Assessing the spatial dynamics of grassland in the Northeastern part of Romania after 199

Grassland spatial dynamics are seen as a consequence of both natural and anthropogenic factors. Regarding our study region, grasslands are defined through a local pattern, mainly triggered by landform distribution and the socio-political evolution, reflected in land use changes. Spread along cuesta hillslopes and river floodplains, grasslands have faced a tough historical evolution through several land reforms and successive political regime transitions. Facing an intensification of agriculture during the inter-war period, and surpassing an extensification over the communist epoch (1946-1989), the grassland areas have suffered various changes in matters of pattern, typology, and spatiality. After 1990 the over-fragmentation of land uses occurred mainly due to the restoration of the legality of a vast number of heirs. Further, land abandonment has been triggered by social and economic disparities. Into the 2000s, agriculture is becoming a main source of income, and the grassland is registering the highest levels of dynamics, due to the post-communist urban exodus. Following, after the EU inclusion, and once with economic growth, the agricultural perspectives have changed and the grassland dynamics diminished. Through all the structural changes that grasslands endured, they have bravely recovered and maintained the natural biodiversity, despite accomplishing all the human needs through repeated conversion. Relying on CORINE Land Cover data, this scientific attempt is meant to identify all the connections between land-use evolution and grassland spatial dynamics in the Northeastern part of Romania.