Bílé Karpaty Mts harbour some of the most species-rich managed grasslands in Europe, which contain a number of rare and disjunctly distributed species. Besides specific local environmental factors, the long Holocene history may explain the uniqueness of these grasslands. However, historical interpretations of the palaeoecological evidence from the region are far from unequivocal. While palaeomalacological data indicate persistence of open habitats throughout the entire Holocene, fragmentary pollen data support the hypothesis of a medieval origin of the grasslands. This paper reviews the available phytogeographical, archaeological and palaeoecological knowledge that provides indirect evidence for a prehistoric origin of the grasslands in the Bílé Karpaty Mts. High concentration of rare heliophilous species with a disjunct distribution in the south-western part of the Bílé Karpaty Mts suggest their long-term persistence. The archaeological findings provide evidence for the existence of prehistoric human settlement in this region since the Neolithic (Middle Holocene). Direct evidence for the existence of open human-influenced habitats before medieval times, based on the results of a multi-proxy analysis (macrofossils, molluscs and pollen) of an organic sediment dated back to Roman Age, is also provided. The results indicate the existence of an ancient cultural landscape with a mosaic of open grasslands, natural forests and fields. It is concluded that the evidence presented in this paper supports the hypothesis of prehistoric, rather than a medieval origin of the species-rich grasslands in the Bílé Karpaty Mts.
Conflict-of-laws rules lead relatively often to the application of foreign law and the Czech judge, unlike judges of some other countries, is in principle obliged to apply that law. The issue of treatment of foreign law is covered by special regulation within Czech law. The new Private International Law Act 2012 contains section 23 entitled “Ascertainment and application of foreign law”, which builds upon the application of foreign law as it is perceived by contemporary Czech jurisprudence. The National Report also considers the possibilities to access to foreign law, under the viewpoint of both status quo, and further developments,in particular within the European Union.
A new species Pseudocarteria corcontica is described from small, acidic and oligotrophic water bodies in the Krkonoše Mts (Czech Republic). The cells are 17–27 × 22–35 µm in size, ellipsoidal or obovate and with a low truncate papilla. The thick cell wall is sometimes separated from the protoplast at the posterior end of the cell. The chloroplast is indistinctly asteroid with an ellipsoidal or half-ellipsoidal pyrenoid located below the centre of the cell. Numerous contractile vacuoles are not scattered as in other Pseudocarteria species, but mostly concentrated in the upper third of the cell and form circle beneath the cell wall. A small elliptical stigma is located in the anterior part of the cell. Cells divide in immobile sporangia (up to 38 µm in diameter) producing 2 or 4 daughter cells. Sexual reproduction is isogamic.
Výzkumem v jeskyni Pod hradem v Moravském krasu byla získána nevelká, leč zajímavá kolekce kamenných štípaných artefaktů (Valoch 1965). Předmětem příspěvku je revize určení a provenience suroviny části souboru kamenné štípané industrie, analýza plošně retušovaného bifaciálního artefaktu a zpřesnění chronostratigrafické pozice nálezových horizontů. Nová zjištění přinesla další podněty ve studiu chování člověka na počátku mladého paleolitu. and The research in the Pod hradem Cave in the Moravian Karst yielded a small but interesting assemblage of chipped stone artefacts (Valoch 1965). The article aims to revise the identification and provenance of the raw material of part of the chipped stone industry; to analyze a bifacial artefact, and to refine the chrono – stratigraphical position of the archaeological horizons. The new data brought further incentives for the study of human behavior at the beginning of the Early Upper Palaeolithic.
Roe deer diet was studied in the floodplain forest of South Moravia, Czech Republic, by analysis of faecal samples collected in six different parts of the study area. Woody plants were the main component of roe deer diet, and they were supplemented with bramble, forbs and grasses through the year. The composition of roe deer diet agreed with its foraging strategy and consisted mainly of browse. Floodplain forest is optimal for roe deer and offers sufficient food sources. Food sources from nearby fields have no influence on the diet of roe deer. The great potential of roe deer to influence the shrub layer is evident. The intensity of impact of roe deer was not affected by availability of other food sources in the floodplain forest. The impact of roe deer on woody plants in this habitat depended mainly on its population density. Therefore, protection and management of floodplain forest is related to the regulation of densities of ungulate species, and not on additional feeding.
A new species of bramble, Rubus kletensis, of the section Corylifolii Lindley, series Sepincola (Focke) E. H. L. Krause occurring in South Bohemia and Upper Austria is described. The distance between the most distant localities exceeds almost 150 km. This distinct and relatively easily recognizable species grows in rather moist, eutrophic, synanthropic and sunny biotopes, and occurs most frequently in the vegetation of the class Galio-Urticetea, less frequently in that of the alliances Trifolion medii, Pruno-Rubion radulae, Sambuco-Salicion capreae, Berberidion and exceptionally in forest plantations and growths of pioneer saplings. A distribution map for this species and a list of all known localities are included, as well as a drawing of the species.
Rubus silvae-bohemicae is described as a new regional apomictic species belonging to the subgen. Rubus sect. Rubus ser. Micantes Sudre. It is a nemophilous bramble occurring in south-western and southern Bohemia (Czech Republic) and adjacent parts of Bavaria (Germany). It differs from the somewhat similar species, R. indusiatus Focke, by having no stellate hairs on the undersides of the leaves and a lower number of shorter stalked glands and lower number of prickles on first-year stems. An illustration of the new species (including a photograph of the type specimen), a list of localities and a distribution map are presented.
A new bramble species, Rubus silvae-norticae, section Rubus, subsection Hiemales E. H. L. Krause in Prahl, series Micantes Sudre, which occurs in S Bohemia, Upper Austria and Lower Bavaria, is described. It is recorded at 130 localities. The distance between the most remote localities is ca 100 km. The species grows most frequently in forest habitats (as a distinctly nemophilous ecoelement) such as ditches and edges of forest roads, plantations, forest margins and clearings. It mainly grows in mesic, acid and mineral-poor soils. Like, for example, R. clusii or R. ser. Glandulosi and unlike other relatively thermophilous Rubus species, it is able to grow and propagate itself at rather high altitudes, up to the mountain vegetation belt. The diagnostic characters that separate R. silvae-norticae from its most similar and sympatrically occurring species, R. clusii and R. muhelicus, are provided. In Austria R. silvae-norticae and some other brambles were mistakenly considered as R. helveticus, a bramble (probably a single biotype) described from Switzerland in 1870. The lectotype of Rubus helveticus is designated here and a photograph of the specimen presented. Also included is a distribution map of R. silvae-norticae, a list of revised herbarium specimens, a photograph of the type specimen and a pen drawing of the species. The significance of regional brambles for plant migrations and phytogeography is shown, based on the distribution of selected regional Rubus species occurring in the Czech and Austrian border area, which is a known mountain barrier to migration. The distribution patterns of the brambles support a theory about the routes of plant migration and the florogenetic connection between Austria and the Czech Republic. Rubus silvae-norticae, R. muhelicus and R. vestitus f. albiflorus are regarded as Danubian migrants (distributed from Upper Austria to S Bohemia), whereas R. gothicus s. l. (“south Moravian type”) and R. austromoravicus are considered to be Dyje-Kamp migrants (distributed from Moravia and Lower Austria to S Bohemia) within the Bohemian flora. Rubus kletensis is supposed to be a Vltava migrant within the Austrian flora (distributed from S Bohemia to Upper Austria).
We investigated the effects of different temperature regimes and dry storage on germination of H. mantegazzianum (Apiaceae, native to Caucasus) seeds in the laboratory and linked the results with studies of seasonal seed bank depletion in a common garden experiment and under field conditions. Seeds were collected at seven sites in the Slavkovský les region, Czech Republic, cold-stratified for 2 months and germinated at seven temperature regimes. Under all temperature regimes, fresh seeds germinated to significantly higher percentages than older (1, 2, 3 years) seeds. For all storage lengths, seeds germinated best at alternating day/night temperatures of 20/5 °C. The length of the germination period had a significant effect only at low constant temperatures of 2 and 6 °C, where germination percentage increased between 2 and 6 months. Seasonal germination exhibited a distinct pattern, with rapid depletion of seed bank by the first spring after seed burial. Non-dormant seeds were present in the soil early in spring and late in autumn. The higher summer temperatures prevented dormancy breaking and another cold period of at least two months below 10 °C was needed to bring non-germinated seeds out of dormancy. The results suggest that (1) seed dormancy of H. mantegazzianum was not completely broken until the first spring, but that some seeds re-enter or retain dormancy during high summer temperatures and that (2) the threshold needed for breaking the dormancy was achieved gradually during the cold autumn and winter months. However, in a small fraction of seeds the dormancy breaking process took several years. Of seeds buried in 10 different regions of the Czech Republic, on average 8.8% survived 1 year, 2.7% 2 years and 1.2% remained viable and dormant after 3 years of burial. The ability of even small fraction of H. mantegazzianum seeds to survive for at least 3 years can result in re-invasion of this species into controlled sites.
A phytosociological synthesis of the segetal vegetation in the Czech Republic was performed using methods of the Zürich-Montpellier school. In total, 712 relevés made by the author in this country in 1955–2000 were classified, and 22 associations and one unranked community were distinguished. Each syntaxon is characterized by diagnostic species, documented by a synoptic table, and the syntaxonomy, structure, species composition, ecology, dynamics, distribution and variability of each syntaxon are commented on. Names are revised according to the rules of the International Code of Phytosociological Nomenclature. All syntaxa belong to the class Stellarietea mediae and associations are assigned to the orders Centaureetalia cyani (alliances Caucalidion lappulae, Fumario-Euphorbion, and Sherardion), Atriplici-Chenopodietalia (alliances Scleranthion annui, Polygono-Chenopodion polyspermi, Arnoseridion minimae, and Panico-Setarion), and Eragrostietalia (alliance Eragrostion).