Plants in the lives and the environment of the people 2600-OG-EN-PLEP

The course aims to familiarize students of various faculties with the strong ties between humans and the world of plants: on the one hand, the influence of plants on the shaping of the environment and its history, and on the other, the creation of habitats and species that have not been found in nature so far. The issues of archeobotany, ethnobotany and synanthropization of vegetation will be discussed in turn. The use of analyzes of the ecological properties of plant species on the basis of the remains found in archaeological excavations to reconstruct the conditions in the ancient human environment in antiquity and the Middle Ages. Various forms of human use of plants, changes in vegetation caused by human activity, the evolution of cultivated and synanthropic species and the impact of the natural environment and available plant resources on the development of human civilization will be presented. The contemporary issues of the coexistence of the world of plants and humans will also be discussed: harvesting from the wild, agriculture, transgenic plants and protection of biodiversity in plant cover in the aspect of the rapidly growing human population.
The subject of the course:
1. Object, history and tasks of archeobotany.
2. Plant remains as a source material in archaeobotany.
3. The type of archaeological site and the type of plant material.
4. Dating plant remains preserved at archaeological sites.
5. Outline of the history of selected washed and synanthropic plants.
6. Field and laboratory research methods: collecting material, laboratory carpological and pollen analyzes, identification of plant storage organs as a food source, application of phytolithic analysis, diatoms and starch grains.
7. Interpretation of the results of archaeobotanical research: reconstruction of plant communities, reconstruction of economic processes on a botanical basis.
8. The importance of archaeobotanical research results for other scientific disciplines.
9. The subject, history and tasks of ethnobotany.
10. The use of medicinal plants.
11. Utilization of food plants.
12. The use of textile plants.
13. Use of dye plants.
14. The use of ceremonial and hallucinogenic plants.
15. Documenting forgotten or rare use of plants and methods of cultivation, the so-called starvation plants, as well as knowledge about plants in modern societies.
16. Dynamics of the occurrence of synanthropic species - historical and contemporary migrations
17. The city as a special system of anthropogenic habitats and synanthropic biocenoses
18. The problem of invasive and transgenic plants.
19. Floristic specificity of selected anthropogenic habitats: ruderal habitats, plants of wall crevices, roofs, stairs, paving slabs and asphalt, plants of post-mining and post-industrial dumps, plants of dumps, roadsides, roadsides and highways, plants of railway and tramways, landfill plants, plants of ports, stations, surroundings of elevators and mills, grain and root crops, weeds of fodder and industrial crops, relics of old crops, native and foreign plants cultivated today and wild.
20. Classification of synanthropic communities and selected semi-natural communities.
21. The problem of feeding the growing human population and preserving biodiversity in the cultural landscape.