{"id":27403,"date":"2023-12-14T12:24:42","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T11:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vtei.cz\/2023\/12\/kozmicke-ptaci-louky-a-jejich-vyznam-pro-prirodu-a-krajinu\/"},"modified":"2024-12-03T15:07:21","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T14:07:21","slug":"kozmice-bird-meadows-and-their-importance-for-nature-and-landscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vtei.cz\/en\/2023\/12\/kozmice-bird-meadows-and-their-importance-for-nature-and-landscape\/","title":{"rendered":"Kozmice bird meadows and their importance for nature and landscape"},"content":{"rendered":"

INTRODUCTION<\/h2>\n

Alluvial wetlands and alluvial meadows (often referred to as \u201cwet\u201d in the literature) are one of the types of habitats that, with the gradual development of the cultural landscape, suffered the greatest transformation and often complete disappearance; in the Czech Republic, the most significant transformation by the transfer to field crops together with land improvement peaked roughly in the 1970s. Discussions about the importance of wetlands have, however, been revived in different periods; the factors that trigger these discussions are mainly floods and drought, which is clearly indicated by the drought that started in 2015. In their name, alluvial wetlands and meadows indicate that they are situated in a river landscape and are in periodic or constant contact with the surface water of larger rivers and groundwater, including the hyporeal. It is therefore obvious that these landscape elements are at least locally important for the cycle of water and chemical substances in the river landscape. These hydrological effects are already fairly well described in the literature today; in this respect we can mention the essential works of Benstead, Drake et al [1], \u0160t\u011brba et al [2], C\u00edlek, Just et al [3], and \u010c\u00ed\u017ekov\u00e1, Vlas\u00e1kov\u00e1 et al [4]. The importance of wetlands with regard to their historical occurrence in the Polab\u00ed landscape is also discussed by Richter [5]. The hydrological importance of alluvial meadows is indisputable; it is therefore desirable to emphasize their importance for the biodiversity of plants and animals. In addition, these habitats represent a natural and interconnected transition between terrestrial and aquatic habitats and systems in the landscape.<\/p>\n

Description of the site and its history<\/h3>\n

Kozmice bird meadows are the largest private reserve of the company Semix Pluso, s.r.o., with an area exceeding 70 ha. They are located in the floodplain of the Opava river in the area between the villages of Doln\u00ed Bene\u0161ov, Kozmice, and Jile\u0161ovice. It is currently a continuous habitat of foxtail grass and sedge
\nmeadows, which was created on improved fields. An interesting fact is that in the 19th century there were ponds and mill races in this area, and the remains of the pond embankment with oak and other floodplain trees is still preserved. Of the mills, only Kole\u010dk\u016fv mill, built in 1845, was preserved, but there were also older buildings, such as Na Osikovci mill, first mentioned in 1446, or the even older Jile\u0161ovick\u00fd mill, of which there are records from as early as 1377 (Solnick\u00fd, [6]). The water races remind us of the site\u2019s mill and pond history, such as Ml\u00fdnsk\u00e1 strouha with a derivation at the weir in Smolkov, flowing through the area of the former ponds of the Doln\u00ed Bene\u0161ov and Kozmice systems, or Opusta and P\u0159ehyn\u011b.<\/p>\n

Stages<\/h3>\n

In the first stage, a reserve covering 13 ha was created as part of the MoE adaptation project Kozmice bird meadows \u2013 restored nature. The main purpose of this project was to achieve the following goals (adapted from Semix Pluso, s. r. o.):<\/p>\n