Grazing seems to be not only means of conserving species diversity of grasslands but also - in many cases - of its increasing. This thesis tries to find out the mechanisms of grazing that result in increased or decreased species diversity. The experiment was proceeded in Slupenec, a part of Český Krumlov, where horse pastures are situated. In order to compare grazing and mowing I collected phytosociological data from plots 1 x 1 mš. I also collected data about soil moisture, composition and pH in order to find out the main gradients in vegetation. The vegetation data from plots 20 x 20 cmš were collected before and after grazing on three pasturelands. In the chosen locality, higher level of plant species diversity have been proven on pastures in comparison with meadows. There is significantly higher percentage of plots contributing to the higher level of ß diversity on pastures than on meadows. At the same time the variability of vegetation was in most cases explained by the categorial variable pasture / meadow. Concerning selectivity of grazing, it has been proven that horses prefer grazing on species with greater cover abundance. The plots with lower rate of grazed species have got higher ß diversity. In terms of functional traits of plants, it has been proven that higher percentage of no-rosette...

Snow interception is one of the most important process of the hydrological balance of river basins. Measuring of snow interception is a very complex activity, therefore, models are frequently used to calculated snow interception from the vegetation structure and measured meteorological variables. A field research has been carried out in the Ptačí Brook basin in the Sumava Mts. to describe the canopy structure of the spruce forest using hemispherical images taken in the winter season 2020/21. The vegetation characteristics are essential for modelling of the snow interception. The mean Leaf area index calculated from the hemispherical images at the study plot reached 2.34 with the respective canopy closure equal to 86.16%. These values were further used as input values for the calculation of seasonal cumulative snow interception at the study plot for the winter season 2020/21. The original, more complex model was compared with two, less complex equations. Consequently, the model was applied to four consecutive winter seasons 2017-2021. The efficiency of the snow interception (a proportion of the intercepted snow to total snowfall water equivalent) ranged from 36.85% to 45.81% depending on the study season. The snow interception efficiency was considerably higher in the last winter season compared to...

Biotopes associated with railway corridor in valley of the river Tichá Orlice (Eastern Bohemia, Czech Republic) ABSTRACT Expansion, invasion or decline of plant species caused by environmental changes belong to the most important phenomenons associated with vegetation cover development. In spite of their often initiation by human activities the above mentioned processes continue then spontaneously and uncontrollably. This study is concentrated to the effect of these mechanisms on the biotope structure along the Tichá Orlice River (Eastern Bohemia, Czech Republic) - in its lowland landscape segment of the canyon character where the second axis of the valley (river flow is the first one) is created by railway line more than 150 years of local history. The case study has the general aim: to treat the present and/or future impact of described trends to plant biota and the degree of its influencing. My diploma thesis investigates functional impact and mutual interaction of the two main migration pathways of exotic species - the T.Orlice river and the railway corridor. It presents qualitative and quantitative changes in plant components of local (semi)natural biotopes by mean of interrelationships among selected ecological groups of species (neophytes, expansive species, and ephemeroids). At the same time, this...

Vegetation changes in Czech lowland forests over the past decades Martin Kopecký ABSTRACT To explore decadal changes in plant species diversity and composition of typical lowland forests in the Czech Republic, I compared vegetation on plots sampled decades ago with vegetation on the same plots sampled recently. First I evaluated the robustness of the approach used in my thesis. In Chapter 1, we provided the first direct test of the effect of uncertainty in original plot location on results from vegetation resurvey. We found that temporal trends in vegetation diversity and composition were comparable between exactly relocated permanent and only approximately relocated semi-permanent plots. Therefore, we conclude that the resurvey of semi-permanent plots is robust to the uncertainty in original plot location. Then, we showed that vegetation in lowland oak forest shifted from species-rich communities of thermophilous forest toward species poorer communities of mesic forest (Chapter 2). The species typical for thermophilous oak forests and nationally endangered species suffered the most significant decline. We identified as the main driver behind these changes shift from traditional coppicing toward high forest management after WWII. Further, we explored the processes behind temporal shifts in species diversity...

The first part is characterized by a pond ecosystem and National Nature Reserve Řežabinec in terms of its historical development and creation. Are mentioned methods , the method and system of protection of the site. The paper describes a method of fish farming during the period of the individual plans of care farming in the last five years and the water conditions in the area . The ecosystem is assessed on the basis of available data in the literature to me In our own work we focus on monitoring water chemistry and state recovery tank , especially in terms of development and biomass of zooplankton species representation in the course of one growing season. He also details the fishing and agricultural management and water management conditions in the locality. Marginally judging submerged and littoral vegetation and the presence of water birds. This work demonstrated the dependence of the size of the fish stock on the frequency of a generic representation of zooplankton and the positive impact of lower stocking on the development and stability of the entire ecosystem. Contributes to the stability and sensitive farming in the last period.

Habitat selection, territorial behaviour and reproductive behaviour of dragonflies (Odonata) are discussed and biotic and abiotic factors affecting their territorial and reproductive behaviour are reviewed. The most important biotic factors are predation risk affecting larval survival and the presence of aquatic vegetation, which provides spatial structure. The review is complemented by a field study of territorial and reproductive behavior of dragonflies at an experimental site, at which the quality of individual pools was manipulated by a combination of the presence or absence of artificial vegetation and the presence or absence of an introduced top predator (late-instar larvae of Anax and Aeshna).

This thesis is focused on the importance of large herbivore pasture for arthropod communities in temperate steppe. The study site was located in former military training area Milovice, regional biodiversity hotspot, where wild horses and aurochs were introduced as an active measure aimed at biodiversity conservation. Main goals of proposed study were to assess the role of vegetation structure and presence of grazing on beetle species composition in two trap heights, to examine suitability of flight intercept traps for monitoring arthropods of open habitats, to set the continuous arthropod monitoring program on the site and to propose a suitable model groups to assess habitat changes.

A four year experimental study of initial stages of succession on different substrata (sand, peat and gray clay overburden from brown coal mining) was carried out. The substrata were transplanted into two different landscape types in the Czech Republic. Control plots were filled with autochthonous topsoil treated with high temperature vapor. Plots with un-treated autochthonous topsoil were also established. Plant species cover and several soil-biological parameters (soil microbial biomass, basal soil respiration, exchangeable pH(KCl), organic-C extractable by potassium sulfate solution, and nitrate-N content) were measured once a year. Obtained data were mainly processed by unimodal (plant cover data) and liner (soil-biological data) ordination methods. Biological species traits (life span, seed dispersal vector, seed bank type, ecological strategy type following Grime, life form following Raunkiaer) were used to characterize early stages of plant succession. Vegetation and measured soil-biological parameters, except pH(KCl), were significantly changing during four growing seasons. Variance partitioning analysis based on plant species cover data indicated the landscape type to be the main governing factor and physico-chemical characteristics of substrate to be less important during the studied initial stages of succession. The same analysis based on soil-biological parameters showed the reverse result. Great variability of plant species ecological traits was noticed during four growing seasons. The earliest plant colonizers were mainly ruderal, anemochorous terophytes with persistent seed bank. The number of species with C-strategy type increased during the study. The relationship between the average plant species cover and measured soil-biological parameters was also examined during the experimental study of early succession. Direct and indirect ordination revealed the average sum of plant species cover to be weakly positively correlated with soil microbial biomass, basal soil respiration, nitrate-N, potassium sulfate extractable organic-C, metabolic quocient (qCO2) and negatively correlated to exchangeable pH(KCl). The relationship was significant only in the case of microbial biomass and potassium sulfate extractable organic-C. More detailed studies of the relationship between aboveground plant species biomass and soil microbial communities in initial stages of succession are required. Comparability of presented study is limited because not many experimental investigations of similar kind have been presented until now.

In this thesis I deal with various aspects of influence of clearings on plant communities in NP Podyjí. Special space is dedicated to light-demanding, threatened and alien plant species, and their response to light improvement. The area of the Podyjí NP has been used by people continuously for a very long time. There is therefore a whole range of plant species, linked to a certain anthropogenic disturbance regime. I observed the development of plant communities using phytocenological relevés on six pairs of clearings (isolated and connected with open habitats), created in 2011 and 2012. At the same time, I also investigated the adjacent closed-canopy forests and open forests on the edge of the canyon. During the first year after cutting, there was a significant increase in diversity and species cover in the clearings. In the following years, significant changes took place on isolated clearings, as the zone of closed-canopy forest delayed low colonization by new individuals in first years. In the clearings, diversity and abundance of plants were significantly higher than in the closed-canopy forest and open forest. The number of endangered plant species was the highest in open forest. Several unique species of endangered plants have been recorded on clearings. These species have not been found in...

Abandoned industrial-waste deposits (incl. fly ash or tailings ponds) represent very specific and mostly extreme habitat conditions. They offer unique opportunity to study primary succession in cultural landscape. Substrate of the material deposited here shows extreme properties, such as low pH, overheating of the open surface, salinization etc. The aim of this work is to map the colonization of different successional stages of vegetation by ants after years of abandonment of ore-waste deposits in Chvaletice (Eastern Bohemia, CR) and to compare the present state with analogous study made in 2001. Particular aims of both studies (Jarešová 2001, and present study, 2011-12) is to test the influence of ants on vegetation succession. During the years 2011-2012 several prospections were made to record species diversity of ants. On the surface plateau of the sedimentation basin two types of habitats were chosen - the areas with present ant nests and the other areas without them. Each of both types of habitats exhibits different plant species richness: separately the species-area curves were constructed and explained. Three dominant ant species of different size categories present on sedimentation basin were selected for experimental offering of plant seeds, Formica pratensis, Lasius niger, Tetramorium...