Tomas Slach

Mendel University in Brno · Department of Forest Botany, Dendrology and Geobiocoenology

Coppicing started in the Neolithic period and has been practiced throughout European history. This traditional silvicultural system was abandoned in many European countries during the 20 th century. The Czech Republic now has a very low proportion of coppice woods (CW), as more than 1000 km 2 CW were converted into high forests after World War II....

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...

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...

Coppicing has gradually declined in recent decades in many European countries after centuries of upswing. Although the abandonment of this traditional forest management method was forced by changes in social and economic conditions and is rational, it results in losses of many natural and cultural-historical values. Due to the speed of the decline,...

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...

In the 1970s and 1980s, the concept of ecological networks was developed in the Czech Republic. The first biocorridors were established on arable land in the beginning of the 1990s. One of them was the Vracov biocorridor. This paper deals with the growth and development of trees on two permanent research plots in the period from 1993–2021. In the b...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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.

Coppicing and pollarding were the most widespread historical silvicultural systems in broadleaved forests of the European part of the deciduous temperate forest zone from the Neolithic times until the early 20th century, when they were abandoned in many European countries. Their decrease is well documented in the Czech Republic, where coppice woodl...

In central Europe, coppicing belongs to traditional forest management methods. It was practiced from the Neolithic age (Szabó, 2009) throughout thousands of years. However, there is a big decline in its use in the last two centuries and this traditional management method with all associated phenomena slowly disappears. Lot of coppice woodlands in...

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.

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...

Ancient coppice woodlands are coppice-originated forest stands with a long-term continual development, and with the preserved typical natural and historic elements of old sprout forests. Prominent natural elements in the ancient coppice woodlands are namely old coppice stools. There is, in scientific literature, lack of information about features o...

Ancient coppice woodlands are coppice-originated forest stands with a long-term continual development, and with the preserved typical natural and historic elements of old sprout forests. Prominent natural elements in the ancient coppice woodlands are namely old coppice stools. There is, in scientific literature, lack of information about features o...

Starobylé výmladkové lesy jsou lesní porosty výmladkového původu s dlouhodobým kontinuálním vývojem a zachovalými typickými přírodními a historickými prvky starých pařezin. Jsou posledními zbytky prvotního způsobu využívání lesa, který se datuje již od mezolitu či neolitu a který je založen na schopnosti některých druhů dřevin zmlazovat se vegetati...

We have studied two 42 years old windbreaks functioning as biocorrodors and one TSES biocorridor composed of a woody strip planted 18 years ago. These biocorridors are connected to semi-natural forests which are expectes to be source areas of forest species for dispersal or migration via these landscape structures. Thorough field research, includin...

In both czech and foreign literature, there is quite a considerable amount of research focused on the use of corridors (windbreaks, hedgerows, biotic corridors, etc.) by easily observable plants or animals. The aim of this study is to explain an importance of biotic corridors in cultural landscape for occurence and dispersal of molluscs. Results of...