Region: Central/Europe
Pavol
Elias
Department of Ecology, Slovak Agricultural University, Marianska 10, SK-949
76
Nitra, e-mail: elias@afnet.uniag.sk
Julius
Oszlanyi
Institute of Landscape Ecology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences,
Stefanikova 3, P.O.Box 254, SK-814 99 Bratislava, Slovakia
Slovakia was first made aware of the LTER Network in the USA and the effort to establish an international network of ILTER sites during the 7th European Ecological Congress in 1995 in Budapest, Hungary. Slovakia was invited to participate in the Programme by LTER officers and colleagues in Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic. We started with examining the possibility of revitalising some formerly active ecological research sites and we continued by selecting a few sites for our LTER network based on relevant criteria. During this process Slovakia participated in the regional ILTER workshop in Budapest, Hungary, in 1999. It was accepted as a member of the ILTER Network in March, 2000. And from May 23-26, 2000, Slovakia organized and hosted the third regional ILTER workshop in Central and Eastern Europe. Long-term ecological research in Slovakia Slovakian ecological research on permanents plots and long-term ecological research has a long tradition (ELIÁ 1994, 1999, 2000). The first permanent plots were established at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of 20th century in Central and Easten Slovakia in forest ecosystems.
A register of permanent research plots was prepared by the Slovak Ecological Society (SEKOS) in 1992 and the first version was published in 1994 (ELIÁ, 1994). The scheme of the register was based on that used for the British Isles and the USA. This register includes data on more than 800 permanent research plots established in different periods and used for different types of research. The second version of the register is under preparation.
ILTER sites candidates from Slovakia
During the ILTER regional workshop in Budapest, Slovakia presented the following site-candidates for its ILTER network (ELIÁ, OSZLÁNYI, 1999):
1. Former I.B.P. forest site at Báb (SW Slovakia) with an oak-hornbeam deciduous forest ecosystem.
2. Former MaB Research Sites at Biely Kriz, Male Karpaty Mts., Western Slovakia, with a serie of different types of deciduous (oak, oak-hornbeam, beech, alder and ash Fraxinus) and evergreen (spruce) forest ecosystems
3. Former Forest Research Plots of Prof. Zlatnik, Vysoke Tatry (High Tatras), with several evergreen mountaneous forests
4. The Polana Biosphere Research Site, Hukavsky grun Forest Plot, Central Slovakia, with beech and spruce forest,
5. Vychodne Karpaty Biosphere Research Site, Eastern Slovakia, with grasslands ecosystems;
6. Other Monitoring sites subject to intensive forest ecosystems monitoring, ozone effects monitoring, etc.
At the ILTER regional workshop in May 2000 in Nitra, Slovakia, we presented data and information collected and obtained at the sites in the past (OSZLÁNYI, 2000, ELIÁ, 2000, KUBICEK, 2000).
Research Agenda on patterns and processes for ILTER sites in Slovakia include: monographical synthetized studies in English; biodiversity research; biotope/community type mapping; environmental factors, including atmosphere and soil characteristics; primary production and productivity studies, and; ecophysiological measurements.
Parallel activities
Participating in the NPP demonstration project of GTOS at the Báb Research site can be considered a parallel activity which can help to revitalise research at this former I.B.P. research site.
Conclusions
Slovakia selected three permanent plots for long-term ecological research and is now part of a regional ILTER group in Central and Eastern Europe and the global LTER network. Slovak ecologists are invited to participate in ecological research to revitalise the formerly productive research efforts carried out on natural and man-made ecosystems in Slovakia.
Slovakia References
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