Impact of protective shelterbelt microclimate characteristics

Evaluation of microclimate characteristics of a protective shelterbelt in Obelisk enclosure in 2010. Vegetation performs indispensable functions in the landscape. Protective shelterbelts are important landscape elements. Individual interventions to these ecosystems should be made with the intention to increase the retention capacity of the landscape, the biodiversity, and the stability of individual landscape elements and the landscape as a whole. This article presents the results of the measuring of the effect of model forest vegetation in the proximity of Obelisk in the Lednice-Valtice area on the microclimate. The protective shelterbelt, declared as a forest stand, is located in the cadastral area of Lednice, Podivin and Rakvice. A set of weather stations, supplied by AMET- Litschmann and Suchy Velke Bilovice, was used for the measuring. The stations measured wind velocity (m/s), soil temperature in depths of 5 and 10 cm (°C), air temperature (°C), radiation (W.m^-2) and precipitation (mm) from January 1 to December 31, 2010. The ImageTool application was used to establish optical porosity, based on photos taken in summer and winter. Optical porosity was established as a ratio of white spots to their total number in a specific section of a photograph. The optical porosity was 5% during the growing season and 23% outside the growing season. These values significantly differ from the optimum values for efficient semi-permeable PS, whose porosity is set to 40-50%.