Despite differences in regional climates, cities world-wide have developed one common characteristic - the urban heat island (UHI). Its magnitude is related to city size, especially under cloudless ...sky conditions on a regional basis, although individual cities may be impacted by such local factors as proximity to large water bodies or prevailing winds. The UHI pattern in the small city of Ljutomer was examined in order to assess its intensity and morphology and to test the utility of the geographically weighted regression (GWR) method in modeling the regression relationships between mean air temperature and related influence factors in this small-scale urban example. Significant differences in mean air temperature between urban and rural areas were measured. It turned out that built-up areas in Ljutomer are on average 1 °C warmer than the rural surroundings in winter time. The regression analyses confirmed the important role of local non-stationary explanatory variables - distance to urban area, topographic position index and land-cover diversity - and global stationary variables - building volume per area and northness - in explaining spatial variation in mean air temperature. The relationships between mean air temperature and these five explanatory variables produced an overall model fit of 91%, utilizing the semiparametric GWR method, which was tested on the smallest scale so far published.
•The GWR analysis highlighted local variations of some model parameters.•The UHI pattern could be explained with local and global explanatorily variables.•Local regression analysis can be used in UHI studies even in small scale examples.
State boundaries limit human contacts in a homogenous context of a landscape and its natural features, including plants. After nine centuries of separation, finally the two territories in Slovenia ...share the same political history. In this paper we tried to answer the question to which extent the past political borders, geographical and cultural drivers affect today’s traditional knowledge on wild plants use of Slovenians, living unified in the same political entity. Data were collected using 60 in-depth semi-structured interviews, from March to August 2019, in two municipalities: Komen at Karst and Izola in Istria concerning food, medicinal, economic use, and local customs. The results indicate a quite large divergence in ethnobotanical and ecological knowledge between the two studied areas. In the Komen area, many people still use wild plants daily for various purposes (Taraxacum officinale, Melissa officinalis, Urtica dioica, Cornus mas, and Sambucus nigra). In contrast, this is limited to fewer people in the Izola area and mainly to seasonal use of specific plants (Asparagus acutifolius, Rosa canina, Salvia officinalis, Foeniculum vulgare and Rubus caesius). Unusual for the Mediterranean is the use of young shoots of Clematis vitalba, in the Izola area prepared as omelettes. We can assume that these differences are partly due to minor differences in climatic conditions and partly due to the influence of different cultures and cuisines. In the first place, the impact of Austro-Hungarian eating habits and cuisine can be seen on the area around Komen. Moreover, temporal “layers of knowledge” across the time scale are additionally mixed by the immigration of people from other parts of Slovenia or abroad, or with the influence of local herbal specialists. At last, we conclude Komen area knowledge is alive and homogeneous, and more connected to their local identity.
Political ideologies, policies and economy affect land use which in turn may affect biodiversity patterns and future conservation targets. However, few studies have investigated biodiversity in ...landscapes with similar physical properties but governed by different political systems. Here we investigate land use and biodiversity patterns, and number and composition of birds and plants, in the borderland of Austria, Slovenia and Hungary. It is a physically uniform landscape but managed differently during the last 70 years as a consequence of the political "map" of Europe after World War I and II. We used a historical map from 1910 and satellite data to delineate land use within three 10-kilometre transects starting from the point where the three countries meet. There was a clear difference between countries detectable in current biodiversity patterns, which relates to land use history. Mobile species richness was associated with current land use whereas diversity of sessile species was more associated with past land use. Heterogeneous landscapes were positively and forest cover was negatively correlated to bird species richness. Our results provide insights into why landscape history is important to understand present and future biodiversity patterns, which is crucial for designing policies and conservation strategies across the world.
The human population is increasing. The ongoing urbanization process, in conjunction with climate change, is causing larger environmental footprints. Consequently, quality of life in urban systems ...worldwide is under immense pressure. Here, the seasonal characteristics of Maribor’s urban thermal environment were studied from the perspectives of surface urban heat island (SUHI) and urban heat island (UHI) A remote sensing thermal imagery time series and in-situ measurements (stationary and mobile) were combined with select geospatial predictor variables to model this atmospheric phenomenon in its most intensive season (summer). Finally, CMIP6 climate change scenarios and models were considered, to predict future UHI intensity. Results indicate that Maribor’s UHI intensity maximum shifted from winter to spring and summer. The implemented generalized additive model (GAM) underestimates UHI intensity in some built-up parts of the study area and overestimates UHI intensity in green vegetated areas. However, by the end of the century, UHI magnitude could increase by more than 60% in the southern industrial part of the city. Such studies are of particular concern, in regards to the increasing frequency of heat waves due to climate change, which further increases the (already present) heat stress in cities across the globe.
•Changed landscape identity of the classic Karst was perceived in the last 250 years.•Grasslands declined for 3.5× from 1763/1787 to 2012.•The MLP model output validation revealed 89% ...similarity.•Predictions indicate the speed of grassland overgrowing of 2.2km2/year.•Maintenance of grassland remnants should be incorporated in landscape planning.
Continuous change over an area of 238km2 of the “classic” Karst in Slovenia, previously severely deforested, has resulted in a change of the landscape identity in last 250 years (from 1763/1787 to 2012): grasslands declined from 82 to 20% and forests progressed from 17 to 73%. The Multi-Layer Perceptron model was validated before making predictions for further landscape change using the Markov chain method: a predicted map for 2009 was produced and compared with an actual one. Image similarity statistics indicate 89% similarity and the spatial distribution of predicted grasslands agrees in 98% of locations. The prediction estimates that grasslands will cover 18km2 less in 2025 than today and will then shrink to just 6km2 (3%) in 2100. The speed of grassland overgrowing was calculated on 2.2km2/year. Forest area will expand by 18km2 until 2025, compared to 2012. In 2075, forest will cover 88% of the whole study area, and will reach 90% in 2100, achieving then an almost steady-state situation. Calculation of the spatial change trend for grasslands enabled us also to determine where in space the overgrowing process will occur during each of the predicted periods. Congruent aspects of changed landscape identity (e.g. landscape beauty, diversity, and wilderness) are discussed, but according to legal obligations regarding the conservation of Natura 2000 grassland habitats, the management with grassland remnants (5% of grasslands was already lost after the Slovenian accession to EU in 2003) are suggested to be incorporated in landscape planning.
•The Scops Owl population is declining.•Main causes are linked to human activity.•Landscape dynamics reveal its potential fate.•Spatial results serve as decision support for proper environmental ...planning.
Biodiversity is declining across Europe. Modern agricultural practices, habitat fragmentation, land abandonment and climate change are key factors causing current trends in environmental change. Mobile organisms such as raptors, positioned high in the food chain, are good indicators of negative or positive landscape dynamics, since their response is fast. This assumption was tested by investigating the Scops Owl (Otus scops) population in a traditional Central European cultural landscape (Goričko Nature Park GNP) in Slovenia. The negative trend in male calling Scops Owls was correlated with static and dynamic environmental change variables derived from remotely sensed or field-based, multi-temporal data sources. Key geospatial predictors were identified and used for bird calling and breeding (C&B) suitability modelling. All geospatial models developed predicted a decline in C&B suitability (even by 33%) in almost all areas where the bird is currently active. However, the NE part of the GNP could achieve better C&B conditions for theScops Owl in the coming years (a potential 36% increase in suitability). Predictions indicate that more effort and action, to conserve the Scops Owl in the study area should be implemented in the N, NE and E part of the hilly GNP. Our results are thus highly applicable not just for decision makers in this protected area but rather in all areas across the Scops Owl’s continental population, since the methodology is easily replicable and transferable.
Coastal wetlands worldwide are retreating owing to several anthropogenic pressures and accelerated sea level rise (SLR). The importance of preserving salt marshes and the services they provide is ...being increasingly recognized and wetlands have become the target of several international initiatives and conservation regulations. Thus, geospatial models with applicable high spatial resolution results estimating the potential development of wetland habitats under climate change are urgently needed in order to prepare proper conservation measures and management strategies in an opportune moment. This study aimed at predicting the potential impact of SLR on salt marsh habitats in the Venice Lagoon. Habitat turnover over time was modelled based on a fine-scale vegetation map, relative elevation measurements, and most relevant environmental data (subsidence and accretion) connected with SLR. Three model-based SLR scenarios (GFDL P50, RCP4.5, RCP8.5) and the local linear trend were considered. Clear differences between the northern and southern parts of the lagoon emerged. By 2075, 37 to 48% (model-based scenarios) or even 51% (linear scenario) of the Venice lagoon coastal habitats could lie under water. Although nearly all habitats evidenced a decrease in their extent by 2050 and beyond, our results also suggest that different types of marshes will respond differently to SLR. Exactly this information (what, where and when) is of crucial importance for decision makers to initiate enhance planning and management policies. Moreover, the forecasted changes in tidal marsh area and the presented cost effective methodological approach is transferable to other temperate areas faced with comparable SLR rates.
•Sea level rise will reshape Venice Lagoon's coastal habitats.•Salt marsh vegetation could disappear under GFDL P50 or RCP8.5 climate scenarios.•Differences in habitat dynamics between the N and S parts of the lagoon are evident.•The methodological approach is applicable in other temperate tidal marshes under SLR.•Geospatial results serve for strategic spatial planning and policy management.
•Only 3 % of Slovenia’s high nature value grasslands were included in the agri-environment measures between 2007 and 2013.•Within those 3 %, forty-one percent of existing grassland areas under AEM ...were actually non-HNV grasslands.•The ecological quality of surfaces under AEM in the initial stage was not checked.•There was no mid-term and final stage monitoring of grasslands under AEM.•The currently running EAFRD 2014 – 2020 uses the same unsuccessful approach, at least regarding the AEM for grasslands.
The effectiveness of four grassland-specific agri-environment measures (AEM), implemented in the frame of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) in the period 2007–2013 in Slovenia was studied. We questioned whether the measures – “extensive grassland maintenance”; “preservation of special grassland habitats”; “preservation of grassland habitats for butterflies” and “bird conservation in humid extensive meadows in Natura 2000 sites” did genuinely support the conservation (maintenance or improvement) of high nature value (HNV) grasslands in Slovenia. The HNV grasslands were defined on the basis of national fine-resolution field mapping of habitat types. Two main outcomes emerged: AEM did not reach the vast majority of HNV grasslands in Slovenia (only 3%); the proportion of HNV grassland area included in AEM was negligibly low (1). Moreover, even this very limited interest in AEM did not target only grasslands of HNV, but any permanent grasslands regardless of their conservation value: forty-one percent (41%) of the grassland areas included in the AEM were actually non-HNV grasslands (2). The absence of pre-selection criteria for grasslands along with an absence of monitoring of the effectiveness and efficiency of the measures and low interest in the subsidies among farmers, led to almost complete failure of the AEM to promote and conserve species-rich extensive grasslands in Slovenia between 2007 and 2013. Even with some minor differences, the same concept was maintained for the currently running EAFRD 2014–2020, which raises serious concern.
Dynamic alluvial landscapes offer many possibilities to study primary succession processes on newly developed habitats. However, within the Central European environmental conditions, where ...watercourses and their riparian spaces are under severe anthropogenic pressures — water regulation, deforestation, lowering of groundwater — natural processes are limited. We studied primary succession on alluvial stream deposits in an artificial lake, where we aimed to follow the terrestrialisation rate and habitat turnover, along with plant species richness and composition across successional stages. In 30 years, a pristine white-willow riparian forest developed. One half of the initially aquatic habitat became terrestrial. The frequency of change, studied on 11250 quadrats 10×10 m each (on a scale from “no change” to 8 changes) and the mean of change per habitat type (most of the habitats changed 2 to 3 times) revealed only one successional trajectory. The percentage flow chart showed a deterministic pathway of succession. The “time since formation” of a terrestrial habitat shows that more than 20% of the lake was terrestrialised within in the first ten years. We studied species richness and composition along three composed transects, following successional stages. We found that the newly assembled riparian white willow woodland has a surprisingly low colonisation rate of plant species.
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