Abstract
The lowland forests of South-eastern Europe present the remains of large forest areas, strongly influenced by periodic flooding and shallow groundwater tables. Their natural hydrologic regime was throughout history continuously exposed to various negative influences such as intensive forest exploitation and hydro-technical activities Nowadays there are more indices of regional runaway of climate change, which have caused a lowering trend in the groundwater tables and more intense droughts. To attenuate past, present and future negative impacts on the hydrology of lowlands, the possibilities of water table management were assessed. In this study, the procedure of estimation of the historic state of waterlogging based on a comparison of relict morphological indicators of hydromorphic soils and the present state of groundwater tables were developed. According to this, major influences on groundwater tables such as hydro-technical objects and disturbances of forest stand structure were assessed.
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Vrbek, B., Pilaš, I., Pernar, N. (2010). Observed Climate Change in Croatia and Its Impact on the Hydrology of Lowlands. In: Bredemeier, M., Cohen, S., Godbold, D., Lode, E., Pichler, V., Schleppi, P. (eds) Forest Management and the Water Cycle. Ecological Studies, vol 212. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9834-4_8
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