No abstract

Earthworms are a major component of soil fauna communities. They influence soil chemical, biological, and physical processes and vice versa, their abundance and diversity are influenced by natural characteristics or land management practices. There is need to establish their characteristics and relations. In this study earthworm density (ED), body biomass (EB), and diversity in relation to land use (arable land-AL, permanent grasslands-PG), management, and selected abiotic (soil chemical, physical, climate related) and biotic (arthropod density and biomass, ground beetle density, carabid density) indicators were analysed at seven different study sites in Slovakia. On average, the density of earthworms was nearly twice as high in PG compared to AL. Among five soil types used as arable land, Fluvisols created the most suitable conditions for earthworm abundance and biomass. We recorded a significant correlation between ED, EB and soil moisture in arable land. In permanent grasslands, the main climate related factor was soil temperature. Relationships between earthworms and some chemical properties (pH, available nutrients) were observed only in arable land. Our findings indicate trophic interaction between earthworms and carabids in organically managed arable land. Comprehensive assessment of observed relationships can help in earthworm management to achieve sustainable agricultural systems.

Throughout Europe, grasslands are managed primarily for agricultural production but also provide a range of ecosystem services, the magnitude of which is influenced by their area, management and the abiotic properties of the ecosystem. The grassland area in Europe has been affected by significant changes in recent decades, including abandonment and conversion to arable land. This study presents an assessment of changes in the permanent grassland area with reference to Slovakia and provides an assessment of the bioenergy potential of permanent grassland surplus to agricultural needs. In 2015, of the total permanent grassland area (868,000 ha) 42% had ceased to be used as feed for milk or meat production and had been abandoned. Results from field experiments show that low-level improvement of permanent grasslands, e.g., by oversowing commonly sown agricultural grassland species and low-dose fertilization (up to 30 kg N ha À1 year À1) could provide herbage biomass of 1.7 million tonnes of herbage dry matter per year. This would be sufficient to generate an energy output of approximately 31.3-31.9 PJ/year (4.5% of the current gross inland energy consumption of Slovakia). Low-intensity use of the currently surplus permanent grassland is also considered to have potential beneficial outcomes in terms of delivery of ecosystem services. Results are also discussed in the context of countries beyond the case-study area.

Makovníková J., Kobza J., Pálka B., Mališ J., Kanianska R., Kizeková M. (2016): An approach to mapping the potential of cultural agroecosystem services. Soil & Water Res., 11: 44-52.A system for evaluating outdoor recreation as a cultural agroecosystem service is presented. Every agroecosystem presumably has the potential for providing some kind of outdoor recreation. Two approaches to mapping the recreation potential were used and compared -the Social Values for Ecosystem Services (SolVES) model and the regional model (RegMOD). From the possibilities of recreation activities, hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing were chosen. The comparison of the two approaches showed that the RegMOD incorporates a wider range of categories than the SolVES model, particularly for hiking. The robust character of the SolVES model is reflected by narrowing the spectrum of categories of this recreation activity. The differences in the map view are marked in the case of biking and cross-country skiing. Overall, the grasslands of the study area in Slovakia offer mainly medium relevant capacity (53.90% by the results of the SolVES, 64.90% by the results of the RegMOD) for providing selected outdoor recreation activities. The less productive (53.88% of all non-productive grasslands by the results of the SolVES, 48.00% by the results of the RegMOD) and non-productive grasslands represent a higher relevant capacity (41.18% of all non-productive grasslands by the results of the SolVES, 54.40% by the results of the RegMOD) for providing outdoor recreation activities. This brings about a new view of their management as well as use. The RegMOD developed in this paper is replicable and could be applied by managers mainly at the regional level on condition of their proficiency in geographical information systems.

The 2013 reform of the European Common Agricultural Policy tries to support farmers willing to follow environment-friendly rural practices, by the so called "green payment". Within this framework, it is suggested that governments and regions should maintain a certain ratio of the area of permanent grasslands to the total Utilized Agricultural Area according to the greening rules of the reform. However, the weak economic performance of permanent grasslands does not encourage farmers to invest into their conservation. This fact persuaded us to revisit our old unpublished data, obtained by experiments on the use of chemical fertilizers in permanent grasslands. By this reanalysis we hope to further support the new European policy with the perspective to find a trade-off between the conservation of the biodiversity and the economic productivity of permanent grasslands. Of the many possibilities we have chosen to present the results of two experiments, one in Italy and the other in Slovakia. The main reason for this choice was that these two studies followed complementary strategies of fertilization that appeared useful to detect both the single and the synergistic effects of N, P, and K on the relationships between yield and species diversity. The results of cluster and diversity analysis suggest that chemical fertilization should be carefully planned according to soil conditions, since different treatments may have the same effect on the floristic and vegetation patterns of grasslands. These results, according to similarity theory, allow to choose the least expensive and polluting combination of N, P and K from those that, according to the species combinations, are assigned to the same cluster.