The influence of socio-geographical exposure and other factors on the extensification processes of land use

The main topic of the dissertation thesis is the evaluation of the influence of socio- geographical exposure and other factors (natural: altitude, inclination of slopes, productivity of land) on the extensification processes of the land use in Czechia in the period of more than 160 years, 1845-2010. Emphasis is also placed on the associated losses of agricultural and arable land, given that afforestation and increase of grassland took place essentially at the expense of that land. The main data source is the "Database of long-term land use changes in Czechia (1845-2010)", LUCC Czechia, based on cadastral records. It is a detailed monitoring which covers almost 9,000 so-called stable territorial units. Both the extensification processes and the overall intensity of land use (using the coefficient of ecological importance) are evaluated. Given that most of the Czechia's territory is still used as agricultural land, the thesis also includes an overview of the evolution of the selected agricultural intensity indicators. Attention is likewise paid to the wider context of land use changes at the European level. The essential part of the thesis is to build models of socio-geographical exposure of Czechia, which are comparable with the data on land use in the time horizons of 1845, 1896, 1948, 1990 and..