Indices of human impacts on landscapes: How do they reflect the proportions of natural habitats?

Abstract

Human activities significantly influence landscapes, altering natural habitats and ecosystem services. This study examines the relationship between human impacts, measured by the hemeroby index and coefficient of anthropogenic impact (CAI´), and the presence of natural habitats in the Czech Republic. Using CORINE land cover data and natural habitat mapping, we analysed national and regional scales to assess the effectiveness of these indicators in reflecting environmental changes. Compared with the simple anthropogenic impact coefficient (CAI´), the hemeroby index, which accounts for both the quantity and quality of ecosystems, provides more detailed insights. At the national level, both indices had an equally close relationship with the proportion of natural habitats, but at the regional level, the results for the hemeroby index were better. Our findings indicate a strong negative correlation between human impacts and the proportion of natural habitats, emphasizing the importance of refined indicators for environmental monitoring and policy-making. The advantage of both indices is that they could be easily calculated from satellite images and/or land cover data. Therefore, they could be used worldwide.