Restoration Ecology Group

An important part of student's life are internships. Our restoration ecology students have the opportunity to spend it with eminent specialists. For example, Lenka Šebelíková has chosen Bernburg, Germany.

Lenka spends her PhD. internship at the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences at Dr. Anita Kirmer and Prof. Dr. habil. Sabine Tischew. The Restoration Ecology group has collaborated with both of them for many years. During her stay, Lenka is shown projects for restoration of mining sites but also degraded nature protection areas and species-rich field margins. She also has the opportunity to visit some mining sites and collect data for her PhD. Thesis and for a scientific paper that should arise in the future from the collaboration with colleagues from Germany and Hungary. 

For more information contact: lenuskasch@gmail.com

Almost impossible became real and a small flock of sheep has grazed on an islet in the Cep II sand pit since yesterday evening. And if we say small, we mean small - two meritorious female grazers and one cute black lamb. Until Sunday they will graze the experimental plots for restoration of psammophytic grasslands which were established in 2009. Lotus corniculatus spreads on plots with transfered biomass and it needs to be suppressed. Moreover, it is also desirable to disrupt thick layers of lichens and moses.

Transport of sheep on a ferry went smoothly and sheep seem satisfied with the food supply. Alča Bartošová will oversee that they enjoy their vacation and she deserves many thanks that she was not afraid and went for it! Many thanks also to our favorite ferry driver who assisted for the whole time and transported the girls smoothly to the other bank. 

So now we have to rely on the sheep's appetite and let them graze everything according to a planned "zig-zag" design!

In the early spring we went to the field, namely to the Vysočina highlands again, where we were looking for reclaimed acid quarries. And the result? We did not find any! That made us very happy and we enjoyed a number of spontaneously revegetated beautiful quarries. In the Brádlo quarry near Kosov we met Ing. Karel Lorek, Chief Executive Officer of Českomoravský štěrk. The Brádlo quarry is abandoned quarry owned by the Českomoravský štěrk and in the future it could become another "field laboratory" for spontaneous and directed succession in acid quarries. It should also serve as relaxation area for visitors. We are very thankful for the trust and we are already looking forward to the work in the quarry!

Uranium quarry near Dolní Rožínka was the only reclaimed mining area which we found during our field trip.

Karel Prach sends greetings from the office of Roger del Moral who is a leading expert in the field of vegetation succession. Karel has commenced his six-month internship at the University of Washington where he will, among other, examine the process of succession on a former dam.

A short document about the "laboratory of spontaneous and directed succession" and Klára Řehounková's team who won Quarry Life Award two years ago was shot at the Cep II sand pit. The document shows how the winning project proceeds and how successful the implementation of the restoration proposal is. The document was shown at this year's awarding ceremony which was held on Tuesday 10th December. Karel Prach has been a member of a national jury and assessed the quality of partitioning projects. More about the competition and and this year's successful projects can be find here. 

(Author of the video: Českomoravský štěrk a.s., photos from awarding ceremony: HeidelbergCement)

...or "permanent plots at risk"

Permanent plots were established in the Cep II sand pit in the fall 2013. On these plots we study vegetation development on different substrates, with varying degree of disturbance and with or without transferred biomass. However, some plots were destroyed after heavy rains during the season 2014 and due to instability of adjacent slope. Nevertheless we decided to "fight against wind and rain" and build an "erosion control barrier".

Even under these circumstances, we do not forget about plants and botany. We discovered rare plant Elatine hexandra (Six-stamened waterwort) on our permanent plots near the lakeshore. This inconspicuous but beautiful plant belongs to retreating and endangered taxa (category C2t) in the Czech Republic.

More than 50 participants from different parts of the country attended a workshop called "Plants and fungi in sand pits: protection and management" held on Thursday 6. November and organized by Calla - Association for Preservation of the Environment.

Members of the Restoration ecology working group contributed significantly to the content of the workshop. Kamila Lencová presented a short overview of biotopes in sand pits. Lenka Šebelíková gave a talk about various aspects of forestry reclamation. The largest contribution had Klára Řehounková who familiarized the participants with the issue of invasive plants in sand pits, successional development and also ways how the successional process in sand pits can be manipulated.

A real proof of scientific activities within the Faculty of Science is the place between building B and C in the university campus. The place of intended parking place was transformed by colleagues from the Department of Botany into a collection of diverse biotopes. The place will serve for relaxation as well as for educational purposes. The space is dominated by a sand dune, imitation of actual sand dunes which are very rare in current human-altered landscape. The Restoration ecology group, under the leadership of "biomass boss" Klára Řehounková, will use methods of assisted succession to restore dry grasslands on the created sand dune - biomass transfers, surface trampling and sowing of target species.

We look forward many interesting species that we will record in the next season!