Volume 5 (2012): Issue 1 (January 2012)

The article deals with the accessibility of urban green spaces in Bratislava city. These areas are considered to be a significant part of urban environment as they fulfil many crucial functions. The research is focused on greenery of Bratislava - an important land-shaping component of urban landscape - which influences residents' quality of life as a place for regeneration and rest. The main goal of the research is evaluation of green urban spaces accessibility in Bratislava from the time perspective by different types of transport using a questionnaire survey and available network analysis method. We use correlations of objective data gained by network analysis and subjective data obtained from the questionnaire survey. By using these methods, we were able to determine areas within Bratislava city specific in high or low correlation results. These results may be used in urban planning process focused on urban green spaces distribution.

An ecological network in the landscape consists of all existing and proposed landscape segments of ecological significance that can contribute to the conservation of landscape biodiversity. The concept of creation of territorial systems of ecological stability applied in the Czech Republic corresponds to the latest landscape ecological knowledge and landscape planning procedures used abroad. Biocorridors interconnect biocentres thus enable migration, interactions and permeability of landscape for organisms. Unlike biocentres, they don't need to provide for a permanent existence of all species of the represented communities. Thanks to the interconnection of biocentres by means of biocorridors there is an ecological network forming in the landscape. Development of the local biocorridor Vracov and the regional biocorridor Věstonice in south Moravia is presented.

This paper details a ten-year period in the development of floodplain biotopes after a disastrous flood in 1997 at three sites on along the Spojená Bečva River in the Zlín and Olomouc regions, Czech Republic. Two of the sites are located on gravel bars, whilst the third site is located on a bank characterized as bare bed flysch sediments uncovered after a flood in 1997. After the flood, the previously homogeneous alluvial environment changed into a varied mosaic of biotopes with renewed conditions for the development of willows (Saliceta fragilis inferiora) and stands of Ulmi-fraxineta carpini superiora and Alni glutinosae-saliceta superior. A detailed study of the vegetation at the selected sites was conducted annually from 1998-2002, and in 2008, using 10 m wide transects oriented perpendicular to the river. The obtained data, including phytocoenological records, were compared with the vegetation communities ten years earlier and during the examined time interval. The dependence of particular types of biotopes on site conditions was described.

In total, we identified and located 14 types of biotopes, completed 58 relevés, and found 245 species. The results show that succession is faster at moist sites with fine sediment in Rybáře and slower at drier sites without fine sediment in Lhotka nad Bečvou and Choryně. The flooding of the floodplain forest was not destructive for most species outside the flood channel. Between 2004 and 2006, short-lived and segetal species retreated. The dominant species are Phalaris arundinacea, Urtica dioica, Echium vulgare, and Artemisia vulgaris. Invasive neophytes included Reynoutria japonica, Solidago canadensis, Impatiens glandulifera and Robinia pseudoacacia.

The results obtained through this project can serve as a valuable foundation for decisions regarding nature conservation.

This paper represents an extension of a previously published wider conceptual article (Kovář 2007). It introduces an original approach of how to assess the naturalness of a habitat, in connection with the landscape ecological framework and surveillance and monitoring of biodiversity of habitats in Central Europe (Bunce et al. 2005, Bunce et al. 2007). Initially, it was referred to in an oral presentation by the author within the BioHab (Biodiversity and Habitats, EU Fifth Framework programme) workshop, held in Prague (Kovář 2004a).

The degree of plant stand similarity, as an expression of different naturalness/syngenesis indicated by the Jaccard index, is used to describe forest management history. This management qualifier can be used especially in countries possessing good phytosociological traditions in vegetation science, with experience in applying habitat classifications and land use planning.

To determine the factors that promote the expansion of dwarf bamboo (Sasa palmate), an indicator of mesic vegetation, into bogs, a landscape-based approach was used to assess the geographical factors that are associated with, and contribute to, the propagation of Sasa in the Sarobetsu Mire, northern Japan. Using the "Sasa frontline" data obtained from aerial photographs taken during 2 different periods, the area expanded by Sasa in the past 23 years was determined. Next, distribution maps associated with geographical parameters, such as topography, hydrology, vegetation and soil, were created using remote sensing data (airborne LiDAR, ALOS/AVNIR-2, and ALOS/PALSAR). Using these geographical parameters as explanatory variables, the causes for Sasa expansion were analyzed by multiple linear regression analysis. It was shown that distance to natural ditches, gradient of ground surface, elevation, and carbon content are the largest contributors and that the hydrological factor is the one most associated with Sasa expansion. By using the landscape approach, 60% of the Sasa expansion factors could be explained. The analysis of the vegetation near the Sasa frontlines showed that the dynamics of sedge vegetation may serve as an indicator of potential Sasa expansion.