Principal investigator: Václav Křivan, ZO ČSOP Kněžice
(Co)investigator from the Department: David Boukal
Duration: 2012 to 2015

Project goals: 
The main aim of the project is to establish current distribution area of the endangered diving beetle Graphoderus bilineatus and to confirm whether the presumably extinct diving beetle Dytiscus latisssimus still occurs in the Czech Republic, and we also investigate habitat preferences of a wider range of predatory insect taxa.

Project description: 
The project is focused on the mapping of water beetle communities in more or less extensively managed standing water bodies in the Czech Republic. It is based mainly on live trapping.

Related links:
http://www.entu.cas.cz/boukal/projects.html

(Co)investigator from the Department: Tomáš Picek
Funding provider: GAČR
Duration: 2013 - 2016

Project goals: 
The aim of the proposed project is to find links between DOM quality and quantity and microbial community composition and activity in spruce swamp forest in habitats differing in dominant vegetation and water table level.

Project description: 
We suggest to study spruce swamp forest (SSF, Central Europe) internal heterogeneity related to soil microbial community functioning, soil organic matter (SOM) and dissolved organic matter (DOM) quality and quantity. In SSF, spruce and peat mosses are responsible for peat accumulation and the related high soil water retention. The patchy co-dominants, cotton grass and dwarf shrubs, bring internal SSF spatial variability and affect the functioning of the whole SSF in the way they acquire, process and invest resources. However, it is still unknown if this spatial heterogeneity is reflected in the functional diversity of soil microorganisms and ongoing soil processes, which affect DOM quality. We will study effect of cottongrass and blue berries on SOM, DOM and microbial functioning at three SSF sites using chemical, microbiological and molecular methods including stable izotopes probing, and pyrosequencing. DOM will be analyzed by fluorescence spectral analyzes, size exclusion and ion chromatography. Manipulative field and laboratory experiments will complete field measurements.

Principal investigator: prof. Ing. Jiří Kopáček, PhD
(Co)investigator from the Department: Hana Šantrůčková
Duration: 2012 - 2016

Project goals: 
Complex evaluation of effects of natural dieback of Norway spruce forests on microclimate, hydrology, and chemistry and biodiversity of soil and water.

Project description: 
Windthrows and climatic factors have promoted bark beetle (Ips typographus) development and a large-scale dieback of Norway spruce in the unmanaged parts of the Bohemian Forest (central Europe). In 2004–2007, the defoliation killed >90% of forest in the Plešné Lake catchment. Windthrows occurred also in catchments of Čertovo and Laka lakes. All these areas have been subjects of our intensive long-term ecological research (water, climate, soil, and forest) since 1984–2002. Available pre-disturbance data, current research, and new proposed studies provide a worldwide unique opportunity for a complex ecological research on the effects of natural forest dieback on the individual ecosystem parts. We study (1) changes in element fluxes and pools on a whole-catchment scale (forest, soil, waters); (2) effects on microclimate, hydrology, and soil and aquatic chemistry and biodiversity; and project the net effects to other mountain areas, for different forestry practices, and along the anticipated trends in climate and atmospheric pollution.

Principal investigator: Jiří Kopáček
(Co)investigator from the Department: Eva Kaštovská
Funding provider: Czech Science Foundation
Duration: 2014 to 2016

Project goals: 
An integrated study on effects of changing environmental chemistry and climate on biogeochemical processes in soils (weathering, mineralization, P and Al mobility) and lakes (nutrient availability, toxicity) and their biodiversity (soil and water invertebrates).

Project description:
The Tatra Mountains have been exhibiting world largest recovery of aquatic and terrestrial alpine ecosystems from atmospheric acidification due to unique declines in S (>60%) and N (40%) deposition since 1989. Resulting changes in biogeochemical processes and biodiversity are, however, confused by parallel effects of increasing temperature. Disentangling these effects is crucial for assessing future development of natural ecosystems under anticipated trends in atmospheric pollution and climate change. On the basis of our long-term research in this area, we study effects of the chemical and climatic changes in natural alpine ecosystems on (i) weathering rates, soil chemistry, and leaching of nutrients (P, N, and C), base cations, and toxic Al forms to waters, (ii) in-lake processes responsible for P immobilization in waters and sediments, (iii) biological recovery (phytoplankton, zooplankton, and benthos) in lakes, and (vi) soil biodiversity (microbial composition and soil invertebrates) along gradients of soil pH and elevation (vegetation zones, temperature).