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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Last fieldwork of this year? Maybe. You never know in this working group. Weeding in the Prachatice multisite experiment. @terezasvancarova.bsky.social

Weeding in the Prachatice multisite experiment. Photos by Marie.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Aleš gave an invited talk at the conference of the Czech Society for Ecology @ceskaekologie.bsky.social in Prague. Aleš presented an overview of findings from a long-term biodiversity experiment (established in 2016) that mimics a realistic species-loss scenario.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Estimating belowground decomposability is still a challenge due to methodolgical barriers. Thus, we investigated the effect of experimental (i.e. drought-induced) and natural senescence and associated traits on the decomposability of roots and rhizomes of four Carex species.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

We weeded three experiments in just half a day. There was an unprecedentedly small amount of biomass taken from plots. This reflects not only community stabilisation since the experiment's establishment (1994, 2016, and 2023, respectively), but also the effect of the dry year.

Experiments of Šuspa, Aleš, and Helča were weeded in half a day. Photos by Marie.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

You can now read a new article in @newphyt.bsky.social co-authored by members of our group: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/.../10.1111/... We disentangled the determinants of stability in 40 winter annual communities comprising a gradient of four climates in a dryland biodiversity hotspot in Israel.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Looking back at articles from this year, part four: A globally consistent scaling relationship reveals stabilising effects of dominant species in plant communities, led by Clara Gracia, was published in Ecography. nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

As part of our final fieldwork campaign of the year in the multisite experiment, we had a great opportunity to welcome Gloria (PhD student of Francesco de Bello), who visited our experimental sites with a hyperspectral camera and collected images of the plots.

Photos by @mariekonecna.bsky.social and
@terezasvancarova.bsky.social.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

The study lead by Takehiro Sasaki and published in Nature Ecology and Evolution synthesize data from 75 biodiversity experiments (of classical synthetic design) across grasslands and forests worldwide. From our group, the Benesov experiment is included. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Eliška, new student of Aleš, is dealing with the traits of meadow plants, intraspecific variability and its relationship to the abundance of the species in the community. With the help of other group members, she collected approximately 1,500 plants from 16 localities.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Last week, we did relevés at the multi-site manipulative experiment in the Prachatice region. The plots are located at 16 localities with similar species pools, and there are three treatments: removing the dominant and keeping one or two dominant species. @terezasvancarova.bsky.social

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Looking back at articles from this year, part two: Realistic species loss has little effect on local resource depletion and competitive pressure in a temperate wet meadow in the Journal of Ecology by Eva Janíková et al.: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Last week we finished the last sorting of biomass from the Ohrazení experiments. This time, we sorted biomass from the removal experiment of Helča, which focused on minimising and maximising asymmetry in the competition for light.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

A new study in Global Ecology and Conservation led by @amiravoros.bsky.social: Plant biomass allocation in a semiarid sand grassland🌧️🔆 🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2026.e04160

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

@terezasvancarova.bsky.social presented the relationship between plant diversity and grassland productivity across multiple sites with the same species pool. Productivity was estimated using remote sensing, and the study examined how the diversity–productivity relationship varies with plot size.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

We had two posters at #IAVS2026. Helča presented first results of removal experiment minimising and maximising asymmetry in competition for light. Although removal plots initially had lower species richness, effective species richness remained high, indicating higher evenness.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Looking back at articles from this year, part one: Macek et al. in PPEES: Bidirectional competitive effects of closely related plant species with a dominant species. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Aleš showed at #IAVS2026 that the loss of plant species from a community affects biomass stability through three main mechanisms: dominance, species asynchrony, and the averaging effect of diversity. Just three species stabilised the community as effectively as 30, but via different mechanisms.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Processing of Ohrazení biomass is at its peak. Šuspa's plots were completed last week, Aleš's plots are now being sorted. While Šuspa's experiment focuses on removal of the dominant species, Aleš simulates natural species loss by removing rare species to maintain five diversity levels.

Biomass harvest. Photo by Marie and Terka.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Lucka defended her bachelor’s thesis. She monitored myrmecochorous plants and their mutualistic ant partners across multiple grassland habitats. She found a positive relationship in diversity, but not in abundance. However, their ecological demands do not closely match.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Helča is investigating how vertical and horizontal structure can be quantified along a productivity gradient in grasslands. She is comparing a range of structural metrics, including fine-scale spatial patterns of species distribution, species height, light interception, and biomass distribution.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Wiley has recently sent off the certificates for highly cited papers in their journals. Our group has representation in 10 most cited papers published in 2024.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Šuspa's cacophonic orchestra (Šukas) has 30th anniversary this year! We celebrated it with a concert.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Šuspa gave a lecture on Monday at the Secondary Business School at Husova street on the topic of Papua New Guinea - nature, people, our research and our students.

Photos: archive of the Secondary Business School at Husova street

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

A new study led by Mercedes Valerio titled Twenty-year effect of sewage-sludge fertilization in a Mediterranean grassland: Impact on species composition, functional groups and interrelation with climate is now published in in PPEES. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

A conference of the Czech Botanical Society focused on Czech research abroad was held over the weekend. Šuspa and Lucka gave nice talks about their research in Papua New Guinea. Šuspa was elected an honorary member of the society. Congratulation!

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Last week, we established a new seed addition experiment in the Prachatice region. We have two pairs of historically disturbed and undisturbed sites. We will observe the survival of the sown resident species in the gaps and vegetation.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

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!

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

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.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

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.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

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.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

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....

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

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)

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

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

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

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

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

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).

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

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.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

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.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

"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...

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

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

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

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...

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

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.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

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

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

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.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

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.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

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

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

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.

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Plant ecology in České Budějovice @plantecolcb.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

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...

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