Kartlegging og tilstandsvurdering av vegetasjonstyper på Mølen. Er nåværende forvaltning tilstrekkelig for ivaretagelse av natur og vegetasjon?

Abstract

The thesis discover a particular nature- and cultural area in the county of Vestfold, Mølen in Larvik municipality. A large part of this area is an old cultural landscape which also has worthy preservations values within cultural history, geology, ornithology and vegetation. Throughout field work the vegetation types of Mølen are mapped, and based on this data a vegetation map is constructed in GIS. In this way the vegetation type, their size and extensiveness are examined. Aerial photos, interview and field surveys are used to discover the vegetation dynamic and change in the human utilization in the time perspective between 1947 and 2012. Based on this data there is exposed that a lot of the vegetation has change from grasslands and low growing shrubs to tall growing shrubs, scattered trees and two separated forests. Mølen among other areas are included in a regulation plan, but the plan doesn't include this processes. Collected data also determine that the regulation plan is insufficient according to the national and international purposes for preserving cultural and natural values. A condition estimation is done on vegetation types that are characteristic for the area or occupy a great extensiveness. To expose a condition in these vegetation types, different estimates tools that's discover the processes which lead to a condition change are used. Used estimate tools are: area, utilization regime, forestation, vegetation reduction caused by mechanical erosion, regional important species, physical intervention, tree strata successional condition, density of tree strata, numbers of tree strata, and regeneration. By combing the results from the condition estimate, it has been clarified that Mølens vegetation types consist in different conditions. Other methods used to collect data under the fieldwork are mapping of vegetation types, GPS used to mark the vegetation and camera used to take photos. Five transect analyses are done transversely over footpaths and five transects are done for analyses of the change of vegetation types all over the field area. To comprehend earlier human activities interviews of local farmers is done. Through adobe illustrator and paint the data from vegetation types transects is presented.