changes over a period of 257 years. A review of descriptions in local publications of landscape use, and particularly the associated riverbed adjustments, helped to build up a detailed picture. The band of woody vegetation along the stream is still visible in the middle reaches of the stream on the 1765 boundary survey map but was absent for a considerable length by the 1780s. Thereafter, from the 1880s to the 1970s, the stream bank was forested along its entire length, except for the downtown section in Szentendre. In some stretches alder groves have developed, in others alder-dominated or mixed woodland strips thrived, while elsewhere alder has failed to re-establish or persist due to maintenance or previous forestry and flood defence works. In the upper sections of the stream valley, oak, beech, and ravine and scree slope forests may have been, and still are, present. Spontaneous regeneration of woody vegetation along the stream depends on the species involved, their dispersal pattern, the underlying environmental conditions and the morphology of the stream bed and valley. The results can contribute to the planning and implementation of process-based habitat restoration, which has now become an objective of the local government.