On January 14, 2021, was held the first webinar of the Latvian Council of Science project: “Bryophyte and lichen successional and spatial patterns in deciduous forests (Nr. lzp-2020/1-0314) in Institute of Life Sciences and Technology, Daugavpils University through Zoom platform online. The project activity planning was discussed with project participants.

The current novelty in ecology is to reveal the processes in space and time, which are responsible for the biodiversity maintenance. During the project we will increase the understanding about bryophyte and lichen community development in deciduous forests using bryophytes and lichens as models. The study involves new methodological approach, where descriptive studies are united with experimental and molecular methods for solving significant problems in nature conservation and long-term forest management.

Project objectives:

1) to compare bryophyte and lichen communities in differed aged deciduous forest stands;

2) to evaluate bryophyte and lichen species dispersal abilities with transplantation approach;

3) to understand the bryophyte and lichen model species spatial structure in differed aged deciduous forest stands

4) to characterize the bryophyte modelspecies population spatial structure  (in co-operation with LVMI SILAVA).

Project duration: 3 years (2021.-2023)

Coordinator: Dr biol. Anna Mežaka, email: anna.mezaka@biology.lv