Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences
General description
The Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IBOT) is one of the main centres of botanical research in the Czech Republic. The Institute carries out fundamental research on species, populations, and communities of plants. It focuses on science and research in all fields of botany, ranging from classical taxonomy, biosystematics and plant evolution, to selected groups of fungi, ecology, ecophysiology, phytogeography and vegetation mapping and dendrochronology, wood anatomy, and karyological and population genetic studies. IBOT is a holder of the European HR Excellence in Research Award.
Key Research Facilities, Infrastructure and Equipment
- Complete software for vector and raster data processing and analyses (ArcGIS with selected extensions; PCI Geomatica 2012 with Orthoengine module;eCognition Developer 9.2, ENVI, Agisoft Photoscan)
- Equipment for position measurements (GNSS Trimble PathFinder Pro XRS, Geoexplorer 2008 XH both with sub-meter accuracy and Geoexplorer GeoXH 6000 with decimeter accuracy; and field mapping tool FieldMap)
- Spectral Evolution Full Range Portable Spectroradiometer for remote sensing purposes.
Contact person
Contact us to know more about our location and work environment. Please use the main contact for questions related to administrative matters. Please contact the supervisors/group leaders of respective research groups regarding feasibility of your research proposal with regard to the research group activities.
Supervisors
Josef Brůna
I focus on monitoring of microclimate of various forest stages, including natural disturbances, with the aim of examining its effects on plant species and forest regeneration in the Bohemian Forest. My ultimate goal is to leverage microclimate in biodiversity protection and identify species microrefugia on a landscape scale for future protection. In recent developments, we try to use modelled vegetation structure to derive potential future forest structure and resulting microclimate variability. The treasure trove of our team is a database with decadelong forest microclimate measurements in hundreds of sites across the country extended by mechanistic modelling and validated with historical microclimate measurements.
Our team is focused on studying the microclimate of forests, including monitoring, modelling, and evaluation of microclimate as a key ecological factor.
The research team has a treasure trove of data, including a database with decadelong forest microclimate measurements from hundreds of sites equipped with high-resolution climate loggers across the country. The successful postdoctoral candidate will have the opportunity to work with this data and contribute to ongoing research efforts.
As the research group’s main focus is on the microclimate of forests, the expected outputs of the fellowship are high-level scientific publications and applied research outputs for nature protection agencies or individual protected areas administrations.
Successful applicant should master data processing in R, scientific writing and communication. Expected background from PhD should include Ecology, Biology, or Forestry.
If you’re a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher with a passion for botanical research, and you’d like to join a dynamic team of researchers, we encourage you to apply for this exciting opportunity. Come and help advance the field of botanical research at the Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
Fellows
Adam Klimeš
I returned to the Czech Republic after spending three years as a postdoc in Norway at the University of Bergen. There, I studied ecosystem resilience and alternative stable states, focusing on the development of tools for their estimation. My project focuses on developing statistical tools to analyze climatic effects on vegetation. For that, I will use unique and extensive datasets of vegetation records and microclimate measurements gathered by the team at the Department of Geoecology of the Institute of Botany. A better understanding of climatic effects on vegetation in the Czech Republic will inform ecosystem management and contribute to our adaptation to climate change.
The MERIT programme enables me to become part of the excellent team at the Department of Geoecology and work on this cutting-edge research.
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