Department of Geobotany and Plant Ecology

Head: Prof. Marta Kolanowska, PhD

Research topics

• Taxonomy and biogeography of orchids.
• Distribution of rare and protected plants and the impact of global warming on the bioclimatic niches of these species.
• Cartographic image of spatial diversity of flora and vegetation.
• Formation of post-agricultural forests and their role in the natural environment.
• Diversity and changes in forest flora and vegetation.
• Biology and ecology of expansive and invasive species.
• Ecological, economic, and social effects of the introduction and spread of alien species.
• Ecosystem services and methods of strengthening them.
• Morphological and genetic variability and taxonomy of mosses.
• The bioindicative role of bryophytes.
• The medical potential of bryophytes.
• Bryophytes in green urban architecture.
• Taxonomy, distribution, and ecology of tropical bryophytes.
• Ecology of forest bryophytes.
• The importance of seeds in the ecology of invasive species.
• Seed dispersal in the tropical zone.
• Carpology, taxonomic significance of seeds, phenotypic plasticity, biometrics.
• Biology of pollination.
• Interactions between the soil environment and plants – eco-physiological basis of nutrient deficiencies in terrestrial higher plants.
• Ecology of germination of rare, endangered and endemic plant species, as well as useful, invasive and alien species to the flora of Poland.
• Dendroflora of parks and urban areas.
• Mechanisms of secondary succession on post-agricultural land under experimental conditions.
• Wild crop wild relatives (CWR) in Poland – identification, ecology, conservation strategies.

Scientific projects

• 2020-2021: research project of the National Agency for Academic Exchange No. APM_2019_1_00018, Academic International Partnerships program: Tropical Biodiversity (project leader Marta Kolanowska)
• 2020-2021: research project of the National Science Centre (MINIATURA 4): Study of genetic variability of selected taxa of the genus Plagiothecium (led by Grzegorz J. Wolski).
• 2017-2018: research project of the National Science Centre (MINIATURA 1): The importance of ultrastructure and seed shape in the taxonomy of the genus Consolida Gray (led by Agnieszka Rewicz).
• 2008-2011: research project of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education No. N305073134: Large-scale mapping of vascular flora in Central Poland as a basis for assessing biodiversity and protecting the natural environment (led by Janina Jakubowska-Gabara)
• 2007-2010: research project of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education No. N305091 32/3125: Anthropogenic changes in the vegetation of the Warta Valley peat bogs in the vicinity of the Jeziorsko dam reservoir (led by Beata Woziwoda)

Cooperation with foreign and domestic partners

• Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
• The New York Botanical Garden, Herbarium NY, New York, USA
• Australian National Herbarium, Herbarium CANB, Canberra, Australia.
• Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas, Venezuela
• Herbario Nacional de Bolivia (LPB), La Paz, Bolivia
• M.G. Kholodny Institute of Botany, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
• Botanische Staatssammlung München, Germany
• Museo di Storia Naturale dell'Università, Italy
• Białowieża Geobotanical Station of the University of Warsaw
• Kampinos National Park
• PGL State Forests (RDLP Łódź)
• Łukasiewicz Research Network - Institute of Leather Industry, Poland
• Wigry National Park
• Stobrawski Landscape Park
• University of Technology and Humanities in Bielsko-Biała
• University of Wrocław
• University of Gdańsk
• PHU Dytrych Sp. z o.o., Poland

Teaching

Our employees conduct : lectures, seminars, tutorials, laboratory and field exercises, and specialist workshops for full-time students at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels in the broadly understood fields of botany and plant ecology in the following majors:

• biology,
• forensic biology,
• environmental protection,
• biomonitoring and ecological biotechnology,
• eco-city,

The Department of Geobotany and Plant Ecology supervises the following units:

Teaching and Experimental Garden of the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Łódź

Herbarium Universitatis Lodziensis (LOD)