We are pleased to present you the latest monograph "Forest cover changes and landscape sustainability – a retrospective study in cultural borderland" edited by Jan Marek Matuszkiewicz. It is the first book in our Institute to be published in an electronic version only. The authors of the monograph are employees of the Department of Geoecology and Climatology. 

The work deals with historical changes in sustainable development and more precisely the relationship between the environment and society over 200 years on the border of Mazovia (Kurpie) and former East Prussia (Masuria). The analysis was based mainly on the historical topographical maps dating back to the late 1700s and the contemporary map of potential natural vegetation. Cartographic materials processed with GIS tools allowed for the analysis of the sequences of deforestation and afforestation, indicators of forest landscape diversity (regarding the habitat conditions) as well as socio-political differences in the Masurian and Kurpie regions. Environmental changes were juxtaposed with changes in the well-being of the local farming community that was characterized by the population density, number of farms and livestock. It was shown that the degree of sustainability of the "environment – farming society" system was changing very clearly over 200 years, both in Masuria and Kurpie, however these changes did not occur synchronously due to the different history of the regions.

As part of supporting Open Science, the book is available free of charge on the RCiN platform. Enjoy reading!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction – Research assumptions (Marek Degórski)

1. Physical-geographical characteristics of the borderland of Masuria and Kurpie (Jacek Wolski)
2. Prussian, Russian and Polish cartography of the borderland of Masuria and Kurpie (Jacek Wolski)
3. Elaboration of the cartographic materials for the purposes of analysis of changes in forest cover (Jacek Wolski)
4. Potential natural vegetation – the basis for habitat characterisation and its relation to geological substratum and regional variation (Jan Marek Matuszkiewicz, Jerzy Solon, Anna Kozłowska, Anna Kowalska)
5. Deforestation and afforestation processes of the Masuria-Kurpie borderland (Jan Marek Matuszkiewicz, Anna Kowalska)
6. Changes in forest cover regarding historical regions and habitat types (Jan Marek Matuszkiewicz, Anna Kowalska)
7. Directions of historical landscape changes – fragmentation and consolidation of forests in the years 1800-2000 within the Masuria-Kurpie borderland (Jerzy Solon)
8. The history of human impact on forests of the Masuria-Kurpie borderland (Joanna Plit, Ryszard Wojciech Pawlicki)
9. Pressure from wild ungulates upon the forests of the Masuria-Kurpie borderland (Jan Marek Matuszkiewicz, Jerzy Solon, Bożenna Grabińska)
10. Hunting exploitation of the ungulates, now and in the past – a factor impacting ecosystem services (Jan Marek Matuszkiewicz, Bożenna Grabińska)
11. The concept and model of Sustainable Forest Distribution – SuFoD (Andrzej Affek)
12. Forest ecosystems and rural communities – components and indicators of sustainable development (Jan Marek Matuszkiewicz, Jerzy Solon, Anna Kowalska)
13. Assessment of historical changes in landscape sustainability based on selected indirect indicators (Jan Marek Matuszkiewicz, Jerzy Solon, Anna Kowalska)
14. Social-ecological analysis – in search of the best criteria for sustainable development (Jan Marek Matuszkiewicz, Anna Kowalska)