Human-environment interactions in two Karst catchments – Gradole (NW Croatia) and Ljubija springs (NE Slovenia)

Land use and settlement dynamics of two rural areas defined by the contact karst spring is the subject of this paper. The research area consists of the spring catchment of Ljubija in the northeast part of Slovenia and Gradole, the most water-rich spring in Istria (northwest Croatia), have been surveyed in terms of environmental conditions, and social and historic land use aspects. We used Statistical data and Geographic Information System (GIS) methods. Via a multidisciplinary approach we discovered that: 1) environmentally, both areas are actively managed due to drinking water resources—Gradole has 9.8% and Ljubija 8.9% of protected area; 2) data regarding social features showed that human pressure has not negatively influenced the natural settings and water supply vulnerability—the area of the Ljubija spring catchment has lower population density compared to the area of the Gradole spring catchment (1.4 inhabitants/km2 compared to 38.7 inhabitants/km2), but the Ljubija area has more pronounced growth in the number of households—I2020/1948 = 115 compared to I2020/1948 = 88.1 at the Gradole spring catchment; and 3) the limited regeneration abilities of the karst water bodies have been preserved by the prevailing share of forest—land use data showed 84.8% for Ljubija and 34.4% for Gradole.