Multifunctional Use of Agricultural Land with Support for Selected Ecosystem Services in the Territory Protected Water Management Area Žitný Ostrov

Zdena Krnáčová, Pavol Kenderessy, Zuzana Baránková (), Mária Barančoková and Martin Labuda
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Zdena Krnáčová: Institute of Landscape Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 814 99 Bratislava, Slovakia
Pavol Kenderessy: Institute of Landscape Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 814 99 Bratislava, Slovakia
Zuzana Baránková: Institute of Landscape Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 814 99 Bratislava, Slovakia
Mária Barančoková: Institute of Landscape Ecology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 814 99 Bratislava, Slovakia
Martin Labuda: Department of Environmental Ecology and Landscape Management, Comenius University, 841 04 Bratislava, Slovakia

Land, 2023, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: sustainable agroecosystems; agroecosystem multifunctionality; water retention in agroecosystems; ecological management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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