Research
Spatio-temporal dynamics of spruce forests in the Tatra Mountains - dendrochronological reconstruction
The main aim of the project is the recognition of mutual relationships between spatial structure and dynamics in Norway spruce stands that are under repeatable strong pressure of heavy winds. In these stands, spruce is a dominant tree, which is accompanied with trees of different site requirements especially of various demands for light. In research, we will use among other things dendrochronological methods to reconstruct history of tree increments and geostatistics to reveal spatial patterns of tree growthmore
Research
Genetic and phenotypic studies on adaptation of Arabidopsis halleri (L.) Hayek populations from southern Poland in relation with the heavy metal content in soils
The development of mining or smelting activities in the 19th and 20th century left soils highly contaminated by zinc, cadmium, lead and copper in many locations. The total metal content of contaminated sites can, depending on a metal, be up to 10- to 1000-fold higher than that of uncontaminated ones. At these concentrations, both essential and nonessential heavy metals become toxic for many organisms. Our study concerns adaptive evolutionary processes making plants able to grow successfully in extremely hostile environments (highly contaminated especially by zinc and lead). The study focuses on the relationships between genetic and phenotypic diversity of the species Arabidopsis halleri occurring at variously contaminated sites at a local geographic scalemore
