Comparison of landscape structure changes in the Czech and Slovac Republic after 1990

Downfall of communist regime from 1989 brought fundamental changes to the political, social and economic system in post-socialist countries and influenced changes in landscape and its structure. The objective of this thesis was comparison of landscape structure changes in Czech Republic and Slovakia after 1990 by means of chosen spatial indices and identify key processes leading to changes of land cover. CORINE Land Cover database was used to derive landscape changes in the period 1990-2000 in Czech republic and Slovakia. According to analysis, suburbanisation, extensification and intensification of agriculture as well as afforestation have been recognised as the most important processes in the study areas. Results demonstrated significant diferences in intensity of individual processes and their impact on landscape heterogeneity in both countries. In Slovakia, the most intense changes have been made by the processes of afforestation in mountain and submontane areas in the central and north part of the country. This led mostly to increase in landscape heterogeneity. Oppositely, the most intense processes of extensification of agriculture in border areas of Czech Republic led mainly to spatial homogenization of landscape. Thus, results refer to various socioeconomic and natural factors which..