Postwar Warsaw, a reconstruction from Canaletto's painting and the socialist conceptions

Varsovia, tras la fuerte opresión sufrida en la Segunda Guerra Mundial, llevó a cabo un profundo proceso de reestructuración urbana, social y política. Desde 1944 (con la entrada del ejército soviético liberando la ciudad), hasta 1970, se produjo una completa recomposición de las trazas urbanas. De hecho, se pudieron identificar claramente las diversas ideologías coexistentes en el nuevo plan urbano teselando el puzzle urbano. El presente artículo pretende mostrar cómo el proceso de recomposición y reconstrucción urbana se “dibujó”desde las pinturas de Canaletto en el eje histórico de la ciudad. Partiendo del Stare Miasto hasta finalizar en el Palacio Stasic, enlace de Krakowskie Prszdmiescie con Nowy Swiat. La regeneración de la ciudad hizo cohabitar teorías conservacionistas con concepciones socialistas o ideas provenientes del movimiento moderno, y el carácter historicista se fundamentó en los grafismos recuperados tras la guerra. Junto a las trazas dibujadas por los arquitectos en la Posguerra formaron parte del entramado urbano y del sustento constructivo. La definición gráfica otorgada por las pinturas de Canaletto permitió abordar el camino de reconstrucción orientado a reproducir dichas imágenes desde la devastada Varsovia de Posguerra con el objetivo de recuperar la percepción de una capital polaca aún sumida en el estigma social que causó la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Warsaw, after the strong oppression suffered during the Second World War, conducted a thorough process of urban, social and political restructuring. Since 1944 (with the entry of the Soviet army liberating the city), until 1970, there was a complete restructuring of urban traces. In fact, it could clearly identify the various co-existing ideologies in the new urban plan.This article aims to show how the process envisioned prior to the commencement of the destruction of the city was “drawn” in a revamped urban structure. The regeneration of the city made cohabit with socialist theories conservation concepts or ideas from the modern movement, including urban inquiries emerged in Poland by 1920. From these lines, the graphics redefinition can read these ideological concepts struck in the urban recovery of the stigma caused by the war, conceiving a concept dilute city away from the prewar compact city.Grupo de investigación: Arquitectura, Paisaje y Proyecto Ambiental (HUM-637)Departamento de Expresión Gráfica, Arquitectónica y en la Ingeniería. Universidad de Granada

Native parasitic plants: Biological control for plant invasions?

© 2020 International Association for Vegetation Science Plant invasions cause biodiversity loss and degradation in ecosystems worldwide. The invasive species involved may be introduced, or native invaders, and controlling them is a major global challenge. Here, we highlight an emerging role for native parasitic plants in suppressing invasive species, thus aiding in restoration of affected habitats. Compelling empirical evidence is provided by three study systems located in Central Europe, southern Australia and eastern China. Further cases of parasitism of invasive plants have been recorded across five continents. We propose including the interactions between parasitic and invasive plants into the theoretical framework of the biotic resistance hypothesis concerning generalist interactions between invaders and native biota. Among parasitic plants, numerous root hemiparasites, mistletoes and parasitic vines show low host specificity and exert substantial negative effects on their hosts. These parasitic plants may interfere with key traits of invaders such as symbiotic nitrogen fixation or clonal propagation which provide them with competitive advantage over native species. We contend that some parasitic plants may present a cost-effective environmentally sustainable component of invasion management schemes. Therefore, we encourage exploration of this potential and the development of methods for practical applications in ecological restoration and nature conservation

The first dataset of vascular plant species occurrences on kurgans in Southern Ukraine

The dataset contains the records of vascular plant species occurrences and distribution on Ukrainian kurgans (burial mounds, barrows), located in various zones of steppe vegetation: desert steppe, grass steppe, herb-rich grass steppe and forest steppe. Much of the studied kurgans belongs to the territory historically known as the “Wild Fields”. Besides the occurrence data, the publication presents a comparison of the floristic richness amongst five microhabitats distinguished on kurgans (top, northern slope, northern bottom, southern slope, and southern bottom) and amongst kurgans located in different steppe zones. The oOriginal publication includes 721 species of vascular plants) within four4 vegetation zone (desert steppe, grass steppe, herb-rich grass steppe and forest steppe). The report shows also sozological value of kurgans in southern Ukraine, as they play a role of steppe habitat islands in a landscape almost completely transformed to arable land. The obtained flora inventory was analyszed in various aspects. This occurrence dataset is the first public record of species from kurgans in Ukraine.This is the first occurrence dataset from kurgans in Ukraine. The dataset includes 28,456 occurrences of vascular plants recorded in the years 2004-2009 on Ukrainian kurgans. The dataset includes information about 1446 occurrences of rare species on kurgans (69 species). It contains information on the kurgan flora within four vegetation zone (desert steppe, grass steppe, herb-rich grass steppe and forest steppe) on the area ca. 32000 km2. Of the approximately 450 mounds visited, the ones with the best preserved vegetation cover were selected. For each of 106 investigated mounds, floristic lists from five microhabitats were compiled - 530 lists in total

Ancient settlements as natural heritage sites: the first occurrence dataset on vascular plant species from ancient settlements in the Lower Dnipro region (Ukraine)

This work is a long-term outcome of an international Ukrainian-Polish teamwork, aiming to assess the role of ancient settlements for steppe conservation and protection. The dataset contains georeferenced occurrences of vascular plant species on 18 ancient settlements (Lower Dnipro, southern Ukraine), collected during the 2015-2020 period. Additionally, to the total species list, the publication presents the taxonomic coverage (according to GBIF Backbone Taxonomy), the frequency classes of occurrences of the total taxa and the floristic differences amongst studied sites. The report also shows the high sozological value of the studied ancient settlements, the high levels of vascular plant species richness and the various means of the plant species protection (according to the Bern Convention, the Red Data Book of Ukraine and regional Red Lists).This work provides the first occurrence dataset from ancient settlements in Ukraine. The dataset includes 3,210 occurrences of vascular plants recorded during the study period of 2015-2020 conducted in the Lower Dnipro region. As ancient settlements were generally considered as steppe refuges, great attention was paid to the native steppe species, as well as to the rare components of the flora. The dataset includes 1,525 occurrences of steppe species and 87 occurrences of rare species, respectively. The dataset could be useful for further research of ancient settlements` floristic richness, but also analyses and comparison with other objects of cultural origin (e.g. kurgans, hillforts, old cemeteries, forgotten parks, sacred groves etc.)

Rapid functional but slow species diversity recovery of steppe vegetation on former arable fields in southern Ukraine

Questions: European steppes are among the most threatened ecosystems in the Palaearctic region, mainly because of conversion to arable land. Abandonment may allow for the passive recovery of steppes. We made use of an exceptional old-field succession chronosequence of nearly 100 years to answer the following questions: (a) Are the plant species composition, species richness and functional characteristics typical of virgin grass steppes able to self-restore during ca. 100 years after abandonment? (b) Do the rates of recovery of the above vegetation characteristics differ over the studied chronosequence? (c) Do topsoil carbon and nitrogen content change over the succession chronosequence, leading to concentrations similar to that of virgin steppes? Location: Southern Ukraine. Methods: We sampled vegetation and soil in a virgin grass steppe and in old fields abandoned for 6, 15, 31, 50 and ca. 97 years. We subjected the composition data to multivariate analysis. To test whether species richness, functional and soil characteristics of the old fields diverge from those of the virgin steppe, we used one-way analysis of variance with Tukey's honestly significant difference (HSD) statistic to create 90% confidence intervals. Results: The vegetation composition of the three most recently abandoned old fields differed significantly from that of the virgin steppe. The species richness of vascular plants was lower in old fields than in the virgin steppe. The share of steppe habitat specialists was similar to the virgin steppe only in the field abandoned for ca. 97 years. Functional characteristics were significantly different from the virgin steppe only in the most recently abandoned old field. Contents of Corg and Ntot in fields abandoned for ≤50 years were lower compared with the virgin steppe. Conclusions: The functional characteristics of steppe vegetation seem to recover much faster than its biodiversity. However, based on our results, 100 years can be enough time for the spontaneous re-establishment of typical steppe vegetation

THE TRAINING OF RESTORERS AT THE FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, WARSAW

In curricula of studies at the Faculty of Architecture, Technical University, Warsaw from its beginings datin back to 1915 up to the present day has been included as subject the conservation of monuments with a total of ab,out 30 hours of lectures in the course of the fourth year. These lectures have as their general purpose to make the fu tu re architect fam'iliar with problems of conservation of monuments and also with those connected with their adaptation to requirements of modern life. A specialized training in this field is being conducted within the Faculty in form of post-graduaUon courses of conservation which have been made accessible not ,only for architects but also for those representing other disciplines and through their everyday professional work linked with problems of monument protection. ,The curriculum of this two-year course covers the following lines: theory of conservation of monuments, h'istory of building a rt in Poland, methodology of investigations, survey and photographic records, technical problems involved in conservation of monuments, the scope of restorers work, revaluation of historical centres of towns, landscape protection, legal and organizational problems. The above courses have been started in 1970 and it is likely that their curriculum will be subjected to some modifications as a result of experiences gathered