The Faculty of Science is a European vegetation and habitat research centre
The four-volume monograph Vegetation of the Czech Republic is just one of the results achieved by the Department of Botany and Zoology. We also issue expert opinions utilized by the European Environment Agency to improve the European habitat classification system.
In addition to publishing monographs, we develop innovative statistical methods and original vegetation analysis software
We map Czech vegetation and analyse vegetation data. Not only have our studies have been cited thousands of times by international journals, they have direct impact on conservation efforts. In collaboration with the Nature Conservation Agency we coordinated the preparation of two editions of the Habitat Catalogue of the Czech Republic, an essential guide to habitat mapping for Natura 2000 – the European network of protected areas.
The Department of Botany and Zoology is an internationally respected workplace because...
- The Vegetation Science Group research coordinates several European initiatives including the European Vegetation Archive as well as international research activities focusing on vegetation and habitat diversity in Europe.
- Our scientists have unique vegetation data processing know-how which they have successfully used to develop innovative analytical procedures subsequently utilized by research centres in other countries. We have also produced the original JUICE software and numerous R scripts.
- The Plant Diversity Analysis and Synthesis Centre (PLADIAS) is a national centre of excellence developed in collaboration with the Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice.
Key players in the field are on our team
In addition to his role as secretary of the European Vegetation Survey, Professor Milan Chytrý is also the main coordinator of the European Vegetation Archive (EVA) and editor-in-chief of both of the world's leading journals in the field: Journal of Vegetation Science and Applied Vegetation Science.
We build on know-how developed at Masaryk University. We helped develop the EVA database which currently comprises 80 % of all globally available data.
Our work helps protect the European environment
- Research results published by the Vegetation Science Group have been cited thousands of times.
- We help improve the quality of vegetation and habitat classification which in turn helps conservation efforts around the European Union.
- We regularly monitor protected habitats throughout the Czech Republic.
We are dedicated to finding answers to a range of significant issues including dying forests, spreading invasive plant species, changes in nature occurring as a result of global environmental shifts and efficient protection for endangered plant and animal species.