Geografie 1975, 80, 281-288
Mesoregional Environmental Research from the Agricultural Aspect
The article deals with mutual influence of the agricultural production and other environmental components as studied by the Institute of Geography of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in four model areas of the Czech Socialist Republic. This research was carried out under the programme "Methodology of Evaluation of the Impact of Economic Activity in the Geographical Environment" forming a part of the state plan of fundamental research. The material was eleborated into details according to agricultural farms. Some data have been acquired from district organizations. In addition to this, the Institute of Geography of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences distributed a questionnaire among all farms in the model areas. From them, information in 19 points was collected on their way of economic activity in relation to the protection of living environment. Evaluation of each territorial unit i. e. of every farm, is demonstrated by the table (attached as a supplement) in which particular sources of negative functioning in relation to the living environment are represented in lines and this evaluation is quantificated. The elements under influence are represented in respective columns. The intensity of the mutual impact is expressed in each farm (each square of the table) by a numeral in which the figure 3 represents the highest and the figure 1 the lowest degree of economic activity. First attempt has been also made to express the colligation between the agricultural production and the living environment by cartographical methods. On the synthetic maps of two model areas homogeneous areas of influences are demarcated; some components are mutually overlapping. The application of mathematical methods on modelling - after being tested in all selected areas - brings many advantages for the extrapolation on the whole territory of the Czech Socialist Republic; it shortens the time needed for a synthetic evaluation of influences and makes a more exact procedure possible. But even if rising such methods a geographical reasoning on the space specificity of certain areas must be applied.
