Hana Skokanova

• PhD
• Researcher at Landscape Research Institute

This paper investigates two methods of assessing structural functionality and landscape services, and the potential of their joint application in order to estimate the impact of landscape structure in terms of structural functionality on landscape capacity to provide various services. The methods were tested in three different landscape types of th...

The article presents several approaches how to assess land use changes in the Czech Republic in the period 1836-2006. Land use changes are studied on the basis of old topographic maps from five time steps. The first approach uses six groups of change trajectories that are calculated on the basis of three indices – turnover, diversity and similarity...

Skokanová H., Eremiášová R.: Changes in the secondary landscape structure and the connection to ecological stability: the cases of two model areas in the Czech Republic. Ekológia (Bratislava), Vol. 31, No. 1, p. 33–45, 2012. This paper characterizes changes in the secondary landscape structure over the past 170 years in two model areas in the Czech...

Landscape structure not only reflects the natural settings of the landscape but also its history and the impact of human activity. Information about the characteristics of the landscape elements in terms of their structural functionality plays a central role in assessing their ecological quality. Statutory designation of sites plays a key role in c...

Two different sets of maps, on a scale of 1:110,000, show the development of land use and main land use change processes in a 500 km study area that occurred over the last 170 years. Analytical maps of land use were derived from old topographical military maps, as well as from base maps, using five time periods by the process of on-screen digitizat...

Context Historical land use is thought to have influenced plant community diversity, composition and function through the local persistence of taxa that reflect ecological conditions of the past. Objectives We tested for the effects of historical land use on contemporary plant species richness, composition, and ecological preferences in the grassl...

Studying landscape heterogeneity (LH) and its changes over time is crucial for understanding ecosystem dynamics and developing effective strategies for biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation. However, such studies over large areas and long time periods are rare due to the limited availability of land-cover data. Here, we examine tw...

Landscape and its development is crucial for viability and management of protected areas, therefore, we focused on Czech large protected areas and analysed their land cover and landscape structure changes from the 1950s to recent times. Based on four milestones (1950, 1990, 2004 and 2020), data from topographic maps and aerial imagery were vectoriz...

Atlas změn krajiny v českých velkoplošných zvláště chráněných územích 1950−2020 představuje ve čtyřech časových horizontech (50. léta 20. století, okolo roku 1990, okolo roku 2004 a mezi lety 2016 až 2020) změny krajinného pokryvu a antropogenních struktur (zástavby, rekreace a komunikací), respektive fragmentace krajiny těmito fenomény, pro všechn...

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-da...

The impacts of climate change on people and ecosystems have been studied at both local and global levels. The environment is expected to change significantly, and the role of local communities in shaping more resilient landscapes is considered crucial. This research focuses on rural regions highly susceptible to climate change impacts. The objectiv...

Impacts of climate change as well as adaptation and mitigation policies have been studied through their effects on individuals, societies, the economic sector, agriculture, and ecosystems. Since the environment is expected to change significantly as a consequence of global warming, the role of local communities in shaping a more resilient landscape...

As the human population grows, the transformation of landscapes for human uses increases. In recent homogeneous and predominantly agricultural landscapes, land-cover and management changes are considered the main drivers of vascular plant diversity. However, the specific effects of land-cover classes across whole heterogeneous landscapes are still...

Water-powered facilities (WPFs) have traditionally been a pillar of the economy and social development. Therefore, the state took an interest in having these objects recorded and mapped in relevant maps and registers. This article focuses on identifying and localizing WPFs in the Moravice River basin in the so-called Sudetenland, Czechia, between t...

The paper presents partial results of “entering” landscape photography, which can be considered as a complementary method for the research of landscape changes. Unlike the usual assessment of landscape changes using cartographic and other archival sources, old landscape photographs can contribute to the deeper knowledge of the local specifics of th...

The Czech rural landscape is a subject of research because it is affected by both intensification and extensification of land cover. This landscape was influenced in recent decades by political and socio-economic changes; we studied how these changes were reflected in the land cover development in protected areas. We selected ten Protected landscap...

The article analyses possibilities of using landscape paintings in the studies of land cover changes. It examines 112 paintings from 1728 till 1976 and compares them with existing topographic maps. It compares land cover depicted in the paintings with present landscape and it studies changes of landscape derived from topographic maps from several p...

Assessing long-term land use changes is undertaken mostly with the help of old topographic maps, cadastral plans, aerial photos and other archive materials. However, land use changes can be also interpreted by comparing old landscape paintings with present landscape. A Czech project currently underway seeks to introduce landscape paintings as a tru...

Knowledge of landscape dynamics, functions and ecosystem services is key for evidence-based management of protected areas. These areas represent valuable landscapes, where the ability to provide functions and services should be preserved. The article introduces results of a research focused on landscape development in the Krkonoše National Park and...

The paper presents methods and results how to identify place of former historical ponds that may have some potential for restoration in present landscapes. In this study, ponds represent a type of artificial water bodies with historical traditions in the form of fish breeding (fishponds) in Central European landscapes. For the identification, we us...

This English manual version was compiled as Output O.T3.2 of the Interreg Central Europe Project MaGICLandscapes “Managing Green Infrastructure in Central European Landscapes“ funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This publication is also available in Czech, German, Italian and Polish languages and can be downloaded from the proj...

A reduction and disappearance of traditional agricultural landscape structures (TALSs) has been taking place throughout Europe. TALSs are a mixture of small arable fields with trees, vineyards with and without trees, orchards and field margins, and represent an important component of green infrastructure (GI). This is true especially in intensively...

This E-Book was compiled as Deliverable D.C.6.2 of the Interreg Central Europe Project MaGICLandscapes “Managing Green Infrastructure in Central European Landscapes“ funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The paper evaluates landscape development, land-use changes, and transport infrastructure variations in the city of Martin and the town of Vrútky, Slovakia, over the past 70 years. It focuses on analyses of the landscape structures characterizing the study area in several time periods (1949, 1970, 1993, 2003); the past conditions are then compared...

The concept of Green Infrastructure (GI) is still relatively new in the Czech Republic. When looking at the definition of GI, one can recognise a relationship with the Czech Territorial System of Ecological Stability (TSES), which is defined as “an interconnected system of natural as well as modified semi-natural ecosystems keeping the natural bala...

The return of the local democracy to the military training areas raises a number of complex challenges even under the conditions of a democratic state. In the municipalities that were established in the Czech Republic on 1 January 2016 by a separation from the territory of the military training areas, a nondemocratic paternalist system has dominate...

The contribution of Green Infrastructure (GI) in vital areas such as regional development, climate change, agriculture, forestry and environmental protection is already acknowledged and listed as one of the priorities in several key EU policies, and is the basis for the EU Green Infrastructure Strategy. However, the concept is not yet fully integra...

Historic water management facilities may have various uses in the field of tourism. Some water management facilities can be adapted for purposes of board and/or lodging visiors, which is a common alternative use of former water mills, sawmills or hammermills (workshops for processing of iron by mechanical hammer). A smaller part of water management...

Green infrastructure (GI) as a term and concept has recently become better known in the Central Europe. The GI represents green and blue patches grouped together into strategically planned network with aim to deliver variety of benefits that can also be expressed as ecosystem services. While in some countries GI means something brand new and innova...

This English manual version was compiled as Output O.T2.1 of the Interreg Central Europe Project MaGICLandscapes “Managing Green Infrastructure in Central European Landscapes“ funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This publication is also available in Czech, German, Italian and Polish languages and can be downloaded from the proj...

The landscape dynamics, changes of its quality and structure are crucial for understanding past, present and future possibilities and trends in studied ecosystems. The objective of this article is to show partial results of a long-term project, which is focused on analysing landscape dynamics in protected areas in Czechia (National parks-NP, Protec...

Historical landscape structures (HLS) have been disappearing throughout Europe due to their abandonment, especially in the mountains (Jepsen et al. 2015), or agricultural intensification (Cvitanovic et al. 2017) and urbanization (Schulp et al. 2019), typical for the lowlands. HLS are result of traditional, usually manual management. They are repres...

It is generally acknowledged that land-use structure and its changes influence levels of invasion by alien plants across the landscape. In this study, we asked how land-use changes over the last 180 years influenced spatial patterns of alien plant invasions in the Czech Republic. We hypothesize that (i) dynamically changing landscapes with a high l...

The paper assesses the development of land use and a road network from 1836 to 2016 in the Hodonín region (Czech Republic). The aim of the article is to verify relationship between the road construction and land use changes in their vicinity. The intensity of land use change processes between adjacent periods was calculated at various distances fro...

This English manual version was compiled as Output O.T1.2 of the Interreg Central Europe Project MaGICLandscapes „Managing Green Infrastructure in Central European Landscapes“ funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This publication and its short versions in Czech, German, Italian and Polish languages can be downloaded from the pro...

First Output (O.T1.1) within the framework of the Interreg Central Europe Project MaGICLandscapes – Managing Green Infrastructure in Central European Landscapes.

This chapter deals with the identification of gaps in transnational ecological networks. First, the methodology is introduced, followed by results from the overall transnational assessment and by two case studies from Saxony (Germany) and Moravia (Czech Republic). The analyses are based on spatial data and are performed in a Geographical Informatio...

The application of principles of good governance in brownfield regeneration, for instance through improved transparency and participation of various groups of stakeholders, varies between regions and cities. In this article, we approach good governance as a strategic response of actors in the struggle for creating development opportunities on brown...

This article presents results on the long-term (from 1837 to 2014) development of land use and a road network in the military training area of Libavá, the Czech Republic, and its surroundings. The key hypotheses were that the establishment of military training areas has significant impacts on the development of their land use and the road network,...

Introduction about MaGICLandscape project, first prelimenary results from case study Kyjovsko. Presentation was held in Czech.

Introduction of the MaGICLandscape project. The poster is in Czech.

. This article describes development of land cover that was assessed for the last 180 years in the newly established Brdy Protected Landscape Area (PLA). The assessment was based on old topographic maps and aerial photographs. The assessment was done separately for former military training area (MTA) in the northern part of the PLA and for the rest...

The paper focuses on land cover development in five military training areas (MTAs) in the Czech Republic during the past 180 years and tries to find answers to causes of similarities or differences of this development. Land cover development was researched on the basis of old military topographic maps and aerial photographs. The results show that t...

Green infrastracture is considered as a key strategy in the European landscape connectivity agenda. It is an essential planning concept towards protecting natural capital and simultaneously enhancing quality of life. This approach, however, is not yet implemented in central Europe landscape planning policies, which seldom consider the ability of la...

The influence of abiotic conditions on land-use development since the nineteenth century is assessed in case studies from the Czech and Slovak Carpathians. Hypotheses claim that significant land-use changes have occurred, but without pronounced differences because of similar abiotic conditions in the case studies. Abiotic conditions are expressed b...

The article shows how to implement scientific results from a methodology of landscape ecological planning (LANDEP) into integrated river basin management. This methodology creates a framework of integrating research of land use structure with modelling hydric potential by using runoff curve number into the assessment and subsequent optimization of...

In the Kyjovská pahorkatina hilly ladn, arable land dominated in all studied periods. Increase in the area of arable land was at the detriment of permanent grassland and water areas. Permanent grassland was the second most widespread categoriy in the first two periods (1836-1841 and 1876). Massive ploughing of meadows and pastures at the end of the...

The article presents partial results of an assessment of potential for restoration of vanished ponds that occurred in and around of present forests. Fort this assessment 9 river basins were selected across the Czech Republic. The assessment was based on old maps and ortophotos from 1836-2014. To select ponds that could be potentially restored, only...

The paper presents methods and partial results of an assessment how to identify vanished ponds that might have some potential for their restoration. For this assessment 9 river basins were selected across the Czech Republic. The identification is based on old maps and ortoimages representing 6 time steps from 1836 to 2014. It consists of several st...

European biodiversity and ecosystem service decline is still ongoing , caused mainly by habitat loss and fragmentation. Despite many conservation activities, valuable ecological networks are being lost. To enhance connectivity in order to preserve ecological as well as socio-cultural values the status quo of such transnational networks has to be ev...

This chapter presents the results of the ecological stability and landscape functionality assessment in several case studies that represent three landscape types from Moravia, Czech Republic. These landscape types (LT) are alluvial forested, hilly agricultural and upland meadow forested. Ecological stability was attributed to individual landscape e...

Brownfields are sites previously used for numerous economic activities where the activity ceased to exist resulting in the abandonment of brownfields. This abandonment can be clearly seen in the state of individual sites expressed by deterioration of present buildings and slow vegetation succession on unsealed surface. The rate of abandonment can b...

Orchards on slopes with southern exposure and calcareous substrates are typical of the thermophyticum area of the Bohemian Basin. Because these slopes have long been maintained by mowing, they support semi-natural dry grassland stands and scrublands. These slopes are no longer mowed, however, and recently have become overgrown with grasses and subs...

Foundation of military regions can drastically disrupt natural land use development and transform the region into some sort of a peripheral area. Such region experiences vast depopulation resulting in either slow decay or forced demolition of settlements, rapid decrease of agricultural land and expansion of grassed and forested areas. These process...

The article compares and points out differences in driving forces of four main landscape change processes that shaped post-socialist countries and old democratic countries of Central Europe during the last two centuries. Studying landscape change processes and corresponding driving forces helps in understanding patterns of present landscape and can...

The study focuses on the changes of Ortolan Bunting (Emberizia hortulana L.) habitats, which occurred during the last 20 years, and the implications of these changes for the presence of the species population in south-eastern Moravia, Czech Republic. The research was based on aerial photographs and field work. We have identified habitats that were...

This study examines development of water areas from 1836-1856 to the present in the selected nine river basins in the Czech Republic. When assessment of the whole examined period 1836-1852 to 2015, it was found that four river basins water areas decreased and in five river basins increased. In the second half of the 19th century showed significantl...

This article focuses on assessing the habitats characteristics of endangered Calamagrostis pseudophrag-mites in selected localities in the Czech Republic with different river engineering measures, which can potentially influence the occurrence of this species. Furthermore, we give some general recommendations for management practices based on our r...

The long-term development of water bodies is investigated in this article using the cases of two river basins with similar natural conditions: the Kyjovka and Trkmanka River Basins in the Czech Republic. Using old topographic maps, land use development was assessed and the analysis of driving forces of land use changes was carried out. The essentia...

This article investigates response of vegetation on gravel bars to management measures and floods. The management measures consisted of the partial removal of gravel and vegetation cover, and were applied to six gravel bars on the Ostravice River, Czech Republic. Unexpected floods occu-rred in 2010, with the amplitude of 5-to 50-year repetition. Re...

Maděra P. et al., eds., 2014. Czech villages in Romanian Banat: landscape, nature, and culture. Brno: Mendel University in Brno. The presented monograph represents one of the outputs from project "Creation and development of multidisciplinary team on the basis of landscape ecology. The aim of the book is to understand regularities of the functioni...

Background and Purpose: Isophya pienensisMaran, 1954 (Orthoptera)is a stenotopic katydid occurring locally in Central and Eastern Europe.The purpose of the study was to document the habitat associations of I.pienensis in the Beskids in relation to historical land use and presentlandscape structure. Materials and Methods: Isophya pienensis was studi...

Článek se zabývá hodnocením změn struktury krajiny a využívání krajiny, které se odehrály v průběhu posledních 170 let ve třech příhraničních oblastech České republiky. Důraz je kladen na změny vybraných indexů struktury krajiny, které mohou pomoci identifi kovat obecné trendy krajinných změn. Diskutovány jsou rovněž socioekonomické faktory, které...

The northwestern distributions of several steppe species of Orthoptera extend to the southeastern part of the Czech Republic (Pannonia) and occupy more or less isolated fragments of optimal habitats. Their distributional limits are not conditioned by macroclimate in most cases but reflect landscape development (physical structure, plant community t...

Floods from the middle part of the River Morava (eastern Czech Republic) are considered over the course of the past three centuries, the study being based on data derived from documentary evidence (1691–1880), measured peak water stages, Hk (1881–1920) and peak discharges, Qk (1916–2009), evaluated with respect to their N-year return period (HN and...

The contribution compares two different methods that are used when vectorizing old maps with the aim to analyze land use changes. The first method, so called independent interpretation, lays in vectorization of the maps independently on each other; the second method, so called backward interpretation, uses already vectorized map and adjusts it acco...

In the period between 1918 and 1945 military surveys or revision of previous maps were undertaken in the newly established Czechoslovak state. From this period, four sets of military topographic maps can be distinguished. The first set is represented by revised maps of the Third Austrian Military Survey. The revision was conducted between 1921 and...

The contribution introduces European project Transnational Ecological Networks in Central Europe which deals with protection and restoration as well as ecologically-sound development of lost green landscapes and their degraded networks in Central Europe. The development and implementation of strategies supporting transnational ecological networks c...

The paper deals with long-term land use changes in the Czech Republic with the help of old topographic maps. Departments of Landscape Ecology and GIS Applications from the Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening, v.v.i. study these changes mainly in the research project MSM 6293359101 Research into sources and indica...

Land use changes reflect in some respect dynamics of a landscape development. Their quantitative analysis is an integral part of a research project MSM 6293359101 and is based on the analysis of old topographic maps in a medium to large scale from five periods, namely 1830s, 1880s, 1950s, 1990s and 2000s. These maps were manually vectorized with th...

The paper deals with long-term land use changes in the Czech Republic with the help of old topographic maps. Departments of Landscape Ecology and GIS Applications from the Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening, v.v.i. study these changes mainly in the research project MSM 6293359101 Research into sources and indica...

Quantitative analysis of the dynamics of the Czech landscape development is an integral part of a research project MSM 6293359101. The dynamics is researched from the perspective of land use and is based on the analysis of old topographic maps in a medium to large scale from five periods, namely 1830s, 1880s, 1950s, 1990s and 2000s. These maps were...

The paper deals with the development of cultural landscape in the area of study in the Kašperské Hory region, Czech Republic, from the 1730s to the present and documents changes in spatial structure of land use in this period. The aim of the paper is to briefly characterize main phases in land use development and to identify land use changes and th...

Skokanová H.: Land use changes of river Dyje floodplain in reaches Nový Přerov – Brod nad Dyjí and Nové Mlýny – Lednice, Czech Republic, in the period of 1830–2001 as a reaction to the river Dyje channel regulations. Ekológia (Bratislava), Vol. 27, No. 1, p. , 2008. This article focuses on land use changes of the river Dyje floodplain in reaches No...

The Impact of River Engineering Works on the Dyje River floodplain in the Czech Republic Hana Skokanova The article deals with changes to the lower part of the Dyje River fl oodplain, Czech Republic, caused by river engineering works. It investigates channel changes as well as changes in the number of cut-off meanders (cut-offs), oxbow lakes (oxbow...

The article deals with changes of the lower reach of the Dyje River, South Moravia, caused by river engineering works. The study area was divided into five sections and studied with the help of graphic methods and morphometric characteristics derived from historical maps. The research shows a significant shortening of the Dyje, a decrease in sinuos...

Oddělení ekologie krajiny, Výzkumný ústav Silva Taroucy pro krajinu a okrasné zahradnictví, v.v.i., Lidická 25/27, 60200 Brno Úvod Studium změn využívání krajiny tvoří významnou součást krajinného výzkumu, ať již z hlediska přírodních procesů a lidských aktivit, krajinného rázu, či obnovy, resp. managementu krajiny. Lze je studovat na podkladě stat...