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| EKOBLOK - Diverzita, krajinné prvky a optimalizácia poľnohospodárskych blokov intenzívnej a extenzívnej krajiny Slovenska | |
| Diversity, landscape elements and reassessment of agricultural blocks of the intensive and extensive landscape of Slovakia | |
| Program: | VEGA |
| Project leader: | Mgr. Bezák Peter, PhD. |
| Annotation: | The Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for Slovakia 2023-2027 better reflects the global environmental changes compared to the previous versions. Relevant measures are aimed mainly at protecting and improving biodiversity, mitigation and adaptation to climate change. This means, for example, reducing large monoculture plots, increasing the non-productive area, etc., and this can directly enhance biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services. But how the size, structure and management of agricultural blocks affect biodiversity and ecosystem services? Regular monitoring and scientific knowledge about these interactions so far are insufficient in Slovakia. A scientific comparison of unchanged blocks and blocks impacted by ecological interventions can help reveal the links between landscape diversity and correlated management. Subsequently, it can contribute to design of regular landscape-ecological monitoring and to more precise setting of sustainable farming interventions. |
| Duration: | 1.1.2025 - 31.12.2028 |
| Záhradkárske osady ako prostriedok kolektívnej sociálno-ekologickej pamäte a alternatíva mestských rozvojových rámcov pomalého mesta „Slow city“ | |
| Allotment gardens as a means of collective socio-ecological memory and an alternative to urban development frameworks of the "Slow City" | |
| Program: | VEGA |
| Project leader: | Mgr. Babicová Daniela, PhD. |
| Annotation: | In Europe and around the world, the issue of urban agriculture and allotment gardens (AG) has received a great deal of attention in the literature. In Slovakia, there is a lack of detailed and systematic research on ZOs in terms of their history, legislation, sociology and changes in the structure of AGs. There is also a gap in the assessment of AGs in terms of the fulfilment of their ecosystem services. The aim of the present project is to evaluate the ecosystem services of AG on the basis of an analysis of landscape diversity, abiotic, biotic and socio-economic factors and research on the way and intensity of human use of AG. |
| Duration: | 1.1.2025 - 31.12.2028 |
| Analýzy a hodnotenia environmentálnej histórie vybraných typov krajiny Slovenska od mladšieho praveku po súčasnosť | |
| Analysis and evaluations of the environmental history of selected types of Slovak landscape from the early prehistory to the present | |
| Program: | VEGA |
| Project leader: | Mgr. Piscová Veronika, PhD. |
| Annotation: | By using natural resources, ecosystem services and activities, man directly or indirectly affects the naturalenvironment and the quality of its components, within a time and space framework. The extent and intensity ofhuman influence on the landscape has been changing over the centuries, depending on current period. Toidentify the degree of human influence on the landscape, it is essential to get know the original landscape, whichhas not been significantly affected by man. As such, a landscape no longer exists in the Central Europe; it needsto be scientifically reconstructed in some way. The aim of the project is to reconstruct the landscape, in modelareas representing selected types of the Slovak landscape, in several periods of historical and archaeologicalpast and to evaluate the consequences of human activities in them. It is important to analyse the relationshipbetween man and his environment over the time. |
| Duration: | 1.1.2023 - 31.12.2026 |
| Multikriteriálny prístup stanovenia udržateľného polyfunkčného využívania vysoko zraniteľných oblastí | |
| Multi-criteria approach of sustainable multifunctional use of highly vulnerable area determination | |
| Program: | VEGA |
| Project leader: | RNDr. Krnáčová Zdena, PhD. |
| Annotation: | The principles of sustainable soil use are based on respecting the limiting factors, their rational use. Adhering to these principles of farming in highly vulnerable areas, such as WPZ (water protection zone) Žitný ostrov, is especially important. The aim of the project is to determine landscape-ecological potential, assign zones of optimal multifunctional use – protection and revitalisation of land and its elements, sustainable economic use and non-agricultural land use, cultural and social development of the countryside. As farming companies employing conventional methods of farming are the most significant large-scale polluters, we would like to approach the farming subjects in the given area with a questionnaire survey and find out their way of farming, benefits, disadvantages, current legislative restrictions, recommendations, etc. The assessment will be the gauging of the suitability of land use, processing of the results, and their implementation into regional antennas of the National Rural Network of the Slovak Republic, and other strategic documents.One of the aims of the project is to determine the landscape-ecological potential, differentiate the zones of optimal multifunctional use – protection and revitalisation of landscape and its elements, sustainable economic use and non-agricultural land use, cultural and social development of the countryside. |
| Duration: | 1.1.2024 - 31.12.2026 |
| NUCPEC - Cyklus živín v terestriálnych rastlinných ekosystémoch Karpát v meniacom sa svete | |
| Nutrient cycling in terrestrial plant ecosystems of the Carpathians in the changing world | |
| Program: | Plán obnovy EÚ |
| Project leader: | Dr.nat.techn. Ing. Merganičová Katarína |
| Annotation: | The main idea of the project is to develop a model-data fusion framework, which will combine ground-based and remote sensing observations, and dynamic process-based modelling of ecosystem development to study nutrient dynamics in plant ecosystems of the Carpathians under the influence of environmental conditions, and natural and human-induced disturbances at different temporal levels. The overall objective is to enhance the understanding of short-, mid- and long-term plant ecosystem dynamics driven by climate, disturbances and management practices, and to examine the impact of their temporal changes, which will allow more reliable predictions of future trajectories of ecosystem development under different scenarios. The partial objectives are:Objective 1: to analyse the long-term changes in nutrient cycling in vegetation of the Carpathians using a process-based modelling approach driven by the historic reconstruction of land cover and land use based on remote sensing and historical maps covering a period from the year 1819,Objective 2: to analyse the mid-term inter-annual nutrient dynamics in vegetation of the Carpathians at the local and/or regional level driven by natural and/or human induced disturbances derived from ground-based data, and available remote sensing products covering historical periods, such as Landsat archive, based on the continuous development of ecosystem stocks and fluxes simulated by a process-based model from the year 1949 until present,Objective 3: to determine the impact of intra-annual climate anomalies on the nutrient cycling in plant ecosystems at a local level using process-based modelling and dense annual time series of remote sensing vegetation products such as LAI from combined Landsat-Sentinel products and available high temporal resolution ground-based observation data from intensively monitored research sites and eddy covariance measurements. |
| Duration: | 1.9.2024 - 31.8.2026 |
| Výskum špecifických prvkov biokultúrnej krajiny na Slovensku | |
| Research of specific landscape elements of bio-cultural landscape in Slovakia | |
| Program: | VEGA |
| Project leader: | RNDr. Dobrovodská Marta, PhD. |
| Annotation: | In a broader sense, it is possible to perceive landscape as mainly bio-cultural and multi-functional, as it constantlyadapts to the economic, social, cultural and environmental processes in time and space. The result is formation ofbio-cultural systems providing a crucial and effective space for the integration of biological and cultural elements that significantly affect individual bio-cultural systems. The project will focus on development ofmethodology for detailed interdisciplinary and integrated research of biotic and social-cultural elements and theirinterrelationships in valuable bio-cultural systems in Slovakia using indicators of biotic and cultural diversity aswell as research of extent and structure changes of forms of traditional agrarian relief. Special attention will bepaid to identification of change factors (driving forces, global megatrends) of the most valuable bio-culturalsystems and determination of selected benefits, which provide for society. |
| Duration: | 1.1.2022 - 31.12.2025 |
| Zmeny krajinnej diverzity a biodiverzity v horských a vysokohorských oblastiach Západných Karpát | |
| Changes in landscape diversity and biodiversity in mountain and alpine areas of the Western Carpathians | |
| Program: | VEGA |
| Project leader: | RNDr. Barančok Peter, CSc. |
| Annotation: | The Western Carpathians cover a significant part of Slovakia. The country is characterised by mountain and alpine areas with their typical landscape structure with various representation of forest and non-forest habitats. Natural and anthropogenic conditioned factors play a significant role in formation of the landscape character. The processes in the natural environment constantly influence landscape diversity and biodiversity, and nowadays, anthropogenic impacts are more and more significant. The project focuses on the assessment of landscape and biodiversity changes in selected areas affected by the effects of natural and anthropogenous stress factors in different time periods. Attention will be paid to the differentiation of landscape diversity and biodiversity changes that were caused by the natural development of the landscape, global factors impact, and the influence of man in the country. Anthropogenic impact will be assessed from the point of view of man`s historical activity in the country, the way and intensity of the land use, to the present-day impact affecting the overall status of the natural environment. |
| Duration: | 1.1.2022 - 31.12.2025 |
| BIO RESERVE - Implementácia Agendy 2030 prostredníctvom biosférických rezervácií | |
| Implementation of Agenda 2030 through biosphere reserves | |
| Program: | SRDA |
| Project leader: | Mgr. Piscová Veronika, PhD. |
| Annotation: | The aim of the project is to create a proposal for a sustainable institutional, financial and legislative model ofbiosphere reserves in the Slovak Republic and the fundamental framework of their strategic development based onanalysis of territorial potential in the context of meeting the objectives of Agenda 2030, resilience theory, foreignexperience and examples of good practice. The model will reflect the outputs of the analysis of all components ofthe potential of four Slovak biosphere reserves in the context of the resilience theory and goals of Agenda 2030. Itwill develop to the individual business model of each biosphere reserve. It will also include the methodology ofcreating development documents for biosphere reserves (development strategy, action plan and marketingcommunication strategy) all four biosphere reserves, taking into account the latest trends in spatial development,promoting the resilience of the areas studied and preserving their exceptional value on a global scale.The project will also include activities aimed at raising awareness among professionals and the general publicabout the issue, popularizing the project results and exchanging knowledge, ideas and experience with actors fromthe public, private and non-profit sectors in the form of workshops, conferences, public debates, lectures,conference papers and high quality research outputs. |
| Duration: | 1.7.2021 - 30.6.2025 |
| CALTER - Toky uhlíka v pôde hlavných typov lesných ekosystémov na výškovom gradiente Západných Karpát. | |
| Soil carbon fluxes in dominant forest ecosystems along elevation gradient in the Western Carpathians | |
| Program: | SRDA |
| Project leader: | RNDr. Halada Ľuboš, CSc. |
| Annotation: | Forest stores more than 70% of global soil carbon (C) and plays a central role in soil surface-atmosphere exchange of greenhouse gases. Due to the amount of C stored in the soil, it is essential to recognize that even a small change within this pool could significantly feedback the earth system. Soil organic carbon occurs in diverse forms, which according to the stability, can be divided into an active (labile) fraction, whose persistence time varies from a few weeks to a few months, and a stable fraction, which can persist in the soil for many years or even centuries. Soil loses C by two main processes - respiration and leaching. Both of them show complex spatio-temporal biophysical controls that vary on different scales as a consequence of changes in biotic (plant or microbial community) and abiotic (e.g., soil temperature, soil moisture, soil texture) factors. Soil respiration (Rs) consists of the two main components - heterotrophic (Rh) and autotrophic respiration (Ra), which respond differently to changes in influencing factors. The elevation is a key driver of climate properties playing an essential role in soil carbon content and fluxes. The main aim of our project is to identify C loss by respiration and leaching and to identify their driving factors along an elevation gradient representing the main forest communities in the Western Carpathians. Study plots are located in sites dedicated to long-term ecological research (LTER Slovakia). Possible impact of elevated temperature on soil C fluxes will be studied in open-top greenhouses. For reliable estimation of naturally very variable soil C fluxes we will optimize sampling strategy for each studied ecosystem by spatial stratification and by adjustment of measuring frequency. |
| Project webpage: | n/a |
| Duration: | 1.7.2022 - 30.6.2025 |