Plant ecology in České Budějovice

Additionally, we collected data on the deadwood found in the close vicinity of each seedling plot.
We are still growing seedlings of the most common tree species in open gardens and under closed canopies to investigate the intraspecific variability of leaf traits.

Photos by Lucka.

In Papua New Guinea, we have focused on maintaining our permanent seedling plots and celebrated their 10th anniversary with another seedling survey and a new round of canopy photos taken above them. We were happy to welcome the first-ever female assistant, Lena, to our team!

Photos by Marie and Tereza.

We sampled litter for decomposition experiment at disturbed and undisturbed localities with communities with different litter decomposability in the České Budějovice and Prachatice region. Also, Reynoutria japonica will serve as easily decomposable and Calamagrostis epigejos as recalcitrant litter.

Photo by Eva.

Eva conducted this year's last seedling census in the Prachatice multi-condition experiment. The survival experiment is conducted in both vegetation and competition-free gaps. The species do not perform well in competition, and the best performing species is Plantago lanceolata.

Yann Hautier from Utrecht University was visiting our working group. He gave a talk at the Ecology Seminar entitled Biodiversity and temporal stability of naturally assembled ecosystems across spatial scales. We had nice discussions about his projects, but also ours.

ITV of SLA appears to be driven by trait convergence, which indicates environmental filtering for this trait. SLA is a highly variable trait filtered toward optimal values. This allows more efficient capture of light energy and to occupy a broader range of conditions.

Photos by Marie

A new publication led by Ondra, now published in @jvegsci.bsky.social is the result of fieldwork by almost our entire working group. We examined the intraspecific trait variability of 15 Carex species across South Bohemia.
You can find the article here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

The courses are focused on theory in ecology and related fields as well as on data analysis and interpretation. Large part of the study is based on individual student research. Feel free to share further.

Photo by Peťa.

Faculty of Science, USB, České Budějovice, Czechia offers a two-year research-oriented Master's study in Ecology.
prf.jcu.cz/ecology
Application deadline: 31 October 2025.
Tuition fee:
EU citizens: 500 CZK per year (≈ 20 EUR)
Non-EU: 12000 CZK per year (≈ 480 EUR)

Šuspa led an excursion for students and the public at the weekend. Roasting sausages and a visit to the pub were included. Šuspa has demonstrated many nice plants, among others, Blechnum spicant, Potentilla norvegica, and Scirpus radicans. Photos by @eusic.bsky.social

Photos by Terka.

The autumn weeding of the multisite experiment near Prachatice is finished. Focal species are colonising plots at 16 localities. Ingrowth cores were also installed in each plot. We managed despite the rocky soil and some rainy days. @terezasvancarova.bsky.social @jsegrestin.bsky.social

Photos by Marie.

Now, while weeding the multisite project near Prachatice, we look back at the Ohrazení weeding in August. As communities are stabilising and the weeded biomass is lower, we managed to do all three experiments in one day (plots of Šuspa, Aleš and Helena).

Photos by Šuspa and Maruška

Milan Štech, Šuspa, and @mariekonecna.bsky.social were at the botanical weekend for high school teachers in Slavkov, near Český Krumlov. Many students attended. They went to Vyšenské kopce and other protected areas. @terezasvancarova.bsky.social came to demonstrate measurements of photosynthesis.

Photos from Mohelno excursion by Šuspa.

September is the time of excursions. Šuspa and Péťa were in Mohelno last week with 30 students. Not only were plants demonstrated, but also animals, as ornithologist Kryštof Korejs was also present.

"Trait-based Ecology" book by Francesco de Bello, Carlos P. Carmona, André T. C. Dias, Lars Götzenberger, and Marco Moretti, Cambridge University Press is now out in Japanese:
www.google.cz/books/editio...

www.cambridge.org/core/books/h...

Photos by Marie

Lucka is working now on her bachelor thesis on the relationship of the diversity of ants and ant-dispersed plants, myrmecochores, across different habitats. Now she started the ant sampling. @mariekonecna.bsky.social

Negativní vliv člověka na přírodu sahá mnohem dál, než jsme si kdy představovali, říkají vědci V oblastech narušených lidskou činností chybí původní druhy rostlin, které by se tam jinak vyskytovaly zcela přirozeně. Vědci o tom mluví jako o takzvané temné diverzitě. Na problém upozorňuje studie ...

The interview is in Czech: budejovice.rozhlas.cz/negativni-vl...

Another interview on this topic (also in Czech) is here: www.jcu.cz/cz/univerzit...

Aleš and @mariekonecna.bsky.social were guests of the radio program Dopolední host (Morning guest) in Český rozhlas České Budějovice. They discussed the loss of diversity in connection to the recent global study they co-authored: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Photos by Marie and Šuspa.

In each pair, one locality was strongly affected by human influence, while the other was as little affected as possible. We did two relevés at each locality and measured traits of all species. We managed in two days, Šuspa joined for one day.

After six years, Aleš, Eva, and @mariekonecna.bsky.social resampled their #DarkDivNet core plots in Novohradské hory. Relevés in pairs of mesic meadows, beech forests, and waterlogged spruce forests were done.

Relevés and biomass harvest have been finished at the Prachatice multisite experiment. We were also hunting the litter of the dominant Festuca rubra for later. The field season is still not at an end! @terezasvancarova.bsky.social @jsegrestin.bsky.social

Photos by Lucka and Terka.

Helena Kasíková has started her PhD on the role of structural complexity in grasslands with Aleš. She has already finished this year’s field work, including measuring plant heights and light penetration in her permanent plots at Ohrazení.

Photos by Marie.

A look back at the Day with the Faculty of Science in České Budějovice for kids. Maruška and Eva demonstrated multiple types of plant dispersal to elementary school students. They examined seeds under the binocular microscopes and studied various adaptations to dispersal.

Photos by Jules.

Last week’s campaign combined tech & teamwork!
Multispectral drone flights by Leyre Pedrós Pla (PhD student of Francesco de Bello) + trait sampling across all Prachatice grassland sites = 710 leaf samples processed in 2 days. Big thanks to the whole team! @jsegrestin.bsky.social #RemoteSensing

Photos by Marie and Tereza.

All three Ohrazení experiments are now harvested and sorted into species. The last experiment finished was of Helča, where the asymmetry in competition for light is manipulated.

A new paper from our group, led by Terezie Rychtecká, was recently published in Functional Ecology. It is showing the effects of management, but also interannual variability in seedling recruitment in a species-rich wet meadow.

For more details, visit: doi.org/10.1111/1365...

There will be a seminar by Lucrecia tomorrow at the lecture room in the Department of Botany, České Budějovice.

You can reach it online: teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-joi...

Photos by Šuspa and Marie.

Yesterday's biomass harvest from the experiment of Aleš was finally pleasant. We almost avoided the rain, and Šuspa prepared a great culinary treat - brochettes on the fire. The only sad thing is that some nice species, such as sedges, are decreasing.

Leaf traits and environmental variables showed weak correlation to decomposability, suggesting that neither ecological preferences nor site characteristics are modifying tissue quality in closely related species.