Recording and monitoring biodiversity in the Summer School in Bialowieza (PL)
In the trinational Summer School, students from Poland, Ukraine and Switzerland worked together on the topic of biodiversity monitoring. The Summer School took place in the surroundings of the UNESCO World Heritage National Park in Bialowieza in Poland, probably the last lowland primeval forest in Europe.
The students dealt with the monitoring of different taxonomic groups. These include vascular plants, small mammals, grasshoppers and fungi. The recording of species diversity and their composition was done using standardized study plots. These plots were distributed among three different forms of land use. Cultivated meadows, meadows that are no longer mowed, and parcels that have become overgrown due to abandonment. Within thirty study plots, more than 250 different species were found, thus providing a valuable basis for subsequent studies. In coming Summer Schools, changes can also be traced over a given time period. The students have deepened and broadened their knowledge in the areas of methodology, species knowledge and static analysis.
The participants were accommodated in the Geobotanical Station of the National Park and were able to enjoy varied Slavic cuisine and discover the Polish beer variety. Early in the morning the European bison was observed accompanied by the howling of wolves. New friendships were made and the wild, natural and beautiful Polish landscape will be remembered long after the Summer School.
Would you also like to deepen your knowledge in biodiversity monitoring and learn more about the taxonomic groups? Get to know our Master in Environment and Natural Resources and visit us at our master info event on the 27. September in Wädenswil. You can also start your master in the spring semester 2023!
For more information:
- You can find more information about our Master course on our Masterwebsite
- Please send your questions regarding the master course by email
- The Summer School «Biodiversity Monitoring» is offered by the Master's Programme Biodiversity and Ecosystems.
- The Summer School is organized on the part of the IUNR by the research groups Vegetation Ecology and Wildlife Management.