Small Bodies of Water Which Have Disappeared from the Czech Landscape and the Possibility of Restoring Them

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F61989592%3A15310%2F20%3A73598601" target="_blank" >RIV/61989592:15310/20:73598601 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

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DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Small Bodies of Water Which Have Disappeared from the Czech Landscape and the Possibility of Restoring Them

Original language description

Pond management is a historical and landscape-forming phenomenon in the Czech lands. The ponds, whose traditional role is linked mainly with the economically lucrative fish farming, did, however, play a wider role within the historical landscape, where they fulfilled the requirements of society for water, they formed a potential supply of energy to power production facilities, or they were part of the fortification of noble estates. They also became an important aspect of the landscape, in the role of significant landscape elements. The area taken up by ponds expanded in our mediaeval landscape, but in roughly the last 200 years the number and area of ponds have decreased. The chapter describes the development and decline of pond management in the Czech Republic. It presents the results of spatial analysis using maps from the Second Military Mapping Survey. Results show that 3416 ponds with an area greater than 0.5 ha have disappeared from the Czech landscape over the past 150 years. As is evident from more detailed historical–geographical analysis, a greater number of these had already fallen into disuse before the Second Military Survey (1806–1869) was completed. Due to the lack of positional accuracy of available data (e.g. the First Military Mapping Survey in 1763–1787), their precise identification or spatial reconstruction is very difficult. The majority of the area of former ponds is nowadays used as agricultural land. In these areas, we have carried out detailed analysis relating to soil quality and the (lack of) potential for agricultural production. In forest areas, a total of 645 defunct ponds have been identified. It is apparent that the current use of former pond areas is by no means optimal in all cases, and in a time when we face issues of hydrological extremes—flooding and drought, it is worth considering possible changes in the use of some of these sites within revitalisation and flood prevention measures. It is worth mentioning that about 11,064 additional ponds with an area of less than 0.5 ha have not been processed in this chapter due to the demands of manual operation.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

C - Chapter in a specialist book

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10501 - Hydrology

Project

Result was created during the realization of more than one project. More information in the Projects tab.

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2020

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Book/collection name

Assessment and Protection of Water Resources in the Czech Republic

ISBN

978-3-030-18362-2

Number of pages of the result

17

Pages from-to

127-143

Number of pages of the book

436

Publisher name

Springer Nature

Place of publication

Cham

UT code for WoS chapter

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