The Forests of Lake Balaton Catchment and Their Role in Soil Conservation

Abstract

Among the land use categories the forests have a special and very important role in nature and environmental protection. The forest decreases the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, filters polluted air, isolates noise, mitigates temperature changes, diminishes soil temperature by 2-4 degrees ensuring even temperature conditions, lowers wind velocity, increases air humidity and has many more favourable effects on nature and society. The forests play an important role in the water regime of a given area. The large canopy surface slows down the velocity of the rain, most of the rain water remains in the forest and surface water will be converted to subsurface water. Forests protect the soil from drying out, they provide a special microclimate and have a positive climatic influence on the climate of the nearby areas. The above mentioned favourable effects of the forest are only a few out of a long series hereafter we will concentrate on the soil protecting effects.