organizers

Scientific Committee

Emiliano Agrillo, Department of Environmental Biology, University "La Sapienza", Roma (IT)
Fabio Attorre, Department of Environmental Biology, University "La Sapienza", Roma (IT)
Andraž Čarni, Jovan Hadži Institute of Biology, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana (SI)
Milan Chytrý (EVS secretary), Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Brno (CZ)
Monika Janišová, Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Banská Bystrica (SK)
María Pilar Rodríguez-Rojo, Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Toledo (ES)
John Rodwell, Ecological Consultant, Lancaster (GB)
Joop Schaminée, Nature Conservation and Plant Ecology Gr., Wageningen University (NL)

Organizing Committee

University of Wrocław:
Zygmunt Kącki, chairman
Ewa Stefańska-Krzaczek, secretary
Attila Lengyel
Grzegorz Swacha
Marta Czarniecka-Wiera
Renata Łojko
Mateusz Meserszmit
Katarzyna Łapińska
Krzysztof Świerkosz
Kamila Reczyńska
Tomasz Szymura
Ewa Szczęśniak
Magdalena Wach
Małgorzata Raduła

Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences:
Magdalena Szymura

University of Szczecin:
Monika Myśliwy

Address of the Organizing Committee

Department of Vegetation Ecology
63/77 Przybyszewskiego Street,
51-148 Wrocław

Scientific topics

The main topic for the 27th EVS Congress is:

Vegetation survey 90 years after the publication of Braun-Blanquet's textbook
- new challenges and concepts.

Under this main issue we want to focus on several topics, such as:

Extending scale in spatial, temporal and environmental dimensions.
Plant community responses to changes in management.
Vegetation and alien plant invasions.
Assessment and conservation of European habitats.
Classification and database management.

Excursions

On the fourth day of the Congress (Saturday) the Congress Participants will participate in one of three excursions. We will leave at 8:00 and return at about 19:00 (20:00). We will provide a lunch and also a written guide of the chosen place. May is usually a warm and sunny month in Poland, however we advise to be prepared for rainy or windy weather. Hiking shoes will be necessary.

Excursion 1 - The Stołowe Mountains National Park The landscape of the Góry Stołowe National Park is rich with remarkable rock formations, which were carved through eons by weathering of the metamorphic rocks. This kind of landscape is unique in Poland, making the area one of the top tourist attractions of the Sudetes and Lower Silesia. The most interesting are rock formations of Szczeliniec Wielki and Błędne Skały (Rocks Errant), making up a fantastic rock labyrinth. Vegetation of the Góry Stołowe National Park is very diverse due to the heterogeneous landscape and altitudinal zones. Artificial spruce forest is the most widespread vegetation type in the area. Less common are indigenous beech forests and ravine forests, as well as fir and spruce-fir forests. Semi-natural grasslands constitute one of the most important elements of the cultural heritage of the area. The most valuable are grasslands with rare plant species like Arnica montana, Trollius europaeus and Veratrum lobelianum. Due to the picturesque rock formations located over a flat area covered with grasslands, these grasslands are often compared to the African savannah. The least common but highly threatened habitats are wetlands including peat bogs and mires which occur on the elevated plateau of the Stołowe Mountains. The most noteworthy is the Great Batorowskie peatbog covering the area of about 40 ha.
Excursion 2 - Volcanic Heritage of Góry i Pogórze Kaczawskie Góry and Pogórze Kaczawskie are known as the „land of extinct volcanoes”. This is one of the most interesting regions of Lower Silesia where we can find traces of volcanic activity, namely Young Palaeozoic volcanism of subsequent type and Cainosoic volcanism of platform type. The effects of the stormy geological past of this region can be still observed in the form of lava coatings and plugs or eruption cones. The most famous is Ostrzyca Proboszczowicka, built from Tertiary basalts, which is also called „Silesian Fujiyama”. This area is characterized by a variety of geomorphological forms and differentiated hydrological conditions which stand for high species richness and diversity of plant communities. The most valuable are ravine and outcrop forests of Tilio-Acerion, thermophilous oak forests of Quercion petraeae (most of them of coppice origin) as well as mesic, nutrient-rich beech forests of Fagion sylvaticae and rare calcareous beech forests of Sorbo-Fagion. Wet meadows found in this region are habitat of numerous rare species e.g. Trollius europaeus, Gladiolus imbricatus, Iris sibirica and orchids species. A distinctive feature of the vegetation of Góry and Pogórze Kaczawskie is the broad spectrum of rocky outcrop communities from chasmophytic vegetation of siliceous and calcareous rocks, through siliceous screes, up to xerothermophilic pioneer grasslands of calcareous, basophilous or siliceous rocks. Many rare plant species are associated with the above mentioned habitats, for example Asplenium adulterinum (sperpentine specialist) and Trichomanes speciosum (reported only from the Góry and Pogórze Kaczawskie).
Excursion 3 - Odra river valley Odra is the second longest river of Poland. Like in other European large rivers, the valley has been changed throughout centuries. Specific land relief and land use system caused that Odra river still inundates thousands of hectares of lands. It caused that large patches of alluvial and riparian forests, as well as species-rich meadows remain up today. On distance almost 100 km along of the Odra river valley, north to the Wrocław, a Special Protection Area (SPA) and Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) within Natura 2000 system have been established. Well preserved riparian forest of Ulmenion minoris, alluvial forest of Alno-Padion and alluvial meadows of river valleys Cnidion dubii are common vegetation types. On areas separated by embankments, lowland hay meadows of Arrhenatherion and oak-hornbeam forests of Galio-Carpinetum can be found. The intense human exploitation of this part of Odra river has begun in the 12th century and was related to the location of the Cistercian monastery. The monastery has been enlarged and re-built in the 17-18th century and today the Lubiąż Abbey it is among the largest sacral buildings of the Europe, preserving in its surrounding unique baroque landscape. As a part of the trip, a break in the Lubiąż Abbey is planned.

Social dinner

The Congress dinner will take place on the ship, at the restaurant Wratislavia, located on the bank of Odra River at the heart of Old Town.

More information about the restaurant:
www.statekrestauracja.pl

Documents

Financial Support

If you need financial support from IAVS to participate at the EVS Congress, you have to apply by filling the specific form additionally to the registration form. Only IAVS members can apply for this support.
Please, also read the instructions for "IAVS Financial Support" available on www.iavs.org/Membership/Financial-Support.aspx, point 2. Participation in IAVS Congress (deadline for application for financial support is January 12th, 2018).

Please send your application to the following address: ewa.stefanska-krzaczek@uwr.edu.pl.

Application procedure:

1. Prepare a motivation letter (maximum 1 page) explaining why you want to attend the EVS Congress, it's possible benefits to your future research, and if applicable, how previous experiences from other conferences have helped your research. Indicate the approximate amount of support (in Euros) you ask for, and which expenses you need to cover (travel, conference fee, accommodation, or any combination of these). State clearly that you have no or only partial financial support from your institution for attending the EVS Congress. Add a preliminary abstract of your talk or poster and a brief CV.

2. The applications form with your data will be handled by the EVS Congress Organising and Scientific Committee and sent to the head of IAVS Global Sponsorship Committee, which will make all decisions about financial support. The selection of grantees and the decision on the amount of the individual travel grants will be based both on the personal merits of the applicants (e.g. abstract quality, motivation, CV) and their needs (e.g. income situation, travel costs to Wrocław).

3. All the applicants will be informed about the decision of the Global Sponsorship Committee by April 6th, 2018. Conference fees and accommodation costs of the awardees will be covered by the IAVS, reimbursement modalities will be communicated only to the applicants later, after the procedure was agreed with the IAVS Secretariat.

Payment must be done by bank transfer to the bank account indicated below. All bank charges for remittances are to be borne by the participant. As soon as you make the bank transfer, please send proof of payment (pdf format) to ewa.stefanska-krzaczek@uwr.edu.pl. In addition, students must send a document proofing this to the same email address.

Bank account holder: Uniwersytet Wrocławski
Bank: BZ WBK S.A O/WROCŁAW
IBAN: PL 25 1090 2398 0000 0001 1374 2690
SWIFT code: WBKPPLPP
Concept: 7003/2885/17, EVS 2018, Name and Last name of the participant
(Example: 7003/2885/17, EVS 2018, Zygmunt Kącki)