RT Journal Article
T1 Distribution of Wood  Pastures in Slovakia—Constraints  and Potentials for Restoration of  Multifunctional Traditional Land  Use Form
A1 Lepeška, Tomáš
A1 Wiezik, Michal
A1 Gallay, Igor
A1 Paulíková, Veronika
A1 Olah, Branislav
A1 Mosquera Losada, María Rosa
A1 Pástor, Michal
A1 Wieziková, Adela
K1 Agroforestry
K1 Cessation
K1 Encroachment
K1 Biodiversity strategy
K1 Carbon sequestration
AB Wood pastures represent specific ecosystems across Europe with diverse ecological, agricultural, and socioeconomic roles. Land-use changes and the cessation of traditional management in conjunction with socioeconomic changes led to shifts in their spatiotemporal distribution. Despite a recent increase in scientific interest, data on historical patterns of wood pastures in many European locations remain insufficient. This study presents wood-pasture habitat continuity and analyzes changes in their distribution over space and time in selected parts of Slovakia. Simultaneously, we analyzed the relation of wood pastures to selected environmental and landscape features. To achieve this, we examined the historical distribution of wood pastures using aerial imagery from the 1950s. We thoroughly examined an area of 16,209 km2 to identify preserved wood pastures. To identify the present conditions and the spatial distribution of wood-pasture habitats, we compared the historical data with recent ortophotomaps. Based on landscape–ecological analyses of historical distribution, we determined prevailing environmental conditions of wood-pasture locations. The findings reveal that over 90% of wood pastures from the first half of the 20th century have now been lost or encroached and preserved in the form of a closed-canopy forest. In most of the encroached sites, we identified the presence of vital core veteran trees. For the identification of wood pastures and further analyses of the environmental variables, the ArcGIS 10.3 program was used; the R software was used for all statistical evaluations. The results show that the studied wood pastures were not established randomly, but were rather set within a certain landscape context, characterized by elevation, soil quality, and distance from settlements.
PB MDPI
SN 1999-4907
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/44203
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/44203
LA eng
NO Lepeška, T.; Wiezik, M.;  Gallay, I.; Paulíková, V.; Olah, B.;  Mosquera Losada, M.R.; Pástor, M.;  Wieziková, A. Distribution of Wood  Pastures in Slovakia—Constraints  and Potentials for Restoration of  Multifunctional Traditional Land  Use Form. Forests 2023, 14, 68.  https://doi.org/10.3390/f14010068
NO This research was funded by projects of the Slovak Grant Agency for Science (VEGA) grant no. 1/0104/19 and Comprehensive Research of Determinants for Ensuring Environmental Health (ENVIHEALTH) grant no. ITMS 313011T721 and is supported by the Operational Programme Integrated Infrastructure (OPII) funded by the ERDF, the Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV under the contract no. APVV-20-0326, and the European Regional Development Fund within Operational Programme Integrated Infrastructure (ITMS 313011T721).This research was funded by projects of the Slovak Grant Agency for Science (VEGA) grant no. 1/0104/19 and Comprehensive Research of Determinants for Ensuring Environmental Health (ENVIHEALTH) grant no. ITMS 313011T721 and is supported by the Operational Programme Integrated Infrastructure (OPII) funded by the ERDF, the Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV under the contract no. APVV-20-0326, and the European Regional Development Fund within Operational Programme Integrated Infrastructure (ITMS 313011T721).
DS Minerva
RD 28 abr 2026