Evaluation of Agricultural Landscapes in the Poznań Region of Poland

The Poznań region contains some of the most intensively utilized agricultural areas. This fact creates conditions for observation and definition of the influence of intensive agricultural production on the landscape and the differentiation of the existing ecosystems. In the years 1990-1992, studies were carried out here aimed at the development of a detailed method of landscape inventory and evaluation. Such a method would permit the preparation of landscape studies for large areas where land improvement and land management are taking place. These studies, in turn, would allow us to ensure protection of the most valuable elements of nature and landscape. The studies have been carried out so far on six objects covering a total area of about 2000 ha. The objects are situated in different physico-geographical regions: they include outwashes, moraine flats and wavy upland, as well as river valleys and the surroundings of lakes. The studies were carried out on the basis of topographic maps at a 1:10 000 scale, i.e. at a scale significantly more precise than those used in regional planning and geographical studies. In the inventory of the landscape, the focus was placed on the unification of the description of three basic elements, i.e. water courses, glacier ponds and afforestations. The inventory in the field was carried out on standard forms. For examples, the inventory card of a glacier pond contains data about its area and shape, its depth and water-level oscillations, configuration and utilization of the surrounding area, connection with the hydrographic network, water quality, bottom substrate, water and waterside vegetation and the afforestation. A standard arrangement of data permits us to carry out an evaluation of the landscape elements by a scoring method. In this basis, the evaluation of the area has been carried out across a range of geocomplexes (micro drainage basins).