Global and regional biodiversity loss is caused by several drivers including urban development, land use intensification, overexploitation of natural resources, environmental pollution, and climate change. The main aim of our study was to adapt the GLOBIO3 model to the conditions of the Czech Republic (CR) to assess loss of naturalness and biodiversity vulnerability at the habitat level on a detailed scale across the entire CR. An additional aim was to assess the main drivers affecting the biodiversity of habitat types. The GLOBIO3 model was adapted to CZ-GLOBIO by adapting global to local scales and using habitat quality and naturalness data instead of species occurrence data. The total mean species abundance (MSA) index of habitat quality, calculated from the spatial overlay of the four MSA indicators by our new equation, reached the value 0.62. The total value of MSA for natural and near-natural habitats was found to be affected mainly by infrastructure development and fragmentation. Simultaneously, intensity of land use change and atmospheric nitrogen deposition contributed primarily to the low total value of MSA for distant natural habitats. The CZ-GLOBIO model can be an important tool in political decision making to reduce the impact of the main drivers on habitat biodiversity in the CR.

Environmental properties differently influence the growth of forest tree species. The antagonistic effects of variable environmental properties classify the forest response according to various tree compositions among different sites. The division of the forest response was assessed in 52 stands arranged into 26 types of 13 site management populations (MPs) in 5 areas in the Czech Republic territory. The assessment was performed using time-series multiple regressions of basal-area increment from pure immature stands of Norway spruce (Picea abies), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), oaks (Quercus sp.), ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and willows (Salix sp.) dependent on the interpolated average temperatures, annual precipitation, atmospheric concentrations of SO₂, NO_x and O₃ and soil properties over the period 1971–2008 at p < 0.05. Site MPs differentiated the forest response to a greater extent than tree species. The response of the forests was significantly distributed by means of the montane, upland and waterlogged sites. The multiple determination index (r²) ≥ 0.6 indicated an adaptable tree increment but an interval of r² between 0.80–0.92 implied forest sensitivity to variability in environmental properties on non-waterlogged sites. The index r² < 0.6 suggested a fluctuating forest increment that reflects environmental variability inconsistently. The fluctuating increment most affected the spruce and pine stands grown from upland to submontane locations. Montane spruce stands, as well as rock pines, appeared to be one of the most sensitive ones to environmental change. Floodplain forests seemed as adaptable to variable environmental properties.

"Willner, Arthur" published on by Oxford University Press.

The adaptability of forests during periods of environmental change depends on both tree species composition and site conditions. This study investigated whether forest health-status development (FHSD) was more dependent on tree species composition or changes in site conditions resulting from salvage cutting > 1 ha. FHSD was classified across 8526 small catchments covering the Czech Republic (78,866 km²; 115–1602 m a.s.l.) for the periods 2000–2009 and 2010–2019, based on changes in MODIS VI-derived enhanced vegetation indices (EVI) for forest soils. This was compared against the proportions of stand-forming Norway spruce (Picea abies), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), Common beech (Fagus sylvatica), oaks (Quercus sp.), ashes (Fraxinus sp.) and alders (Alnus sp.), as well as against elevation, temperature, precipitation and nitrogen deposition on salvage clear-cut areas, using multiple locally weighted regression (MLWR). Of the forest soil plots monitored, 81.3% were classed as having deteriorating forest status and 14.6% as sensitive, with only 2.3% classed as improving and 1.4% as resistant. While the tree species effect on FHSD increased from R² 0.00–0.67 over 2000–2009 to R² 0.09–0.76 over 2010–2019, the effect of environmental impact over the same periods increased less steeply, from R² 0.01–0.59 to R² 0.00–0.67. These increasing MLWR determination indices support the importance of tree species composition over site conditions for analyses of environmental change impacts in catchments.