Abstract
Intensified utilization of the landscape represents one of the main drivers of global environmental change. Intensive landscape exploitation usually decreases biological diversity and triggers processes like soil depletion and consolidation, erosion, eutrophication, water regime disturbance etc. (Opdam et al., 2006).
These disruptions of the landscape functions and services affect ecological stability of the landscape in terms of its resilience and resistance ability (de Groot, 2006, Jongman et al., 2004, Lipský, 2000). However, the landscape qualities are essential for local ecological and environmental conditions as for the creation of the local culture.
Besides, the landscape functions and services determine delivery of substantial benefits to human society (MA, 2005). Availability of these benefits with great ecological, socio-cultural and economic value (de Groot, 2006) requires a management maintaining the landscape capacity to provide them.
To demonstrate how intensive land use and quality of the environment interact and how the interactions influence landscape functions and services, this study introduces integrated landscape analysis of the Czech agricultural region Cezava. Firstly, the research analyzes long term land use changes.
In a second step, it assesses an impact of changes on environmental conditions of the study area. Then, by the ecosystem services analysis, the study describes remediation capacity of existing and proposed ecological networks in the study region.