Confluence of the Morava and Dyje Rivers: a century of landscape changes in maps

Abstract

The area of the Morava and Dyje Rivers confluence is one of the most biologically diverse localities in the Czech Republic, recognised under many international forms of nature protection. In this paper we analyse and present land use/land cover (LULC) changes that took place over the last century. Using aerial photographs from the years 1938, 1953, 1976 and 2009, we differentiate 24 categories of LULC with a special focus on forest management. The most important detected changes are (i) closure of open/structured woodlands, (ii) change from an agricultural mosaic into large-field arable land, (iii) regulation of water courses, (iv) decrease in grassland area and (v) increase in forest logging intensity. LULC trends in this area differ significantly from the general LULC development within the Czech Republic. The results are presented in six map sheets showing LULC in (a-d) the studied years, (e) processes of LULC changes and (f) LULC change intensity. The thematic maps are accompanied by aerial photographs selected to show characteristic features of landscape structure in a certain period and by graphs including those visualising landscape metrics. ARTICLE HISTORY

Veteran trees and saproxylic insects in the floodplains of Lower Morava and Dyje rivers, Czech Republic

“…Individual hotspots also differed for tree health. The oaks in Lednice Chateau park, for example, were generally in better health conditions than the oaks on the meadows in Pohansko and Lány despite similar land cover condition (both places were classified by Miklín and Hradecký (2016a) as open woodlands). The results of the mapping are presented in an online map (http://goo.gl/oeBgtn) created with ArcGIS Online (ESRI, 2016) allowing users to combine several layers and zooming over the map (see the instructional video in Supplementary material).…”

“…With an average yearly temperature of ∼9.6°C and rainfall of ∼500 mm, the study area belongs to one of the warmest and driest localities of the Czech Republic. Out of 146 km 2 covered by the study, 60.1% are forests and woodlands, 13.6% are grasslands and 18.0% is arable land (Miklín & Hradecký, 2016a). Pedunculate oak (Quercus robur), narrow-leaved ash (Fraxinus angustifolia), hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) and field maple (Acer campestre) prevail in the forests.…”

Past levels of canopy closure affect the occurrence of veteran trees and flagship saproxylic beetles

“…About 60% ( c . 85 km 2 ) of the area is covered by forests and woodlands (Miklín & Hradecký, ). Prevailing trees are pedunculate oak ( Quercus robur ), narrow‐leaf ash ( Fraxinus angustifolia ), hornbeam ( Carpinus betulus ) and field maple ( Acer campestre ).…”

“…Our study covers 146 km 2 of the south-eastern part of the Czech Republic, namely along the lower Dyje and Morava rivers and their confluence ( Figure 1). About 60% (c. 85 km 2 ) of the area is covered by forests and woodlands (Miklín & Hradecký, 2016). Prevailing trees are pedunculate oak (Quercus robur), narrow-leaf ash (Fraxinus angustifolia), hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) and field maple (Acer campestre).…”

Historic flood events in NE Romania (post-1990)

“…In the last few decades, increasingly powerful flood events have been recorded across the entire European continent, and the economies of many countries have suffered important losses (Balica, Dinh, Popescu, Vo, & Pham, 2014;Miklín & Hradecký, 2016;Olariu, Obreja, & Obreja, 2009). In Europe, floods have become a growing topic of concern for citizens, authorities, insurance companies and policymakers, given that in the last 15 years, the number of floods in European river basins rose from 11 to 64 per decade (Brinke, Knoop, Muilwijk, & Ligtvoet, 2017;Van Alphen, Martini, Loat, Slomp, & Passchier, 2009).…”