Monitoring land use/land cover transformations from 1945 to 2007 in two peri-urban mountainous areas of Athens metropolitan area, Greece (original) (raw)

This study investigates land use and land cover (LULC) changes in the Parnitha and Penteli mountains of Athens, Greece, over a 62-year span from 1945 to 2007. Utilizing aerial photographs, transition matrices were computed for three periods: 1945-1960, 1960-1996, and 1996-2007. Key findings include the consistent dominance of forest areas in Parnitha, with significant transformations involving shrublands and transitional woodlands, while Penteli exhibited more diverse land cover shifts. The analysis highlighted differences in LULC transitions, attributing changes to human activities and socio-economic developments, which facilitated a deeper understanding of environmental changes in sensitive Mediterranean ecosystems.