Vegetation History and Cultural Landscapes Case Studies from South-West Slovakia

About this book

This book focuses on the vegetation history of the cultural landscape in southwestern Slovakia, which was established and adopted by mankind and has since constantly evolved in response to ongoing changes (in environmental conditions, biodiversity, land use, etc.). Vegetation History and Cultural Landscapes analyses four dominant ecosystems typical for the cultural landscape and affected by humans: woodlands, wetlands, grasslands and agricultural land. Each ecosystem is discussed in separate chapters. The chapters include (a) basic information, general aspects, development processes, trends and interpretations, (b) a published or non-published case study based on the author's own research, and (c) an extensive bibliography. A set of maps on the vegetation history and indices of geographical names and plants names serve to round out the coverage. The work provides an essential point of departure for describing the typical regional characteristics of the cultural landscape, with an eye to its future preservation.

Contents

Woodlands
- Forest history of SW Slovakia
Case study: Comparison of oak-hornbeam forest fragments with different historical use

Wetlands
- History of wetlands in SW Slovakia
Case study: History of expansion of alien plants in the Nitra River Basin

Grasslands
- Grassland history of SW Slovakia
Case study: Origin and development of salt steppes in the Danube Lowland region of Slovakia

Agricultural land
- History of agricultural land in SW Slovakia
Case study: Changing biodiversity of agri-ecosystems (in crops and energy plant stands)

Collection of maps of landscape history of SW Slovakia

Index of plant species
Index of geographical names

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Biography

Alexander Fehér is a research scientist at the Department of Sustainable Development, Faculty of European Studies and Regional Development, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra (Slovakia) and a teacher at the University of Economy in Bydgoszcz (Poland). He has published more than 160 publications (scientific papers, monographs, students textbooks, etc.) from case studies in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, United Kingdom, USA, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Germany, Russia, Latvia, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, and China.