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Citizen science as a tool for monitoring phenological changes in our reptiles
ONDŘEJKOVÁ, Pavlína
The diploma thesis deals with the length of seasonal activity of reptiles in Czech republic and follows their phenological shift in response to temperature changes. The first part of the thesis is devoted to the factors influencing the reptiles' occurrence, phenology, and the importance of citizen science and its possible con-nection with data collection. The second part includes monitoring results regarding the length of activity of individual species over the years and their shift in the be-ginning and end of activity. All species show a lengthening of the season - to ear-lier dates of their first appearance in spring and enter hibernation later. The largest difference in the shift of the beginning and end of the activity was shown by the Eastern slowworm (Anguis colchica). The least significant extension of activity towards the beginning of the year was shown by the Grass snake (Natrix natrix) and towards the end of the year the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis). Records of reptile sightings were obtained from the Nature Conservation Discovery Database.
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Changes in groundwater recharge and base flow in mountain catchments in Czechia due to changes in snow storages
Kožíšek, Matěj ; Jeníček, Michal (advisor) ; Šípek, Václav (referee)
Changes in groundwater recharge and base flow in mountain catchments in Czechia due to changes in snow storages The diploma thesis deals with the topic of replenishing groundwater reserves due to the melting of snow cover. The main motivation is the importance of the topic for understanding the changes in the hydrological regime caused by decreasing snow cover and small number of research papers on this topic. The aim of the work is to find the relationships between changes in snow cover and groundwater recharge and runoff parameters in the warm part of the year. The main part of the thesis is work with the HBV model. The parameters of underground water reserves and the size of the basic runoff are modeled using climate data and snow water value data from selected mountain basins of the Czech Republic. The Mann-Kendall test and Theil- Sen linear trend is used to evaluate trends in data. The relationships between individual parameters, expressed by Spearmann correlation tests are also examined. The impact of climate change and the associated increase in air temperature was reflected in all runoff and groundwater parameters. Trends were observed at the annual and especially the monthly level. The impact of climate change and the associated increase in air temperature (0.24 to 0.4 řC/decade) was...
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The effect of climate change and land use change on the long-term population trends of birds in the Czech Republic
Koschová, Michaela ; Reif, Jiří (advisor) ; Voříšek, Petr (referee)
There are number of future projections of species' geographic ranges developed under conditions of ongoing climate change. However, only a few studies have assessed what are the characteristics of species explaining interspecific variability in the projected range shifts. Examination of such relationships is important for development of effective conservation strategies mitigating the effects of climatic changes. For this purpose, I calculated the predicted shifts of European ranges in Czech birds based on maps in A Climatic Atlas of European Breeding Birds and explored relationships between these predicted shifts and several ecological traits. We found significant effects of the type of European distribution and habitat requirements. Concerning the type of European distribution, the largest shift is predicted in the central species and the northern species compared to widespread and southern species. According to the habitat type, the largest shift showed forest birds in contrast to the urban species which will shift slightly. The former pattern is probably attributable to spatial constrains different among these specific groups (central species are less limited compared to widespread species). The latter pattern could be explained by higher sensitivity of forest species to climatic changes...
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Ecological Effects of Climate Change on Snakes
Veverková, Barbora ; Sedláček, Ondřej (advisor) ; Frýdlová, Petra (referee)
Climate change is currently one of the biggest threats that animal species must face. Increasing temperatures cause declines in wildlife populations all around the world. Ectothermic animals might be amongst the most threatened organisms by climate change due to their ecology that makes them dependent on ambient temperature. As ectotherms, snakes will most likely need to adapt to new climatic conditions, or they become extinct. To escape raising temperatures and decreasing precipitation, snakes might shift their ranges and move into more suitable areas. However, snakes have a low dispersal ability, which might lead to range reduction and in some populations even extinction. Climatic changes might affect health and behaviour of snake species as well. Increased temperatures can alter incubation period and embryonic development. Alterations in embryonic development and reduction of incubation period can cause different kinds of malformations, especially in oviparous snakes. These malformations can negatively impact fitness, depending on their severity. Some snake species might also benefit from climate change. Elevated temperatures allow snakes to be more active and, in some cases, even shorten hibernation duration. Snakes are also able to better escape predators in high temperatures than in low...
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Long-term changes in snow depth and snow water equivalent at selected mountain stations in Czechia
Kožíšek, Matěj ; Jeníček, Michal (advisor) ; Nedělčev, Ondřej (referee)
Long-term changes in snow depth and snow water equivalent at selected mountain stations in Czechia This bachelor's thesis deals with the topic of long-term changes of snow cover in the peripheral mountain ranges in the Czech Republic. The first part is a research of foreign and czech literature dealing with changes in the parameters of snow cover depending on climate change and the consequences of these changes on various components of nature. The second part of the work consists of the analysis of climatic data from stations located in the peripheral mountains of the Czech Republic in the period of hydrological years 1980-2014. The mountains included in this research include Šumava (Churáňov, Lenora and Husinec), Jizera Mountains (Bedřichov and Desná), Krkonoše (Harrachov), Orlické Mountains (Deštné and Rokytnice v O. h.) and Moravskoslezské Beskydy (Lysá hora). The statistical Mann-Kendall test is used to evaluate trends. Changes in snow cover have a significant impact on the functioning of many landscape processes and on the life of the population in terms of future water availability and recreation.
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Climate change impacts on snow storages and spring runoff in the Vydra river basin
Cuřín, Vojtěch ; Jeníček, Michal (advisor) ; Šípek, Václav (referee)
Climate change impacts on snow storages and spring runoff in the Vydra river basin Abstract As a result of increasing air temperature, the fraction of precipitation falling as snow decreases. This affects snow cover indicators including snow cover duration, snow cover extent and the amount of water that accumulates in snow cover during winter. These changes further propagate through local runoff process and alter winter and spring runoff. The impacts of air temperature warming of 1℃, 2℃ and 3℃ on the above-mentioned indicators were simulated using a conceptual catchment runoff model HBV-light. Multi- criteria calibration, based on functions describing the goodness of fit of simulated runoff and snow water equivalent (SWE) values was performed. The temperature change scenarios were derived using the delta-change method from reference dataset 1980-2014. The indicator changes were evaluated for 5 elevation belts of the catchment as well as for the catchment as a whole, so that the observed alternations of snow cover indicators could be related to the modelled alternations of runoff. The changes in snow cover characteristics based on these simulations include a decrease of snowfall fraction, shortened snow season, decrease in average and maximal SWE values, and the shift of the average day of year of SWEmax to...
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Wildfires in Spain and Czech Republic
Rumbo Cabanilles, Adrian Francisco
Wildfires have been having increasing importance through the last two decades in the Mediterranean region. The scope of this thesis is to describe and understand the causes, fuel and spreading of the fire with the aim of comparing the Mediterranean wildfires to central European wildfires. The countries selected for this comparison are Spain and the Czech Republic. Although the wildfires in Spain are ten times more numerous and burn one hundred times more forest area, the distribution is more or less similar to the wildfires in the Czech Republic. Because of this similarity, the notion of climate change should be addressed with the correspondent importance. The shift in species and climatic conditions will approach the Czech Republic to actual conditions in Spain, increasing the risk of fire and loss of habitats due to the lack of post-fire regeneration that central European species have. In the same scope, Spain would face increased recurrence of fires and the desertification risk that the deforestation would increase. Therefore, the use of new technologies available should be necessary in the identification of the fire in the early stages and the fighting labours.
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Trends in the development of runoff and surface water quality in the Blšanka River basin
Šmidtová, Jana ; Kliment, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Matoušková, Milada (referee)
The aim of this Bachelor's thesis is to analyze trends in the development of runoff and selected features of surface water quality in the drainage basin of the Blšanka river. The thesis consists of a research part and a practical part. The research part examines scholarly literature and describes changes in the runoff and water quality depending on climate change as well as changes in the land use. The practical part processes the data from the Blšanka drainage basin from the end of the 1970s until today. The trends evaluated by the Mann-Kendall's test include the development of the average monthly flow rates, the average monthly temperatures from weather station in Žatec and the monthly amount of precipitation from the four stations situated in or near the area of the drainage basin. The practical part outlines the development of selected indicators of water quality in Trnovany. Next, it also evaluates changes in the land use in a specific part of the Blšanka drainage basin between the years 1995, 2004 and 2013. Keywords: changes in runoff, climate change, water quality, land cover, Mann-Kendall, Blšanka TRENDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF RUNOFF AND SURFACE WATER QUALITY IN THE BLŠANKA RIVER BASIN
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Atlantic thermohaline circulation, its possible future changes, and influence on European climate
Krejčová, Zuzana ; Huth, Radan (advisor) ; Šobr, Miroslav (referee)
Atlantic thermohaline circulation, its possible future changes, and influence on European climate This thesis deals with the changes in thermohaline circulation and is mainly focused on the Atlantic meridional circulation. The thesis also explains some basic concepts that relate to the thermohaline circulation. At first the text addresses its effect on the climate in Europe, how climate changes when occurs a change in the Atlantic meridional circulation. The thesis describes the development of the thermohaline circulation in the past, especially approximately 12,000 years ago. It is trying to explain the sudden climate change in response to changes in thermohaline circulation and it is also trying predict the future evolution of the Atlantic meridional circulation. Finally, there are several possible scenarios for the future. The goal of the practical part was to see how and if the average daily maximum and minimum temperatures are dependent on longitude. On the basis of this dependence may indirectly determine the effect of the thermohaline circulation on the climate. Keywords: thermohaline circulation, climatic change, Atlantic meridional overturning circulation
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Influence of fish pond management, land use in catchment and climate change on species composition of blue-green algae blooms
Kroupová, Kristýna ; Stuchlík, Evžen (advisor) ; Pivokonský, Martin (referee)
The aim of the thesis was to explain expansion of cyanobacterial blooms and the change of their species composition in surface standing waters during the last 2-3 decades as a result of fishery management, land use in catchments, and climate change. Cyanobacteria possess a range of unique and highly-adaptable eco-physiological traits, which enable them a mass occurrence and a dominance over the other phytoplankton groups under recent anthropogenic changes (nutrient loading and rising temperatures). Moreover, many species of cyanobacteria produce cyanotoxins, which increase their resistence against zooplankton grazing and cause severe deterioration of the water quality. In consequence of changes in fishery management (a decrease in the use of superphosphate as a fertilizer during the year 1970), the fish stock density increased and the clear water phase disappeared. This is responsible for a change in species composition of cyanobacterial water blooms. Summer blooms of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae were replaced with A. flos-aquae var. klebahnii. The current composition of water blooms in ponds differs considerably from the typical composition in the 1990s. For example, recent expansion of Woronichiniana naegeliana is caused by the higher stock densities and the shift from a two-year cycle of fishery management...
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