Landscape changes in the Carpathians are related to centuries of human activity, which can be regarded as the key component of global change. Changes in mountainous regions are mainly caused by agriculture, urbanization, forest cutting for production and land abandonment. This paper aimed to assess the impact of natural and historical-cultural factors on forest ecosystem transformations occurred in the period 1848-2014 in two small areas (about 45 km2) on the Beskid Mountains (southern Poland). The comparison of historical and current maps, along with the application of GIS and field verification, allowed a full interpretation of changes in land use in the studied areas. A decrease of 58.0% in non-forest areas was observed in the considered period, while the forested area grew systematically by 28.3% and the forest-field boundary lowered in altitude. Current forest ecosystems are distributed as a mosaic and mainly consist of Dentario glandulosae-Fagetum, Luzulo nemorosae-Fagetum, Abieti-Piceetum montanum, with logged sites taking up large areas. Forest ecosystems include valuable semi-natural meadows such as Gladiolo-Agrostietum, Hieracio-Nardetum, Arrhenatheretum medioeuropaeum, Cirsietum rivularis or Juncetum effusi, whose extension is reducing and fragmentation increasing due to the recolonization of forest tree species after abandonment. We concluded that trends in land use in the Carpathians were mainly determined by non-environmental factors related to the development of farming-pasturing and forest management. The applied approach could be extended to other regions in the Carpathians which were subject to analogous historical-cultural influences. Moreover, our results allow for a comparison with other regions which are subject to similar impacts of natural processes, but to different impact of historical and cultural processes.

Detailed analyses were conducted of human impact on juniper forest landscapes occurring within the Zarafshan Range (Pamir-Alay). Juniperus seravschanica and J. semiglobosa belong to forest-forming species in Central Asia. At present, juniper forests all over Tajikistan are seriously threatened as a result of excessive logging and cattle grazing. The aim of this paper is to present juniper forest transformation as a result of human activities as well as the diversity of soil properties in the organic and humus horizons in the altitudinal system of soil zonation. Three groups of phytocoenoses were distinguished: those with a dominant share of Juniperus seravschanica; those with a dominant share of J. semiglobosa; and mixed. Associations with Juniperus seravschanica and J. semiglobosa feature several variants of phytocoenoses with dominant species: Artemisia lehmanniana, A. dracunculus, Eremurus olgae, Festuca sulcata, Ligularia thomsonii, Stipa turkestanica, Thymus seravschanicus, and Ziziphora pamiroalaica. The collected soil samples differ in their granulometric composition. Gravelly cobble fractions >2 mm are dominant; the share of sandy particles <2 mm is much lower (about 10–20%). Fraction 0.5–0.05 attains 35% on average. The Corg content of the soil varied from 0.26 to 11.40% in the humus horizon (A) and from 4.3 to 25% in the organic (O). Similar relationships were reported in the case of Ntot concentration. A clear relationship can be observed between concentrations of Corg and Ntot. Soil pH varied, ranging from very low acidic (pH 5.5) to neutral (pH 8.5). The content of available P varied; high concentrations were noted in organic (O) (40.46–211 mg kg⁻¹) and mixed horizons (OA) (2.61–119 mg kg⁻¹). Maximum accumulations of Pavail (1739.6 mg kg⁻¹) and Ptot (9696 mg kg⁻¹) were observed at a site heavily affected by intense grazing. Concentrations of Mgavail varied from 116 to 964 mg kg⁻¹. Most of the analysed soil profiles lacked an organic horizon; only thin humus occurred.