Our Scientists in Antarctica
Our department was strongly represented during this year's Antarctic expedition. The expedition to the Czech scientific station J. G. Mendel Station on James Ross Island included Josef Hájek, Jiří Sekerák, and Peter Váczi, who also served as the expedition leader.
During the expedition, the researchers focused on the maintenance of long-term research plots. These sites are used to monitor changes in the activity and growth of photoautotrophic communities, particularly mosses and lichens, under changing climatic conditions, including the use of open-top chambers. The larger research team also made it possible to conduct a more extensive phytosociological survey of important moss and lichen sites in the northern part of James Ross Island.
As part of the research on changes in moss and lichen communities at key locations, aerial multispectral imaging was carried out using a drone. This was complemented by ground-based measurements of reflectance spectra and vegetation indices (e.g. PRI and NDVI) on dominant reference microplots to optimize the methodology and enable its application on a broader scale. The rapidly changing environment of this deglaciated Antarctic oasis, with its numerous research sites, provides an ideal setting for such studies.
In the laboratory facilities of the Mendel Station, J. Hájek and J. Sekerák conducted two experiments focused on the stress physiology of lichens (from the genera Xanthoria, Leptogium, and Umbilicaria). The experiments investigated changes in the primary processes of photosynthesis induced by stress factors, particularly repeated cycles of desiccation and freezing.
The researchers successfully collected the planned number of lichen, moss, algal, and regolith samples, which will be used in subsequent experiments at the Laboratory of Extreme Environmental Research within our department.
