In recent years, rising temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns have a signifi cant impact on agriculture. This paper presents analyses of selected climatic characteristics of the South Moravian region. The evaluation was based on the data from the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute. Climatic data for future periods were gained using the A1B emission scenario. With regard to the agricultural activity of this region, climatic characteristics (average air temperature, heat waves, average precipitation and periods without precipitation) were selected and compared in the following three periods 1961-1990, 2021-2050 and 2071-2100. The results showed an increase of the average air temperature, increase in the number of tropical days and days in heat waves. It was also found that as a result of rising air temperatures and diff erent distribution of precipitation, the period of drought will signifi cantly prolong in the future. Very unfavourable climate situation is expected in the particular period of 2071-2100 in this region. Increasing drought, predicted by climate models, presents major problem for the agriculture of South Moravia. It is necessary to adapt to these anticipated changes not only in the agricultural activities but also in the landscape management in general.
Forest ecosystems are faced with a variety of threats, including increasingly prolonged droughts and other abiotic stresses such as extreme high temperatures, very strong wind, invasive insect outbreaks, and the rapid spread of pathogens. The aim of the study was to define crucial abiotic stressors affecting Central Europe forest ecosystems and, with regard to their possible simultaneous effect, develop a universal method of multi-hazard evaluation. The method was then applied to the particular area of interest represented by part of the Czech Republic with forest land cover (12–19 ° E, 48–51 ° N). Based on National Threat Analysis, the most significant threats of natural origin with a close relationship to forest stability were identified as drought, high temperature, and wind gusts. Using suitable indicators, a level of their risk based on occurrence and consequences was estimated. The resulting combined level of risk, divided into five categories, was then spatially expressed on a grid map. The novelty of our paper lies in: (i) all relevant climatic data were combined and evaluated simultaneously with respect to the different level of risk, (ii) the developed methodological road map enables an application of the method for various conditions, and (iii) multiple hazards were estimated for the case study area.
The paper presents the results of the study on participative mapping of landscape values and conflicts and a subsequent interpretation of the indicated localities from respondents’ point of view. The study focused on younger groups of landscape users—lower-secondary-school students (aged 11–15) and university students (aged 20–25)—in comparison with experts’ points of view. The research presumed that the perception of landscape values and issues are determined by age, level of education and by experience in the field. The study was conducted in the southeastern area of the Czech Republic (49° N, 16° E) via online data collection. Based on the obtained records, we conclude that, in terms of the typology of the valuable and problematic locations, the individual groups of respondents did not differ significantly and the selection of location types was similar across all groups. Lower-secondary-school students rather identified cultural values associated with everyday activities, and the descriptions contained emotional overtones. University students preferred natural values associated with formal values based on general consensus or conflicts associated with society-wide impacts. The experts base served as the benchmark for other groups.
Successful upscaling of the direct measurement of evapotranspiration at individual plant level to canopy level with specific microclimatic conditions has recently received considerable attention of scientific community. And since the knowledge of transpiration is among important inputs of various experiments on solitary plant level the paper employs the reverse approach – the downscaling from the canopy to individual plant. The main task of the study is thus to compare Penman–Monteith method of computing potential evapotranspiration with directly measured values of transpiration of maize. Since the model deals with canopy level and the direct measurement is being carried out on level of individual plants, this comparison answers the question if the time-consuming and demanding measurement of transpiration on plant level could be substitute by relative easily reachable model outputs. The results shown that evapotranspiration of maize computed by Penman–Monteith model cannot be successfully downscaled back to the solitary plant level. The correlation coefficient between these two data series for three individual phenological stages vary from 0.5831 to 0.7803 (α = 0.01) while for whole growing period regardless phenological stage is 0.6925 (α = 0.01). The directly measured data of transpiration cannot by simply replaced by modelled data, but their application after conversion using regression equations is possible with certain level of inaccuracy.
Environmental degradation, for example, by wind erosion, is a serious global problem. Despite the enormous research on this topic, complex methods considering all relevant factors remain unpublished. The main intent of our paper is to develop a methodological road map to identify key soil–climatic conditions that make soil vulnerable to wind and demonstrate the road map in a case study using a relevant data source. Potential wind erosion (PWE) results from soil erosivity and climate erosivity. Soil erosivity directly reflects the wind-erodible fraction and indirectly reflects the soil-crust factor, vegetation-cover factor and surface-roughness factor. The climatic erosivity directly reflects the drought in the surface layer, erosive wind occurrence and clay soil-specific winter regime, making these soils vulnerable to wind erosion. The novelty of our method lies in the following: (1) all relevant soil–climatic data of wind erosion are combined; (2) different soil types “sand” and “clay” are evaluated simultaneously with respect to the different mechanisms of wind erosion; and (3) a methodological road map enables its application for various conditions. Based on our method, it is possible to set threshold values that, when exceeded, trigger landscape adjustments, more detailed in situ measurements or indicate the need for specific management.
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