IV. Palaeobotany and Palaeoenvironment Group

Head: Dr. Magdalena Moskal-del Hoyo

Scientific Staff: Dr. Maria Barbacka-Bóka, Dr. Katarzyna Cywa, Magda Kapcia, Dr. Magdalena Moskal-del Hoyo, Dr. Sylwia Skoczylaz-Śniaz, Dr. Renata Stachowicz-Rybka, Dr. Agnieszka Wacnik, Dr. Elżbieta Worobiec, Dr. Grzegorz Worobiec

Technical Staff: Barbara Kurdziel, Krzysztof Stachowicz

Research profile

Our interest is centred on the development of vegetation in the context of long-term climate and environmental change, from the Mesozoic era to the Holocene historical period. Reconstructions are based on studies of fossil remains of plants and fungi, preserved in natural and anthropogenic deposits at archaeological sites. Studies concerned with the diversity and palaeoenvironment of pre-Quaternary floras are based on leaf floras, palynofloras and non-pollen palynomorphs, mostly those which developed in the Mesozoic era, and also in the Paleogene and Neogene. In addition to taxonomic studies, the detailed reconstruction of palaeoenvironments, analyses of plant-palaeoenvironment interactions and adaptation mechanisms to local topographic and microclimatic changes are carried out. Studies on the paleoenvironment of the Quaternary of Poland and Central Europe include the reconstruction of vegetation and climate in the Pleistocene interglacials and in the Holocene. As in this last period changes in the vegetation were influenced not only by changing climate but also by human activity, and the anthropogenic impact on the environment was becoming more and more important, our research is aimed to describe factors influencing the observed palaeoecological phenomena, and human-environment interactions and to demonstrate the relationship between the type of settlement and husbandry and the scale of anthropogenic impact on vegetation. The results of our archaeobotanical analyses add also to the knowledge of the history of plants used by people and allow to determine the role of crop and wild plants in ancient farming.

Research teams and topics

Team IV.1

Leader: Dr. Elżbieta Worobiec

Research topic: Paleoecology and biotic relationships between plants and fungi in the Mesozoic, Paleogene, and Neogene periods (M. Barbacka-Bóka, E. Worobiec, G. Worobiec)

Team IV.2

Leader: Dr. Renata Stachowicz-Rybka

Research topic: Pleistocene interglacials – Mazovian (MIS 11) and Eemian (MIS 5e) as analogies for contemporary climate and environmental changes (S. Skoczylaz-Śniaz, R. Stachowicz-Rybka)

Team IV.3

Leader: Dr. Agnieszka Wacnik

Research topic: Dynamics of vegetation change in Central Europe during the Holocene and Vistulian; regional differences as a response to climate change and settlement processes (K. Cywa, M. Kapcia, M. Moskal-del Hoyo, A. Wacnik)