Ecological relations of phycoenoses and mycocoenoses in the selected forest ecosystems of Slovakia

The project is unique in the combination of mycological and botanical research, in the parallel application of the latest methods of the both disciplines in the Carpathian region specific by large complexes of natural forests serving as the control localities opposite to forests affected by man. It offers several original and innovative methodical approaches of the forest ecosystem research, for example: molecular methods of mycological research enable to identify non-fructification individuals from the soil samples and reveal the real actual diversity of fungi on given locality, multidisciplinary approach of diversity study - parallel recording of fungi and plants will bring more complex knowledge of biodiversity of forest ecosystems, measuring of habitat and stand parameters will enable to understand the network of ecological relations between stand structure, understorey plants and macromycetes populations and to explain their position within biogeochemic cycles (soil - fungi - understorey plants - trees), revealing of the potential of bioindication of plant and fungal species in the relation with the naturalness of forest ecosystems and with their sensitivity to the anthropogenic influence, parallel sampling of natural and changed forests will enable the quantification of anthropogenic on the forest ecosystems.