42 Results Found

The waters of the Dinaric Karst drain into both the Adriatic and the Black Sea basins. Precipitation is high, yet surface waters are scarce, with the exception of sinking streams. Dinaric Karst is a biodiversity hotspot, with diverse speleo- and epig...

Tracer testing is the only method in karst hydrogeology that can definitively determine whether a particular site belongs to a watershed of a particular karst spring. Therefore, it is an essential technique for delineating groundwater basins in karst...

The Dinaric karst in the north differs from the rest of the karst in Croatia in terms of karstification depth. The infiltrating precipitation drains in cascades from deeply karstified mountainous areas to the shallow or fluviokarst, forming the tribu...

Magnetism in Croatian caves has been significantly underexplored, despite the well-documented preservation of cave sediments. This study investigates whether magnetic susceptibility can be effectively recorded in Croatian caves and, if so, whether th...

Intermittent and ephemeral streams (IRES) are responsible for transporting about half of the water on Earth’s surface. Their hydrological behavior is different in various landscapes. IRES are found more often in karst terrains than in any other...

Correlation and cross-spectral analysis of hydrographs was performed on the karst area of the mountainous section of the Kupa River in two time periods. Since there are karst aquifers in this area that is a part of strategic groundwater reserves of p...

The Dinaric Karst is a global hotspot for subterranean diversity, with two distinct peaks of species richness in the northwest and southeast, and an area of a lower species richness in the central part. In this article, we present a species list and...

Vis Island is situated in southern Croatia. The island is mostly composed of karstified carbonate rocks and belongs to the Dinaric karst region, which is a locus typicus of karst landforms. Located far from the mainland, Vis island has maintained a s...

This paper investigates how variation in forest structural characteristics affects the water retention capacity of gaps and forests in fir-beech forests in the Dinaric Karst. Forests are identified as a key element of the landscape for provision of p...

Karst aquifers in the Dinaric karst are very rich with groundwater and are a very important resource for public water supply. The characteristics of the Dinaric karst are the lack, or very thin layer, of covering deposits, large amounts of precipitat...

Karst landscapes have an abundance of enclosed depressions. Many studies have detected depressions and have calculated geomorphometric characteristics with computer techniques. These outcomes are somewhat determined by the methods and data used. We a...

The investigation area is located in the world-famous Dinaric karst. This study presents a conceptual model of groundwater dynamics and its interaction with surface waters, extending from the natural water retention of the Drežničko Polje to the spri...

The cave systems of the Neretva River basin in the Dinaric Karst are home to Congeria kusceri, one of the very few known examples of stygobiotic bivalve mollusks, which displays several unique life history traits and adaptations that allowed its adap...

The present study addresses the short-term effects of different harvest intensities under close-to-nature selective management on the upper soil layers in Slovenian and Bosnian Dinaric karst fir-beech forests. The different harvest intensities coinci...

Karst bauxites are valuable terrestrial records of paleoclimate and tectonic evolution formed under tropical to subtropical conditions during the subaerial exposure of carbonate platforms. This study explores Croatian bauxite deposits within the Adri...

Phytoplankton is a polyphyletic group of organisms that responds rapidly to environmental conditions and provides a reliable response to changes, making it a good ecological indicator for water quality monitoring. However, a gradient is almost essent...

Functional diversity is a key component of biodiversity that reflects various dimensions of ecosystem functioning and the roles organisms play within communities and ecosystems. It is widely used to understand how ecological processes influence bioti...

The purpose of this study was to identify the influence of karst landscape on the sustainable development of the Bela krajina region, southeast Slovenia. In order to better understand the influence of karst landscape on sustainable development we use...

Earthquakes are among the most catastrophic natural disasters, primarily due to their immediate potential to cause loss of human life. However, their impact extends beyond the initial seismic event, particularly in karst systems, where groundwater re...

The concepts of ecotopes and forest sites are used to describe the correlative complexes defined by landform, vegetation structure, forest stand characteristics and the relationship between soil and physiography. Physically heterogeneous landscapes s...

Microclimatic monitoring (air T, air pressure, CO₂, ventilation, humidity, methane, and radon) in selected show caves in Slovenia has been a continuous process for more than 10 years, a process that aims to supervise the use of the caves for tourism...

The Biospeleological Station (BS) in Postojna Cave, with a volume of 36,000 m³, has served as an underground biological laboratory since 1931, receiving 100,000 visitors annually. Historical cave micro-climate monitoring was performed in 1933 and 196...

Tufa is a fresh-water surface calcium carbonate deposit precipitated at or near ambient temperature, and commonly contains the remains of macro- and microphytes. Many Holocene tufas are found along the Zrmanja River, Dalmatian karst, Croatia. In this...

This study examines speleothems, sediments, rock, and water to assess geochemical and mineralogical processes in deep karst systems. Focusing on Slovačka jama cave (−1320 m deep) and the Velebita cave system (−1026 m deep), we identi...

The Western Balkan’s Vjetrenica Cave in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina is renowned for high richness of subterranean species. However, the data on its fauna have been published only in monographs printed in a small number of copies, making the...

In the Plitvice Lakes National Park, several hydrogeological catchments can be distinguished, but their boundaries are not clearly defined. This study focused on the Matica River catchment area, which covers the main contributors to the lake system a...

Cavernicolous scorpions are difficult to collect and study due to their often inaccessible habitats. Some have evolved unique morphological adaptations, known as troglomorphies, including reduced sclerotization and pigmentation, reduction and/or loss...

Various methods of time series analysis have been used in studies of karst hydrological systems. Among these methods, correlation and spectral analysis have had an important role. The correlation analysis most often has been based on determination of...

Automatic methods for detecting and delineating relief features allow remote and low-cost mapping, which has an outstanding potential for wildlife ecology and similar research. We applied a filled-DEM (digital elevation model) method using LiDAR (Lig...

This paper presents a qualitative approach for assessing land-use pressures on the water resources of a transboundary Dinaric karst catchment of the Kupa River in Southeast Europe. Spatial analyses of the water quality indices for surface water and g...

The black olm (Proteus anguinus parkelj Sket & Arntzen) is an endemic species found exclusively in the Dobličica River subterranean water systems of the Dinaric karst in southern Slovenia. These unique habitats are vulnerable to contaminatio...

Most ecologists have used climate change, as an omnipresent pressure, to support their findings in researching the vulnerability of specific taxa, communities, or ecosystems. However, there is a widespread lack of long-term biological, biocoenologica...

Monitoring of various naturally present substances or physical properties of the water, commonly called environmental tracers, can provide valuable insight in characteristics of groundwater flow systems and intrinsic processes. Analysis of individual...

Tracer methods are useful for investigating groundwater travel times and recharge rates and analysing impacts on groundwater quality. The most frequently used tracers are stable isotopes and tritium. Stable isotopes of oxygen (δ¹⁸O) and hydrogen (δ²H...

The mountain forests in Europe, especially the ecosystems dominated by Norway spruce [Picea abies (L.) Karst], are facing major challenges due to climate change. Climatic stress factors such as increased temperatures and drought contribute to reduced...

Many studies emphasized the role that water mites play within the invertebrate communities of spring ecosystems, regarding species diversity and its significance within the crenal food web, as well as the specific preferences water mites exhibit towa...

Karst aquifers are important sources of thermal and groundwater in many parts of the world, such as the Alpine–Dinaric–Carpathian region in Europe. The Upper Triassic dolomites are regionally recognized thermal and groundwater aquifers but also hydro...

Vegetation phenology has lately gained attention in the context of studying human-induced climate change and its effects on terrestrial ecosystems. It is typically studied on various regional and temporal scales. This research focused on the microsca...

The Cetina River Basin (CRB) belongs to a Dinaric karst area (Croatia). According to the obtained results on water and sediment quality, the Cetina River reaches the sixth goal of Sustainable Development (source of drinking water). Together with the...

Rivers and streams are heterogenous ecosystems that host a great number of vascular plant communities. The territory of Slovenia is highly diverse regarding geomorphologic, geologic, climatic, and edaphic conditions. We presumed that environmental va...

Across its pan-European distribution, the European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) faces a wide diversity of environmental and climatic conditions; therefore, several factors, including intrinsic ones, shape life-history traits and cause significant v...

Forest understory vegetation is largely influenced by disturbances and given local abiotic conditions. Our research focuses on the early response of understory vegetation to various forest management intensities in Dinaric fir-beech forests in Sloven...