Ecological assessment of three lowland landscape areas based on botanical and ornithological indicators
Abstract
An effecient tool for the decision-makers is the comparative analysis and valuation of the different landscapes and landscape units, which contributes to the creation of the good land-use decisions. In this study we compared some ecological state indicators (vegetation-based natural capital index, diferrent biodiversity index of farmland bird species) in the case of three similar lowland regions in Hungary. The main question of our investigation was to see if these indicators observe the landscape in a similar way. Based on our results we found that these indicators provided different evaluations about landscapes. Although the vegetation-based natural capital index increased, the two biodiversity index of bird species showed significant decrease. The differences are probably in the way how birds and plants evaluate the landscape, particularly at large scale. A detailed understanding of the contra-intuitive characteristics of these indicators would demand further studies.
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