Bronisław Wojtuń - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Bronisław Wojtuń
Acta Biologica Cracoviensia. Series Botanica. Supplement, 2009
... of biotechnology for conservation of a critically endangered population of alpine saxifrage (... more ... of biotechnology for conservation of a critically endangered population of alpine saxifrage (Saxifraga nivalis L.) Krystyna Kromer1, Andrzej Raj2, Bronisław ... of Plant Cytology and Embryology, Jagiellonian University, Grodzka 52, 31-044 Cracow, Poland, e-mail: e. kuta@ iphils. ...
PLOS ONE, Sep 16, 2015
<p>The Box-Whisker plot shows minimum and maximum (caps at the end of each box), the lower ... more <p>The Box-Whisker plot shows minimum and maximum (caps at the end of each box), the lower and upper quartiles (orange box), and the median (line inside the box). The numbers in the top table reflect the estimated relative mean contribution from the three major N-sources to total N-pool, separately for each type of tundra. The estimate of N-contributions based on <i>δ</i><sup>15</sup>N, botanical, and algological studies, and is given as an N-percent incorporated by plants from each N-source. “All”—refers to mean for all sampled plants from each tundra location as in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0136536#pone.0136536.s004" target="_blank">S1 Table</a>. Tundra type symbols/ abbreviations–see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0136536#pone.0136536.t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>.</p
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, Apr 9, 2022
The Sudetes are remarkable for the variety and number of peat bogs which receive nutrients via pr... more The Sudetes are remarkable for the variety and number of peat bogs which receive nutrients via precipitation from atmospheric deposition as the only source of minerals. As this type of peat bogs with a very low buffering capacity is affected in the Sudetes by long-range exhausts from the former Black Triangle, strong response to atmospheric contamination may be expected. Therefore these peat bogs are highly suitable for bioindication purposes. As a result, metal levels in peat and plants should be controlled to evaluate potential ecological damage and to devise treatment strategies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the concentration of Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn in species from different plant functional types (PFTs): shrubs, evergreen dwarf shrubs, deciduous dwarf shrubs, tussock sedges, non-tussock sedges, forbs, Sphagnum mosses, brown mosses, liverworts, and algae collected from peat bogs of the Izera, Karkonosze, and Bystrzyckie Mountains. PFTs of the Karkonosze peat bogs situated above the upper forest line contained higher metal concentrations than those of the Izera and Bystrzyckie peat bogs from lower altitudes and surrounded by forests. Of all PFTs, the algae Zygogonium ericetorum accumulated the highest levels of Fe, Pb, and Zn. The PFTs of Sphagnum mosses were also very effective bioindicators of Cd, Cr, Fe, Hg, and Pb deposition to peat bog ecosystems. Pb, Fe, and Cr found in the examined vascular PFTs originated from atmospheric deposition. The results showed that airborne contaminants, including the ones connected with long-range transport, can make a significant contribution to a load of trace metals in peat bogs located above the upper forest line. These airborne depositions facilitate better recognition of the transport of contaminants carried over great distances and should be taken into account in monitoring and environmental protection programs. In particular, the results, first of all, show the differences in the bioaccumulation of metals in PFTs and their response to trace metal levels in such habitats. Of all PFTs, algae and Sphagnum mosses were the best choices for bioindication of trace metal pollution in ombrotrophic mountain mires. PFTs have not been used so far for investigating ombrotrophic mountain mires in Europe. Thus results of this investigation could be extended to this type of peat bogs in the mountains of Central Europe for better selection of PFTs for bioindication purposes.
Biological Bulletin of Poznań, 1997
Zeszyty Naukowe Akademii Rolniczej we Wrocławiu. Rolnictwo, 1996
PLOS ONE, Sep 16, 2015
<p>Contribution of Bird-originated N (N% in upper frame) is estimated based on the <i>... more <p>Contribution of Bird-originated N (N% in upper frame) is estimated based on the <i>δ</i><sup>15</sup>N signature of <i>Sanionia</i> and <i>δ</i><sup>15</sup>N of sources ±0.5‰. Photos by G. Skrzypek.</p
Biuletyn Ogrodów Botanicznych, Muzeów i Zbiorów, 2000
Journal of Arid Environments, May 1, 2013
Several environmental factors potentially influence the stable isotope compositions of plants, de... more Several environmental factors potentially influence the stable isotope compositions of plants, depending on species and local environment. Although several studies have discussed these aspects in C 3 and C 4 plants, only a few have attempted to identify the major drivers of d 13 C, d 18 O, and d 15 N in CAM plants. In this study, stable isotopic ratios of CAM plants collected along an altitudinal transect in the Chisos Mountains/USA during two growth seasons, are used to understand major factors governing isotopic variability. A strong and significant relationship between d 13 C and altitude, positive for agave at <1700 m and negative for both agave and cacti at >1500 m, suggests variable carbon isotope fractionation at different altitudes, which may be unique to CAM plants. Our data suggest that temperature primarily governs d 13 C of the studied plants. The significant negative correlations observed between the d 18 O of agaves and the recorded air temperature (0.59&/ C) are similar to the d 18 O of precipitation vs. temperature variability in global data. The d 15 N variations suggest a similar N-source for both agaves and cacti, and reflect progressive changes in the dominant N-source across desertegrasslandewoodland zones. We conclude that the stable carbon and oxygen isotope composition of agave reflects the climatic conditions along the elevation transect.
Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Silvarum Colendarum Ratio et Industria Lignaria, Mar 30, 2017
The administration of the Karkonosze National Park possesses the documentation of the the Karkono... more The administration of the Karkonosze National Park possesses the documentation of the the Karkonosze Mts. plant communities' survey which was conducted at the turn of 1950s and 1960s. The authors conducted similar studies in the 90s within the higher mountain forest belt as well as in some plant communities of the sub-and alpine belt of the Karkonosze Mts. Currently, these studies have been resumed in order to cover retrospective analysis of vegetation changes in the following 20 years. In this paper we present some preliminary results of the survey carried out in the Empetro-Vaccinietum community. About 40% of historical plots were precisely located in the patches of that community. Comparative analysis of the data on the parameters of the species diversity based on all plots surveyed in 1959-1960 and in 2015 gave almost identical results as those obtained from the set of data restricted only to the plots precisely located. In comparison with historical data, current vegetation showed a significant decrease in the number of species per plot and the values of Shannon-Wiener index, but the evenness index has not changed.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research
The anthropogenic impact of metals on aquatic environments is a risk for biota, and thus their le... more The anthropogenic impact of metals on aquatic environments is a risk for biota, and thus their levels must be controlled. Callitriche cophocarpa Sendtn. belongs to a genus with a potential for accumulation of elevated metal levels. Thus, it may provide consolidated evidence of contamination. Therefore, the aim of this investigation was to determine Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn in this species collected together with water and bottom sediments from rivers with various levels of pollution. Of these rivers, one less polluted and one more polluted was selected for the collection of C. cophocarpa for an experiment to compare its Cu and Zn concentration potential. Both metals were supplemented at concentrations 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.05, 0.08 and 0.14 mg L−1 of Cu as CuSO4 × 5H2O and 0.4, 0.6, 0,9, 1,35, 2.03 and 3.04 mg L−1 of Zn as ZnSO4 × 7H2O, and in the binary design containing (mg·L−1) 0.01Cu + 0.4Zn, 0.02Cu + 0.6Zn, 0.03Cu + 0.9Zn, 0.05Cu + 1.4Zn, 0.08Cu + 2.03 Zn and 0.14Cu ...
Acta Physiologiae Plantarum, 1998
We present a multi-year high-resolution spatial data set on snow cover evolution in a catchment l... more We present a multi-year high-resolution spatial data set on snow cover evolution in a catchment located in South-West Spitsbergen on Svalbard. The data set has significant potential for validation of satellite-derived snow extent (SE) products and provides unique baseline information for various studies in this high-Arctic setting. An automatic camera system was set near the summit of Fugleberget, overlooking an area of several square kilometers near the Hornsund Polish Polar Station. In total, 203 images obtained during three spring and summer seasons were orthorectified and georeferenced using a Matlab-based toolbox, followed by a GIS-based classification of the snow-covered area at a spatial scale of 0.72 km². The results allow for a precise quantification of the snow-covered area in daily resolution over the entire ablation period. In the studied Fuglebekken catchment, the highest rate of snow disappearance was observed in late May/early June.
International Journal of Remote Sensing, 2017
The characterization of vegetation is a very important ecological task, especially in sensitive m... more The characterization of vegetation is a very important ecological task, especially in sensitive mountain areas, as alpine regions often respond to small short-term variations of abiotic and biotic components as well as long-term global changes. Spatial techniques, such as imaging spectroscopy, allow for detailed classification of different syntaxonomic categories of vegetation and their status. Based on the Airborne Prism Experiment (APEX) and simulated Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) data, this study focused on subalpine and alpine vegetation mapping in the eastern part of the Polish Karkonosze National Park (KPN). The spatial resolution of APEX (3.12 m) enabled the classification of 21 vegetation communities, which was generalized into eight vegetation types. These types were identified on scaled-up APEX data, as both 252 bands from most of the spectral range and a spectrally reduced dataset of 30 minimum noise fraction (MNF) transforms, and compared to the simulated (30 m spatial resolution) EnMAP data using test areas extracted from the field survey derived reference non-forest vegetation map. After preprocessing, a pixel purity index (PPI) was calculated using the MNF image and then the training and validation pixels were selected with Support Vector Machine classification of vegetation communities carried out using different kernel functions: linear, polynomial, radial basis function, and sigmoid. The classification accuracy was obtained for 21 base classes, and the best result was achieved by using the linear function and 252 bands (overall accuracy (OA) of 74.39%). The next step was to classify the eight generalized vegetation types, and the OA for the APEX data reached 90.72% while EnMAP reached 78.25%. The results show the potential use of APEX and EnMAP imagery in mapping subalpine and alpine vegetation on a community and vegetation-type scales, within a diverse ecosystem such as the Karkonosze National Park.
Polish Polar Research, 2007
Sphagnum riparium (Bryophyta) is recorded and described from the Wedel Jarlsberg Land on Spitsber... more Sphagnum riparium (Bryophyta) is recorded and described from the Wedel Jarlsberg Land on Spitsbergen, the Arctic Svalbard Archipelago. It is the northernmost known population of the species in the Northern Hemisphere. The distribution of the two known Sphagnum species in the Hornsund area, viz. S. riparium and S. squarrosum is mapped and described.
Polar Biology, 2010
Bryophytes are a major component of vegetation in ice-free coastal regions of Antarctica. Sanioni... more Bryophytes are a major component of vegetation in ice-free coastal regions of Antarctica. Sanionia uncinata (Hedw.) Loeske is distributed from northern and central Maritime Antarctica to Marguerite Bay in the southern part of this biome where it occurs sparsely. Production of sporophytes is rare for S. uncinata in Antarctica, thus a high level of genetic uniformity among populations is expected (Lewis Smith, 1984). Several ice advances and retreats events in last thousands of years in Patagonia and Antarctica could have driven different processes of speciation at fine scale or triggered genetic differentiation among populations, leading to unique genetic populations. A few studies have analyzed the genetic structure of mosses in Antarctica, but none in Maritime Antarctica or in the nearby zones such as southern Patagonia. Based on Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) and grouping analysis, we determined levels of intra/and inter-population genetic diversity of S. uncinata in sites of this region. The results revealed that gene diversity within populations was low and that populations did not have significant genetic differentiation. Also, no correlation was found between genetic variability and geographic distance (R 2 = 0.031). However, we distinguished two groups of populations. One of them clustered populations with low values of genetic diversity. The other one was made out of populations showing much higher genetic diversity. Cluster 1 was the most geographically widely distributed covering populations from northern part of southern Patagonia to southern part of studied populations in Maritime Antarctica. Cluster 2 had the highest level of polymorphism, but spatially is very restricted to four populations in the Maritime Antarctica and southern Patagonia. We found substructures in some populations of the Maritime Antarctica such as in the Coppermine, Byers and Suffield populations. The underlying causes of this subdivision could be the asexual reproduction and significant abiotic factor affecting the presence of this moss species, but also the autoecious condition of this species. The importance of results is the concept of genetic connectivity among bioregions of South Patagonia and Antarctica suggesting additionally this interaction may have occurred repeatedly after the LGM, resulting in the vegetation that grows in Antarctica today.
The paper presents the transformations of species composition in the main plant communities of th... more The paper presents the transformations of species composition in the main plant communities of the Karkonosze Mts subalpine and alpine belts during the last 35 years. Floristic changes in the associations Carici (rigidae)-Nardetum, Carici-Festucetum supinae, Crepidi-Calamagrostietum villose and Empetro-Vaccinietum were investigated, and some vegetation transformations in the remaining belts were also indicated. The progressive floristic degradation of plant communities in the subalpine and alpine belts consists in (a) expansion of grasses, (b) decline of rare vascular plants and (c) elimination of terricolous bryophytes and lichens. In spruce forest belts, species connected with old-growth spruce forests such as Listera cordata and Moneses uniflora are declining. The changes in plant communities of low mountain swards (Nardetalia) caused by cessation of pasture and mowing is the cause of retreat of many rare plants such as Arnica montana. The main cause of the community transformati...
Acta Biologica Cracoviensia. Series Botanica. Supplement, 2009
... of biotechnology for conservation of a critically endangered population of alpine saxifrage (... more ... of biotechnology for conservation of a critically endangered population of alpine saxifrage (Saxifraga nivalis L.) Krystyna Kromer1, Andrzej Raj2, Bronisław ... of Plant Cytology and Embryology, Jagiellonian University, Grodzka 52, 31-044 Cracow, Poland, e-mail: e. kuta@ iphils. ...
PLOS ONE, Sep 16, 2015
<p>The Box-Whisker plot shows minimum and maximum (caps at the end of each box), the lower ... more <p>The Box-Whisker plot shows minimum and maximum (caps at the end of each box), the lower and upper quartiles (orange box), and the median (line inside the box). The numbers in the top table reflect the estimated relative mean contribution from the three major N-sources to total N-pool, separately for each type of tundra. The estimate of N-contributions based on <i>δ</i><sup>15</sup>N, botanical, and algological studies, and is given as an N-percent incorporated by plants from each N-source. “All”—refers to mean for all sampled plants from each tundra location as in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0136536#pone.0136536.s004" target="_blank">S1 Table</a>. Tundra type symbols/ abbreviations–see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0136536#pone.0136536.t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>.</p
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, Apr 9, 2022
The Sudetes are remarkable for the variety and number of peat bogs which receive nutrients via pr... more The Sudetes are remarkable for the variety and number of peat bogs which receive nutrients via precipitation from atmospheric deposition as the only source of minerals. As this type of peat bogs with a very low buffering capacity is affected in the Sudetes by long-range exhausts from the former Black Triangle, strong response to atmospheric contamination may be expected. Therefore these peat bogs are highly suitable for bioindication purposes. As a result, metal levels in peat and plants should be controlled to evaluate potential ecological damage and to devise treatment strategies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the concentration of Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn in species from different plant functional types (PFTs): shrubs, evergreen dwarf shrubs, deciduous dwarf shrubs, tussock sedges, non-tussock sedges, forbs, Sphagnum mosses, brown mosses, liverworts, and algae collected from peat bogs of the Izera, Karkonosze, and Bystrzyckie Mountains. PFTs of the Karkonosze peat bogs situated above the upper forest line contained higher metal concentrations than those of the Izera and Bystrzyckie peat bogs from lower altitudes and surrounded by forests. Of all PFTs, the algae Zygogonium ericetorum accumulated the highest levels of Fe, Pb, and Zn. The PFTs of Sphagnum mosses were also very effective bioindicators of Cd, Cr, Fe, Hg, and Pb deposition to peat bog ecosystems. Pb, Fe, and Cr found in the examined vascular PFTs originated from atmospheric deposition. The results showed that airborne contaminants, including the ones connected with long-range transport, can make a significant contribution to a load of trace metals in peat bogs located above the upper forest line. These airborne depositions facilitate better recognition of the transport of contaminants carried over great distances and should be taken into account in monitoring and environmental protection programs. In particular, the results, first of all, show the differences in the bioaccumulation of metals in PFTs and their response to trace metal levels in such habitats. Of all PFTs, algae and Sphagnum mosses were the best choices for bioindication of trace metal pollution in ombrotrophic mountain mires. PFTs have not been used so far for investigating ombrotrophic mountain mires in Europe. Thus results of this investigation could be extended to this type of peat bogs in the mountains of Central Europe for better selection of PFTs for bioindication purposes.
Biological Bulletin of Poznań, 1997
Zeszyty Naukowe Akademii Rolniczej we Wrocławiu. Rolnictwo, 1996
PLOS ONE, Sep 16, 2015
<p>Contribution of Bird-originated N (N% in upper frame) is estimated based on the <i>... more <p>Contribution of Bird-originated N (N% in upper frame) is estimated based on the <i>δ</i><sup>15</sup>N signature of <i>Sanionia</i> and <i>δ</i><sup>15</sup>N of sources ±0.5‰. Photos by G. Skrzypek.</p
Biuletyn Ogrodów Botanicznych, Muzeów i Zbiorów, 2000
Journal of Arid Environments, May 1, 2013
Several environmental factors potentially influence the stable isotope compositions of plants, de... more Several environmental factors potentially influence the stable isotope compositions of plants, depending on species and local environment. Although several studies have discussed these aspects in C 3 and C 4 plants, only a few have attempted to identify the major drivers of d 13 C, d 18 O, and d 15 N in CAM plants. In this study, stable isotopic ratios of CAM plants collected along an altitudinal transect in the Chisos Mountains/USA during two growth seasons, are used to understand major factors governing isotopic variability. A strong and significant relationship between d 13 C and altitude, positive for agave at <1700 m and negative for both agave and cacti at >1500 m, suggests variable carbon isotope fractionation at different altitudes, which may be unique to CAM plants. Our data suggest that temperature primarily governs d 13 C of the studied plants. The significant negative correlations observed between the d 18 O of agaves and the recorded air temperature (0.59&/ C) are similar to the d 18 O of precipitation vs. temperature variability in global data. The d 15 N variations suggest a similar N-source for both agaves and cacti, and reflect progressive changes in the dominant N-source across desertegrasslandewoodland zones. We conclude that the stable carbon and oxygen isotope composition of agave reflects the climatic conditions along the elevation transect.
Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Silvarum Colendarum Ratio et Industria Lignaria, Mar 30, 2017
The administration of the Karkonosze National Park possesses the documentation of the the Karkono... more The administration of the Karkonosze National Park possesses the documentation of the the Karkonosze Mts. plant communities' survey which was conducted at the turn of 1950s and 1960s. The authors conducted similar studies in the 90s within the higher mountain forest belt as well as in some plant communities of the sub-and alpine belt of the Karkonosze Mts. Currently, these studies have been resumed in order to cover retrospective analysis of vegetation changes in the following 20 years. In this paper we present some preliminary results of the survey carried out in the Empetro-Vaccinietum community. About 40% of historical plots were precisely located in the patches of that community. Comparative analysis of the data on the parameters of the species diversity based on all plots surveyed in 1959-1960 and in 2015 gave almost identical results as those obtained from the set of data restricted only to the plots precisely located. In comparison with historical data, current vegetation showed a significant decrease in the number of species per plot and the values of Shannon-Wiener index, but the evenness index has not changed.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research
The anthropogenic impact of metals on aquatic environments is a risk for biota, and thus their le... more The anthropogenic impact of metals on aquatic environments is a risk for biota, and thus their levels must be controlled. Callitriche cophocarpa Sendtn. belongs to a genus with a potential for accumulation of elevated metal levels. Thus, it may provide consolidated evidence of contamination. Therefore, the aim of this investigation was to determine Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn in this species collected together with water and bottom sediments from rivers with various levels of pollution. Of these rivers, one less polluted and one more polluted was selected for the collection of C. cophocarpa for an experiment to compare its Cu and Zn concentration potential. Both metals were supplemented at concentrations 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.05, 0.08 and 0.14 mg L−1 of Cu as CuSO4 × 5H2O and 0.4, 0.6, 0,9, 1,35, 2.03 and 3.04 mg L−1 of Zn as ZnSO4 × 7H2O, and in the binary design containing (mg·L−1) 0.01Cu + 0.4Zn, 0.02Cu + 0.6Zn, 0.03Cu + 0.9Zn, 0.05Cu + 1.4Zn, 0.08Cu + 2.03 Zn and 0.14Cu ...
Acta Physiologiae Plantarum, 1998
We present a multi-year high-resolution spatial data set on snow cover evolution in a catchment l... more We present a multi-year high-resolution spatial data set on snow cover evolution in a catchment located in South-West Spitsbergen on Svalbard. The data set has significant potential for validation of satellite-derived snow extent (SE) products and provides unique baseline information for various studies in this high-Arctic setting. An automatic camera system was set near the summit of Fugleberget, overlooking an area of several square kilometers near the Hornsund Polish Polar Station. In total, 203 images obtained during three spring and summer seasons were orthorectified and georeferenced using a Matlab-based toolbox, followed by a GIS-based classification of the snow-covered area at a spatial scale of 0.72 km². The results allow for a precise quantification of the snow-covered area in daily resolution over the entire ablation period. In the studied Fuglebekken catchment, the highest rate of snow disappearance was observed in late May/early June.
International Journal of Remote Sensing, 2017
The characterization of vegetation is a very important ecological task, especially in sensitive m... more The characterization of vegetation is a very important ecological task, especially in sensitive mountain areas, as alpine regions often respond to small short-term variations of abiotic and biotic components as well as long-term global changes. Spatial techniques, such as imaging spectroscopy, allow for detailed classification of different syntaxonomic categories of vegetation and their status. Based on the Airborne Prism Experiment (APEX) and simulated Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) data, this study focused on subalpine and alpine vegetation mapping in the eastern part of the Polish Karkonosze National Park (KPN). The spatial resolution of APEX (3.12 m) enabled the classification of 21 vegetation communities, which was generalized into eight vegetation types. These types were identified on scaled-up APEX data, as both 252 bands from most of the spectral range and a spectrally reduced dataset of 30 minimum noise fraction (MNF) transforms, and compared to the simulated (30 m spatial resolution) EnMAP data using test areas extracted from the field survey derived reference non-forest vegetation map. After preprocessing, a pixel purity index (PPI) was calculated using the MNF image and then the training and validation pixels were selected with Support Vector Machine classification of vegetation communities carried out using different kernel functions: linear, polynomial, radial basis function, and sigmoid. The classification accuracy was obtained for 21 base classes, and the best result was achieved by using the linear function and 252 bands (overall accuracy (OA) of 74.39%). The next step was to classify the eight generalized vegetation types, and the OA for the APEX data reached 90.72% while EnMAP reached 78.25%. The results show the potential use of APEX and EnMAP imagery in mapping subalpine and alpine vegetation on a community and vegetation-type scales, within a diverse ecosystem such as the Karkonosze National Park.
Polish Polar Research, 2007
Sphagnum riparium (Bryophyta) is recorded and described from the Wedel Jarlsberg Land on Spitsber... more Sphagnum riparium (Bryophyta) is recorded and described from the Wedel Jarlsberg Land on Spitsbergen, the Arctic Svalbard Archipelago. It is the northernmost known population of the species in the Northern Hemisphere. The distribution of the two known Sphagnum species in the Hornsund area, viz. S. riparium and S. squarrosum is mapped and described.
Polar Biology, 2010
Bryophytes are a major component of vegetation in ice-free coastal regions of Antarctica. Sanioni... more Bryophytes are a major component of vegetation in ice-free coastal regions of Antarctica. Sanionia uncinata (Hedw.) Loeske is distributed from northern and central Maritime Antarctica to Marguerite Bay in the southern part of this biome where it occurs sparsely. Production of sporophytes is rare for S. uncinata in Antarctica, thus a high level of genetic uniformity among populations is expected (Lewis Smith, 1984). Several ice advances and retreats events in last thousands of years in Patagonia and Antarctica could have driven different processes of speciation at fine scale or triggered genetic differentiation among populations, leading to unique genetic populations. A few studies have analyzed the genetic structure of mosses in Antarctica, but none in Maritime Antarctica or in the nearby zones such as southern Patagonia. Based on Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) and grouping analysis, we determined levels of intra/and inter-population genetic diversity of S. uncinata in sites of this region. The results revealed that gene diversity within populations was low and that populations did not have significant genetic differentiation. Also, no correlation was found between genetic variability and geographic distance (R 2 = 0.031). However, we distinguished two groups of populations. One of them clustered populations with low values of genetic diversity. The other one was made out of populations showing much higher genetic diversity. Cluster 1 was the most geographically widely distributed covering populations from northern part of southern Patagonia to southern part of studied populations in Maritime Antarctica. Cluster 2 had the highest level of polymorphism, but spatially is very restricted to four populations in the Maritime Antarctica and southern Patagonia. We found substructures in some populations of the Maritime Antarctica such as in the Coppermine, Byers and Suffield populations. The underlying causes of this subdivision could be the asexual reproduction and significant abiotic factor affecting the presence of this moss species, but also the autoecious condition of this species. The importance of results is the concept of genetic connectivity among bioregions of South Patagonia and Antarctica suggesting additionally this interaction may have occurred repeatedly after the LGM, resulting in the vegetation that grows in Antarctica today.
The paper presents the transformations of species composition in the main plant communities of th... more The paper presents the transformations of species composition in the main plant communities of the Karkonosze Mts subalpine and alpine belts during the last 35 years. Floristic changes in the associations Carici (rigidae)-Nardetum, Carici-Festucetum supinae, Crepidi-Calamagrostietum villose and Empetro-Vaccinietum were investigated, and some vegetation transformations in the remaining belts were also indicated. The progressive floristic degradation of plant communities in the subalpine and alpine belts consists in (a) expansion of grasses, (b) decline of rare vascular plants and (c) elimination of terricolous bryophytes and lichens. In spruce forest belts, species connected with old-growth spruce forests such as Listera cordata and Moneses uniflora are declining. The changes in plant communities of low mountain swards (Nardetalia) caused by cessation of pasture and mowing is the cause of retreat of many rare plants such as Arnica montana. The main cause of the community transformati...