Taming the Primeval: Water, Landscape and Human Impact in the Forest

The Białowieża Geobotanical Station of the University of Warsaw participates in the OPUS 28 project funded by the National Science Centre (NCN), entitled “Taming the Primeval: Water, Landscape and Human Impact in the Forest.” The project is carried out by an interdisciplinary consortium led by the Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences, and the University of Warsaw.

The project aims to reconstruct environmental changes in the Białowieża Forest over the past 300 years and to examine how human activity, both prior to and following the introduction of modern forest management, has influenced landscape structure, hydrological systems, and biodiversity. Particular attention is given to hydrological transformations and their long-term ecological consequences, which play a crucial role in shaping forest ecosystem dynamics.

On behalf of the University of Warsaw, Dr. Marcelina Zimny from the Białowieża Geobotanical Station is responsible for analyses of pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs), and microcharcoal, which enable the reconstruction of past environmental conditions and the identification of human impact recorded in sediments. The project’s results will contribute to a better understanding of the processes that have shaped the Białowieża Forest and will support more informed predictions of its responses to future environmental change.