Evaluation of land cover changes after extraordinary windstorm by using the land cover metrics : a case study on the High Tatras foothill =Hodnotenie zmien krajinnej pokrývky po mimoriadnej víchrici s využitím krajinnoekologických indexov : príkladová štúdia úpätia Vysokých Tatier

Abstract

On the 19th November 2004, a wind disaster caused extensive damages, especially in the forests of the Tatra National Park. Despite that windstorm consequences of natural processes impact the spatial structure of landscape excessively, their studies have been subject only to a minor interest so far. The aim of this paper is to characterize the land cover changes in the Štrbské Pleso - Tatranská Lesná area, before the wind disaster and after its impacts have been processed. We also analyze the relationship between wind-caused damages to the vegetation and the natural landscape structure, using various landscape metrics.