Maps of persistent forests of the Polish Carpathians 1860-2023

The dataset contains two maps of the persistent forests created by combining historical maps with remote sensing data to identify areas characterized by forest continuity dating back to the 1860s, assuming these forests have persisted for much longer. Such persistent forests are likely to have developed complexity and habitat characteristics comparable to old-growth or primary forests and thus may have high conservation value. We used two approaches to identify persistent forests. In the first approach, persistent forests were defined as those that existed in both the oldest (1860s) and the most recent (2023) forest cover maps (persistent forests - bitemporal analysis). In the second approach, persistent forests were defined as those that persisted across the full set of historical and contemporary datasets (1860s, 1930s, 1970s, 2013, and 2023; persistent forests - multitemporal analysis). Forests that existed in 2023 but were absent in at least one previous period are considered non-persistent. The analysis covers the entire territory of the Polish Carpathians (20,000 km2). Online, quick look version of the data is available at https://tinyurl.com/ForestsPL AcknowledgementsThe study was part of a project that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 952327.本数据集包含两张永久森林（persistent forests）分布图，通过整合历史地图与遥感数据构建而成，用于识别可追溯至19世纪60年代的森林连续分布区域，并假设此类森林的存续时间更为久远。这类永久森林大概率已演化出与原始林或原生林相当的群落复杂性与生境特征，因此具备较高的保护价值。 我们采用两种方法识别永久森林。第一种方法将永久森林定义为同时出现在最早（19世纪60年代）与最新（2023年）森林覆盖图中的区域（永久森林——双时相（bitemporal）分析）；第二种方法将永久森林定义为在全部历史与当代数据集（19世纪60年代、1930年、1970年、2013年及2023年）中均持续存在的区域（永久森林——多时相（multitemporal）分析）。2023年存在但至少在一个此前时段缺失的森林被归类为非永久森林。本分析覆盖波兰喀尔巴阡山脉全境，总面积达20000平方千米。 该数据的在线快速预览版本可访问https://tinyurl.com/ForestsPL。致谢：本研究隶属于获得欧盟“地平线2020”研究与创新计划资助的项目，项目编号为952327。