The growing interest of researchers in the topic of biocultural diversity has resulted in the research field expanding from its initial focus on places inhabited by indigenous communities to rural and then to urban landscapes. The aims of this study are to summarize and review the current state of knowledge on biocultural landscape (BCL), present a spectrum of human activities leading to their formation, and based on that, focus on typology of these landscapes. Moreover, the connections between cultural ecosystem services (CES) and BCLs were examined, and the research on these unique landscapes in individual countries and the proportion of studied landscape types were graphically displayed. BCLs are threatened all over the world; therefore, there is a need to identify and recognize them, and provide them with effective legislative protection.

The perception of the landscape by society is becoming an integral part of many studies in terms of the quality of the living environment, sport and recreation and building and developing social relationships. To evaluate the perception and appreciation of individual landscape types by society, we used an online questionnaire as a form of sociological survey. We used the statistical method of non-metric multidimensional scaling NMDS in R package to determine the variability of responses in relation to respondents. The relationship between demographic factors and landscape perception and landscape type preferences was evaluated. The results of multidimensional scaling show a strong relationship between young men and a preference for recreation over agro-tourism. The middle generation with university education looks more frequently for cultural monuments. University-educated middle-aged men perceive the natural landscape as degraded and endangered, and middle-aged men with secondary education understand the need for the protection of traditional agricultural landscapes. It is important to integrate people’s preferences and needs into the landscape planning and decision-making processes, so that they can contribute to the creation of development plans and other strategic documents.

Agroecosystems represent one of the largest managed systems in the world and are also considered to be the largest surface polluters. This is particularly evident in highly vulnerable areas such as the model area assessed in our study, the Protected Water Management Area Žitný Ostrov, which contains the most productive soils in the Slovak Republic. At the same time, the Žitný Ostrov represents the largest groundwater reserves in Central Europe. We based this study on the information system of valued soil ecological units (VSEUs) and their spatial extension to the agricultural soils of Slovakia. We used the synthetic–parametric method for a summary (aggregated) evaluation of the production potential of provisioning soil services, which we have classified into 10 categories (1—very low potential; 10—very high potential). Overall, there were 3000 individual VSEUs identified in the area of interest. By eliminating repetitive VSEUs, we evaluated 72 subtypes and, based on similarity parameters, they were further aggregated into 40 soil subtypes. The result is a spatial representation of the proposed zones within the model area (zones for sustainable economic use of soils with the support for ecologization of agricultural technologies, non-productive land use, cultural and social development of rural areas, and the protection and revitalization of the landscape and its components). The approach is also suitable for use in other areas.

The paper focuses on the historical distribution of haylofts in Slovakia, geographical conditions related to hay meadows with haylofts, and land cover changes of former hayloft localities. Moreover, the current state of preserved haylofts and the land use of their surrounding area were documented at a regional scale, during the field research. A map of the historical occurrence of haylofts was digitised based on the Czechoslovakian military topographic maps from 1952–1957 (1:25,000). Altogether, 9,742 haylofts were recorded. The haylofts were usually built in mountain and sub-mountain areas on places with low soil quality, mostly at higher elevations, on moderate or moderately steep slopes and in more distant and isolated areas. About half of former hayloft meadows now exist as meadows or pastures with different intensity of grassland management. Forest or shrubs already cover the other 38% of the sites. To a lesser extent, the areas have been converted into arable land or recreational areas. Only a few haylofts have survived to this day; for example, in Upper Liptov Region, it is only 1% of their former abundance in this area (48 haylofts). Apart from a few positive cases where they have been restored or preserved, those that have survived continue to decay.

Folk songs have long played a vital role in people’s lives. They reflect the daily activities and desires of local communities and also preserve traditional knowledge about landscapes, plants, animals, and land management. I reviewed 4,137 Slovak folk songs and analyzed the sections containing information about landscape features. This data was used to create a dataset listing all the landscape features mentioned and their associated plants. Landscape elements were featured in 1,542 songs, encompassing 73 landscape features and 59 plant taxa. The most commonly mentioned plants were Trifolium sp., Prunus persica L., Fagus sylvatica L., Quercus sp., and Acer sp. Slovakia’s forested and mountainous landscape is well represented in folk songs, with forest and mountain features accounting for 42.54% of references. Among agricultural environments, grasslands were the most frequently mentioned (14.65%), followed by fields (10.31%). Rivers were the water features most frequently referenced, accounting for 7.1% of mentions. The Danube River was particularly prominent, accounting for 5.47% of all mentions and being the most frequently cited landscape feature specifically named.