Trends in the development of Estonian coastal land cover and landscapes caused by natural changes and human impact Reimo Rivis 1,2 & Are Kont 1 & Urve Ratas 1 & Valdeko Palginõmm 2 & Kait Antso 2 & Hannes Tõnisson 1 Received: 24 October 2012 /Revised: 26 August 2015 /Accepted: 3 March 2016 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016 Abstract The structure of coastal land cover in Estonia is intricate and exhibits considerable differences from site to site. The diverse geomorphology of the seashores is one of the key factors affecting the speed and magnitude of land cover changes. Likewise, the history of human inhabitance on the coast has also shaped the character of land cover. The Estonian coastal zone has experienced abrupt and radical changes in land ownership and its related land use during the last century. The main objectives of this paper are: 1) to give an overview of land use and the trends of development of land cover pat- tern along different parts of the Estonian coast; and 2) to an- alyze the relationships of natural and human processes and their cumulative impact on the evolution of coastal land cover pattern in Estonia. This study is based on results obtained during fieldwork in the study areas and on the analysis of large-scale (1:10,000) historical maps. In agriculturally dom- inant coastal areas, the traditional open landscape of fields and grassland at the beginning of the 20th century had been re- placed by woodland and grasslands with shrubs by the start of the 21st century. Expansion of reed beds in areas of former seashore grasslands is another striking phenomenon. The structure of land cover on forested coasts has been fairly stable during the last 100 years. Areas of urban sprawl are characterised by dramatic changes in land cover structure. Rapidly increasing population and expanding settlements im- poses on the ecological balance of the fragile dune forests in the coastal zone. Keywords Coastal landscape . Land cover pattern . Human impact . Baltic Sea Introduction All landscapes including coastal landscapes are dynamic and continuously changing systems. The coastal zone is special, because its natural processes occur on the border between the land and the sea. The coastal areas being formed and shaped by marine and terrestrial conditions have resulted in unique landscape types, ensuring high and concurrently fragile bio- logical diversity and productivity (Turner et al. 1996). Changes in landscapes are usually caused by both natural processes and human impact. Due to differences in physical conditions, biota and the intensity of human activity, the rela- tionships between natural and human-induced changes in landscape may vary greatly from site to site. The coastal landscapes of the Baltic Sea region are variable and show considerable regional differences. The northern part of the region is located on the Fennoscandian Shield, where erosion-resistant crystalline rocks outcrop on the emerging coast. Coastal areas south of the crystalline shield, consisting of sedimentary rocks overlain by Quaternary deposits, are subsiding tectonically. Estonia is situated in a transitional zone between these two areas, the coast of which consists of sedi- mentary rocks and is subject to land uplift. The uplift has caused the coastal zone in Estonia to emerge throughout the Holocene (last 10,000 years). At present, uplift ranges from 1.0 to 2.8 mm/year with the greatest uplift occurring on the north-western coast (Vallner et al. 1988). * Reimo Rivis Reimo.Rivis@tlu.ee 1 Institute of Ecology in Tallinn University, Uus-Sadama 5, Tallinn 10120, Estonia 2 Institute of Mathematics and Natural Sciences in Tallinn University, Uus-Sadama 5, Tallinn 10120, Estonia J Coast Conserv DOI 10.1007/s11852-016-0430-3