Josef Navrátil

• Assoc. Prof.
• Professor (Associate) at Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic

Due to recent societal changes ‘brownfield’ sites have gradually become a significant element in planning urban development. Brownfields can occur as a barrier and obstacle to the development of the urban organism but simultaneously they also represent unrealized potential. Brownfields, ex-industrial sites, are greater in those cities whose develop...

There is fundamental agreement about the environmental benefits of renewable energy technologies, but unintended consequences arising from their deployment are frequent sources of conflicts. The Czech Republic has committed itself to supply 13.5% of its electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2020. High state incentives for renewable ener...

Structural change in the agricultural economy may result in the abandonment of agricultural buildings, creating rural brownfield sites. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, post‐agricultural brownfields have become very common in Central and Eastern Europe. Our aim is to uncover and understand the reuse preferences for 16 reuse options, amon...

Urban brownfield remediation and reclamation have attracted much attention, but rural spaces do not receive the same focus and suffer from the effects these sites have on society, the economy, and land. The objective of this study is to evaluate how social, economic, and environmental features affect agricultural brownfield regeneration between 200...

Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) consumers are seen as environmentally aware, socially attuned and with a view of the world that takes into account personal, community and planetary outcomes. The main aim is to identify the relationship between the consumer's affiliation with a LOHAS segment and its buying behaviour. It is based on a...

Periphyton communities are fundamental components of freshwater ecosystems that influence water quality, nutrient cycling, and productivity. Additionally, periphyton communities serve as valuable food sources in aquaculture. The periphyton communities on two artificial substrates—heather mats and geotextiles—were compared in four temperate fishpond...

The presence of non-native predators can induce chronic stress in native species, but the physiological responses of potential prey are not well understood. We investigated the effects of the presence of a non-native predator, the red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans), on common frog (Rana temporaria) tadpoles. We measured the stress hormone...

Food processing in hotels is one of most energy-intensive activities in the tourism industry. There is an urgent need to reduce energy consumption in hotels to limit their environmental impact. This research aims to assess tourists' preferences for the provision of food that require low energy preparation and to compare them with tourists’ preferen...

Reuse preferences for post‐agricultural brownfields on former socialist agricultural premises in CEE countries are likely to be diverse and may depend on communities' experiences. Our research question is to reveal, through a questionnaire survey of 774 respondents from 180 communities, the difference in reuse preferences among communities with dif...

Due to changes in the use of the landscape since the 19th century and especially intensive land reclamation in the 1950s and 1960s and land abandonment, the salt marshes of Central Europe have survived only in significantly altered fragments. Despite a significant degree of degradation leading to the extinction of several typical halophyll species...

Periodic wetlands, where alternating flooding and drying, acidic, predominantly sandy substrates and low nutrient content are limiting factors for plant growth, host a number of specific plant species. These include annual species that are competitively very weak – Coleanthus subtilis, Centunculus minimus, Cyperus michelianus, Illecebrum verticilla...

Sedge-moss fens are declining and are being replaced by more productive ecosystems in agricultural landscapes as a result of changes in the way how the landscape is used by society. We aim to identify commonalities between changes in vegetation species composition and changes in properties of groundwater on fens. Most similar resurvey studies use n...

The presence of a predator affects prey populations either by direct predation or by modifying various parts of their life history. We investigated whether the hatching time, developmental stage, and body size at hatching of common frog ( Rana temporaria ) embryos would alter in the presence of a red-eared slider ( Trachemys scripta elegans ) as a...

Anaerobic digestion (AD) plants fed by agricultural biowastes are highly relevant renewable energy producers supporting the transition towards sustainable waste management. However, local support for the operation of individual AD plants seems to be highly diverse, case specific and generally insufficient. Following this challenge visible especiall...

Diverse aspects of de-agrarianization, which is manifested by the cessation or significant reduction in agricultural activities, have been clearly visible at the outskirts of large cities in Central Europe in recent decades. The key drivers behind this process include increased pressures to cover peri-urban agricultural land by new developments, in...

The coexistence of species in a given community depends on the set of species involved and the timing of their interactions. Many native communities are increasingly forced to face both direct and indirect pressures from new alien predators, which, in extreme cases, can lead to the extinction of prey populations. In this study, we examine the dynam...

Anaerobic digestion (AD) plants undoubtedly represent an integral and irreplaceable element in rural energy transition and sustainable waste management. In our study, we focus on an advanced understanding of the dynamics behind the changing perceptions of AD plants in host communities in Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. The surveyed AD pla...

The presence of a predator affects prey populations either by direct predation or by modifying various parts of their life history. We investigated whether the hatching time, developmental stage, and body size at hatching of common frog ( Rana temporaria ) embryos would alter in the presence of a red-eared slider ( Trachemys scripta elegans ) as a...

In the post-socialist period, rural areas of Central and Eastern Europe underwent a complex transformation process that resulted in creation of numerous large-scale abandoned post-agricultural premises not unlike industrial brownfields. Our study aims to reveal hidden but critical points of successful and sustainable regeneration of abandoned and c...

The presence of a predator affects prey populations either by direct predation or by modifying various parts of their life history. We investigated whether the hatching time, developmental stage, and body size at hatching of common frog ( Rana temporaria ) embryos would be altered in the presence of a red-eared slider ( Trachemys scripta elegans )...

In the 21st century, rural communities face many challenges, including implications of dynamic population aging, a lack of social care services, and the occurrence of abandoned post-agricultural brownfields. This paper is methodologically based on the findings derived from a set of qualitative in-depth interviews with the key rural stakeholders, ex...

Frameworks for the acquisition, holding and supply of plant material, international conventions and laws relating to plant ownership. Evidence, cultivation and propagation of plants in ex situ conditions of botanical gardens. Biological basis of conservation of endangered species. Cultivation of wild taxa from the wild in ex situ conditions of bota...

We aim to contribute to in-depth comprehension of the factors and preferences behind the reuses of large-scale underused or abandoned former collective farms from the 1950s–1980s for biogas plants and solar photovoltaic power plants. As a case study, three regions in the southern part of the Czech Republic have been selected. Our findings signal th...

Our aim is to determine the factors influencing a visitor’s decision to stay in a green accommodation facility. Visitors from six tourist sites throughout the Czech Republic were surveyed. Out of 944 respondents, 506 have never visited a “green” accommodation facility and only 93 respondents stayed mainly in a “green” accommodation facility. Severa...

Our paper deals with a micro-study of one residential building in the city center of Brno (Czech Republic) where we strived to identify and better understand the main factors behind the successful implementation of environmentally friendly solutions during the regeneration process. We followed the unique, complicated, and often conflictual story of...

The fall of the Iron Curtain created a vacuum upon which large-scale collectivized agriculture was largely abandoned. Post-agricultural brownfields emerge in multiple manners across national, regional and local levels. While these sites remain rarely explored, we aimed to better understand the spatial consequences of the formation, persistence and...

Re-using and regenerating derelict and abandoned areas constitutes an important element in sustainable land use policy and planning. This paper explores the phenomenon of derelict farm premises in South Bohemia, the Czech Republic. It analyses the origin and extent of this phenomenon as well as land use targets applied to such sites by planning doc...

The near elimination of inland salt marshes in Central Europe occurred throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and the currently remaining marshes exist in a degraded condition. This work examines the impact of groundwater level on the growth of plants from a seed bank obtained from a degraded salt marsh in proximity to still existing one through a...

The intensively farmed fishponds of the Třeboň Basin in South Bohemia, Czech Republic, host a substantial number of Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) pairs that nest later than the expected spring season. This may be associated with fishpond farming. Our work found no substantial difference between spring and summer egg characteristics and n...

Nearly every village in Central and Eastern European countries with heavily collectivized agriculture has its collective farm premises that encompass substantial parts of the village area, were built in the sixties, and now are unable to be used in former ways. The aim of the paper is to identify indicators that are relevant for spatial disparities...

Many environmental benefits have been claimed for anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities, embracing waste management and multiple energy vectors (generating electricity, heat and useable gas) that could be help create more circular economies. Whether these benefits are realised depends greatly on the sites exploited for AD plants and the social and ge...

Today's society is increasingly fascinated by new smart technologies, and the concept of smart cities is reflected in urban planning both in the rich cities of the developed world and in the cities of the former post-socialist countries. The paper, which is methodologically based on results of qualitative interviews with key experts and analysis of...

The large pre-1989 agricultural premises that were built in the communist period are still with us and considerably shape the face of our villages to the present times. Its new uses are particularly problematic, but some changes took place during the last three decades. That is why we tried to compare former uses with uses to the year of the EU acc...

The variety of post-socialist agricultural transitions in four different rural regions located in South Bohemia (Czech Republic), with respect to the utilisation of the older premises, is subject to analysis in this article. A complete database was constructed, containing the identification of agricultural premises in 1989 and their use in 2004 and...

Purpose This paper aims to assess how a hotel geographical location in different parts of Central and Eastern Europe influences the complexity of perception of pro-environmental behavior. Design/methodology/approach To find out, whether hotel location in a specific country influences the complexity of environmental practices, this study used two c...

Tourism belongs to the industries with significant energy consumption. Visitors as well as hotel managers have, however, a positive attitude towards the responsible use of energy resources. The level of research on visitors' preferences of using different types of renewable energy is low, unlike findings on factual characteristics of conventional a...

Organic substrates are distinctive and important resources due to their ability to regulate nutrient cycles and habitats they provide. In this research we test the importance of organic substrates for present distribution of habitats accumulating organic sediment and compare historic (circa 1850) and present land cover maps to characterise the long...

Although agriculture is considered a „traditional” or even „traditionalist” branch of economy, it is recently undergoing a rapid change along the development of production technologies. In East and Central Europe, these changes are significantly modified by processes of privatisation and profound changes in grant policies. The aim of the paper is t...

Residents' preferences are one of the factors in deciding how brownfields should be revitalized. We compare the views of residents in a city with many brownfields (Karviná) with those in a city with only few brownfields (České Budějovice). We assessed the preferences of residents for four global regeneration alternatives (refurbishment, demolition,...

Facilities for generating renewable energy form important elements in the rural landscape of the Czech Republic. The distribution of these facilities is highly uneven due to various natural and socioeconomic factors. In our paper, we are focusing our attention on one of the important facilities for the generation of renewable energy in the Czech Re...

Brownfields constitute a substantial portion of the land area in post-industrial cities. Many brownfields have been regenerated for various uses, addressing a range of extant problems in urban areas. However, re-use plans for current brownfields are driven by market demand and public sector prioritization and do not always meet the requirements of...

Brownfield regeneration from the perspective of residents: Place circumstances versus character of respondents. Deturope, 9, 2: 71-92. Abstract Little attention is paid to the inhabitants' views of places where brownfields are localized. If the residents attract some attention in this matter, it is most often at global level, and no influence of re...

Central Europe is replete with legacy contaminated sites, commonly called “brownfields”. The question is what can be done to remediate them and make them again safe and useful to society. This question is addressed in post-socialistic city of Brno, the Czech Republic. Our research assesses public perceptions of such sites that are currently utilize...

Pectinatella magnifica (Leidy, 1851) (phylum Ectoprocta) is an invasive species that is spread in many areas of the world. Its significant attribute is the production of large colonies formed by a specific gelatinous matrix which is usually occupied by microorganisms such as bacteria, algae, and cyanobacteria. This work compares the matrix characte...

Agricultural anaerobic digestion plants have recently become a typical part of rural landscape in the Czech Republic due to massive governmental subvention programmes. Yet, their potential as an effective tool how to response to global climate changes at a local level is rather underused (maize used as a primary input mainly, usage of waste heat is...

In the environment of globalisation and progressive liberalisation of the market, many small local producers were excluded from the market as uncompetitive to the producers realising scale economy due to their presence in large global market and being able to meet requirements of large retailers’ chains. As there is growing consumers’ interest to r...

The aim of this article is to assess the relation between visitors " knowledge, visits to educational trails, and the leisure-time activities of the visitors within the protected area. This study was undertaken on the educational trail " Radegast " in the Beskydy Protected Landscape Area, Czech Republic. Visitors´knowledge Visitors´knowledge about...

Questions On‐going rapid loss of fen biodiversity in Central Europe is well known, but rigorous testing of this is complicated. We compared historical and present‐day vegetation plot records from a cultural landscape rich in fishponds, where recent eutrophication and water table manipulations threaten the unique fen diversity. We assess species com...

The aim of the paper is to assess the perception of various aspects of food quality among consumers who purchase or do not purchase organic food. Purchasers at general food stores, specialty stores and farmer markets were surveyed by means of a questionnaire survey. Factors of food purchase decision-making and the importance of quality with regard...

The development in tourism should be done within the framework of environmentally friendly tourism. A part of environmentally friendly tourism is the development of "green" hotels. The main objective of this study was to investigate the extent to which visitors to the protected natural areas are interested in "green" hotels. It was conducted on a s...

Riparian stands along streams are important landscape elements – biocorridors, allowing the dispersal of many small terrestrial mammals. Streams are, however, also barriers limiting dispersal, which leads to isolation and population-genetic changes. Communities of small terrestrial mammals (Eulipotyphla, Rodentia) were studied in 2004 to 2006 on fi...

The article is focused on describing a possible way of how biological data can be processed, introduces the procedures used and compares the results gained from a field ornithological study. This was carried out using statistical methods of nonparametric regression with binomial classification and probit function together with the method with forwa...

The aim of this article is to identify the level of environmental knowledge of visitors to interpretive trails. Specifically, this research investigates the factors that influence potential differences in the environmental knowledge of visitors to interpretive trails and to the surrounding protected areas. Only some visitors to protected areas also...

The predictors of a positive word-of-mouth experience as an important destination loyalty factor among tourist in the Šumava and South Bohemian Touristic Regions were studied via structural equation modelling. The perception of quality, on-site experience, and the perception of value as the mediators between the motivation to visit and the word-of-...

The protected natural areas play an important role in recreation. This paper discusses the issue of recreational activities in these areas. The National Park and Protected Landscape Areas in the southern part of the Czech Republic were selected for the purposes of illustration. It has been revealed that relaxation is the most important activity amo...

Temperate fens are rapidly losing their specialized species. This applies even to seemingly untouched fens, in which the moss layer in particular is undergoing rapid succession. We analysed historical and recent vegetation-plot data from fens in the agricultural landscape on the Bohemian Massif (Czech Republic) to test the hypotheses that (i) more...

As most of the chateau gardens and parks in Central and Eastern Europe have been neglected or misused, there is a strong need for their transformation. This transformation has become even more important now due to the growing competition in the tourist destination market. The chateau gardens are at the crossroads of choosing the variant of their fu...

Regeneration of brownfields gradually becomes an important challenge for regional and local development across the East-Central European countries. Due to the recent huge economic transition and global societal changes thousands of abandoned sites (brownfields) sprang up across the landscape after various economic activities, the Czech Republic inc...

in the world scale, there are various forms of how the hunting tourism is carried out. there is a considerably specific situation in the czech republic originating in the historical development. the assessment of the diversification of the demand for tourist activities was chosen to be the aim of this article. this assessment is based on a question...

The aim of this paper is to assess the current situation in the sale of milk through vending machines in the context of the previous period of the decline in milk consumption, the transition of the Czech Republic towards the market economy, the transformation of agriculture, the entry into the EU and the concentration in the milk market and to defi...

The organic farming shows growth trend all over the world. It became an integral part of the agricultural production not only in the developed countries, but also in the so called Third World countries. In the latter countries, the organic farming develops mainly in connection with the fair trade projects. The share of the organic farming in the ag...

The coal has been mined in the Karviná area for more than 150 years. During the course of time mining areas were continuously extended at the expense of the settled areas. At the beginnings the mining was limited, but later, namely under conditions of centrally planned economy in the period between 1950s and 1980s, it was heavily intensified. Then,...

Transformations of economy and society, which had begun in the Eastern and Central European countries in the 1990ies, have also occasioned a profound change of the urban environment. Extensive de-industrialization led not only to the rise of neglected and abandoned objects and industrial estates, but also to an increase of technical, environmental,...

Renewable sources of energies and its support have been recently experiencing wide public debate in the Czech Republic that varies from agreement to complete denial. Nevertheless support from national and EU sources is factor that heavily influenced dynamic development of this sector in last decade. Anaerobic digestion plants are one of options...

Význam energie generované z obnovitelných zdrojů v České republice neustále stoupá. Jedním ze sektorů obnovitelných zdrojů energií, který se v posledních letech dynamicky rozvíjí, je produkce bioplynu. Počet bioplynových stanic a jejich instalovaný výkon zaznamenal v poslední dekádě dramatický růst (z 11 instalací o výkonu 4,19 MW v roce 2002 na...

The aim of this paper is to assess the relationship between the price of accommodation and the urban space and character of the place. The price and spatial connections (together with the quality of the provided services) become an important motive for clients when choosing a concrete accommodation establishment. As the competition is very difficul...

The significance of the vulnerability of nature-rich areas with high development potential for tourism was studied using three types of data: 1) spatial distribution of tourist attractions, 2) the appeal level of these attractions, and 3) the number of visitors. The Bohemian Forest and South Bohemia were chosen as study areas. Nine types of landsca...

Renewable sources of energies and its support have been recently experiencing wide public debate in the Czech Republic that varies from agreement to complete denial. Nevertheless support from national and EU sources is factor that heavily infl uenced dynamic development of this sector in last decade. Anaerobic digesti-on plants are one of options f...

Předkládaný příspěvek se ve své úvodní části věnuje teoreticko-metodologickým aspektům a předpokladům akceptace zařízení na výrobu energie z obnovitelných zdrojů obyvatelstvem ve venkov-ském prostoru. Dále je diskutován význam veřejné správy, která byla identifikována jako jeden z klíčo-vých faktorů působících na rozhodovací proces spojený s lokali...

A basis for the identification of potential tourist development areas was defined as a combined use of the model of area load by visitors, the territorially-located database of tourist attractions, and the perception of their attractiveness by visitors. A distinctive inequality was identified in the area load and the distribution of tourist attract...

The aim of this paper is to assess the relation between the character of the interpretive trail and the imposition of a charge on the entrance. This was done using the discrete choice experiment that involves eight attributes, seven of which are with three levels: the overall character of the trail, the way that the route signs are used in the terr...

The aim of this paper is to assess if there is a difference in food choice behaviour between regular customers of stores of the retail chain Terno and other consumers. Consequently, the paper aims to discover, if the strategy formulated by the consumer co-operative Jednota České Budějovice was a good strategy. The core of this strategy is the orien...

Selected data of nest biology of the Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) (Aves Podicipediformes) in specific fishpond conditions in the Protected Landscape Area and Biosphere Reserve Třeboňsko (Czech Republic) were analysed. An interdependence of dimensions of the nesting dent was found: the wider the dent, the deeper it was. A positive correl...

The aim of the chapter is to reveal the predictors of likelihood of recommendation for a visit to water-enhanced tourist attractions in Central-European mountainous and submontane landscapes. Pull motivation, push motivation, on-site experience and perception of site quality were chosen as potential factors and multiple linear regression was used a...

Evaluation of tourist attractions by different segments on 'mass-tourism' – 'eco-tourism' continuum for water-enhanced tourist sites in mountain and submontane areas in South Bohemia (Czech Republic) was tested. Students on three different study programmes were chosen as respondents for Q-sort with photos of 48 tourist sites. Principal components f...

The care of patients with chronic pain requires specific approach from the professional, psychological and ethical points of view from pain therapists. Unless a doctor is able to tolerate work related stress or to use mitigating strategies, the burnout syndrome threat occurs. The aim of the study was to find out what the subjective approach to the...

Th e aim of this study is to assess the impact of a several factors on satisfaction with a visit to water-based natural attractions. After reviewing relevant studies, it was hypothesized that satisfaction is infl uenced by push motivations, pull motivations, on-site experience, perceived quality and perceived values of visit. As a method of data re...

The large-area protected territories within tourist regions the South Bohemia and the Šumava Mountains were observed – the National Park Šumava and the Šumava Protected Landscape Area, the Třeboňsko Protected Landscape Area, the Blanský les Protected Landscape Area and the Natural Park Novohradské hory. Location of the routes of particular interpre...

The impact of various characteristics of geographic space on the location of tourist accommodation facilities is assessed in this paper. Spatial indicators, nearest-neighbour analysis, kernel estimation of the probability density of occurrence, analyses of distances and location in selected environments were used. Hotels create spatial clusters sit...

The aim of the paper is to evaluate differences in the quality perception among particular segments of demand. Data for analysis were collected by means of the questionnaire survey among clients of accommodation establishments. The research in accommodation establishments succeeded to identify four factors of the perception of quality of services p...

The aim of the paper is to evaluate differences in the quality perception among particular segments of demand. Data for analysis were collected by means of the questionnaire survey among clients of accommodation establishments. The research in accommodation establishments succeeded to identify four factors of the perception of quality of services p...

The aim of this paper is to assess the relations between partial components of image of various touristically attractive locations. This research is focused on specific locations in vulnerable areas since the sustainable way of the tourism development concerns them in the highest manner and the touristic pressure on these locations permanently incr...

The spatial pattern of anglers' movements among fisheries was analyzed using detrended correspondence analysis (DCA), canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and gravity modelling. Anglers choose, on the national level, a destination fishery mainly according to its spatial position, as longitude and latitude are the primary significant factors reve...

The goal of this paper is the assessment of the impact of personal experience on visitors' perceptions of the environments of selected tourist attractions. The cognitive paradigm of environmental perception research was chosen and the Mehrabian-Russell general measure of information rate was used. Students from the University of South Bohemia from...

Cultural tourism is increasingly important in the Czech Republic. A survey of 1,584 domestic visitors at nine historical sites in southwestern Bohemia, in summer 2008, revealed some interesting differences between five groups of visitors, largely differentiated by sex and age. These five groups were used for further analysis in studying length of s...