Institute of Biological Sciences

Head:

dr hab. Małgorzata Wrzesień
Akademicka 19, 20-033 Lublin
room 271 B, tel. 81 537 50 46
mail: malgorzata.wrzesien@mail.umcs.pl

Staff members:

dr hab. Małgorzata Wrzesień
dr hab. Joanna Czarnecka prof. UMCS
dr hab. Piotr Sugier prof. UMCS
dr Magdalena Franczak
dr Monika Kozłowska
dr Anna Rysiak
dr Urszula Świderska
dr inż. Jacek Jachuła
mgr inż. Karolina Tymoszuk

dr Zbigniew Cierech
mgr Magda Mamczarz
mgr Marcin Anusiewicz

Retired staff members:

prof. dr hab. Bożenna Czarnecka
dr hab. Bogdan Lorens prof. UMCS
prof. dr hab. Wiesław Mułenko

History

The Department of Botany, Mycology, and Ecology was formed in 2019 from two Departments: the Department of Botany and Mycology and the Department of Ecology. In 2018, the Department of Botany and Mycology was joined by a few employees of the Department of Geobotany.

The Department of Botany and Mycology was created in 2005 via merger of the Department of General Botany and the Department of Plant Systematics. Both Departments were set up at the time of establishment of the University in 1944 and 1945 as the Chair of General Botany and the Chair of Plant Systematics and Geography. In June 1963, the Chair of Plant Anatomy and Cytology was separated from the Department of General Botany. The Department of General Botany was headed by prof. dr Piotr Wiśniewski (1944-1960), doc. dr hab. Maria Olszewska (1961-1963), and doc. dr Jan Rydzak (1963-1971). In 1975, prof. dr hab. Bogusław Sałata was appointed the Head of the Department of General Botany and held the function until 1999. In that year, the function was delegated to dr hab. Wiesław Mułenko (until 2005).

In 1945-1970, the Department of Plant Systematics and Geography was headed by prof. dr hab. Józef Motyka. After reorganisation and change of the name in 1970, dr hab. Dominik Fijałkowski became the Head of the Department of Plant Systematics and Geography and stayed in charge until 1992. In the same year, the Department was divided into two units: the Department of Plant Systematics and the Department of Geobotany. The former Department was headed by prof. dr hab. Kazimierz Karczmarz until 2003. The Department of Geobotany was coordinated by prof. dr hab. Florian Święs in 1992-2010 and by dr hab. Bogdan Lorens in 2010-2018.

In 2005, both Departments merged into the Department of Botany and Mycology headed by prof. dr hab. Wiesław Mułenko until 2019.

The Department of Ecology (former Department of Plant Ecology) was created in 1966 as part of the Department of Plant Systematics and Geography and headed by doc. dr Krystyn Izdebski. In 1970, an independent Department of Ecology and Nature Protection was set up, which was divided into the Department of Ecology and the Department of Nature Protection three years later. The Department was headed by prof. dr hab. Krystyn Izdebski until October 1995. Next, from the beginning of 1996 to 2019, prof. dr hab. Bożenna Czarnecka was in charge of the Department.

Current research topics

• Taxonomic studies on domestic species of plants and fungi: (a) description of representatives of selected units, (b) critical lists of fungi of selected regions of Poland;
• Interactions between fungi and other organisms in various environmental conditions: (a) species richness, diversity, involvement and role of fungi in the structure of natural and degraded plant communities; (b) invasive fungi; (c) bee diseases caused by microsporidia (developmental biology, epidemiology, control);
• Biology and ecology of plant populations (life history, adaptation strategies, patterns of temporal and spatial dynamics);
• Studies of landscape structures with the use of geographical information systems (GIS) and digital elevation models (DEM);
• Role of soil seed banks in the preservation and restitution of ecological systems with varying degrees of stress and disturbances; non-standard seed dispersion mechanisms;
• Habitat conditions and factors modifying the chemical properties and biological activity of secondary metabolites of the mountain arnica Arnica montana, meadow arnica A. chamissonis, and dwarf everlast Helichrysum arenarium;
• Urban ecology - transformation of vegetation and its habitats under the impact of anthropopressure (synanthropisation and plant invasion processes);
• Analysis of the distribution and routes spread of alien species, with special emphasis on invasive species (regional and national scale; promoting and inhibiting factors; time of emergence, habitat conditions, naturalisation);
• Response of wetland ecosystems to renaturalisation of water relations;
• Resources of reward flora in anthropogenic and seminatural communities;
• Biology of flowering and pollination of rare, protected, and/or endangered species in phytocoenoses from the classes Festuco-Brometea and Molinio-Arrhenatheretea;
• Access to scientific data in the resources of national research institutions regarding the biodiversity of eukaryotes (Eukaryota)

Research projects

1. 2013-2014 (NCBR). "Nowy środek biobójczy z funkcją blokowania cyklu rozrodczego Varroa destructor do walki z warrozą pszczoły miodnej". [A new biocide blocking the reproductive cycle of Varroa destructor for combating honeybee varroosis]. Measure 1.3 Support for R&D projects for industry implemented by research institutions, Sub-measure 1.3.1 Development projects of the Innovative Economy Operational Program 2007-2013 POIG.01.03.01-06-047/12. Cooperation with the University of Life Sciences in Lublin; Investigators: prof. dr hab. Wiesław Mułenko, dr Aneta Ptaszyńska.

Acquisition of funds:

1. 2011-2019 – SPUB subsidies (special research device), Ministry of Science and Higher Education, co-financing of scientific collections of the Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology (main applicant - W. Mułenko, five editions);
2. 2009 – Ministry of Science and Higher Education: Nationwide Seminar of the Population Biology Section of the Committee for Ecology, Polish Academy of Sciences “Biology of plant populations: step by step, i.e. from idea to result”, Lublin, 12-13.II.2010 and publication of scientific articles (applicant and organiser - B. Czarnecka);
3. 2005 - Grant of the Foundation for Polish Science (BIOS program, herbarium equipment) (main applicant - W. Mułenko);
4. 2004 - Ministry of Science and Higher Education (State Committee for Scientific Research): 4^th Nationwide Mycological Symposium, Sandomierz, 23-26.IX.2004 (applicant and organiser - W. Mułenko)

Research cooperation

The Department of Botany, Mycology, and Ecology cooperates with the following units of Lublin universities: University of Life Sciences (Institute of Biological Bases of Animal Production, Department of Apiculture, Chair of Botany and Plant Physiology, Chair of Industrial and Medicinal Plants, Chair of Biochemistry and Food Chemistry, Chair of Breeding and Conservation of Cattle Genetic Resources, Institute of Plant Genetics, Breeding, and Biotechnology, Chair of Analysis and Food Quality Assessment), Institute of Agrophysics PAS (Department of Soil and Plant System).

We also cooperate with the following national research centres: Medical University of Silesia in Katowice (Chair and Department of Pharmaceutical Botany and Herbology), Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences (Department of Mycology), Warsaw University of Life Sciences (Department of Phytopathology), Faculty of Forestry in Hajnówka, didactic-research-museums laboratories in the Roztoczanski, Białowieski, Tatrzański, and Babiogórski National Parks, the Higher Vocational School in Chełm (Institute of Agricultural Sciences), Institute of Agricultural and Forest Environment, Polish Academy of Sciences in Poznań (Department of Environmental Biology, Research Station in Turew), Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation in Puławy (Department of Soil Science, Erosion, and Land Conservation), Białystok University of Technology (Chair of Agri-Food Engineering and Environmental Management), University of Agriculture in Krakow (Department of Forest Biodiversity), University of Silesia in Katowice (Department of Ecology), University of Rzeszów (Institute of Physical Education, College of Medical Sciences), Jagiellonian University in Kraków (Institute of Botany, Department of Taxonomy, Phytogeography, and Paleobotany), University of Silesia in Katowice (Laboratory of Botanical Documentation and Scientific Herbarium)

The Department of Botany, Mycology, and Ecology cooperates with the following foreign research institutions: Martin-Luther-Universität, Institut für Biologie, Bereich Geobotanik, Herbarium; Halle-Wittenberg (Germany), Slovenska Academie Ved, Botanicky Ustav, Bratislava (Slovakia), Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, Department of General Biology, Kiev (Ukraine),  University of Korea, NPQS, NIAST (South Korea), Department of Forestry University of Aberdeen (Scotland), Department of Botany, Faculty of Biology and Ecology, Yanka Kupala Grodno State University, Grodno (Belarus), Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Department of Botany, Department of Ecology (Ukraine), Institute of Ecology of the Carpathians of NASU, Lviv (Ukraine), National Botanic Garden of Belgium, Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics NAS of Ukraine, Kijów (Ukraine), Faculty of Forestry, University of Zagreb (Croatia).

Awards and distinctions                   

• Dr hab. Aneta A. Ptaszyńska, prof. UMCS, dr hab. Agnieszka Zdybicka-Barabas, prof. UMCS, prof. dr hab. Małgorzata Cytryńska, prof. dr hab. Wiesław Mułenko, prof. dr hab. Wanda Małek- Team Award of the Minister of Science and Higher Education for significant achievements in implementation work (2019)
• Dr hab. Aneta A. Ptaszyńska, prof. UMCS, dr hab. Agnieszka Zdybicka-Barabas, prof. UMCS, prof. dr hab. Małgorzata Cytryńska, prof. dr hab. Wiesław Mułenko, prof. dr hab. Wanda Małek -silver medal for development of a method for treatment of nosemosis in bees and supporting their immune system via enrichment of insect winter diet with Lactobacillus genus awarded during the 70th International Trade Fair  for Ideas, Inventions, and New Products iENA 2018 in Nuremberg (2018)

Major publications

Monographs

• Kozłowska M., Mułenko W., Anusiewicz M., Mamczarz M. 2019. An annotated catalogue of the fungal biota of the Roztocze Upland. Maria Curie-Skłod. Univ. Press, Pol. Bot. Soc., Lublin, 449 pp.
• Kozłowska M., Mułenko W., Anusiewicz M., Wołkowycki M. 2019. Checklist of microfungi and larger ascomycetes of Białowieża Forest. Maria Curie-Skłod. Univ. Press, 147 pp.
• Rysiak A. 2016. Atlas of distribution of vascular plants in Lublin. Wydawnictwo Kartpol, Lublin, 214 pp.
• Czarnecka B. (ed.). 2016. Na międzyrzeczu Wisły i Bugu. Krajobrazy roślinne i dziedzictwo kulturowe środkowowschodniej Polski i zachodniej Ukrainy. [In the interfluve of the Vistula and Bug Rivers. Vegetation landscapes and cultural heritage of central-eastern Poland and western Ukraine] Towarzystwo Wydawnictw Naukowych Libropolis, Lublin, 306 ss.
• Świderska-Burek U. 2015. Cercosporoid fungi of Poland. Monographiae Botanicae 105: 1-166.
• Kozłowska M., Heluta V.P., Mułenko W., Bazyuk-Dubey I. 2015. Fungi of the Roztocze region (Poland and Ukraine). Part I. A checklist of larger Basidiomycota. Wyd. Libropolis, Lublin, 192 pp.
• Kozłowska M., Mułenko W., Heluta V.P. 2015. Fungi of the Roztocze region (Poland and Ukraine). Part II. A checklist of microfungi and larger Ascomycota. Wyd. Libropolis, Lublin, 204 pp.
• Zubel R. 2015. Bryophytes of the Roztocze region (Poland and Ukraine). A checklist of liverworts and mosses. Wyd. Libropolis, Lublin, 146 pp.
• Grabowski T., Harasimiuk M., Kaszewski B.M., Kravchuk Y., Lorens B., Michalczyk Z., Shabliy O., red., 2015. Roztocze. Przyroda i człowiek.[Roztocze. Nature and man] Wyd. Roztoczański Park Narodowy, Zwierzyniec, 527 ss.
• Sugier P. 2014. Ecological Processes and Properties of Excavated Peatlands of Eastern Poland. Towarzystwo Wydawnictw Naukowych Libropolis, Lublin, 170 pp.

Original papers

• Hryń W., Czarnecka J., Kitowski I., Bartmiński, P., Zubel R. 2019. Stress or help, how does the grey heron Ardea cinerea L. modify the vegetation structure of the forest floor? Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae 88(2): 1-12.
• Orłowski G., Karg J., Jerzak L., Bocheński M., Profus P., Książkiewicz-Parulska Z., Zub K., Ekner-Grzyb A., Czarnecka J. 2019. Linking land cover satellite data with dietary variation and reproductive output in an opportunistic forager: Arable land use can boost an ontogenetic trophic bottleneck in the White Stork Ciconia ciconia. Science of the Total Environment 646: 491-502.
• Hanaka A.A., Ozimek E.A., Rysiak A., Majewska M., Jaroszuk-Ściseł J.E. 2019. Relationships between the properties of Spitsbergen soil, number and biodiversity of rhizosphere microorganisms, and heavy metal concentration in selected plant species. Plant and Soil 436: 49-69.
• Borsuk G., Kozłowska M., Anusiewicz M., Paleolog J. 2018. Nosema ceranae changes semen characteristics and damages sperm DNA in honeybee drones. Invertebrate Survival Journal 15: 197-202.
• Borsuk G., Kozłowska M., Anusiewicz M., Olszewski K. 2018. A scientific note on DNA fragmentation rates in sperm collected from drones and spermathecae of queens of different age, with possible implications on the scattered brood phenomenon. Apidologie 49(6): 10.1007/s13592-018-0603-1.
• Sugier P., Kołos A., Wołkowycki D., Sugier D., Plak A., Sozinov O. 2018. Evaluation of species inter-relations and soil conditions in Arnica montana L. habitats: a step towards active protection of endangered and high-valued medicinal plant species in NE Poland. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae 87(3): 1-16.
• Ziaja M., Denisow B., Wrzesień M., Wójcik T. 2018. Availability of food resources for pollinators in three types of lowland meadows. Journal of Apicultural Research 57(4): 467-478.
• Jachuła, J., Denisow B., Wrzesień M. 2018. Validation of floral food resources for pollinators in agricultural landscape in SE Poland. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.8761.
• Janusz G., Pawlik A., Sulej J., Świderska-Burek U., Jarosz-Wilkołazka A., Paszczyński A. 2017. Lignin degradation: microorganisms, enzymes involved, genome analysis and evolution. FEMS Microbiology Reviews 41(6): 942-962; doi:10.1093/femsre/fux049.
• Sugier D., Sugier P., Kowalski R., Kołodziej B., Olesińska K. 2017. Foliar boron fertilization as factor affecting the essential oil content and yield of oil components from flower heads of Arnica montana L. and Arnica chamissonis Less. cultivated for industry. Industrial Crops and Products 109: 587-597.
• Rysiak A., CzarneckaB. 2017. The richness of vascular flora of the Lublin city, SE Poland, under different urban pressure. Landscape and Ecological Engineering 13(2): 213-228.
• Orłowski G., Czarnecka J., Goławski A., Karg J., Panek M. 2016. The effectiveness of endozoochory in three avian seed predators. Journal of Ornithology 157(1): 61-73.
• Wrzesień M., Jachuła J., Denisow B. 2016. Railway embankments – refuge areas for food flora, and pollinators in agricultural landscape. Journal of Apicultural Science 60 (1): 97-10.
• Wrzesień M., Denisow B. 2016. Distribution and abundance of bee forage flora across an agricultural landscape – railway embankments vs. road verges. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae. 85(4): 3509.
• Czarnecka B., Rysiak A., Chabudziński Ł. 2015. How a river course influences the species richness and ecological requirements on two opposite riverbanks in a forest area. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae 84(1): 13-22.
• Franczak M., Czarnecka B. 2015. Changes in vegetation and soil seed bank of meadow after waterlogging caused by Castor fiber. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae 84(2): 189-196.

Other important achievements of the employees of the Department of Botany, Mycology and Ecology

• New species: over 250 lichen taxa of various ranks (J. Motyka, J. Bystrek); 23 moss taxa and 3 fossil plant species (K. Karczmarz), 7 fungal taxa (B. Sałata, W. Mułenko, M. Kozłowska, A. Wołczańska) (conserved nomenclatural types).
• Taxonomic monographs: lichens (8 volumes); fungi (7 volumes); world monograph of mosses from the genus Calliergon; critical nationwide and regional lists of fungi (10 volumes); synthetic descriptions of Lublin region flora (12 volumes).
• Monographs and geobotanical maps: Roztocze and Łęczna-Włodawa Lakeland (5 volumes).
• Application activities: Establishment of the Botanical Garden: 1946/1947 – initiative to set up the Garden (J. Motyka); separation of the Garden from the Chair of Plant Systematics and Geography (1965-1970, director D. Fijałkowski). National parks: participation in the design and organisation of Roztoczański NP and Poleski NP (D. Fijałkowski, K. Izdebski). Reserves, nature monuments, ecological land(over 100; D. Fijałkowski, K. Izdebski, Z. Popiołek, T. Grądziel, B. Czarnecka, H. Wójciak, B. Lorens). Plans of protection of national parks (2012-2014): Tatrzański NP (fungal biota, W. Mułenko); Poleski NP (bryophyte flora, R. Zubel; lichen biota, H. Wójciak).
• International scientific expeditions: Central Asia (K. Karczmarz); Mongolia, Spitsbergen (4 expeditions), south-western Ukraine, Kola Peninsula (F. Święs).
• Collections (herbarium): the Chair of Botany, Mycology, and Ecology has a plant and fungal herbarium. It is the largest and the only professional collection of research materials in eastern Poland (acronym LBL in the world Index Herbariorum; approximately 500 000 exicates). The herbarium was founded by prof. J. Motyka. Dominik Fijałkowski became the supervisor of the vascular plant collections in 1947. Prof. B. Sałata was the founder of the mycological part of the herbarium. The most important scientific collections include lichens (J. Motyka, J. Rydzak, J. Bystrek, H. Wójciak – over 200 nomenclatural types), vascular plants (D. Fijałkowski, F. Święs, B. Lorens, M. Wrzesień et al.), bryophytes and algae (K. Karczmarz, M. Bloch, R. Zubel et al.), and fungi (B. Sałata, W. Mułenko et al.).