Land cover temporal evolution in Northeastern Corfu Island

This paper explores the possibility of analyzing the diachronical change of land cover and thus grassland transition in Corfu Island through the usage of 18th century Venetian cadastral maps and modern orthophotomaps. GIS software was used to integrate the historical cadastral and modern maps and analyze the impact of physiographic factors of the landscapes, such as altitude, slope and aspect on land cover change. The cadastral maps that were used determined three study areas: the landscapes of Spartillas, Episkepsi and Socraki areas. In 18th century the land cover in all study areas consisted of grasslands, shrublands, agricultural areas and mixed areas, creating diverse heterogenic landscapes. At that time, the impact of aspect proved fairly important, especially at the northern orientated landscapes of Episkepsi and Sokraki areas. Northern aspects in particular, were more likely to be dominated by natural grasslands and shrublands than agricultural land due to the negative effect of the ‘Boras’ local cold wind on agriculture. Venetians had a significant impact on the landscape by the reinforcement of olive groves, which expanded to their biological height limit. That is clearly illustrated in Spartillas landscape evolution to the 20th century, where the expansion of agricultural land (olive groves) took place over the grasslands. Episkepsi area evolved into a homogeneous agricultural landscape of olive groves, while Socraki area turned out to be more diverse. Overall, the methodology that was used in this paper is suitable for investigating long-term land cover changes with sufficient accuracy.