Łukasz Piechnik

W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences · Polish Science Academy

This work presents a list of new localities in Poland for the following 18 rare (including regional rare) vascular plants: Abutilon theophrasti, Aquilegia vulgaris, Carex bohemica, C. tomentosa, Crocus speciosus, Erechtites hieraciifolia, Lathyrus nissolia, Lunaria annua subsp. annua, Lycopodiella inundata, Myricaria germanica, Nymphaea candida, Op...

Integrative phylogeographic studies supported by morphometric analysis and genetic data provide significant insights into the postglacial recolonization history and other factors shaping current distributions of plant species, including major forest-forming trees in Europe. However, genomic resources and phylogeographic knowledge of shrub species r...

Lianas, which are considered to form tree-related microhabitats, are known as important elements of tropical forests; however, their ecological function and relationships with host trees (phorophytes) in temperate forests are poorly known. This gap in knowledge stems from a low species diversity and abundance of lianas in temperate forests. An exce...

The fundamental trade‐off between current and future reproduction has long been considered to result in a tendency for species that can grow large to begin reproduction at a larger size. Due to the prolonged time required to reach maturity, estimates of tree maturation size remain very rare and we lack a global view on the generality and the shape...

The efficient conversion of tissues into reproductive success is a crucial aspect affecting the evolution of life histories. Masting, the interannually variable and synchronous seed production in perennial plants, is a strategy that can enhance reproductive efficiency by mitigating seed predation and pollen limitation. However, evaluating benefits...

Some biological differences between native and alien plants are relevant to their dispersal mechanisms. One of them is the fruiting period: it is shifted in time, peaking later than in natives. Here we report the case study showing the temporal distance in fruiting phenology between native and alien plants and their seed dispersal via carnivorous m...

Masting (synchronous and interannually variable seed production) is frequently called a reproductive strategy; yet it is unclear whether the reproductive behaviour of individuals has a heritable component. To address this, we used 22 years of annual fruit production data from 110 Sorbus aucuparia L. trees to examine the contributions of genetic fac...

The benefits of masting (volatile, quasi-synchronous seed production at lagged intervals) include satiation of seed predators, but these benefits come with a cost to mutualist pollen and seed dispersers. If the evolution of masting represents a balance between these benefits and costs, we expect mast avoidance in species that are heavily reliant on...

Mast-seeding is widely considered to be an adaptation that minimizes seed predation. The superabundance of seeds during mast years greatly exceeds the capacity of seed predators to consume them. These notions were based on research on food specialists such as insects and rodents. However, mast-seeding may have different impact on the behavior of co...

Aim Our understanding of the mechanisms that maintain forest diversity under changing climate can benefit from knowledge about traits that are closely linked to fitness. We tested whether the link between traits and seed number and seed size is consistent with two hypotheses, termed the leaf economics spectrum and the plant size syndrome, or whethe...

Understanding the role of epiphytic vegetation and other microhabitats created by plants (hereafter lianas) developing on the surrounding ones is crucial for understanding the functioning of forest communities. Despite the observed increase in the biomass of lianas, the factors connected with forest plant communities determining their occurrence ha...

Invasive plants directly and indirectly disrupt the ecosystem functioning, of which indirect effects, for example, through trophic cascades, are particularly difficult to predict. It is frequently assumed that the impact of an invading species on the ecosystem is proportional (linearly related) to its density or abundance in a habitat, but this ass...

The animal dispersal hypothesis predicts that mast seeding can increase dispersal rate of seeds by dispersers and enhance reproductive success of plants. However, in contrast to pollination efficiency and predator satiation hypothesis, the animal dispersal hypothesis has received mixed support. Using 12‐year data on fruit production and seedling re...

The relationships that control seed production in trees are fundamental to understanding the evolution of forest species and their capacity to recover from increasing losses to drought, fire, and harvest. A synthesis of fecundity data from 714 species worldwide allowed us to examine hypotheses that are central to quantifying reproduction, a foundat...

Lack of tree fecundity data across climatic gradients precludes the analysis of how seed supply contributes to global variation in forest regeneration and biotic interactions responsible for biodiversity. A global synthesis of raw seedproduction data shows a 250‐fold increase in seed abundance from cold‐dry to warm‐wet climates, driven primarily by...

The European badger plays an important role as a natural factor shaping species diversity in forests. Its extensive setts can be used by many other animals as shelters. Soil perturbations in their setts support plant communities that differ from the matrix landscape. The badger is also an effective seed disperser. We investigated its role as an eco...

Significant gaps remain in understanding the response of plant reproduction to environmental change. This is partly because measuring reproduction in long-lived plants requires direct observation over many years and such datasets have rarely been made publicly available. Here we introduce MASTREE+, a dataset that collates reproductive time-series d...

Forest ecosystems contain many tree-related microhabitats (TreMs), which are used by various groups of organisms. Birds use TreMs for shelter, foraging and breeding. The abundance and variability of TreMs is related to tree stand composition and age. Over the last few centuries there has been a drastic decline in the structural and biological diver...

This paper presents the current distribution range of the protected shrub European bladdernut Staphylea pinnata in Poland. The study was based on a literature review, multidisciplinary search methods and field visits. The paper presents 211 sites considered as natural (including 48 new) and 143 sites considered as sites of anthropogenic origin (inc...

Masting is a widespread reproductive strategy in plants that helps to reduce seed predation and increase pollination. However, masting can involve costs, notably negative density‐dependent (NDD) seedling survival caused by concentrating reproduction in intermittent events. Masting benefits have received widespread attention, but the costs are under...

Regeneration of coniferous tree species depends on forest structures related to tree death: canopy gaps, decaying wood, and windthrow mounds and pits. This also applies to Norway spruce (Picea abies), which abundantly regenerates from seeds on dead wood and windthrow mounds, and which benefits from gaps in the forest canopy. Accumulated evidence sh...

Despite its importance for forest regeneration, food webs, and human economies, changes in tree fecundity with tree size and age remain largely unknown. The allometric increase with tree diameter assumed in ecological models would substantially overestimate seed contributions from large trees if fecundity eventually declines with size. Current esti...

W latach 1989-2012 odnaleziono nowe stanowiska kłokoczki południowej Staphylea pin-nata L. w Karpatach Zachodnich. Stanowiska, zlokalizowane w obrębie pięciu kwadratów sieci ATPOL na terenie Pogórza Ciężkowickiego (EF7875), Pogórza Wiśnickiego (EF8558), Pogórza Rożnowskiego (EF9569 i EF9699) oraz Beskidu Niskiego (EG1762), uzupełniają wiedzę o prze...

Browsing damage by ungulates is among the most decisive factors affecting the establishment and growth of young trees. In recent decades, ungulate populations have been expanding in the Northern Hemisphere; impairment of tree regeneration by their activity is an increasing problem. Herbivore-induced changes in tree regeneration may alter the compos...

This study assessed the effects of invasive Quercus rubra on soil physicochemical properties and understory vegetation in native plant communities. Chemical properties of senesced tree leaves were also analysed. The study was performed at paired invaded-native plots in managed forests in southern Poland. Freshly fallen senesced leaves were characte...

Annually variable and synchronous seed production by plant populations, or masting, is a widespread reproductive strategy in long‐lived plants. Masting is thought to be selectively beneficial because interannual variability and synchrony increase the fitness of plants through economies of scale that decrease the cost of reproduction per surviving o...

Much is known about the minimum thresholds for dead wood that would ensure the persistence of saproxylic organisms and maintain the overall biodiversity of forest ecosystems, but reaching those thresholds is still a challenge in forests where nature conservation is not the sole goal (e.g., Natura 2000 forests managed for timber). Understanding what...

Lycopodiella inundata is a rare and protected pteridophyte species in Poland. It usually occurs in oligotrophic wetlands, mainly in transitional moors (Rhynchosporetum albae). Lycopodiella inundata has rarely been found at natural sites recently, probably due to unfavorable environmental changes, but appears more and more often at sites created by...

The turbulent history of Warsaw resulted in great losses in Polish zoological museums and archives especially during First and Second World War (Kazubski 1996; Fedorowicz & Feliksiak 2016). However, before 1939 Warsaw’s zoological collection deposited in the State Zoological Museum (now called: the Museum and Institute of Zoology Polish Academy of...

The 19th century is the period marking the growth of various basic sciences, such as systematics, biology, evolutionism, botany or zoology. The areas that had not been explored so far provided European naturalists with huge amounts of work on describing new species, which were sent to in great numbers to various scientific centres of the world. Pol...

The 19th century is the period marking the growth of various basic sciences, such as systematics, biology, evolutionism, botany or zoology. The areas that had not been explored so far provided European naturalists with huge amounts of work on describing new species, which were sent to in great numbers to various scientific centres of the world. Pol...