Transformation of the Slovak Cultural Landscape Since the 18th Cent. and its Recent Trends
The paper is focused on a long-term development of the selected Slovak cultural landscape types (plains, basins, uplands, highlands, and mountains) in approx. 200 years, which shaped the main land use features as well as on the recent transformation trends. The land use development analyses showed that from a long term view perspective several distinct periods can be distinguished. Each of these periods was characteristic for certain land use changes depending both on the landscape character or the socioeconomic situation. The recent trends as land use intensification (intense agriculture, sub-urbanisation, industrial construction) or land use extensification (agricultural land overgrowing) are considered to be common for the entire Slovak territory. Special transformation trends reflect more local conditions, human needs and preferences (construction of water reservoirs, wind calamities or tourism resorts) and though they are spatially isolated and small they influence the majority of Slovak inhabitants.
The soil production attributes of historical agrarian terraced fields were examined in the Budina cadastral area of the Ostrozky Mountains. This landscape represents a unique sub-mountainous Carpathian landscape with farms that use a historically preserved triple-field agricultural system. We determined the geo-spatial parameters of different types of land cover and terraces using geographic information systems. The soil depth was measured in the field, and the skeleton content was determined in the laboratory. We compared data regarding the potential production capabilities of the soil with data from the national classification of agricultural soils. Our results indicated that the soil productivity attributes improved because the naturally less fertile cambisols were positively affected by terracing and long-term cultivation. We recommend the preservation of traditional agricultural activities in historical terraced fields because these terraces represent valuable features that improve the quality of the landscape.
Flood protection is considered one of the crucial regulating ecosystem services due to climate change and extreme weather events. As an ecosystem service, it combines the results of hydrological and ecosystem research and their implementation into land management and/or planning processes including several formally separated economic sectors. As managerial and economic interests often diverge, successful decision-making requires a common denominator in form of monetary valuation of competing trade-offs. In this paper, a methodical approach based on the monetary value of the ecosystem service provided by the ecosystem corresponding to its actual share in flood regulating processes and the value of the property protected by this service was developed and demonstrated based on an example of a medium size mountain basin (290 ha). Hydrological modelling methods (SWAT, HEC-RAS) were applied for assessing the extent of floods with different rainfalls and land uses. The rainfall threshold value that would cause flooding with the current land use but that would be safely drained if the basin was covered completely by forest was estimated. The cost of the flood protection ecosystem service was assessed by the method of non-market monetary value for estimating avoided damage costs of endangered infrastructure and calculated both for the current and hypothetical land use. The results identify areas that are crucial for water retention and that deserve greater attention in management. In addition, the monetary valuation of flood protection provided by the current but also by hypothetical land uses enables competent and well-formulated decision-making processes.
Climate change affects the urban population’s health and quality of life. Urban green spaces (UGS) underpin several essential ecosystem services, amongst them climate regulation. Urban vegetation mitigates high temperatures and, thus, reduces the heat stress for urban residents. The study aimed to verify whether the Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) effect manifests itself even in a medium size town (Zvolen, Slovakia) surrounded by agricultural and forested landscape and to quantify the temperature mitigating effect of urban green spaces. Land surface temperature (LST) and SUHI distribution were derived from the Landsat data during the summer months of 2010–2021. To statistically prove the cooling effect of the urban vegetation, we tested (by one-way ANOVA) LST within three urban zones of the Zvolen municipality defined by the Copernicus imperviousness density data: (a) dense urban area (31–100% impervious surfaces), (b) discontinuous urban area (1–30% impervious surfaces), (c) urban green spaces (0% impervious surfaces), and the open land surrounding the town (0% impervious surfaces). The results showed a statistical difference in temperatures between all urban areas (all zones) and the open land. Moreover, the UGS temperature was statistically different compared to the other urban zones. The mean temperature difference through the years 2010–2021 between urban green spaces and the dense urban area was 3.5 °C, with a maximum of 4.9 °C and a minimum 1.7 °C in favor of the urban spaces. Moreover, the temperature of urban green spaces and open land varied during the studied summer period. The warmer the weather, the higher the difference, while at the end of August, on a notably colder day, there was no significant difference between them. The results confirmed that UGS are significantly cooler during hot days, and they can mitigate the local climate.
Mushrooming is a widespread leisure activity for a significant part of the Slovak population. From the point of view of the ecosystem services, it combines a provisioning service (mushrooms as food or delicacies) and a cultural service (mushroom picking as physical activity in nature). For urban residents, the forest is a refuge from the daily work routine, and mushrooming contributes significantly to improving their quality of life. For mushroom pickers living in rural areas, the occurrence and availability of mushroom harvesting sites are often even more important since it contributes to their diet or even provides an occasional income. We summarised the ecological preferences of selected ectomycorrhizal mushrooms and applied them as parameters for modelling the potential of forest stands for mushroom growing in central Slovakia. In the second step, we analysed the theoretical demand for wild mushrooms as a subsistence provisioning service for the local population with a special focus on socially disadvantaged inhabitants. The results showed that there is a spatial overlap of forest stands with a high potential for mushroom growing and the districts with the highest proportion of unemployment or of inhabitants receiving social benefits, and the best mushroom forest stands are situated within walking distance from the settlements. This supports the initial assumption that wild mushrooms may contribute to a better life for disadvantaged local communities.
Wood pastures represent specific ecosystems across Europe with diverse ecological, agricultural, and socioeconomic roles. Land-use changes and the cessation of traditional management in conjunction with socioeconomic changes led to shifts in their spatiotemporal distribution. Despite a recent increase in scientific interest, data on historical patterns of wood pastures in many European locations remain insufficient. This study presents wood-pasture habitat continuity and analyzes changes in their distribution over space and time in selected parts of Slovakia. Simultaneously, we analyzed the relation of wood pastures to selected environmental and landscape features. To achieve this, we examined the historical distribution of wood pastures using aerial imagery from the 1950s. We thoroughly examined an area of 16,209 km2 to identify preserved wood pastures. To identify the present conditions and the spatial distribution of wood-pasture habitats, we compared the historical data with recent ortophotomaps. Based on landscape–ecological analyses of historical distribution, we determined prevailing environmental conditions of wood-pasture locations. The findings reveal that over 90% of wood pastures from the first half of the 20th century have now been lost or encroached and preserved in the form of a closed-canopy forest. In most of the encroached sites, we identified the presence of vital core veteran trees. For the identification of wood pastures and further analyses of the environmental variables, the ArcGIS 10.3 program was used; the R software was used for all statistical evaluations. The results show that the studied wood pastures were not established randomly, but were rather set within a certain landscape context, characterized by elevation, soil quality, and distance from settlements.
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