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Windbreaks are key components of agricultural landscapes, mitigating wind erosion, protecting crops, enhancing microclimate stability, and supporting biodiversity. Despite their ecological and agronomic importance, spatially comprehensive inventories of windbreaks remain limited, particularly at regional and national scales. This study presents a semi-automated GIS-based method for identifying potential windbreak structures in the Malacky district of western Slovakia. Using the Land Parcel Identification System (L...

Soil is an essential component of ecosystems, one of the most important natural resources and a significant factor in maintaining ecosystem health and biodiversity. Since 2002, the LUCAS (Land Use/Cover Area Frame Statistical Survey) project has been regularly implemented in the European Union to obtain data on changes in land cover and land use patterns, various environmental indicators, as well as indicators characterizing soil properties. Field studies were conducted and soil samples were taken within the frame...

Albania faces increasing wildfire pressure amid hot, dry summers, where extreme temperatures and prolonged drought intensify fire danger. To assess how meteorological fire-danger signals correspond to real wildfire outcomes, this study examines the coherence of the Fire Weather Index (FWI) with two key indicators fire occurrence and fire extension using daily data for July August 2017 2021. FWI values were derived from EFFIS daily rasters for all twelve qarks. At the same time, fire counts and burned-area data wer...

The growth course properties of grey alder (Alnus incana (L.) Moench) on different site types are still insufficiently researched, especially, if to compare the forest and abandoned agricultural lands. Due to the species relatively high prevalence in private forest areas in Latvia, which according to the forestry statistics data, equaled 11% in 2023, it has crucial significance to the economy. The paper analyses 40-year-old grey alder stands on abandoned agricultural land, forest land, and forests along the rivers...

This study presents a hexagonal-based geoinformation approach for monitoring forest ecosystems and detecting anomalous changes in Ukraine, where forest resources are under severe anthropogenic and military pressure. Using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, vegetation indices were processed to classify vegetation dynamics and identify areas of significant degradation. A hexagonal spatial partitioning method was applied to improve spatial accuracy, reduce edge effects, and support the quantitative assessment of forest co...

In the more developed European countries, because of the importance given to the poplar species, research in this field has increased, while feeling the need to set up an international coordinating forum. Due to the particularly rapid growth, poplar crops soon produce an important quantity of wood mass that satisfies to an increasing extent the wood needs of society. The wood of this species, with special characteristics, has multiple industrial uses: Timber and light packaging, fibro-woody plates and plywood, fur...