We are interested in joining a consortium addressing climate-resilient forest systems by bringing an overlooked component of forest ecosystems into resilience research - the herbaceous understorey. We can offer expertise in the functional ecology, morphology and ecophysiology of herbaceous plants, with particular emphasis on belowground organs, clonal growth, resource storage, regeneration and responses to disturbance.
Our research focuses on how plant morphology and belowground traits determine persistence, regeneration and responses to environmental stress and disturbance. We study e.g. rhizomes, coarse roots, bulbs and other belowground organs, including their size, persistence, anatomy, carbohydrate storage, bud banks and capacity for clonal growth and resprouting.
Within forest-resilience projects, we are interested in understanding the role of herbaceous belowground organs in forest carbon dynamics and how understorey vegetation contributes to resistance from drought and disturbance. We also want to study how these responses interact with forest management and tree regeneration. Our contribution would complement tree-centred approaches by linking forest resilience above- and below ground.
The Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences conducts research across plant biology and ecology, from plant functional traits and species interactions to vegetation and ecosystem processes. https://www.ibot.cas.cz/en/
The Department of Experimental and Functional Morphology, led by Prof. Jitka Klimešová, focuses on the functional ecology of herbaceous plants, with particular expertise in belowground organs and clonal growth.
