Towards the Issue of Ecosystem Services of Small Watercourses in the Czech Republic
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2013 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | Global Change and Resilience. From Impacts to Responses. |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Earth magnetism, geography |
| Keywords | ecosystem services; small watercourse; ecohydrology; fluvial geomorphology; the Czech Republic |
| Description | The issue of ecosystem services represents a hot topic especially in connection with quantitative expression of their values and research of functions, which the landscape provides to a human society. The question of ecosystem values research is solved with a focus on the river landscape, defined as the ecosystem along watercourses whose functioning is directly conditioned by the presence of the hydrographical network. Since it is a very attractive area for the implementation of human needs, there is often what is seen as a conflict between activities of human society and the effects of natural processes. Catchment areas of small watercourses or their parts which are specific in terms of mutually different intensity of anthropogenic pressure on the landscape were selected as the model sites. The main aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between the value of landscape ecosystem services – either usage of existing methodologies for ecosystem valuation, the rate of small watercourse degradation and changes in their natural parameters (morphology of the river channel and riparian zones). |