The article draws on the written and oral memories of people living along the border between Slovenia (Goričko in Prekmurje) and Hungary (the Rába Valley). They are presented as comments on a ...century-long process of political changes in this borderland and demonstrate a plethora of ways in which border shifts intrude on people’s everyday lives. People’s concern with the border is reflected in the fact that it is a topic that emerges in any conversation with individuals living next to it, whether in the context of work, family, daily errands or stories of the past and present. In this article, informed by two concepts–border and memory– we present memories and perceptions of the border as they are expressed in casual comments or observations and semi-structured conversations with interviewees in the field. Life in borderlands is always localized, and there are visible divergences in the experience of the border on the Slovenian and Hungarian side. In Prekmurje, historical events along the border, especially the post-Trianon one, and the memory of these events are perpetuated through anniversaries of the annexation of Prekmurje to the Kingdom of SCS, whereas in the Rába Valley, memories especially relate to the Iron Curtain period. In a much more poignant way, they also constitute the present Slovenian community in ethnic terms as they are mediated in their vernacular.
This article deals with the impact of diffuse and point sources of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution on the environment in Goričko Nature Park. The park was divided into three parts: the Ledava, Big ...Krka (Velika Krka), and Kobilje Creek (Kobiljski potok) basins, which were then compared. The surface waters were monitored and their chemical composition was examined. All three areas are characterized by elevated levels of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds in the water. Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution results from unregulated manure pits on livestock farms, unregulated sewage systems, and runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds from farmland.
Full text
Available for:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The invasiveness ofRobinia pseudoacacia, one of the most invasive alien tree species in the agricultural landscapes of Central Europe, was studied in relation to its colonization of various soil and ...habitat types. The study area was a traditional agricultural landscape in Goricko Landscape Park (Slovenia), a hilly region, where half the territory is covered by forests and where R. pseudoacacia is also common. Habitat mapping in the field with a resolution of two meters was applied and further elaborated in GIS. It revealed 1307 patches colonized by R. pseudoacacia and belonging to 11 habitat types, covering 0.6% of the total study area. The most widespread were pure R. pseudoacacia stands, representing 69% of the total patch area. R. pseudoacacia is also abundantly present in small woodlots (19%) and in lowland and collinar riverine willow scrub (6%). The patches vary little in fractal dimension; the elongation index is highest in lowland and collinar riverine willow scrub, stream ash-alder woods and mixed stands. The most frequently invaded soil is pseudogley, with more than 38% of the total surface, followed by 21% for fluvisol and 17% for eutric cambisol. We confirmed that distance from nearest woodland is important, since almost 32% of the invaded patches are found at a distance of 1-100 meters from closed woodland.
Flowering in many orchids is determined by the resource status of plants, which in turn is influenced by habitat management. Most European orchids require high light intensities for photosynthesis, ...failing to flower and fruit at low light levels. Agricultural practices, especially fertilisation and mowing/grazing regime, can therefore influence the fitness and reproductive success of orchids. The studied species, autumn lady's-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis), is a small, long-lived and late-flowering perennial orchid and one of the most sensitive to low light availability. The general species' fitness, measured as a set of robust morphological traits in relation to vegetation height, which directly reflect the time of the last seasonal mowing and so the light availability, was the main scope of this research. A total of 2442 flowering exemplars (of which 427 were morphologically evaluated) were recorded on 26 grassland patches applying the systematic scanning of the potential growing sites in the Goričko Natural Park (NE Slovenia). We revealed that earlier mowing negatively affects the density of flowering individuals and plant fitness in general. The number of the rosette leaves was found to be the most important trait that could be used as a proxy for the general plant fitness of this orchid species because the significant positive correlation with the measured morphological traits was confirmed. The number of the rosette leaves shows a significant negative relation to vegetation height. Late seasonal mowing, which has a significant positive impact on the plant fitness, enhances Spiranthes spiralis population viability and density.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, GIS, IJS, KISLJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM, UPUK
The natural resource management literature stresses the need for public participation and community involvement in resource management and planning. Recently, some of this literature turned to the ...theory on deliberative democracy and demonstrated that a deliberative perspective on participation can help to challenge established practices and contribute with new ideas about how to conduct participation. The purpose of this paper is to consider the latest developments in deliberative democracy and outline the implications arising from these insights for a “deliberative turn” in resource management. A bottom-up protected area establishment, the Goričko Landscape Park, is examined. The empirical case is discussed from a discursive perspective, which relied on John Dryzek’s approach to discourse analysis here used to explore the construction of discourses on the use of local natural resources. Two discourses are identified and the way these interfaced with the participatory park establishment process is considered. Findings indicate that advocates of the two discourses engaged differently with the participatory tools used and this had important implications for the park establishment. The case study suggests that, in contexts where participation has been recently introduced, knowledge of discourses on the use of local natural resources and of mobilization strategies actors may pursue could usefully assist in the design and implementation of participatory processes.
► Dryzek’s approach to discourse analysis is used. ► The construction of discourses on the use of local resources is explored. ► Two discourses on local resource use are identified. ► It is demonstrated how discourses influenced the participatory process.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Abstract
Due to numerous bird surveys in the past 20 years, the avifauna of Goričko is relatively well known. For some species, the very first national ecological researches were conducted in this ...area. The article summarizes all bird surveys so far. It presents population trends of farmland species which is one of the most threatened bird groups in Europe. Most of the qualifying species of this habitat that are protected within the Natura 2000 network have suffered a decline at Goričko, specifically Quail
Coturnix coturnix
, Scops Owl
Otus scops
, Hoopoe
Upupa epops
, Woodlark
Lullula arborea
and White Stork
Ciconia ciconia
. The number of breeding pairs of the latter has not changed, but its fecundity has decreased. Furthermore, populations of other farmland bird species have decreased, for example Skylark
Alauda arvensis
, Stonechat
Saxicola rubicola
, Serin
Serinus serinus
and Common Linnet
Linaria cannabina
, as well as butterfly populations and tracts of grassland habitat types. National agricultural and nature conservation policies are evidently inefficient in protecting the biodiversity of Goričko. The most probable cause for bird population decline is agricultural intensification, which manifests itself at Goričko as disappearance and intensification of meadows, land consolidation, degradation of traditional orchards and use of pesticides. As a result of land consolidation hedges, uncultivated strips between fields, individual trees and bushes and minority habitat types are disappearing, whereas the surface of arable fields is increasing. Nature conservation measures performed by the Public Institute Goričko Nature Park with the support of DOPPS – BirdLife Slovenia volunteers seem to be efficient, but are spatially and temporally constrained. For this reason, they cannot serve as a substitute for insufficient systemic financing which could be improved by substantive and financial reform of the agri-environmental scheme. Currently, a negligible percentage (1% in 2016) of Goričko is covered by agrienvironmental scheme measures with positive influence on qualifying species and habitat types. As a consequence, only an insignificant share of subsidies from the Rural Development Plan is used for nature protection at Goričko. If the system of agricultural subsidies remains unaltered, no improvement of the conditions for bird conservation at Goričko can be expected.
Goričko Landscape Park is a well-preserved example of typical Central-European agricultural landscape. We used modified PHYSIS typology to describe and classify different habitat types (HT), ...especially the riparian stream corridors and patches (RSCP)—habitats of riparian woody stands occurring outside the closed woodland. The RSCP of Goričko were categorized into 107 HT, which cover 1.35% of the 45,000
ha in Goričko. The ash–alder vegetation is the most widespread riparian HT. For the detailed analysis, we compared two similar areas that differ only in land-use intensity. RSCP showed slightly higher fractal dimension and significantly higher elongation index in more intensified area
B. The analysis of RSCP types on these areas showed a shift, accompanying increased agricultural impact, from pure stands to mixed, from trees to scrub, from ash–alder and white willow stands to mixed riverine willow stands. The course of the intensification produced two results: arable HT were united into large, homogeneous polygons, while less usable land was abandoned. We can conclude that some of the landscape characteristics we used can be applied to detect the level of preserved traditional cultural landscape.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Zavarovana območja so znana po številnih posebnostih, bodisi naravnih, bodisi kulturnih, vendar zavarovanje prinaša določene omejitve, zaradi katerih se tudi kmetijstvo vse bolj usmerja v ekološko ...kmetovanje. Prispevek je povezan z raziskavo o ekološkem kmetovanju, njegovo uspešnostjo in njegovi pomembni vlogi v zavarovanih območjih. Kot primer so izbrana tri zavarovana območja v Sloveniji: Triglavski narodni park (TNP), Kozjanski regijski park (KRP) in Krajinski park Goričko (KPG). Rezultati so bili pridobljeni z intervjuji odgovornih za razvoj tamkajšnjega kmetijstva.
PDF
