Project Detail

Developmental dynamics of a mountain landscape: actuo-ecology and palaeo-ecology of the Šumava peatlands

Name:	Developmental dynamics of a mountain landscape: actuo-ecology and palaeo-ecology of the Šumava peatlands
Researchers:	Svitavská Svobodová Helena (member in research team)
Provider:	GA ČR
Number:	GA206/96/1115
Realization from:	1996
Realization to:	1998
Summary:	Peatlands offer a key to the chronology of Central European landscapes. Large and diverse mires of the Šumava mountains have not been examined by advanced ecological and palaeobotanical methods yet. In order to explain the diversity of these ecosystems, a multilateral study has been performed integrating both the current structures and events and stratigraphical development of mire complexes of the Šumava which confirmed their continuous existence for 11 000 years. Extrapolation of these data over the surrounding area suggest that forest development in the Atlantic and Subboreal was closely related to massive establishment of fir and enabled the detection of the past human colonization and land use. Current vegetation status reflects formation of five distinct mire types, that were confirmed not only by communities of tracheophytes and bryophytes, but also by rich flora of algae and blue green algae among which a new monotypic genera Ankistrodesmus was discovered. The data were incorporated to the European Pollen Database and serve the ecologically oriented management of the bilateral UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Šumava/Bayerische Wald.