Principle investigator: Jaromír Beneš
Funding provider: Interreg, European Commission
Grant No.: Cil - Ziel Interreg 343
Duration: 2021- 2023

The purpose and goal of the project are to strengthen basic research in the field of botany, ethnobotany and archaeobotany. The project aims to develop an innovative methodological procedure and scientific tool that will enable the study of current and past vegetation of the Czech-Bavarian area by means of artificial intelligence. The basis will be the development of comparative methods of plant parts that carry specific information. The project will create a digital plant macro- and microhabitats database, emphasising FAIR data principles. In the next phase, a module capable of semi-automatically identifying plant seeds will be developed for about 50 plant taxa and a pilot series of plant phytoliths and starches. The resulting methodology will serve as a tool for reconstructing past natural environments and studying human-nature interactions in the Czech-Bavarian area from prehistory to the present. The partner of the project is the University of Regensburg.

Principle investigator: David Janík (The Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Gardening)
Co-investigator from the department: Pavel Fibich
Funding provider: the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic
Grant No.: 23-06745S
Duration: 2023- 2025

Explaining mechanisms of coexistence in species-rich and structurally diverse forests is still a
great challenge in ecology. Niche-based processes, reflecting differences in functional traits of
neighbouring trees, provide a viable explanation of forest dynamics. This project aims to
investigate how functional traits contribute to community dynamics in temperate and tropical
forests by mediating tree interactions with neighbours, enemies, and mutualists across different
environmental contexts and spatio-temporal scales. Using several observational and
experimental approaches associated with large tropical and temperate forest plots, we plan to
explore the effects of 1) similarity of functional traits on the coexistence with neighbouring trees,
2) adult trees, natural enemies and mycorrhizal fungi on seedling performance and traits, and 3)
species- and individual-level functional traits during the regeneration phase. This will
substantially advance our understanding of the effects of tree’s functional traits for the
coexistence of tropical and temperate tree species

Principle investigator: Klára Řehounková
Co-investigator: Czech Union for Nature Conservation (Principle Investigator); Masaryk University in Brno; Agrostis Trávníky, s.r.o.; Basic organization ČSOP White Carpathians; Basic organization ČSOP Vlašim; Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway; BROZ (Slovakia)
Funding provider: EEA and Norway Grants 2014-2021
Grant No.: 3211100009
Duration: 2022- 2024

Although regional meadow seed mixtures have been used in our country for a long time, these are only local activities. The project investigates the methods that are most suitable for the near natural restoration of species-rich meadows (brushed plant biomass containing seeds, green hay transfer, threshing). The efficiency of different brush collectors is being tested, from the smallest hand-held collector to manually pushed collectors up to the tractor-guided collector. The project has several objectives: 1) to find as many diverse meadows as possible across the country that can serve as a source of seeds, map them, and enter them into a database; 2) to test different seed collection technologies in different conditions and evaluate their benefits and limitations; 3) to disseminate all the collected knowledge and experience to the general public

Principle investigator: Lars Goetzenberger (BÚ AV ČR)
Spoluřešitel na KBO: Jan Lepš
Funding provider: the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic
Grant No.: 20-13637S
Duration: 2020- 2023

This is a project directed by the PI group from Institute of Botany, Třeboň, the plant functional ecology group of our department is co-PI. Our group is mainly responsible for the Carex workpackage, investigating the differentiation of functional traits within individual Carex species, and between the species. We use the range of methods, from a glasshouse experiments investigating effects of biotic interactions and abiotic conditions on Carex species trait, and landscape scale measurement of traits in relationship with host plant communities of several populations of each of ca 20 Carex species.