2957 research outputs found
Sort by
Bank stabilization - non-traditional ways of using vegetation - increasing recreational attractiveness
No full textBank damage caused by deflation has appeared in nearly all world reservoirs. However, bank stabilization is mostly seen as a solution and implemented only when bank damage occurs. In this case, there is a unified scheme used - a stone bank toe is constructed and the (eroded) bank sloping is restored in place of the erosion wall. However, this paper presents another solution - a solution using breakwaters. One of their basic types is presented together with the diagram and the 3D model. The article also includes a proposal for an unconventional way of stabilizing the shore.Published Versio
The effect of roles prescribed by active ageing on quality of life across European regions
Get PDFThe active ageing approach supports a set of roles or activities that are supposed to be beneficial for older adults. This paper reassesses the benefits of activities for the quality of life by (a) analysing many activities at the same time to control each other, (b) using panel data to detect the effects of activities over time, and (c) performing separate analyses for four European regions to test the context-specificity of the effects. The effects of roles in later life are tested on panel data from three waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) project. The results of fixed-effects regression show that only some activities - volunteering, participating in a club and physical activity - increase the quality of life, and that care-giving within the household has the opposite effect. Moreover, the beneficial effects are much weaker and less stable than the other types of regression suggest; they are beneficial only in some regions, and their effect is much weaker than the effects of age, health and economic situation. Therefore, the active ageing approach and activity theory should reflect the diverse conditions and needs of older adults to formulate more-context-sensitive and less-normative policy recommendations.OA-hybri
Ecotourism in Amazonian Ecuador – bosque medicinal project
No full textBosque Medicinal was established in Ecuador to protect the rainforest. Its founder, Roman Kollar, who lives in Ecuador, set it up in 2018 and has since been raising money to save the tropical forests there. His organisation and its Czech partners, Forest Ink, buy up former farms with remnants of rainforest. The aim is to turn the pastureland back into a high-quality forest, and to protect forests that have not yet been damaged by cattle ranching. Although the organisation has an international focus, most of the volunteers who come to help are from the Czech Republic. Their holidays mean buying tickets to Ecuador and working for free on the farms they buy, restoring forest to the slopes of the Ecuadorian Amazon. In 2019, the UNIDA Consortium was formed, bringing together universities and associations in Europe and Latin America to to share knowledge about the Amazon and contribute to the conservation of the region's nature and traditions. Mendel University is a founding member, and the first group of students travelled to the Amazon in 2021 with the aim of collecting the basic data needed for the reforestation of farmland.Published Versio
Is the quality of the non-native Douglas-fir wood produced in the Czech forests comparable to native softwoods?
Get PDFImportant physical and mechanical properties were evaluated for Douglas-fir wood produced in a non-native environment. The specimens were obtained from 15 healthy co-dominant trees growing in three different sites located in the Czech Republic; they were studied for density, shrinkage, compression, and bending strength. The average density of the wood was 562.74 +- 62.47 kg.m-3 at 12% MC. The total volumetric shrinkage was in line with the respective literature, whereas the compression strength and modulus of rupture were found to be higher than the native Douglas-fir wood as well as several European softwoods. The properties of the wood produced in the Czech forests indicate the possibility of producing Douglas-fir timber of high quality.O
A Unique Grubbing Head Prototype for Environmentally Friendly and Sustainable Stump Removal
Get PDFStumps left behind after the felling of trees represent an important source of renewable energy that could be used for fuel mixtures as a sustainable solution. The subject of this research was to determine the influence of tree species, stump diameter size, and subsoil on the time required for stump processing. Evaluated parameters included the mean time for one stump's processing; the stump processing time based on the stump diameter; different soil types and tree species; and the tree species type (coniferous, broadleaved). The research was conducted in the territory of the Czech Republic in 2020/2021. There were 287 stumps and 6 tree species in total. The stumps were uprooted using a new prototype of grubbing head, developed at Mendel University in Brno, attached as an adapter on the boom of a JCB JS 220 LC excavator with a tracked undercarriage and was controlled remotely from an excavator cab. Research results confirmed that the processing time of one stump depends on the stump diameter (GLM), and the time needed for the processing of one stump increased with an increase in stump diameter in all experimental sites. An equation was suggested to predict the time needed to work on one stump.O
Determination of T-2 and HT-2 Toxins in Seed of Milk Thistle [Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn.] Using Immunoaffinity Column by UPLC-MS/MS
Get PDFMilk thistle [Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn.] achieved a significant increase in interest over the past few years from local and foreign pharmaceutical corporations. The silymarin complex of constituents extracted from milk thistle achenes provides compelling health benefits primarily thanks to antioxidant activities and hepatoprotective effects. However, consuming mycotoxin-contaminated plant material can cause immunosuppression and hepatotoxic problems. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a method for the determination of mycotoxin content in milk thistle. Fusarium toxins as T-2 and HT-2 toxins in grown milk thistle harvested from a breeding station in the Czech Republic during 2020-2021 were studied. The analysis of T-2 and HT-2 toxins was performed by UPLC-MS/MS after immunoaffinity columns EASI-EXTRACT(R) T-2 & HT-2 clean up. All analysed samples of milk thistle were contaminated with T-2 toxin and HT-2 toxin. The content of T-2 toxin in the samples from 2020 was in the range of 122.7-290.2 µg/kg and HT-2 toxin 157.0-319.0 µg/kg. In 2021, the content of T-2 toxin was in the range of 28.8-69.9 µg/kg and HT-2 toxin was 24.2-75.4 µg/kg. The results show that the climatic conditions of the year of harvesting have a highly statistically significant effect on the content of T-2 and HT-2 toxins in milk thistle.O
Landscape-friendly method of founding wooden buildings for recreational use
No full textWhen structures in the landscape based on concrete foundations are removed, the foundations are usually left in the ground, but the environment is degraded. The article focuses on the possibilities of foundations in the natural environment nowadays, when we can found buildings on earth screws. This is a way of founding buildings that will be more environmentally friendly. Using earth screws instead of concrete is a modern and eco-friendly option for founding a building or structure. They can also be used in terrain that is difficult to access. With the help of screws we can anchor an information board, a playground, a shelter, a fence, noise barriers, as well as footbridges and bridges or other wooden structures, e.g. even a modular wooden toilet building. If we decide to demolish or move the building, the screws can be unscrewed and the environment can remain intact. Another advantage is the speed of construction, compared to concrete foundations.Published Versio
Feeding Behaviour of Eurasian Beavers (Castor fiber) Along Small Streams in an Agricultural Landscape
Get PDFIn areas with high population density, the Eurasian beaver may be forced to utilise sparsely forested landscapes where living conditions may not be optimal for the species. Here, we examine the feeding strategy of Eurasian beavers along a number of small (mainly) forested streams in the Czech agricultural landscape. Diet availability in these sparsely forested landscapes is characterised by a lack of woody plants but a large supply of herbaceous vegetation, including agricultural crops grown close to the watercourse. The beaver has adapted to such conditions by building dams on low-water streams, allowing it to move between scattered diet resources. In winter, the main dietary component was woody plants (70% V), with species normally neglected in optimal sites (e.g. Acer negundo, Prunus spp.) taken in the absence of more favoured species (e.g. Salix spp., Populus spp.), the remaining 30%V consisting of herbaceous vegetation. In summer, however, the main component in the diet was herbaceous vegetation (90% F), which included agricultural crops (56% V). Where there were not enough trees, the beaver tended to leave its summer territory and move to stretches with denser tree stands. Thus, beavers in sparsely forested agricultural landscapes have adapted by utilising the diverse supply of herbaceous vegetation, though its continued presence in the landscape is still primarily dependent on sufficient stocks of woody plants, which the beaver needs to survive winter.O
Soil Degradation Processes Linked to Long-Term Forest-Type Damage
No full textForest degradation impairs ability of the whole landscape adaptation to environmental change. The impacts of forest degradation on landscape are caused by a self-organization decline. At the present time, the self-organization decline was largely due to nitrogen deposition and deforestation which exacerbated impacts of climate change. Nevertheless, forest degradation processes are either reversible or irreversible. Irreversible forest degradation begins with soil damage. In this paper, we present processes of forest soil degradation in relation to vulnerability of regulation adaptability on global environmental change. The regulatory forest capabilities were indicated through soil organic matter sequestration dynamics. We devided the degradation processes into quantitative and qualitative damages of physical or chemical soil properties. Quantitative soil degradation includes irreversible loss of an earth's body after claim, erosion or desertification, while qualitative degradation consists of predominantly reversible consequences after soil disintegration, leaching, acidification, salinization and intoxication. As a result of deforestation, the forest soil vulnerability is spreading through quantitative degradation replacing hitherto predominantly qualitative changes under continuous vegetation cover. Increasing needs to natural resources using and accompanying waste pollution destroy soil self-organization through biodiversity loss, simplification in functional links among living forms and substance losses from ecosystem. We concluded that subsequent irreversible changes in ecosystem self-organization cause a change of biome potential natural vegetation and the land usability decrease.Published Versio
Artificial habitat - a chance for survival of a rare montane dragonfly (Odonata): case study on an alpine emerald (Somatochlora alpestris)
Get PDFThe mountain ecosystems of Central Europe are an important natural phenomenon. The character of small isolated islands also predetermines their vulnerability. Typical inhabitant of subalpine and alpine peat bogs, tiny montane habitats, is the endangered dragonfly Alpine Emerald (Somatochlora alpestris) a glacial relict surviving in restricted area of several mountain ranges within Central Europe. Species is threatened mainly by habitat loss and its transformation due to climate change, the expansion of tourist activities and plant succession. In our study from three mountain ranges in the Czech Republic, we bring the first ever evidence of successful development of S. alpestris in artificial habitats. Successful development of the species was recorded in peat pools created by the movement of heavy machinery on now almost abandoned forest roads. Some of the pools have been colonized in great numbers - up to tens of larvae of different instars, exuviae and imagoes have been found. Successful colonisation of the species was mainly due to: (i) proximity to source sites, (ii) suitable environmental parameters of the secondary habitat and (iii) the gradual abandonment of the paths' use, leading to a reduction in the frequency of disturbance.OA-hybri