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The Czech Republic ranks among the countries with a strong tradition of home food self-provisioning. In this article, we focused our attention specifically to the traditional and frequently neglected phenomenon of rural self-provisioning while newly introducing a data-based analysis of the phenomenon in two areas, i.e., suburbs and peripheries of the South Moravian region. Unlike the research carried out in the CR or EU to date, our survey aims exclusively at the analysis of households with access to land, which allow a more detailed scrutiny of growing a wide range of commodities, the attitudes to it and its perspectives. The results of the field study carried out in 178 rural households in two types of South Moravian regions (suburban and peripheral) from 2017 show the regional differences in food self-provisioning. They also contribute to a better understanding of a phenomenon whose variability within a rural territory is quite known a little. Even though the suburban and peripheral regions have very comparable natural conditions and opportunities of growing crops (a similar type of estate, nearly the same size of the gardens surveyed), we can observe rather remarkable differences, especially in the extent of the areas being farmed and in the scale of breeding domesticated animals (work demanding activities). Compared to that, only negligible differences were found in growing commodities demanding less work (fruit and tomato growing). The identified differences in attitudes to self-provisioning in the observed regions (depending on the varied types of population in the regions) allow for analysing the perspectives of particular self-provisioning activities both in South Moravia and the CR on the whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of Green Infrastructure (GI) is still relatively new in the Czech Republic. When looking at the definition of GI, one can recognise a relationship with the Czech Territorial System of Ecological Stability (TSES), which is defined as "an interconnected system of natural as well as modified semi-natural ecosystems keeping the natural balance". TSES is a designed system and is an integral part of territorial plans. This article focuses on TSES and its relationship to GI, how it is implemented in a Czech case study representing intensively used agricultural region in South Moravia, what the main obstacles are to its implementation and how TSES can contribute to the connectivity of the landscape. Our results show that nearly two thirds of the planned TSES in the case study area already exist to some degree. There is a difference between the number and the area of existing TSES elements: the area of existing elements shows higher relative values than the number. This is mainly due to bio-centres that exist in large forest complexes and their pre-set minimal parameters. Creation of TSES elements increases connectivity of GI, especially those characterised as core areas and bridges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares the nature of academia-business collaboration in the two most innovative Czech regions, where the respective regional decision-makers and universities' representatives differ sharply in their approaches towards the commercialization of academic knowledge. An analysis of the nature of collaboration between life-science researchers in two leading Czech universities and private companies has been performed to identify whether targeted support provided at the regional and university levels can make a real difference and can overcome hindrances from the national level. In particular, the article investigates the motivation and approaches of leaders of life-science research teams to cooperation with private companies, the perceived barriers impeding such cooperation, including the strength of demand for innovation in both analyzed regions. The research identified significant differences in the perception of barriers between life scientists in Prague and South Moravia, vindicating the positive role of the South Moravian innovation strategy. Thus, researchers in South Moravia no longer face barriers preventing the emergence of cooperation with the business sector, and instead they are concerned about obstacles that stand in the way of its more intensive development [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Framed within debates on space, youth mobility and globalization, this article examines representations of space in rural youth’s narratives of their own future. In contrast to other research on youth in ‘peripheral’ areas, it is found that positive representations of both own locality and country prevail among the youth in the communities investigated, and that spatial mobility is sought for in limited ways. It is argued that the wish to remain ‘local’ among the youth and their positive views on own locality are in part predicated on relative favourable regional economic conditions, but should also be seen in connection with their increased engagement with global ‘electronic’ youth culture. The representations of rural life at the core of the youth’s expressions of belonging rest on an image of the rural idyll, however, which is often conflated with an image of the perfect middle class family. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

During 2009–2011, a total of 45 two-day captures of mosquitoes (Insecta: Diptera: Culicidae) were made at six sites in the Lower Dyje River Basin. Trapping was performed from early April through the end of October using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) miniature light traps baited with carbon dioxide (CO2). In total, 415,218 female mosquitoes belonging to six genera and 30 species were captured. In early April, only small numbers of wintering species females (Culex pipiens s.l.,Culiseta annulataandAnopheles maculipennis s.l.) were detected. From mid-April, there was a sharp increase in the occurrence of snow-melt species (Aedes cataphylla,Ae. intrudensand, sporadically,Ae. communisandAe. leucomelas, totalling 2090 females). Their occurrence peaked in early May, but they gradually ceased flying in during June.Ae. sticticusfemales also became active starting in late April, whileAe. cantans s.l.,Ae. vexans,Ae. rossicusand other species were active from early May. The greatest occurrence of mosquitoes was recorded in summer months (from mid-June through the end of August). In this period, the dominant species wereAe. vexans(49.70–80.20%) andAe. sticticus(6.14–25.62%). The speciesAe. rossicus,Ae. cantans s.l.,Cx. pipiens s.l.andCx. modestusalso were very abundant from mid-June to late July. The occurrence of mosquitoes decreased rapidly during September. In the second half of October, only small numbers ofAe. vexans,An. clavigerandCx. pipiens s.l.females were captured, whileAe. cinereus s.l.,Ae. rossicus,Ae. sticticus, Cx. modestus, An. maculipennis s.l.andAn. plumbeuswere seen only very sporadically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]