The increase in farm plot size is one of the most apparent and significant trends that have influenced central and eastern European agricultural landscapes since the 1950s. In many countries where the average plot size in traditional land-use systems did not exceed several hectares, present-day plots reach the size of 200 ha or more. In recent times, efforts have been made to reverse this trend to restore important ecosystem functions and to re-establish the aesthetic values of everyday landscapes. Visual landscape quality is becoming a major driving force in the development of agricultural landscapes with known effects on people's well-being and health, and this quality plays an increasingly important role in agricultural policies. However, no comprehensive research has been carried out to establish the links between perceived visual landscape quality and the scale of the farm plot pattern. The current study was therefore designed to determine whether greater farmland pattern heterogeneity, i.e., smaller farm plot sizes, is consistent with higher visual preferences. The results showed that people preferred a small-scale plot pattern in landscapes characterized by a flat relief and a low proportion of woody vegetation. These homogeneous landscapes were also overall considered significantly less beautiful than more diverse landscapes. However, even a moderate decrease in plot size notably improved these low beauty scores. These preferences were displayed consistently by all respondents, and most strongly by older respondents, respondents with a higher level of education, and those professionally engaged in landscape design or conservation. The high level of consensus among respondents in rejecting further land consolidation in homogeneous landscapes, which form a large proportion of European farmland, underlines that the results of this study provide a valid argument for discussing sustainable agricultural plot sizes as part of agricultural policy-making.
- MeSH
- dřevo MeSH
- ekosystém * MeSH
- farmy MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- vytváření politiky MeSH
- zachování přírodních zdrojů metody MeSH
- zemědělství * metody MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
Is there some kind of historical memory and folk wisdom that ensures that a community remembers about very extreme phenomena, such as catastrophic floods, and learns to establish new settlements in safer locations? We tested a unique set of empirical data on 1293 settlements founded in the course of nine centuries, during which time seven extreme floods occurred. For a period of one generation after each flood, new settlements appeared in safer places. However, respect for floods waned in the second generation and new settlements were established closer to the river. We conclude that flood memory depends on living witnesses, and fades away already within two generations. Historical memory is not sufficient to protect human settlements from the consequences of rare catastrophic floods.
- MeSH
- dějiny 15. století MeSH
- dějiny 16. století MeSH
- dějiny 17. století MeSH
- dějiny 18. století MeSH
- dějiny 19. století MeSH
- dějiny 20. století MeSH
- dějiny 21. století MeSH
- dějiny středověku MeSH
- emigrace a imigrace dějiny MeSH
- folklór dějiny MeSH
- katastrofy dějiny MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- paměť * MeSH
- záplavy dějiny MeSH
- Check Tag
- dějiny 15. století MeSH
- dějiny 16. století MeSH
- dějiny 17. století MeSH
- dějiny 18. století MeSH
- dějiny 19. století MeSH
- dějiny 20. století MeSH
- dějiny 21. století MeSH
- dějiny středověku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- historické články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
Human populations tend to grow steadily, because of the ability of people to make innovations, and thus overcome and extend the limits imposed by natural resources. It is therefore questionable whether traditional concepts of population ecology, including environmental carrying capacity, can be applied to human societies. The existence of carrying capacity cannot be simply inferred from population time-series, but it can be indicated by the tendency of populations to return to a previous state after a disturbance. So far only indirect evidence at a coarse-grained scale has indicated the historical existence of human carrying capacity. We analysed unique historical population data on 88 settlements before and after the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), one the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, which reduced the population of Central Europe by 30-50%. The recovery rate of individual settlements after the war was positively correlated with the extent of the disturbance, so that the population size of the settlements after a period of regeneration was similar to the pre-war situation, indicating an equilibrium population size (i.e. carrying capacity). The carrying capacity of individual settlements was positively determined mostly by the fertility of the soil and the area of the cadastre, and negatively by the number of other settlements in the surroundings. Pre-industrial human population sizes were thus probably controlled by negative density dependence mediated by soil fertility, which could not increase due to limited agricultural technologies.
- MeSH
- dějiny 17. století MeSH
- dějiny 18. století MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- populační dynamika * MeSH
- technologie MeSH
- venkovské obyvatelstvo statistika a číselné údaje MeSH
- zachování přírodních zdrojů * MeSH
- zemědělství přístrojové vybavení MeSH
- Check Tag
- dějiny 17. století MeSH
- dějiny 18. století MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- historické články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Česká republika MeSH
The quality of people's knowledge of nature has always had a significant influence on their approach to wildlife and nature conservation. However, direct interactions of people with nature are greatly limited nowadays, especially because of urbanization and modern lifestyles. As a result, our isolation from the natural world has been growing. Here, we present an example of a state-of-the-art Citizen Science project with its educational, scientific, and popularizing benefits. We conclude that modern media and new forms of education offer an effective opportunity for inspiring children and others to have fun learning to act like scientists. This approach provides broad opportunities for developing the hitherto neglected educational potential of Citizen Science.
