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IB PAN hosted a meeting of the participants of the international IMPAWOS project

More than a year ago, our Institute started the IMPAWOS project to assess the impact of alien and native woody plants on vegetation and soil. The project is financed by the National Science Centre (Narodowe Centrum Nauki) under the Weave programme (Weave-UNISONO call), which is based on the multilateral cooperation between scientific research funding agencies in selected European countries and enables the creation of large international research teams. In the case of IMPAWOS, the team consists of scientists from the Czech Republic and Slovakia (represented by Jan Pergl from the Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences) and from Poland (represented by Małgorzata Stanek from IB PAN).

Last week, a two-day working meeting of the IMPAWOS team took place, organised by the Polish side. The meeting aimed to integrate the project participants, who do not usually have the opportunity to work together on a daily basis and to discuss the progress of field and laboratory work, methodological problems encountered and ways of solving them. Thanks to the fact that the meeting was held at the Laboratory of Ecochemistry and Environmental Engineering of IB PAS in Szarów, the guests could learn about the research infrastructure and analytical capabilities of the Polish part of the team, which performs most of the physicochemical and microbiological analyzes of soil in the project. An important item on the meeting agenda was a visit (on the second day) to selected study sites, including those in the Niepołomice Forest, near Jaworzno and Niemodlin, established in monospecific patches of invasive and native species (including Quercus rubra, Quercus robur, Crataegus monogyna and Spiraea tomentosa) and patches of multi-species control vegetation. In total, there are 174 such study sites in the project – located in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia – which translates into thousands of samples analysed. We hope to present the first results of the IMPAWOS project soon.

Below are some photos from the April meeting and several months of field work.

A group of smiling people pose against the background of a historic mine building

The IMPAWOS team during a trip to the Wieliczka Salt Mine.
Photo: Lujza Kubáčková

A group of people sit at a long table with laptops, notebooks and cups. In the background, a man displays a slide on the wall

Jan Pergl presents the progress of the work of the Czech group.
Photo: Anna Stefanowicz

A group of people explore a bright laboratory room. White cabinets and scientific equipment line the walls

Małgorzata Stanek presents the analytical capabilities of the IB PAS laboratories in Szarów.
Photo: Anna Stefanowicz

A group of people in colourful hiking clothes stand in a sunlit deciduous forest

The IMPAWOS team at study sites with oaks Quercus rubra and Q. robur in the Niepołomice Forest.
Photo: Barbara Tokarska-Guzik

A group of people stands among waist-high bushes. In the background are young birch and pine trees

A site with Spiraea tomentosa near Niemodlin.
Photo: Małgorzata Stanek

A woman dressed in sportswear stands in a forest next to a device mounted on a tripod. She writes something in a notebook

First field work at the end of summer 2023 – establishing study sites and measuring light conditions.
Photo: Łukasz Wilk

A woman crouches next to colourful piles of leaves on the floor of a lab. The leaves are sorted by species

Leaf samples collected from study sites – autumn 2023.
Photo: Małgorzata Stanek

Metal, square tables with tray-shaped tops stand next to each other. Leaves of various species are drying on them

Preparing leaves for placing in litter bags (to determine the decomposition rate) – autumn 2023.
Photo: Małgorzata Stanek

A woman and a man stand in a snowy forest in winter jackets. At their feet are cleared snow and black square bags

Installation of litter bags at study sites at the end of 2023.
Photo: Małgorzata Stanek

A woman and a man in winter clothes work with concentration among low snow-covered bushes. It is snowing

Installation of litter bags at study sites at the end of 2023.
Photo: Anna Stefanowicz

Black bags held in the hands. They are dirty with soil and fragments of forest litter and overgrown with small roots

Collection of litter bags after several months of exposure in the field – spring 2024.
Photo: Małgorzata Stanek

A man digs a shovel into the black soil of a deciduous forest. All around are vivid green, low herbaceous plants

Collection of soil samples for analysis of physicochemical and microbiological properties – spring 2024.
Photo: Małgorzata Stanek

Dirty male hands hold a small metal cylinder filled with black soil and smeared on the outside

Kopecky ring with soil collected for analysis of physical properties – spring 2024.
Photo: Małgorzata Stanek

A man crouches under low-hanging branches, typing on his laptop. Some of the tree trunks are marked with pink paint

Soil temperature and moisture reading from buried probe – spring 2024.
Photo: Małgorzata Stanek