Ochrana přírody 1/2025 — 27. 2. 2025 — Summary — Tištěná verze článku v pdf
SUMMARY – Ochrana přírody 1/2025
Mikuláš I., Volf V., Volf O. & Tejrovský V.: New Special Protection Area – the Western Krušné hory/Ore Mountains
As of 1 January, 2025, the 42nd Bird Area (pursuant to Act No. 114/1992 Gazette on Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection, as amended later, the term for Special Protection Area, SPA under the European Union´s Birds Directive) in the Czech Republic has been declared in the extremely valuable Krušné hory/Ore Mountains western edge, which has long been neglected in terms of bird conservation. The Western Krušné hory/Ore Mountains Bird Area focuses on the protection and conservation of two bird species, namely the Black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) and the Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus), also known as the Tengmalm´s owl. The inclusion of the site in the EU Natura 2000 network aims to substantially strengthen the protection of their habitats and ensure the long-term stability of their populations. The new Bird Area is naturally linked to two existing ones in the Krušné hory/Ore Mts.: the Eastern Krušné hory/Ore Mts. and the Novodomské Peat-bog - Kovářská. These were also designated primarily to protect the Black grouse, one of the most endangered bird species in Central Europe. Extending the territorial protection in this direction is a significant step towards the Black Grouse´s preservation and will also contribute to the conservation of the unique Krušné hory/Ore Mts. nature. ■
Blättler L. & Daněk J.: From Landscape Functions through Ecosystem Service to Nature´s Contribution to People
In the State Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection Programme of the Czech Republic for 2020-2025 ecosystem services (ES) are considered as one of the cross-cutting objectives and tools. Specifically, ES assessment and its integration into decision-making in ecosystem management including their use should be carried out. Not only in the Czech Republic, but also abroad, the ES concept is part of key strategic documents. In the Czech Republic, a national-wide ES mapping and assessment have been conducted (see Ochrana přírody/Nature Conservation Journal 4/2014). In order to use the ES assessment in nature conservation practice, the IP LIFE One Nature and the follow-up project Prospective LIFE are working on the development and testing of a methodology for this purpose. At the academic level, ES are a dynamically developing field. In recent years, more than 6,000 scientific papers have been published on ES per year. The main objective of the ES concept has therefore been to ‘green economics’. In the IP LIFE One Nature project, the IPBES classification of ES is used; the authors focus on the positive contributions of nature to people there, which to this end they called “nature’s contribution´s to people”. ■
Straková M., Jongepierová I., Raab S., Musil Z., Gluzová D., Doležalová P., Čížek M., Vítovcová K., Kadaš D. & Bauer P.: Current Availability of Regional and Species-enriched Mixtures in the Czech Republic
The importance of regional mixtures (RM) and species enriched mixtures (SEM) continues to increase as biodiversity in the landscape has been steadily declining in the Czech Republic. Although seed availability remains a problem, not only is the number of areas where RS or DOS can be obtained increasing, but there are also more and more competent enthusiasts striving for the sustainable availability of mixtures. Mixtures are gradually being developed, whether in collaboration with a regionally competent NGO, research institute or seed company. The greatest challenges in obtaining regional or species-enriched mixtures are mainly the lack of knowledge about collecting and growing a diverse range of plants in nurseries, sharing of experience, time and physical demands, registration of seed by the Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture (CISTA), ensuring seed purity for registration and machine sowing, and ensuring seed germination, care of the nurseries including machine harvesting, sufficient number of dedicated staff, economic creation of a mixture composition that is both affordable and of high quality, lack of space for seed drying, storage and handling, high cost of mechanization for seed care, harvesting and cleaning, and lack of native Czech varieties in grass species. ■
Neuwirthová H.: Evaluation of the Action Plan/Recovery Programme for the Bohemian Early Gentian
The Action Plan/Recovery Programme for the Bohemian Early Gentian (Gentianella praecox subsp. bohemica) was approved by the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic in 2011. Its implementation has been going on long enough to assess the results achieved by the joint efforts of the whole implementation team. The number of people involved in the Action Plan/Recovery Programme is higher compared to most other Action Plans/ Recovery Programmes carried out in the country. This is due to the fact that the Bohemian early gentian’s distribution range extends over six regions, i.e. sub-national administrative units in the Czech Republic. Habitat management is the basis of the whole Action Plan/Recovery Programme and a number of other measures contributes to ensuring or improving the management at the sites. Most of the proposed measures have been partially or fully implemented. It is already clear that the long-term objectives of maintaining or improving the number and size of populations will not be achieved in their current form. The past period has been significantly affected by several extremely dry years, a relatively new phenomenon that will definitely have to be taken into account in the future. However, it is very likely that, especially without systematic monitoring and follow-up management, the status of the vascular plant´s populations in the Czech Republic would be significantly more pessimistic. For the Bohemian early gentian, the Action Plan/Recovery Programme is an appropriate tool, as agreed by the entire implementation team, including the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic. ■
Peksa O. & Pecháčková S.: Are Power Lines the Hope for Heathland?
One of the traditional and biologically very valuable habitats - heathland – has been disappearing from the Czech Republic´s landscape. Recent research has shown, in line with pan-European one, the nature of the changes that these oligotrophic habitats are undergoing. Heather and lichens are virtually disappearing everywhere and shrubs, herbs and grasses, or tree seedlings, are coming in. Heliophytes (mainly heather, herbs and lichens) are declining and the species composition in mosses is also changing. Non-woodland heaths are rapidly turning into grassland, while changes in woodland heaths are generally smaller in scale. The total number of species from the Red List of Threatened Species of the Czech Republic found in heaths is declining significantly. Degradation of heathland is very rapid and is not primarily caused by global change, but primarily by lack of management. Most of the sites that have survived display a very small area, which, together with their unfavourable location, prevents the use of traditional management methods such as grazing, burning or large-scale turfing. Areas under power lines could offer hope for heathland, but only if they are managed in an appropriate way. The current often applied massive milling is more of a threat to them. ■
Zejdová L., Musil Z., Patočka Z., Klimánek M., Hustáková K., Koutecký B., Rožnovský J. & Litschmann T.: Monitoring Population Dynamics in the Endemic Moravian Alpine Bells and Microclimate in the Macocha/Stepmother Abyss
The Moravian Alpine Bells (Cortusa matthioli subsp. moravica) is a glacial relict occurring at only one site in the Czech Republic, namely on the northeastern wall of the Macocha/Stepmother Abyss in the Moravský kras/Moravian Karst Protected Landscape Area in the Vývěry Punkvy/Punkva River Springs National Nature Reserve (South Moravia). The long-term existence of the mountain species is made possible by the cool and moist microclimate within the abyss connected to the cave system on the Punkva River. The site itself is only accessible by climbing equipment in extremely difficult terrain, so for a long time no accurate data were available to enable repeated monitoring and tracking of the population dynamics in the plant species. When comparing the data from the census of Moravian Alpine bells clumps, a general trend of decrease in the total number of plants can be seen. In the last monitoring from the rope in 2024, only 48 Moravian Alpine bells´ individuals were found there. The Moravian Alpine bells´ population is only stable in the optimal conditions of the upper level and one group from the middle level, where any decline in clumps is compensated by vegetative reproduction; very rarely there also is reproduction by seeds. In the lower level, there is a steady, slightly decreasing trend. Plants are surviving at their limits there, which is reflected in reduced fitness, low growth and low flowering frequency; some of which are attacked by fungal pathogens. Habitat limiting factors at the lower levels are mainly the amount of light, the lack of suitable terraces with deeper topsoil and drought, which in this case is probably related to increasing average temperature and decreasing humidity rather than the amount of rainfall there. ■
Merta L. & Křesina J.: Rearing Ukrainian Brook Lamprey/Vladykov´s Lamprey Larvae for Restocking its Population in the Račinka Brook
The Ukrainian brook lamprey (Eudontomyzon mariae) is a non-parasitic, potamodromous lamprey species. Since its discovery in 1968, the species has been known from a single site, which is the Račí potok/Crayfish Brook, also called the Račinka near the village of Velke Losiny in the Šumperk region (northern Moravia). In recent years, however, experts have inclined to classify the population there as the Vladykov’s lamprey (Eudontomyzon vladykovi). Since 2017, the Regional Action Plan (RAP) for this species has been implemented at the site by the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic The year 2024 ended with mixed feelings in terms of efforts to save the declining population being close to extinction. Artificial spawning and subsequent larval rearing proved feasible, even without sophisticated technological equipment and facilities. In the case of the Vladykov’s lamprey, this is the first documented successful attempt ever. However, strengthening collapsing populations by introducing reared individuals can only be of real benefit at sites with restored natural conditions suitable for the species. This is unfortunately not the case for the Račinka Brook, which has still been affected by a number of negative factors. Some of them can be influenced by tailored management interventions, while others, such as the changing hydrological regime in the streams, can hardly be reduced. In particular, the comprehensive morphological restoration of the Račinka Brrok riverbed should be urgently initiated wherever it has been still possible. Artificial rearing of lamprey larvae and their introduction for restocking can then be a very effective tool towards the ultimate recovery of the viable population of these remarkable animals. ■
Jelínková J.: Rights of Environmental Associations during Issuing a Unified Environmental Statement Procedure
The Unified Environmental Statement (hereinafter referred to as UES) is not issued as a binding opinion under Article 149 of the Administrative Procedure Code in administrative proceedings. However, an environmental association has the right pursuant to Article 70, paragraph 2 of the Act on Nature Conservation and Landscape Protection (ANCLP) to be informed in advance of the issuance of a UES if the association has requested it, instead of taking action under the ANCLP. The association may have other procedural rights in the “proceedings” for the issuance of an UES as a “party concerned” under the Administrative Code. Both the Act on the Unified Environmental Statement and the Administrative Procedure Code explicitly regulate only the interaction between the applicant for the issuance of the UES (binding opinion) and the administrative authority competent to issue it. The other parties/persons concerned are generally only aware of the binding opinion after it has been issued, as parties to the procedure for issuing the decision for which the binding opinion is the basis. There is no right of appeal against a binding opinion. The basic remedy for imperfection is a review of the legality and substantive correctness of the binding opinion under the appeal procedure (Article 149, paragraph 7 of the Administrative Procedure Code), which is supplemented by a supervisory remedy in the case of unlawful binding opinions - a review procedure in the narrower sense (Article 94 and Article 149, paragraph 8 of the Administrative Procedure Code). If an environmental association requests, pursuant to Article 70, paragraph 2 of the Environmental Protection Act, to be informed about the intended interventions - requests for the issuance of a UES (with the possibility of narrowing the subject matter and local specifications), the competent administrative authority is obliged to inform it about the initiation of the “proceedings” for the issuance of a UES if the UES will be issued instead of (one of) the actions under the ANCLP. ■
Zajíček P.: Floodings in Show Caves in the Czech Republic
In September 2024, during prolonged heavy rains, extensive flooding occurred throughout the Czech Republic, reaching millennial water levels in some areas. In many places, they had devastating effects. Flood naturally also affect cave systems with water regimes. Therefore, water levels in caves are closely monitored during floods. References to floods in connection with caves were in earlier times linked to the Moravský kras/Moravian Karst area (South Moravia). In other parts of the Czech Republic, caves with a water regime had been previously unknown. Floodings in the Moravský kras/Moravian Karst caves have been occurring at irregular intervals continuously. They occur either during progressive spring snowmelt, during prolonged rainfall or during local storms with extreme precipitation. In recent decades, extreme water levels in karst areas have been recorded and documented in detail. A very dynamic atmospheric phenomenon occurred in April 1985, when a prolonged intense frontal storm swept across Central Europe. During this overnight storm, for example, sinkholes in the Moravský kras/Moravian Karst filled with water and the Punkva River overflowed over the visitor plateau at the bottom of the Macocha/Stepmother Abyss. Perhaps the most significant flood event of the last decades was the 1997 flood in Moravia during very intense and prolonged rainfall in July. The water flooded the bottom of Macocha/Stepmother Abyss, some parts of the dry part of the Punkva Caves, the surroundings of the area and the entrance to the Sloupské jeskyně/Column Caves. The flood also affected other show caves there. ■
Pešout P.: The Czechoslovak First Land Reform and Nature Conservation
The implementation of a large-scale land reform was included in the very foundations of the First Republic (the term used for the former Czechoslovakia in 1918–1938). The principle that “large estates shall be expropriated for domestic colonisation” had already been included in Masaryk’s Washington Declaration of 18 October, 1918. Already at the time when the reform was underway, the benefits were assessed in contradictory terms. The World War II and post-war developments, nationalisation, the expulsion of the German population, collectivisation and socialisation of the countryside caused the breaking the owners’ relationships to the land and almost wiped out the results of the First Republic land reform. All this was completed after 1989 by the state land privatisation, which did not even attempt to take into account the objectives of the First Republican land reform. The positive impact of the reform on the agricultural landscape - the establishment of medium-sized farms and family farms and the increase in rural employment - has thus largely disappeared. The benefits of the now unimaginable interference with property rights are difficult to assess even after a century. In any case, however, the persistent efforts of the completely understaffed Department of Enlightenment at the then Czechoslovak Ministry of Education and National Enlightenment to ensure the protection of areas of natural importance as part of the land reform should be highlighted. ■
Plesník J., Rolfová E. & Miko L.: IPBES Published Two Important Reports
Nature conservation is not and cannot be a scientific discipline, although it is sometimes considered to be. Traditionally, conservation biology has been. Nevertheless, both nature conservation and biodiversity conservation, management and sustainable use should be based on the proven evidence provided by science. The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has been trying to do just that for more than a decade. In 2013, IPBES published a conceptual framework for further action. It emphasises the strong interdisciplinary nature of its assessments, with increasing involvement of economic and social sciences. Thus, in many cases, the authors of IPBES assessment reports do not analyse ecosystems but straight socio-economic systems. On 10-16 December, 2024, the 11th Session of the Plenary of IPBES was held in Windhoek, Namibia, and approved two more important assessments. The first assesses the interlinkages between declining water and food availability, deteriorating human health and ongoing climate change, all in the context of biological diversity. The second assessment report looks at the necessary transformative change, consisting, inter alia, of changes in worldviews and in the structures of human society towards real sustainability. ■