Aerial laser scanning reveals the dynamics of cropland abandonment in Poland

Abstract

Understanding the patterns of cropland abandonment is important when formulating policies that can limit negative and facilitate positive outcomes of abandonment. We present a new approach to determining the dynamics of this phenomenon using aerial laser scanning (ALS) data. Assuming that the height of trees correlates with their age made it possible to reconstruct the dynamics of cropland abandonment in the roughly 30-year period preceding the date of the measurements. The variability of forest cover growth over time can be represented by a curve similar in shape to a Gaussian function or a curve resulting from overlapping two or more individual curves shifted in time. The presented research shows that a single ALS measurement can be useful in the process of assessing the current extent of cropland abandonment, the dynamics of its changes in the past, and short-term forecasting of changes in the future.