In conservation biology, there is a general consensus that protected areas (PAs) are one of the most effective tools for biodiversity protection. Worldwide, the area of PAs is continually increasing. But is the effectiveness of biodiversity protection improving with it? Since many PAs only exist as "paper parks" (i.e. they exist on maps and in legislation but offer little actual protection), the answer is uncertain. Moreover, it has long been known that, not only an increase in the extent of PAs, but also the efficiency of their management is fundamentally important for effective nature conservation. Therefore, there is a wide-ranging discussion about the actual effectiveness of PAs and factors that influence it.In the course of the EU pre-accession phase, a comprehensive field mapping of natural habitats took place in the Czech Republic in years 2001−2004. The mapping results were used to designate Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) as part of the Natura 2000 network.In this study, the aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of this newly created system of SACs for protection of biodiversity represented by the mapped natural habitats. The NCEI index (Nature Conservation Effectiveness Index) was applied, calculated as the total area of a particular habitat type in all SACs RESEARCH ARTICLE Launched to accelerate biodiversity conservation A peer-reviewed open-access journalVilém Pechanec et al. / Nature Conservation 24: 21-41 (2018) 22 in the Czech Republic divided by the total area of that same natural habitat in the entire Czech Republic. Habitat protection in the Czech Republic is focused primarily on the smallest types of rare habitats, many of which are classified as critically endangered. The Czech national system of SACs provides protection to a total of 4,491.68 km 2 of natural habitats. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the overall effectiveness of the SAC system in the Czech Republic, which is specifically aimed at protecting natural habitats, is low (NCEI = 0.36). Nevertheless, the critically endangered habitats receive maximum protection (NCEI = 1).

This paper is focused on comparing database replication over spatial data in PostgreSQL and MySQL. Database replication means solving various problems with overloading a single database server with writing and reading queries. There are many replication mechanisms that are able to handle data differently. Criteria for objective comparisons were set for testing and determining the bottleneck of the replication process. The tests were done over the real national vector spatial datasets, namely, ArcCR500, Data200, Natural Earth and Estimated Pedologic-Ecological Unit. HWMonitor Pro was used to monitor the PostgreSQL database, network and system load. Monyog was used to monitor the MySQL activity (data and SQL queries) in real-time. Both database servers were run on computers with the Microsoft Windows operating system. The results from the provided tests of both replication mechanisms led to a better understanding of these mechanisms and allowed informed decisions for future deployment. Graphs and tables include the statistical data and describe the replication mechanisms in specific situations. PostgreSQL with the Slony extension with asynchronous replication synchronized a batch of changes with a high transfer speed and high server load. MySQL with synchronous replication synchronized every change record with low impact on server performance and network bandwidth.

Areas subject to little anthropogenic impact and with preserved river dynamics are very rare in the floodplains of large European rivers [7][8][9]. These environmentally valuable territories are usually categorized as different forms of protected areas. Particularly due to the establishment of the Natura 2000 network of nature protection areas, the number of floodplain forests thus protected in Europe has been gradually increasing. In the context of environmental assessment of Natura 2000 sites, environmental assessment of the level of natural habitat conservation appears to be a potential decision support tool. This paper assesses the efficiency of the Natura 2000 European Network in the biodiversity conservation of Central European floodplain forest habitats on the ecosystem level of an entire river basin (Morava River basin, Czech Republic). In order to express the efficiency of natural habitat conservation, our paper uses the nature conservation efficiency index, which is calculated in the GIS environment based on an environmental analysis of data obtained through natural habitat mapping in the Czech Republic, conducted in 2001-2004 as part of the conservation objectives of Natura 2000. Environmental analysis results show that the conservation efficiency of the Natura 2000 network in territorial conservation of floodplain forests in the study area of the Morava River floodplain is approximately six times as high (NCEIEU = 0.067) as the efficiency of the Czech national network of protected areas (NCEICZ = 0.017). The paper also highlights the importance of detailed habitat mapping for environmental landscape studies.

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