The main aim of the project is the development of research center generating outputs, which will be helpful for both strategic planning in landscape protection, nature and biodiversity conservation as well as for solving actual problems of recent landscape and ecosystem functioning. The main subjects of interest of the research center are landscape, specific terrestrial ecosystems (forest & agroecosystems) and biodiversity including biological invasions. The research center aims to formulate new systems of landscape monitoring on the national level and to develop a coherent evaluation system of phenomena and processes defining the current state of landscape, ecosystems and biodiversity. Specific aims of the project are as follows: (i) development and establishment of standard landscape monitoring on the national level; (ii) assessment of dynamics of both forest and agro-ecosystems in the context of climate change, including the evaluation of the level of their degradation; (iii) proposal of comprehensive assessment of state and changes of biodiversity and identification of significant factors of its threats with emphasis on biological invasions; (iv) development of tools of complex monitoring, improvement of methodological background for strategic decision-making and proposal of management measures to mitigate impacts of climate change on landscape and ecosystem functions in the Czech Republic. Common sharing of extensive information and datasets, their synthesis and interpretation within a broad multi-disciplinary team will be the crucial tools to achieve these goals. All outputs of the research center will be presented on the project website, on the geoportal and in the framework of thematic workshops and conferences in order to ensure the widest possible use of results within the stakeholders (e.g. Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Regional Development, state bodies of landscape protection and nature conservation etc.).
Funding: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (Environment for Life program) SS02030018
Duration: 1.1.2021 – 31.12.2026
Principal investigator: The Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening (RILOG)
Co-investigators:
Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Jan Wild, Jan Pergl, Radim Hédl)
T. G. Masaryk Water Research Institute
Palacký University Olomouc
Mendel University in Brno
Masaryk University
Charles University
Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic
Czech Hydrometeorological Institute
Czech Geological Survey
Czech University of Agriculture Prague