Almost impossible became real and a small flock of sheep has grazed on an islet in the Cep II sand pit since yesterday evening. And if we say small, we mean small - two meritorious female grazers and one cute black lamb. Until Sunday they will graze the experimental plots for restoration of psammophytic grasslands which were established in 2009. Lotus corniculatus spreads on plots with transfered biomass and it needs to be suppressed. Moreover, it is also desirable to disrupt thick layers of lichens and moses.
Transport of sheep on a ferry went smoothly and sheep seem satisfied with the food supply. Alča Bartošová will oversee that they enjoy their vacation and she deserves many thanks that she was not afraid and went for it! Many thanks also to our favorite ferry driver who assisted for the whole time and transported the girls smoothly to the other bank.
So now we have to rely on the sheep's appetite and let them graze everything according to a planned "zig-zag" design!
In the early spring we went to the field, namely to the Vysočina highlands again, where we were looking for reclaimed acid quarries. And the result? We did not find any! That made us very happy and we enjoyed a number of spontaneously revegetated beautiful quarries. In the Brádlo quarry near Kosov we met Ing. Karel Lorek, Chief Executive Officer of Českomoravský štěrk. The Brádlo quarry is abandoned quarry owned by the Českomoravský štěrk and in the future it could become another "field laboratory" for spontaneous and directed succession in acid quarries. It should also serve as relaxation area for visitors. We are very thankful for the trust and we are already looking forward to the work in the quarry!
Karel Prach sends greetings from the office of 
A short 
...or "permanent plots at risk"
More than 50 participants from different parts of the country attended a workshop called "Plants and fungi in sand pits: protection and management" held on Thursday 6. November and organized by Calla - Association for Preservation of the Environment.
A real proof of scientific activities within the Faculty of Science is the place between building B and C in the university campus. The place of intended parking place was transformed by colleagues from the Department of Botany into a collection of diverse biotopes. The place will serve for relaxation as well as for educational purposes. The space is dominated by a sand dune, imitation of actual sand dunes which are very rare in current human-altered landscape. The Restoration ecology group, under the leadership of "biomass boss" Klára Řehounková, will use methods of assisted succession to restore dry grasslands on the created sand dune - biomass transfers, surface trampling and sowing of target species.
The 9th European Conference on Ecological Restoration was held 3. - 8. August in Oulu, Finland. The topic of the conference was Restoration, Ecosystem Services and Land Use Policy. Members of our group participated at this conference with their talks and posters. Klára Řehounková started a special session called Passive restoration: can we let succession do the work? talking about "Disturbance as a tool for biodiversity: an interdisciplinary approach to restoration and conservation benefits of post-mining sites". Ondřej Mudrák with his presentation "What tell us initial species composition about the future progress in the spontaneous succession?" and Kamila Lencová presenting "How much do alien species participate in contemporary human-made habitats?" were among other speakers. Karel Prach gave his lecture called "Do not neglect surroundings in restoration of disturbed sites" in other session about resilience ecology. Students Ludmila Vlková a Lenka Šebelíková presented posters with results of their theses.
