Vertikálna migrácia taxónov vyšších rastlín v alpínskom pásme ako nový, akcelerujúci fenomén

Observed climate change, especially warming, is having significant impacts on the distribution of European flora and these impacts include uphill range shifts, as well as predict potential local and regional extinctions of species. This process can be also called as a vertical migration of species. The related research in subalpine and alpine belt of the European mountains brought several interesting results during the last 15 years, above all by the GLORIA initiative network and a project sUMMITDiv with repeated plant survey from 302 mountain summits across Europe and spanning 145 years of observation. A continent-wide acceleration in the rate of increase in plant species richness, with five times as much species enrichment between 2007 and 2016 as fifty years ago, between 1957 and 1966 has been confirmed (Steinbauer et al., 2018)

Global maps of soil temperature

Research in global change ecology relies heavily on global climatic grids derived from estimates of air temperature in open areas at around 2 m above the ground. These climatic grids do not reflect conditions below vegetation canopies and near the ground surface, where critical ecosystem functions occur and most terrestrial species reside. Here, we provide global maps of soil temperature and bioclimatic variables at a 1-km2 resolution for 0–5 and 5–15 cm soil depth. These maps were created by calculating the difference (i.e. offset) between in situ soil temperature measurements, based on time series from over 1200 1-km2 pixels (summarized from 8519 unique temperature sensors) across all the world\u27s major terrestrial biomes, and coarse-grained air temperature estimates from ERA5-Land (an atmospheric reanalysis by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). We show that mean annual soil temperature differs markedly from the corresponding gridded air temperature, by up to 10°C (mean = 3.0 ± 2.1°C), with substantial variation across biomes and seasons. Over the year, soils in cold and/or dry biomes are substantially warmer (+3.6 ± 2.3°C) than gridded air temperature, whereas soils in warm and humid environments are on average slightly cooler (−0.7 ± 2.3°C). The observed substantial and biome-specific offsets emphasize that the projected impacts of climate and climate change on near-surface biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are inaccurately assessed when air rather than soil temperature is used, especially in cold environments. The global soil-related bioclimatic variables provided here are an important step forward for any application in ecology and related disciplines. Nevertheless, we highlight the need to fill remaining geographic gaps by collecting more in situ measurements of microclimate conditions to further enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of global soil temperature products for ecological applications

Fitosociološke značilnosti rastlinskih združb z endemično vrsto Cyclamen fatrense

In this contribution we bring together the basic phytosociological characteristics of communities with the presence of species Cyclamen fatrense in the herb layer. The analysis was made on the basis of 30 original phytosociological relevés. The main criterion for the relevés recording was the selection of the broadest possible range of biotopes with presence and the highest possible abundance of species Cyclamen fatrense on the entire area of its occurrence, which is represented by the Veľká Fatra and Starohorské vrchy Mts. The forest phytocoenoses of the association Carici albae-Fagetum Moor 1952, and phytocoenoses of clearings of the association Epilobio-Atropetum bella-donnae R. Tx. 1931 em. 1950, were classified by using Zürich-Montpellier School method. Additionally, 18 relevés with the presence of species Cyclamen fatrense were excerpted from already published works and detailed comparison was also made.V članku so prikazane osnovne fitosociološke značilnosti združb z vrsto Cyclamen fatrense. Analizirali smo jih na podlagi 30 originalnih popisov. Glavno merilo pri izbiri popisnih ploskev je bil izbor čim širšega obsega rastišč s prisotno vrsto Cyclamen fatrense, na celotnem območju njenega pojavljanja, ki ga predstavljata gorovji Veľká Fatra in Starohorské vrchy. Rastišča smo izbirali tam, kjer ima vrsta največjo abundanco. S standardno srednjeevropsko metodo smo gozdne združbe uvrstili v asociacijo Carici albae-Fagetum Moor 1952 in združbe posek v asociacijo Epilobio-Atropetum bella-donnae R. Tx. 1931 em. 1950. Dodatno smo zbrali 18 objavljenih popisov z vrsto Cyclamen fatrense in jih vključili v rimerjave

Small Woodlands and Trees in Traditional Agricultural Landscapes of Slovakia

The studies focused on distribution and characteristic of small woodlands and trees as a typical feature of traditional agricultural landscapes (TAL) in Slovakia are missing or are rather local. The source data for this study was obtained from the national inventory of TAL performed in 2010-2012 in Slovakia, where woody vegetation was considered as one of the landscape elements creating mosaic of TAL. Based on the types of woodland present, which endow the landscape with a distinctive character and structure, we have divided TAL into five subtypes: 1) TAL with low occurrence of woodland – not more than 10 % of the site covered by woods, 2) TAL with spatial woodland formation, 3) TAL with solitaire trees dominant, 4) TAL with lines of trees or shrubs dominant, and 5) TAL with small woodland dominant

Composition of microbial PLFAs and correlations with topsoil characteristics in the rare active travertine spring-fed fen

We studied soil PLFAs composition and specific soil properties among transect of small-scale fen in Stankovany, Slovakia. The aim of this study was to determine potential differences in the microbial community structure of the fen transect and reveal correlations among PLFAs and specific soil characteristics. PCA analyses of 43 PLFAs showed a separation of the samples along the axis largely influenced by i14:0, 16:1ω5, br17:0, 10Me16:0, cy17:0, cy17:1, br18:0 and 10Me17:0. We measured a high correlation of sample scores and distance from fen edge (Kendall’s test τ = 0.857, P < 0.01). Kendall’s test showed a negative correlation of PLFAs content (mol%) and distance from the fen border for Gram (+) bacteria, Actinomycetes, mid-chain branched saturated PLFAs and total PLFAs. The redundancy analysis of the PLFA data set for the eight samples using PLFAs as species and 21 environmental variables identified soil properties significantly associated with the PLFA variables, as tested by Monte Carlo permutation showing most significant environmental variables including dichlormethan extractables, water extractables, Klason lignin, acid-soluble lignin, holocellulose, total extractables, organic matter content, total PLFA amount, bacterial PLFA and total nitrogen negatively correlated to axis 1 and dry weight and carbonate carbon positively correlated to axis 1. The amounts of Klason lignin, acid-soluble lignin, holocellulose total extractables, total PLFA, bacterial PLFA and total nitrogen were significantly correlated positively to the distance from fen border while moisture and total carbonate carbon were correlated negatively

Importance of Wetland Refugia in Agricultural Landscape Provided Based on the Community Characteristics of Small Terrestrial Mammals

Intensification of agriculture has led, among other negative consequences, also to drying out of wetlands. Nevertheless, some of the wetland biotopes were preserved as small spots. This paper discusses the importance of those areas serving as refugia for small terrestrial mammals. Because small terrestrial mammals in the middle of food webs, they serve as an indicator for the presence of food sources (plants and invertebrates) and suggest the potential of the area as a living space for predators. The experiment took place at lowland agricultural landscape with wetland patches in west and west-east Slovakia (Záhorská and Podunajská nížina lowlands) using catch-mark-release method from 2015 to 2017. The importance was assessed according to abundance, biodiversity, persistence of species during seasons and habitat preference of small terrestrial mammals and equitability of the biotopes. Overall 368 individuals belonging to 12 species were recorded. The lowest abundance and diversity were registered at field biotopes where Apodemus sylvaticus was the most abundant. Microtus arvalis, Clethrionomys glareolus and Sorex araneus dominate at wetland biotopes. The higher biodiversity and abundance of small mammals were recorded at the wetland refugia. The results, together with position of small mammals in food webs, lead to conclusion that the wetland refugia are important habitats for the overall preservation of biodiversity and maintaining them is a part of the strategy for sustainable agriculture

Effect of temperature and relative humidity on the milk production of dairy cows

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of environmental housing conditions on the milk yield of dairy cows. Measurements were taken in the summer period from June to September, 2020 and in the winter period during January, 2021 on a large-capacity farm of Holstein Friesian cattle. Cows were housed in free stall barn with the lying boxes and selected during the second or third lactations, in the summer period from the 51st day to the 135th day and in the winter period from the 64th day to the 120th day of lactation. The average temperature in the housing was 23°C in summer, and 7.05°C in winter. The average THI (thermal humidity index) value in summer was 70.43, but during the day the THI values sometimes reached 75. The dairy cows were therefore exposed to heat stress during summer. Increasing THI and temperature values negatively affected the milk yield, as there was a negative correlation between both THI and milk yield (r = −0.641; p < 0.01) and temperature and milk yield (r = −0.637; p < 0.01). Milk production in winter was at 58.77 kg per day and in summer at 49.55 kg per day. In the summer, the milk had a significantly lower content of fat (p < 0.05), proteins (p < 0.001), lactose (p < 0.001), minerals (p < 0.001) and conversely, a higher number of somatic cells (p < 0.01). These results show that worse environmental conditions during the summer negatively affected the level of milk yield and the composition of the cows’ milk