Forest land-cover changes 2012-2018 in hunting grounds in Vojvodina

Abstract

Deforestation could influence land cover ecological significance in hunting grounds on a big scale. This research examines changes of forest and shrub patches in the Vojvodina region by a set of landscape metrics. The study area includes 154 hunting grounds from which hunting organizations are managing with 134 hunting grounds, PC "Vojvodinasume" with 17, Serbian Armed Forces with two, and National Park "Fruska gora" with one hunting ground. The results show that in the National Park and Serbian Armed Forces hunting grounds the broad-leaved forest areas occurred on the surfaces that were under the transitional woodland-shrub and vice versa. A similar situation is in the hunting grounds managed by PC ''Vojvodinasume'' where there is not only the most intensive logging of broad-leaved and coniferous forests but also the most intensive afforestation of mixed forests and transitional woodland-shrub. On the other hand, in the hunting grounds managed by hunting organizations, there is the highest area growth under the broad-leaved forest.