How historical land use/land cover changes affected ecosystem services in lake Pamvotis, Greece

Historic land changes reflect human pressure in aquatic ecosystems. The value of littoral and riparian zones for lakes is of outmost importance for their hydrology, ecology and support of ecosystem services. The last 75 years altered the landscape mosaic of Lake Pamvotis affecting those habitats. In such an ancient, urban, Mediterranean shallow lake, historic black and white aerial photographs and satellite images were screened in 25 years timestep, from 1945 for extracting land use/land cover changes. The classification took place in two buffer zones (50 m and 500 m). The changes are assessed with respect to their possible impact in water-related ecosystem services. Ecosystem services values were further calculated historically along with landscape ecology indices. The research revealed an extreme landscape makeover until 1995 with detrimental effects in the riparian habitats, with augmented pressure in the 0-50 m buffer. Artificial areas covered 21% in 1995 when in 1945 they occupied only 9%. Total area ecosystem services values rised at the expense of some provisioning and regulating services. As for landscape homogenization and fragmentation, it was already affected by human. Through this research, new ways of studying water bodies can be developed, by following the pressures' and alterations' evolution, aiming at better urban and management planning.

Automated summary

This study revealed drastic landscape changes in Lake Pamvotis in the past 75 years, with riparian habitats being significantly impacted. The increase in artificial areas led to a decrease in some ecosystem services, while the overall ecosystem services value increased. Additionally, landscape homogenization and fragmentation have already been affected by human activities.