Historical woodland management practices like coppicing and grazing have formed the diversity and structure of oak-hornbeam woodlands. We analysed large-scale, high-resolution spatial data on the distribution of woodland communities in Czechia to find out whether past human impacts influenced the distribution of oak-hornbeam woodlands in present-day landscapes. We tested the relation of oak-hornbeam woodlands to the past and current settlement distribution pattern, woodland continuity since about 1840 and distance to the woodland edge, on top of natural environmental predictors, using generalized additive mixed-effects models (GAMM). The results show a positive association between oak-hornbeam woodlands and current towns and villages, but only at higher elevations at the edge of the supposed natural distribution of oak-hornbeam woodlands. This effect was enhanced in the vicinity of old (pre-1450) settlements. By contrast, we found no effect of distance to current settlements in the elevational optimum of oak-hornbeam woodlands and even a decreasing trend of oakhornbeam at the lowest elevations. In addition, oak-hornbeam stands often occur on former agricultural land and close to the woodland edges. Our results do not contradict the traditional view of oak-hornbeam woodlands as natural vegetation in the lowlands and at middle elevations. However, they clearly show that this natural range was extended to higher elevations by past human influence, probably at the expense of beech woodlands. Additionally, historical woodland management probably supported thermophilous oak woodlands at the lowest elevations. These past human activities are still detectable in the current distribution pattern of woodland communities.

Shrubs in pastures are expected to adversely affect plant species diversity and community composition at various spatial scales. We recorded vegetation composition as well as light conditions and other environmental variables in 105 1 m 2 plots nested in 35 sampling sites in shrubby pastures in Romanian Banat. We used generalized linear models, generalized linear mixed-effects models, and linear regression to find determinants of species turnover and richness at patch and community level. We expected shrubs to negatively influence species richness on the patch level but to introduce spatial heterogeneity to the light availability resulting in a unimodal relationship of light availability with species richness on the community level. Species turnover was significantly influenced by light conditions, grazing variability, and distance between the plots. We found a unimodal relationship between light availability and species richness consistently across the two spatial scales in grazed sites. However, the same relationship changed its shape from linear to unimodal in non-grazed sites. Shrubs in pastures may not be considered as a threat to plant species diversity. Instead, they contribute significantly to plant species diversity and vegetation heterogeneity.

Abstract The aim of this study is to differentiate old-field plant communities along the abandonment time and/or environmental gradient in the landscape surrounded villages with established Czech settlers in Romanian Banat area conserving traditional agriculture, and to identify site factors which cause plant diversity of particular vegetation types. Study area: Wider territory centered by the village Sfânta Elena, southern Romania ((44°40’ N; 21°43’ E). Methods: We collected 97 phytosociological relevés covered the same number of old-fields in the area and the following habitat parameters were measured: soil pH, available phosphorus, total carbon and nitrogen, Heat Load Index. Software TURBOVEG / JUICE was used to collect and elaborate the data set of relevés. Old-field vegetation was classified into five basic plant communities using TWINSPAN (all the botanical material includes 291 plant species). For each community, we detected diagnostic species according to their fidelity index. The presence of mowing, grazing or burning was registered for recorded stands. Ecological preferences of each community were examined using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Vegetation-environment relationships were analysed using ordination method – Cannonical correspondence analysis (CCA) in CANOCO for Windows (version 4.5) to find the main variability gradients within the dataset. Scatter plot relationships between variables were constructed. Main results and conclusions: Dependence of number of species (alpha diversity) on the abandoned field’s age exhibits an unimodal shape of this relationship with the maximum peak of species diversity in plant stands aged approximately 13 years. The most importnat ecological factors and/or type of management in the relationship to the old-field plant composition show the following significance order: available phosphorus content in the soil (P), total nitrogen content in the soil (N), presence of burning, length of abandonment (old-field age), carbon/nitrogen ratio in the soil (C/N). Other parameters (grazing, mowing, zero management) do not demonstrate effective impact according to our dataset and seem to be equal to the absence of burning.

Background Foraging activities of wild boar (Sus scrofa) create small-scale soil disturbances in many different vegetation types. Rooting alters species composition by opening niches for less-competitive plants and, as a recurrent factor, becomes a part of the community disturbance regime. Vegetation responses to wild boar disturbance have mostly been studied in the boar's non-native range or in native forest, rather than in open habitats in the native range. We investigate the response of open European semidry grassland vegetation dominated by Brachypodium pinnatum to native wild boar pressure in an abandoned agricultural landscape. Methods To describe the disturbance regime, we repeatedly mapped rooted patches during a 5-year period. Additionally, to study the vegetation response, we performed an artificial disturbance experiment by creating 30 pairs of simulated disturbances and undisturbed plots. The vegetation composition of the paired plots was repeatedly sampled five times in eight years of the study. Results Based on repeated mapping of disturbances, we predict that if the disturbance regime we observed during the 5-year period were maintained over the long term, it would yield a stable vegetation ratio consisting of 98.7% of the grassland undisturbed, 0.4% with fresh disturbance, and 0.9% in older successional stages. Vegetation composition in the artificially disturbed plots was continuously converging to that of undisturbed vegetation, but these disturbed plots still differed significantly in composition and had higher species number, even after eight years of succession. Synthesis Our results thus show that wild boar disturbance regime in its native range increases heterogeneity and species diversity of semidry grassland vegetation.

Seed dispersal is a crucial process for the dynamics and maintenance of plant populations. Free-ranging animals are effective dispersal vectors because they can move between similar habitats and transport seeds into favourable environments. Dung samples from two species of common free-ranging mammals—deer and wild boar—were used to study endozoochorous dispersal of seeds in a military training area in western Bohemia. The area was abandoned after WWII, and the military training area was established in 1953. The vegetation consists of shrublands and dry grasslands. Data on the local species pool of grassland herbs and forbs were collected to compare the characteristics of dispersed versus non-dispersed plants. Deer and wild boar dispersed 84 plant species; however, species composition of seedlings emerging from dung samples showed significant differences between dispersal vectors and notable change across the growing season. 80% of all seedlings extracted from the dung samples belonged to stinging nettle, Urtica dioica . From trait analyses, seeds of endozoochorous plants had a higher longevity index in the soil seed bank than non-endozoochorous plants and more often possessed a mucilaginous surface. Our results show that deer and boar are successful, though not substitutable dispersers.

The term wood-pastures is usually applied to areas with trees or other woody vegetation, scattered through a mainly grazed grassland area, and reflects one of the oldest land use types in Europe, which plays important ecological, agricultural and socio-cultural roles. However, a rapid decline in their area due to changes in land use and a lack of tree regeneration has recently been observed all over Europe, which has led to the necessity of a deeper understanding of their behaviour in relation to different factors via a detailed analysis of the history of the changes in their distribution over space and time. Despite the recent increase in the number of related studies, information on historic patterns of wood-pastures in many European locations, such as Czechia, remains incomplete. The goal of this study is to assess the habitat continuity of current wood-pastures and to analyse the land-use/land-cover changes of historical and current wood-pastures in lowlands and warm landscapes of hills and basins of Czechia. To achieve this, nine sites covering a total area of 98.6 km(2) were studied in Czechia. The situation on three time horizons (1820-1840s, the early 1950s and today) was analysed. The results have shown that almost all wood-pastures from the 1st half of the 19th century have now been lost and most of the currently existing ones were formed from the 1950s till today. Most wood-pastures, which were lost by the 1950s, were turned into open habitats, such as arable lands, and the ones lost from 1950 were turned into forest. New wood-pastures are mostly formed from open habitats, often in former military areas. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The paved (tarmac) roads had been constructed on Soqotra island over the last 15 years. The vegetation along the roads was disturbed and the erosion started immediately after the disturbance caused by the road construction. Our assumption is that biotechnical measurements should prevent the problems caused by erosion and improve stabilization of road edges. The knowledge of plant species which are able to grow in unfavourable conditions along the roads is important for correct selection of plants used for outplanting. The vegetation succession was observed using phytosociological relevés as a tool of recording and mapping assambblages of plants species along the roads as new linear structures in the landscape. Data from phytosociological relevés were analysed and the succession was characterised in different altitudes. The results can help us to select group of plants (especially shrubs and trees), which are suitable to be used as stabilizing green mantle in various site conditions and for different purposes (anti-erosional, ornamental, protection against noise or dust, etc.).

Questions Is the species composition of the forest community in abandoned pastures different from that in ancient ungrazed forests? Do abandoned wooded pastures serve as refugia for forest species? Which factors influence forest species communities and the diversity of pastures more than 50 similar to years after abandonment? Location Doupovske hory, Czech Republic. Methods The species composition of the forest plant community was assessed in 90 plots located in abandoned pastures with different continuities of woody vegetation. The abandoned pastures were compared to 111 other plots located in ancient ungrazed forest. The effects of forest continuity, isolation, pH, canopy cover and terrain were analysed using CCA and GLMs. Results The forest species communities in abandoned pastures differ from those in ancient ungrazed forests. The number of forest species in abandoned pastures was relatively high. However, abandoned pastures lack some species considered as indicators of ancient forests in Europe. The abandoned wooded pastures and more recently overgrown pastures generally lacked the same set of species in comparison to ancient forests. Additionally, we found no regular association of ancient forest indicators with wooded pastures compared to more recently overgrown pastures. The forest species communities in abandoned pastures are significantly influenced by continuity, soil pH (KCl) and habitat isolation. Forest species richness depends on continuity (with significantly more species in the abandoned wooded pastures than in most recently overgrown pastures). Furthermore, species richness is negatively correlated with habitat isolation particularly under the open canopy. Conclusions Abandoned pastures and wooded pastures offer suitable habitats for forest species. However, these forest communities remained unsaturated after more than a half-century of succession. Surprisingly, pastures with a long continuity in woody cover (wooded pastures) were not better refugia for forest species than more recently overgrown pastures. The importance of habitat isolation, soil pH and light conditions for forest species community composition and richness was confirmed.

Questions: Do differences in previous land use cause long-lasting changes in soil chemistry? Is vegetation composition affected by the previous land use after 50 years of secondary succession? Is the effect of previous land use caused by preexisting differences in environmental conditions or mediated through changes in soil chemistry? How important is the effect of previous land use in relation to other factors?Location: Doupovske Mountains, Czech Republic.Methods: A stratified random sampling design was used to collect 91 vegetation releves with accompanying soil samples. The effects of previous land use (arable field, meadow, pasture) on soil pH, organic carbon ( C), total nitrogen (N), C: N ratio and available phosphorus were tested by an analysis of covariance. A canonical correspondence analysis and variation partitioning procedure were used to reveal relationships among previous land use, environmental factors and species composition.Results: Organic C, total N and C: N ratio were significantly influenced by previous land use, while available phosphorus and soil pH were not. Previous land use explained a significant part of the variation in species composition and its effects only partly overlapped with the effects of soil chemistry and terrain attributes. However, the species composition of post-agricultural forests was mostly determined by environmental factors not modified by previous land use.Conclusions: Forest communities that originate on abandoned agricultural land are primarily determined by natural environmental conditions. Nevertheless, the type of previous land use also modifies the species assemblages of these forests and needs to be considered as an important determinant of their composition.

The amphi-Adriatic region, and especially the Western Balkan Peninsula, belongs to the most important biodiversity hotspots in the temperate region. Nevertheless, detailed phylogeographic and molecular systematic studies in the Western Balkan are rare due to sporadic sampling in regions, where access has been, until recently, restricted by war. The Cardamine maritima group, which is the focus of this study, comprises not only the currently recognised species C. maritima and C. monteluccii , but also other taxa, which have been rendered to synonymy by most of the national floras and checklists. Molecular data acquired by the amplified fragment length polymorphism method showed a clear pattern within the group. Italian populations of C. monteluccii are well separated from Balkan taxa. In a step forward from previous taxonomic confusion surrounding Balkan populations, the present study confirms that five allopatric units—each with a clearly delimited and a rather restricted distribution range—can be easily recognised here. They correspond to C. fialae , C. serbica , C. rupestris , and two genetically distant and allopatric units within C. maritima . While individual taxa gained high bootstrap support in the neighbour-joining tree, there is low support for the internal nodes and it is hard to infer any relationships among taxa based on this information. The majority of Balkan populations of the C. maritima group exhibit features of genetic variability that enable us to hypothesise that these populations are relic ones.

The phylogeographical structure amongst 39 populations of the temperate forest plant Carex pilosa in Europe was studied using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), and sequencing of non-coding regions of plastid DNA. No plastid DNA polymorphisms were found within almost the entire 14 000 bp investigated, and it seems that chloroplast sequence analysis is not appropriate for studying the migration history of this species. The AFLP data also showed no clear genetic pattern. Marginal separation of central and north-eastern European populations did not allow for the detection of glacial refugia in this species. Rare AFLP fragments showed no association with geography and led to speculations regarding the possibility of glacial survival of C. pilosa in microenvironmentally suitable patches in central Europe. This is in accordance with recent palaeopalynological and macrofossil evidence. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 158, 115–130.

The factors influencing plant species diversity in secondary and ancient forests can differ. Apart from environmental variability caused by natural conditions, secondary forests are influenced by historical factors (previous human activity). However, the effect of historical factors on vegetation is not fully understood. Secondary forests that have developed in abandoned villages in the Doupovske hory mountains, Czech Republic, were surveyed and compared with ancient forests in an attempt to determine the effect of historical factors and separate it from that of natural gradients. The results show that secondary forests in abandoned villages form a unique type of vegetation that differs from ancient forests mainly in the presence of species indicating a high nutrient content and and high pH of the soils. This indicates that the previous high nutrient input in the villages still influences the soils and causes the differences. Variability of village forests is influenced mainly by a gradient in the available phosphorus content of the soils, soil moisture (approximated by wetness index) and organic matter content. The pattern in the phosphorus content and pH indicate a different intensity of historical influence in the centre compared to the periphery of the villages. Vegetation variability is modified by former land-use and village structure. The effect of historical factors is relatively strong and cannot be explained by coincidental initial conditions.

The phylogeographical structure of the temperate shrub Rosa pendulina at 45 locations in Europe was studied using sequencing of a non-coding cpDNA region (trnL-trnF). Our study revealed a clear geographic structure of cpDNA haplotypes. Three main haplotypes were geographically widespread, but showed little overlap in their distributions, suggesting that postglacial expansion occurred from at least two distinct glacial refugia, probably located (1) at the edge of the Alps, N Apennines or Dinaric Alps, and (2) in the Balkan Peninsula or S Carpathians. All populations at locations in the Czech Republic and surrounding regions are of Carpathian origin. This finding disproved an Alpine origin of R. pendulina populations in the umava Mrs (Czech Republic). A contact zone between Carpathian and Alpine migration routes of R. pendulina is probably located in the Danube valley.

The present paper describes the peculiarities and methodology of small space vehicles electric power supply system (PSS) optimum designing which allows to decrease the time and cost of designing as well as to improve the operation characteristics of the system as well. The suggested solution of this task is based on the developing, manufacturing, testing and operating experience of the power supply systems for spacecraft (s/c) of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MPEI), Space Research Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI) and Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Academy of Sciences of Czech Republic (IAP ASCR). The paper presents some aspects of PSS development, PSS computer models development and application, aspects of solar array (SA) parameters and buffer batteries (BB) calculation and of modes of their optimum operation.The main materials of this paper were obtained from working up the PSSs for Interball international space project microsatellites: Magion-4 and Magion-5, namely. The first microsatellite operated successfully in the high elliptical orbit for more than two years. These microsatellites were manufactured in the IAP ASCR, all information is available on: http://www.iki.ru/interball.html (from IKI RAS) and http://www.ufa.cas.cz (from IAP ASCR).