Měkkýši přírodních památek Kalábová a Kalábová 2 v CHKO Bílé Karpaty [Molluscs of the Kalábová and Kalábová 2 Nature Monuments in the White Carpathians PLA]

The Kalábová (K1) and Kalábová 2 (K2) Nature Monuments are located in the central part of the White Carpathians PLA near the village of Březová. Both monuments protect treeless wet grasslands and tufa forming spring fens, which were originally part of a larger wetland complex. A total of 51 species were recorded in K1 (47 terrestrial and two aquatic gastropods and two bivalves). Of these, 30 species (56%) are woodland dwellers that were recorded during the survey in 2000, shortly after the area was logged. In contrast, none of these species was detected during the recent survey in 2021. However, these species are widespread in the region and Nature Monuments surroundings and some are likely present also in the ecotones of the spring meadow and adjacent forest. Currently, hygrophilous and wetland dwellers dominate (9 spp.; 17%), followed by ubiquitous (7; 15%), open-ground (4; 8%) and aquatic species (4; 8%). At K2, 19 species were recorded, including 15 terrestrial and two aquatic gastropods, and two bivalves. The two most species-rich ecogroups were hygrophilous and wetland dwellers (5; 26%) and woodland dwellers (5; 26%), the latter were prevailing probably due to relatively recent deforestation between 2012–2014. Aquatic species were represented by four species (21%), followed by three ubiquitous (16%) and one open-ground (5%) species. The spring dweller Bythinella austriaca (NT) and the declining wetland umbrella species Vertigo angustior (VU; NATURA 2000) inhabited both localities in high densities. To maintain the favourable habitat conservation status of the reserves, the sites should be managed extensively by grazing or mowing.

Měkkýši přírodní rezervace Hutě a jejího okolí v CHKO Bílé Karpaty [Molluscs of the Hutě Nature Reserve and its surroundings in the White Carpathians PLA]

The Hutě Nature Reserve is located in the central eastern part of the White Carpathians PLA, near the Žítková village. The reserve protects a preserved and topographically heterogeneous area composed of forest groves, meadows, pastures, and spring fens with a high diversity of submontane and thermophilic plant and animal assemblages. The species composition of molluscs (9 out of 10 ecological groups represented) consists mainly of woodland dwellers, which account for the majority of species diversity (30 spp.; 52%), followed by ubiquitous (9; 16%), hygrophilous (5; 9%), hygrophilous woodland dwellers (4; 7%), aquatic (4; 7%) and open-habitat dwellers (3; 5%). Vertigo moulinsiana (EN), internationally protected under Annex II of the EU Habitats Directive, Daudebardia brevipes (VU), Ambigolimax nyctelius (NT), Orcula dolium (NT) and Bythinella austriaca (NT) are species of conservation concern. To retain favourable habitat conservation status, the spring fens with V. moulinsiana occurrence must be managed extensively by grazing or mowing, while the forests must remain in a non-intervention regime.

Časně eneolitické depozitum v Bílých Karpatech na moravsko-slovenském pomezí

In 2017, a relatively small copper artefact hoard was found using a metal detector just a few metres from the border between the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. This was on a distinctive slope on the Moravian side of the White Carpathians, at a relatively high altitude (746 m) in the cadastral area of the municipality of Lopeník. The hoard was lent for documenting by the finder and then returned to them. It contained three flat Jordanów type axes, a Şiria type hammer axe (only the second find in Moravia) and, most probably, raw material in a unique form of two discs of flat copper strip coiled into the shape of a pyramidal spiral. Some of the items were made of pure copper (with the presumed source in the southern part of the Carpathian Basin), some of a material similar to Nógrádmarcal antimony copper, forwhich a Slovak origin is considered. Based on the presence of several Jordanów type axes, we date the hoard to the Early Eneolithic and link it to the bearers of the Jordanów culture. Due to its location, the hoard is further distinctive evidence of transport corridors passing from the Carpathian Basin via the White Carpathians, where most parallels to the artefacts under study have been found. The presence of the two “strip material” discs is completely atypical.

Basic soil properties as a factor controlling the occurrence and intensity of water repellency in rankers of the White Carpathians

Water repellency in soils is controlled by many different factors, basic physical and chemical properties might be considered the crucial ones. For the purpose of this study, 12 sites were selected and sampled (0–20 cm depth) in the White Carpathians. Repellency tests were conducted under laboratory conditions in triplicate using water drop penetration time (WDPT) test and the molarity of ethanol droplet (MED) test. Results of WDPT measurements showed that three samples were marked by slight to extreme water repellency. Regarding the relationship between WDPT/MED and tested soil properties, the highest value of correlation coefficient was calculated for soil organic carbon (r = 0.706; p < 0.05), suggesting there is a positive, statistically significant correlation between repellency severity and total carbon content. A negative relationship between repellency and soil reaction/silt/silt + clay contents of studied soils was found. Samples taken from the surface horizon of arable soils showed no repellency.

Changes in non-forest woody vegetation in the south-western part of the White Carpathians (1949–2011)

Non-forest woody vegetation is an important part of the landscape structure and a determining feature of the landscape character. The present study investigates changes in the area covered by non-forest woody vegetation in the landscape of the south-western part of the White Carpathians (western Slovakia) over the course of the last 60 years. The study is based on a comparison of landscape metrics interpreted from aerial photographs taken in 1949, 1986 and 2006. Relations of non-forest woody vegetation to environmental conditions and its present state (qualitative characteristics) mapped in the field are discussed as well. Results confirm a close relationship between the distribution of non-forest woody vegetation and environmental conditions such as elevation, slope, partially also with soil and landscape type. In terms of landscape structure changes, the number of patches as well as the total area of non-forest woody vegetation rapidly decreased due to intensification of agriculture, while extensification recorded during the first observed period, as well continuing extensification, landscape abandonment and social changes throughout the second period also partially contribute to this trend.