Vegetation Ecology 1400-216EKOR

Lectures:
* Defining plant community; basic concepts. Vegetation ecology as a subdivision of ecology and of geobotany.
* Methods of vegetation sampling and data analysis.
* Main approaches to vegetation typology. Foundations of the European phytosociological school.
* Factors affecting species composition of plant communities; the contribution of natural environmental factors (light, warm, humidity, nutrient availability), plant traits, history of the flora and species interactions.
* Natural climatic and edaphic gradients as environmental controls of vegetation variation at the local, regional and global levels. Zonal, azonal and extrazonal plant communities. Survey of the main types of natural plant communities in Poland.
* Annual cycles, fluctuations and directive changes within plant communities including succession patterns. The idea of climax and of the potential natural vegetation.
* Man influence on vegetation; concepts of synanthropization and hemeroby. The invasive alien species issues. An outline of anthropogenic replacement plant communities.
* Geographical distribution of plant communities; vegetation mapping. Geobotanical subdivisions of Poland.
* Applying vegetation ecology to nature conservation, spatial planning and management.

Computer labs:
The use of phytosociological databases and corresponding computer programs. Rearranging and differentiating sets of phytosociological releves using multivariate methods. Defining local vegetation types and assigning them to the classification system of plant communities accepted in Poland. Searching for environmental factors responsible for differentiation of vegetation units with selected statistical techniques.
Field survey:
Defining homogenous vegetation patch in the field; location of sampling plots. Technique of recording a phytosociological releve. Recognition of vegetation types in the field using a phytosociological key. Using maps of the actual and potential natural vegetation.