Papers by Ferdinand Sporka
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Hydrobiologia, 2006
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Science of The Total Environment, 2016
Element content, loss-on-ignition, chironomid analysis and (210)Pb dating were applied on a sedim... more Element content, loss-on-ignition, chironomid analysis and (210)Pb dating were applied on a sediment core from a subalpine Tatra lake (Popradské pleso) to reveal the response of aquatic biota to eutrophication induced by human activities in the lake catchment. The lead dating indicates that the 0-8cm section of the core represents the past ca 200years, ending at ~1814AD. Comparing the key changes of the proxies with human activities that are historically well documented, four phases of the recent lake development were distinguished: (1) a pre-tourism phase, (2) a phase of increasing touristic activity and early cottage development, (3) a phase of eutrophication, and (4) a phase of post-eutrophication. Neither touristic activity, nor early cottage development around the lake (1st and 2nd phases) had considerable influence on the chironomid assemblage structure or organic content of the lake. The most significant change both in chironomid assemblage structure and loss-on-ignition occurred during the 3rd phase, when a big tourist hotel was built close by the lake and started contaminating it via direct wastewater input. However, the structure of the chironomid assemblage has not changed significantly over time and the dominating taxa remained the same during the whole period. Parallel with the nutrient signal of the paleo assemblage, a secondary signal has been identified as the ratio of rheophilic taxa on total abundance that did not correlate with the sediment's organic content, and is most likely driven by local climatic oscillations. Changes of most of metal elements concentrations reflected rather bigger scale changes of industrial activities than local scale human disturbances. Our results indicate that hydromorphological properties can moderate the impact of organic pollution on the lake biota.
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ABSTRACT Lake sediments can serve as high-resolution archives of past environmental changes and f... more ABSTRACT Lake sediments can serve as high-resolution archives of past environmental changes and for events related to anthropogenic activities in the catchment area. Subfossil chironomids have proven to be useful indicators for lake trophic development and hypolimnetic oxygen conditions. The present paper presents preliminary results from the paleolimnological study using chironomid remains and loss-on-ignition to investigate the history of lake Popradské pleso over the last 200 years. The lake has been a subject to cultural eutrophication caused by increased tourism. The organic content of the lake sediment was relatively low and stable in the bottom part of the core and started to increase significantly from ca 3.5 cm that corresponds to 1976. A similar trend can be recognized on the abundance of chironomid head capsules that tends to grow dramatically in the upper 3.5 cm, showing straightforward response to the eutrophication of the lake. ÚVOD Alpínske a arktické regióny zaznamenali najväčšie klimatické a ekologické zmeny od konca posledného zaľadnenia a predpokladá sa, že budú mimoriadne citlivé aj na ďalšie prípadné otepľovanie (Smol et al., 2005). Intenzívne štúdie alpínskych jazier v posledných desaťročiach odhalili ich extrémnu citlivosť na klimatické a s nimi súvisiace udalosti tak v globálnom, ako aj v regionálnom meradle. Jazerá ležiace nad hranicou lesa poskytujú ideálne prostredie pre štúdium historických zmien vegetácie, limnológie a podnebia. Sedimenty týchto jazier predstavujú archív, v ktorom sa zaznamenávajú aj teplotné výkyvy takého malého rozsahu, že nemajú vplyv na väčšinu suchozemských a vodných ekosystémov v nižších nadmorských výškach. V posledných rokoch došlo k významnému pokroku v oblasti kvantitatívnych klimatických rekonštrukcií v období neskorého glaciálu a holocénu (Davis et al., 2003, Magny et al., 2003). Stále však existuje mnoho nezodpovedaných otázok, týkajúcich sa konkrétnych klimatických udalostí v strednej Európe v spomínanom období. Táto oblasť a najmä jazerá Západných Karpát predstavujú biele miesta na paleolimnologickej mape Európy (Buczko et al., 2009). Hlavným cieľom projektu VEGA 1/0180/12 je rekonštrukcia post-glaciálneho vývoja subalpínskeho jazera vo Vysokých Tatrách, ako aj jeho okolia pomocou multi-proxy prístupu. Použitím abiotických a biotických zástupných dát (tzv. proxy dát) v sedimente jazera chceme odhadnúť teplotné oscilácie, zmeny vegetácie v povodí, vývin pôd, palaeoproduktivitu jazera a vplyvy antropogénnej činnosti. V tomto článku prinášame predbežné výsledky analýzy najmladších vrstiev sedimentov Popradského plesa, ktoré sa ukladali zhruba počas posledných 200 rokov. Našim cieľom bolo identifikovať odozvu jazera na predpokladané zmeny súvisiace s nárastom intenzity ľudskej činnosti v povodí najmä od druhej polovice 20. storočia. Na rekonštrukciu zmien sme použili
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... From fixation and colouring methods we used a method of protargol impregnation for Ciliophora... more ... From fixation and colouring methods we used a method of protargol impregnation for Ciliophora according to WILBERT (1975). ... Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-138. Ogden VT: vS Depart, of Agricul.,Forest serv., Intermount forest and range experiment, sta.,70 pp. Page 10. ...
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Biologia
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Biologia
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ABSTRACT Lake sediments can serve as high-resolution archives of past environmental changes and f... more ABSTRACT Lake sediments can serve as high-resolution archives of past environmental changes and for events related to anthropogenic activities in the catchment area. Subfossil chironomids have proven to be useful indicators for lake trophic development and hypolimnetic oxygen conditions. The present paper presents preliminary results from the paleolimnological study using chironomid remains and loss-on-ignition to investigate the history of lake Popradské pleso over the last 200 years. The lake has been a subject to cultural eutrophication caused by increased tourism. The organic content of the lake sediment was relatively low and stable in the bottom part of the core and started to increase significantly from ca 3.5 cm that corresponds to 1976. A similar trend can be recognized on the abundance of chironomid head capsules that tends to grow dramatically in the upper 3.5 cm, showing straightforward response to the eutrophication of the lake. ÚVOD Alpínske a arktické regióny zaznamenali najväčšie klimatické a ekologické zmeny od konca posledného zaľadnenia a predpokladá sa, že budú mimoriadne citlivé aj na ďalšie prípadné otepľovanie (Smol et al., 2005). Intenzívne štúdie alpínskych jazier v posledných desaťročiach odhalili ich extrémnu citlivosť na klimatické a s nimi súvisiace udalosti tak v globálnom, ako aj v regionálnom meradle. Jazerá ležiace nad hranicou lesa poskytujú ideálne prostredie pre štúdium historických zmien vegetácie, limnológie a podnebia. Sedimenty týchto jazier predstavujú archív, v ktorom sa zaznamenávajú aj teplotné výkyvy takého malého rozsahu, že nemajú vplyv na väčšinu suchozemských a vodných ekosystémov v nižších nadmorských výškach. V posledných rokoch došlo k významnému pokroku v oblasti kvantitatívnych klimatických rekonštrukcií v období neskorého glaciálu a holocénu (Davis et al., 2003, Magny et al., 2003). Stále však existuje mnoho nezodpovedaných otázok, týkajúcich sa konkrétnych klimatických udalostí v strednej Európe v spomínanom období. Táto oblasť a najmä jazerá Západných Karpát predstavujú biele miesta na paleolimnologickej mape Európy (Buczko et al., 2009). Hlavným cieľom projektu VEGA 1/0180/12 je rekonštrukcia post-glaciálneho vývoja subalpínskeho jazera vo Vysokých Tatrách, ako aj jeho okolia pomocou multi-proxy prístupu. Použitím abiotických a biotických zástupných dát (tzv. proxy dát) v sedimente jazera chceme odhadnúť teplotné oscilácie, zmeny vegetácie v povodí, vývin pôd, palaeoproduktivitu jazera a vplyvy antropogénnej činnosti. V tomto článku prinášame predbežné výsledky analýzy najmladších vrstiev sedimentov Popradského plesa, ktoré sa ukladali zhruba počas posledných 200 rokov. Našim cieľom bolo identifikovať odozvu jazera na predpokladané zmeny súvisiace s nárastom intenzity ľudskej činnosti v povodí najmä od druhej polovice 20. storočia. Na rekonštrukciu zmien sme použili
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Hydrobiologia, 1998
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Biologia, 2006
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Biologia, 2006
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Biologia, 2013
ABSTRACT A total 14 streams located in the Tatra Mts (Slovakia) were investigated. The studied ri... more ABSTRACT A total 14 streams located in the Tatra Mts (Slovakia) were investigated. The studied river basins have different deforestation range (0–45.5%) influenced by windstorm. Daily and annual water temperature suggested that in streams overflowing through the area deforested by windstorm the temperature was higher than in selected non-disturbed streams. Higher average nutrient concentrations in samples from these streams are connected with nutrient mobilization from disturbed forest soils after the windstorm. Most of the damaged streams have higher trophic status, including POM and biofilms. The growth of the most abundant larvae increases with deforestation. Growth of species Leuctra rauscheri, Protonemura Montana, and Perlodes intricatus correlates with the sum of daily temperatures over a given time interval. Growth of species Brachyptera seticornis, Leuctra autumnalis and Isoperla sudetica are affected by stream trophy.
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Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 2013
ABSTRACT This study reflects the growing demand for better understanding the response of alpine l... more ABSTRACT This study reflects the growing demand for better understanding the response of alpine lake ecosystems to climate forcing. We combined continuous monitoring of water temperature with GIS-derived data, and modeled the lake surface water temperature (LSWT) and ice-cover characteristics of 18 Tatra Mountain lakes against altitude, lake morphometry and local topography. The general trend in LSWTs was similar across all studied lakes and showed a high degree of coherence over the whole study period. The daily LSWTs were governed primarily by altitude and topographic shading represented by lake-specific total duration of direct solar radiation (TDDSR). Day-to-day variability of LSWTs was controlled mainly by the maximum depth of the lakes. The surface temperature of deeper lakes was more stable than the temperature of shallow ones. Topographic shading appeared to play an important role in the development and duration of ice-cover. Lakes with low TDDSR retained ice-cover longer than well insolated ones. This is the first time that the effect of topographic shading was explicitly considered in relation to the surface temperature and ice-cover timing of remote lakes. Including direct solar radiation as a model parameter would considerably improve predictions of temperature characteristics of high altitude lakes. This may have potentially important implications for climate change studies, as it could allow for site-specific modifications of temperatures in high altitude lakes.
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Topercer, J., Šibík, J., Janiga, M., Wiezik, M., Celer, S., Turisová, I., Hreško, J., Barančok, P., Izakovičová, Z., Šporka, F., Krno, I. & Ježík, M. 2014. Návrhy zonácie Tatranského národného parku: aký je minimálny vedecký štandard? In: Midriak R. & Zaušková Ľ. (eds), Biosférické rezervácie na ... Zoning of Tatra National Park: what is a minimum scientific standard? We briefly reiterate the su... more Zoning of Tatra National Park: what is a minimum scientific standard? We briefly reiterate the subject, goals, foundations, approaches, principles, criteria, methods, their advances and main results of our 2012 proposal for zoning of Tatra National Park (TANAP, Slovakia). Results suggest that both necessary and sufficient scientific standard of zoning would include accordance with IUCN guidelines, laws and best available science. This means science that reduces scientific, economic and social uncertainties to an acceptable minimum, provides decision-makers with all the relevant facts and allows/motivates them to make informed decisions driven by data rather than ideologies, emotions, institutional rivalries or group interests. It would also make all stakeholders fully aware of the consequences of a zoning decision and resolve all important conflicts of interest. ÚVOD Tatranský národný park (TANAP) je právnou škrupinou, ktorá má chrániť jadro Tatier – nášho základného prírodného a ku...
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Biologia
Shells and one living adult of the freshwater bivalve Corbicula fluminea were found on the three ... more Shells and one living adult of the freshwater bivalve Corbicula fluminea were found on the three localities of Danube river and its surroundings, SW and S Slovakia.
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Biologia
In this study we describe how the river morphology of seven High Tatras streams has been influenc... more In this study we describe how the river morphology of seven High Tatras streams has been influenced in different ways by a severe windstorm that occurred in November 2004. A control site situated in an undisturbed area is compared with six sites in windstorm damaged areas. In 2009–2010 River Habitat Survey (RHS) was used to assess the character of 500 m lengths of stream and to derive associated morphological indices (HQA, HMS sensu Raven 1998, RHS indices sensu Vaughan 2010). Large amounts of large woody debris in the channel influenced the streams despite most of it having been removed after the windstorm. Streams situated in deforested valley slopes were probably more affected by erosion; they had higher amounts of transported inorganic matter and also depositional bar features. Some changes in land-use had occurred with streams situated on the south-east side of the High Tatras having a more uniform banktop vegetation structure than the other streams. Distinct secondary successi...
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Papers by Ferdinand Sporka