Józef Mitka

Jagiellonian University | UJ · Institute of Botany

The Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) has been reintroduced into the Carpathian Mountains and has once again become an important factor for modifying streams. Forty-three sampling sites were compared with 10 reference sites in streams not settled by beavers. Models related to the impacts of beavers on various fish life history stages and a model prese...

Empetro nigri-Pinetum is a unique sea coast plant community developing along the Baltic Sea from Germany to Lithuania. Our detailed field research of bryophytes and vascular plants has highlighted the regional diversity of the Empetro nigri-Pinetum typicum plant community throughout its range in Central Europe. Our study indicated that vascular pla...

The number of polyploid plants in angiosperms is estimated at about 30-80%, depending on the study, but hybridization between diploids and tetraploids is not a common phenomenon. In this study, our aim was to determine the extent of hybridization and introgression between Aconitum species in a mountainous hybrid zone in the Tatra Mountains (Western...

Carpinus betulus L., the hornbeam, is a component of lowland and highland forests in Europe. By examining the postglacial migratory history of thermophilic tree species, the study aimed to unravel their putative glacial microrefugia in the Carpathian region. The present study points to the two distinct genetic AFLP groups of C. betulus in the Carpa...

A new species of the Polish flora Vagner's rampion Phyteuma vagneri was found in the Western Bieszczady (Rozsypaniec Stiński range) in the Bieszczady National Park. The species is the Eastern-South Carpathian endemic. Its presence in the Bieszczady's polonina increases the number of species arrived here from the East Carpathians that reach the limi...

The subalpine vegetation in the Eastern Carpathians has been under agropastoral influence as a high-mountain open pasture for about five centuries. Today, the subalpine zone released by human intervention is growing as thickets. In this study, we use a numerical model of tree crowns (CHM, Canopy Height Model) based on laser scanning (LiDAR) and a h...

Aconitum bucovinense Zapał. is the European species of monkshood, endemic to the Eastern and Southern Carpathians. A protocol has been developed for the in vitro regeneration of adventitious shoots by indirect organogenesis from leaf explants. An initiation of cultures carried out on a medium (B5 macronutrients, MS micronutrients) with picloram and...

Aconitum bucovinense Zapał. is the European species of monkshood, endemic to the Eastern and Southern Carpathians. A protocol has been developed for the in vitro regeneration of adventitious shoots by indirect organogenesis from leaf explants. An initiation of cultures carried out on a medium with picloram and kinetin allowed obtaining a callus. Mo...

Basing on 2054 georeferenced occurrences of ten Aconitum species, the initial map of the species richness per each of 57 operational geographic units (OGU) of the Ukrainian Carpathian Region (UCR) has been developed. Next, to avoid unequal data distribution, we counted absolute species presence per OGU, based on which we calculated ‘rarity-weighted...

The genetic diversity in 11 populations of Gladiolus imbricatus in five mountain ranges, including the Tatra, Pieniny, Gorce, Beskid Niski (Western Carpathians) and Bieszczady Mts (Eastern Carpathians), was studied with inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. The species is a perennial plant occurring in open and semi-open sites of anthropogen...

New localities of Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. incarnata in the Polish part of Carpathians are described. ey are located in the Bieszczady National Park (Western Bieszczady Mts, Eastern Carpathians) and the Magura National Park (Beskid Niski Mts, Western Carpathians). e species grows in moist low peatland (fens) and bog springs of Scheuchzerio-Car...

HHybridization in Aconitum is a widespread phenomenon. However, the introgression between the diploid and tetraploid species is rare. We studied species of different ploidy in a mountain hybrid zone in the Tatra Mts (West Carpathians). In this paper, we aimed to identify the extent of introgressive hybridization using PCR-ISSR fingerprinting and ch...

In this article, we present a revised taxonomic circumscription of Aconitum subg. Aconitum (Ranunculaceae) in Europe. In total, the subgenus contains some 250 species with the major center of diversity in Eastern Asia. Altogether 94 taxa (species and infraspecific taxa, including hybrids) occur in Europe. Among them, 22 are native species, and 28 a...

Phylogenetic relations within Aconitum subgen. Aconitum (Ranunculaceae) in Europe are still unclear. To infer the phylogeny of the nuclear (ITS) region and chloroplast intergenic spacer trnL (UAG)-ndhF of the chloroplast DNA (cpDNA), we analyzed 64 accessions within this taxon, 58 from Europe and six from the Caucasus Mts. Nuclear ITS sequences wer...

The paper aimed to conduct a comprehensive analysis of all available sources (including herbarium vouchers, publications, and datasets) on exact distribution of Aconitum moldavicum in the Ukrainian Carpathians to build the maps modeling the species distribution in this region and adjacent territories. Aconitum moldavicum is a Pancarpathian subende...

In vitro regeneration of Viola stagnina Kit., endangered in most part of its European distribution range, was successfully obtained based on the newly developed protocol. Adventitious shoots via direct and indirect organogenesis were induced on leaf blade and petiole fragments on solidified Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0.5 or 1...

Similar to other scientific institutions, herbaria are continually tasked with new questions and challenges. They are an important repository of data, dedicated to the storing, identifying, cataloging, and systematic arrangement of botanical specimen for scientific purposes. Traditionally they have been used to validate geographical distributions o...

The Niepołomice Forest has been a well-described area in terms of its forest communities since the 1970s. Altogether, 178 phytosociological relevés with the dominance of Vaccinium myrtillus, collected over the last c. 40 years, were classified, and those from more recent times (2008–2016) compared with the older ones. The relevés studied were class...

In a time-span of c. forty years (1980–2016) changes in herb layer of the mixed oak-pine Pino-Quercetum forest in southern part of Niepołomice Forest were evaluated by the quantitative measure of species frequency. In 1980–1995 the site eutrophication was noted, as mesotrophic species increased. In 2016 the investigation on 20 plots at the same for...

The bird’s-eye primrose ( Primula farinosa L.) is an endangered species in Poland. The sole remaining, and critically endangered, population of approximately 300 flowering plants is located in the Beskid Sądecki Mountains (Jaworki, Poland). The genetic investigation was performed using highly variable microsatellite markers on a total of four popul...

The tetraploid (2n = 32) Aconitum sect. Aconitum in the Eastern Carpathians, Southern Carpathians and Apušeni Mts. is represented by high-mountain A. bucovinese, A. firmum subsp. fissurae and their putative taxonomic hybrid A. ×nanum. The aim of the paper was to reveal which delimiting system: Taxonomic vs. geographic-population better explains gen...

Hybridization among species of A conitum effects their morphology and ecology. In this study the hybridization between the diploid 2n(2x) = 16 ( A . lasiocarpum and A . variegatum) and tetraploid 2n(4x) = 32 ( A . firmum) species was documented in the Tatra Mountains (Western Carpathians) in a small, local population in a semi-natural site. The hyb...

Slope exposure is a rarely considered factor in studies on organic matter sequestration in soil. This process depends on climate conditions and other factors. Our hypothesis assumes that soils with a northern exposure in the northern hemisphere should have a larger organic matter stock than soils with the opposite exposure as a side effect of weake...

Aconitum in Europe is represented by ca. 10% of the total number of species and the Carpathian Mts. are the center of the genus variability in the subcontinent. We studied the chloroplast DNA intergenic spacer trnL(UAG)-rpl32- ndhF (cpDNA) variability of the Aconitum subgen. Aconitum in the Carpathians: diploids (2n=16, sect. Cammarum), tetraploids...

The paper is a contribution to ecology and chorology of Aconitum in high-mountain zone of the Ukrainian Carpathians. It was confirmed that genus Aconitum in the Chornogora mountain range is represented by 14 taxa, and 7 more taxa were listed as potential for this region. These taxa belong to 3 subgenera and are divided on 4 main biomorphological gr...

Hugo Zapałowicz described and named 27 taxa in Aconitum sect. Aconitum. Their names are typified here. Two of them (Aconitum berdaui, Aconitum bucovinense) are deemed correct for currently accepted species of the Carpathians, 24 are reduced to synonymy under five taxa, and for one no original material has been located. The correct place and exact d...

Dactylorhiza incamata subsp. incamata is a rather frequent subspecies in Poland, found at more than 1000 localities concentrated mainly in the northern, central and eastern parts of the country. In the Polish Carpathians it is a very rare taxon, known today from only ten localities; the Red Book of the Polish Carpathians lists it as critically enda...

Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. incarnata is a rather frequent subspecies in Poland, found at more than 1000 localities concentrated mainly in the northern, central and eastern parts of the country. In the Polish Carpathians it is a very rare taxon, known today from only ten localities; the Red Book of the Polish Carpathians lists it as critically en...

Studies of the anatomical structure of the stem and leaf, with special emphasis on the organization of the vascular system, has been carried out on 13 Aconitum species from Aconitum subgenera Aconitum, Anthora and Lycoctonum. All investigated species show a more or less mesomorphic anatomical structure, typical for other Ranunculaceae. Hence, these...

The genetic diversity of two Aconitum species endemic to the Carpathian Mountains and Sudetes was studied. A reticulate evolution between them was earlier postulated as an effect of secondary contact. The genetic diversity at the individual and taxonomic levels was examined across the entire geographical ranges of the taxa in 11 populations based o...

Two Early Jurassic localities, the Mecsek Mts in Hungary and Anina in Romania, are similarly significant and both floras are of autochthonous/paraautochthonous origin. In the Early Jurassic the Hungar-ian locality was a delta plain; the Romanian locality was an intramontane depression filled predominantly by a braided river system. The floristic co...

The co-occurrence of hybrids and parental species in similar ecological niches poses a question on the role of traits additivity and overdispersion (emergence of new traits) in microevolutionary processes. We analysed genetic polymorphism of Bromus benekenii, B. ramosus and the spontaneous hybrid B. benekenii × B. ramosus in sympatric and allopatri...

The aim of the paper was to test the hypotheses on the genetic structure and origins of forest herbaceous plant species, Galium schultesii and Stellaria holostea, in the subalpine zone of the Bieszczady Mts. The species are generally the lowland elements occurred in fertile oak-hornbeam forests. Their extrazonal occurrence in the mountain subalpine...

The occurrence of Azotobacter spp., which has beneficial effects on plant development, is related to various soil properties, such as pH and fertility. This study evaluated the prevalence of Azotobacter spp. in industrial (H) and agricultural soils (P) in Nowa Huta, Cracow and determined the phenotypic and genetic diversity of these bacteria. The e...

Despite not having been fully recognized, the cryptic northern refugia of temperate forest vegetation in Central and Western Europe are one of the most important in the Holocene history of the vegetation on the subconti-nent. We have studied a forest grass Bromus benekenii in 39 populations in Central, Western and Southern Europe with the use of PC...

Zwackhia viridis is a crustose lichen being found in forests throughout Poland. It belongs to rare species being labelled primeval forest lichens which are associated with large forest complexes. The eastern populations of Z. viridis were examined using RAPD technique in order to check whether geographic distance affects genetic diversity of the po...

An examination of thermophilous species pollen deposits found in the Plenivistulian river alluvial terraces in the Polish Western Carpathians was conducted. Of the 16 palaeobotanical sites evaluated, most often noted were Alnus and Betula t. alba; Abies, Carpinus and Corylus occurred less frequently, and Quercus, Tilia and Ulmus were rare. Fagus an...

We studied the thermophilous grass Bromus erectus in Central Europe to determine its pattern of population genetic structure and genetic diversity, using ISSR-PCR fingerprinting to analyze 200 individuals from 37 populations. We found three genetic groups with a clear geographic structure, based on a Bayesian approach. The first group occurred west...

Aconitum lasiocarpum (Carpathian endemic) and A. variegatum (European endemic) occur sympatrically in the Polish Western Carpathians. Here their taxonomic hybrid A. ×pawlowskii occurs. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the taxonomic (Linnaean approach) and genetic structure (PCR-ISSR analy-sis) of the populations and i...

Aconitum lasiocarpum (Rchb.) Gáyer and A. variegatum L. are forest species with overlapped geographical ranges in the Beskid Niski and Doły Jasielsko-Sanockie Depression (W. Carpathians). They form here a hybrid zone. The cytogenetic evidences based on the Giemsa C-banding in A. variegatum showed the same cytotype in the Silesian Upland and the Mor...

The genus Crataegus is a critical taxon. Since the mid-20th century the differentiation criteria and status of this particular species changed a few times. The overall hawthorn systematics of European hawthorns was created by Christensen (1992). In Poland there are six species, according to his approach.

The impact of land use intensity on the taxonomic composition of hawthorns in four regions of south-eastern Poland was investigated. As a result of different human settlement histories, two of the regions are 54–64% forested nowadays, and the remaining two regions are 70–78% transformed into arable land. Numerical analysis and Monte Carlo permutati...

Prior to the present study there was limited knowledge about the genetic basis of plant colonization on the 50-year-old island of Surtsey, South Iceland. The aim here was to compare genetic structure of two contrasting species, Festuca rubra (arctic fescue) and Empetrum nigrum (crowberry), which have colonized Surtsey since 1973 and 1993, respectiv...

A role of the Linnaean taxonomy in the arising of historical-biogeographical hypotheses is envisioned. The first example concerns the presumed hybrid origin of an Eastern-Sudetic endemic Aconium plicatum subsp. sudeticum. It was described on the basis of a unique character set including glandular hairiness of the indumentum. A PCR-RAPD+ISSR fingerp...

Aconitum bucovinense, a high-mountain species endemic to the Eastern and Southern Carpathians, including the Apuseni Mountains, is legally protected and classified in the Polish Red Data Book of Plants. It attains its NW geographical range in two peripheral populations in the Western Bieszczady Mountains (Polish Eastern Carpathians), isolated by a...

The key for identification, the maps of distribution, sozological evaluation, critical taxonomical notes and morphological descriptions of monkshood species from the Ukrainian Carpathians are presented. It is ascertained that in this territory there are 22 taxa (12 species) of genus Aconitum L. which belong to 5 sections and 3 subgenera – section L...

Changes in DNA sequences affecting cryptic intraspecific variability are very important mechanisms of plant microevolutionary processes, initiating species diversification. In polluted environments, intra- and interpopulation changes at the molecular level proceed rapidly and lead to the formation of new ecotypes in a relatively short time. We used...

In the Ukrainian Carpathians 12 species of the genus Aconitum occur, circumscribed within three subgenera. General description, ecological characteristic, chorology and threat to 20 Aconitum taxa are given based on the herbarium materials and field investigations. It has been found that all the studied taxa belong to three ecological groups distrib...

Chromosome numbers for four species and two nothospecies of the sect. Cammarum ser. Variegata, ser. Toxicum, and nothoser. Toxigata in the Carpathians amount to 2n = 16, and in one case to 2n = 32. For the nothospecies: A. ×gayeri Starmühl. and A. ×pawlowskii Mitka et Starmühl. chromosome numbers are given for the first time. According to the cytol...

On the basis of critical analysis of the morphology, ecology, sozology and chorology of herbarium collections from CHER, KRA, KRAM, KW, LW, LWKS, LWS, W, WU and data from authors’ field explorations (2008-2011 years) the new key for species identification of genus Aconitum L. from the Ukrainian Carpathians was prepared. The short description and ph...

"e guidelines for the assessing the threat to plant populations and their sites at the regional level, based on the IUCN (2003) criteria, are proposed. To unify the description and to qualify information on vascular plant taxa, three forms are elaborated including site, population and species. Additionally, bryophytes and liverworts are taken into...

Chromosome numbers for two studied taxa of sec. Aconitum from the Eastern/Southern Carpathians: A. bucoviniense Zapał. (2n = 32) and A. ×nanum (Baumg.) Simonk. (2n = 32) are given for the first time. The chromosome numbers of A. firmum Rchb. subsp. firmum (2n =32), subsp. maninense (Skalický) Starmühl. (2n = 32), subsp. moravicum (2n = 32) and subs...

The aim of the study was to re-evaluate the taxon limits of the putative hybrid A. ×hebegynum (A. degenii × A. variegatum). The nothospecies was described on the specimen originated from a region of the Swiss Alps. Its occurrence in the Eastern Carpathians is controversial since one of the putative parents A. variegatum is extremely rare there. Aph...

Field studies on the distribution, based on the ATPOL database, and taxonomie structure of the populations of Aconitum moldavicum on the Małopolska Upland were carried out in 2006-2008. In total, 651 specimens from 13 localities were critically evaluated. The species in the area under study consists of two infraspecific taxa: subsp. moldavicum Hacq...

Herbarium and field studies on Aconitum moldavicum Hacq. in Poland, Ukraine Romania, and partially in Slovakia, were carried out. Th e species consists of two geographical races circumscribed in the rank of subspecies: subsp. hosteanum (Schur) Graebn. et P. Graebn. and subsp. moldavicum. The pattern of geographical distribution confirms Szafer’s (1...

The genus Bromus subgen. Festucaria is a widespread Old World and New World taxon having genomes A, B and L, distinguished cytogenetically. Stebbins (1981) suggested that evolution in Bromus went from the small genomes A and B to the large genome L. Thus, Old World species with genomes A and B could be ancestral to New World species with genome L....

A numerical analysis of the phytosociological relevés from ancient and recent woodland on a mesic forest site in central Poland was carried out. Three groups of forest stands were recognised: planted with Pinus, recent and ancient oak-hornbeam Tilio-Carpinetum. The species of ancient woodland occurred mainly in ancient oak-hornbeam forest stands, h...

The chromosomal and molecular PCR-ISSR+RAPD pattern of high-mountain Aconitum sect. Aconitum in the Sudetes and Carpathians were analyzed to test whether the taxon has common markers in these two mountain systems. In the Sudetes the taxon forms an autopolyploid chromosome complex (2n = 32), and allopolyploid in the neighboring Western Carpathians....

Linnaean, traditional taxonomy in its modern post-Darwinian synthesis is often opposed to the new approaches stemming from the molecular techniques of DNA analysis. DNA sequences data are used widely to construct gene phylogenies, from which organismal phylogenies have been inferred. It is a base to create rankless and non-hierarchical phylogenetic...

The metapopulation theory incorporates into one dynamic system the colonization and extinction of the local populations. In that way it may be an efficient tool in species conservation. The paper reviews some practical considerations of the theory. Presently, it has mainly heuristic role. It turns attention to patch sites distribution and the genet...

Aconitum sect. Napellus in the Eastern Carpathians was explored with the use of methods of numerical taxonomy*. The taxon consists of A. bucovinense Zapał. pro hybr., A. firmum Rchb. subsp. firmum, A. firmum subsp. fissurae Nyárády, A. firmum nsubsp. fussianum Starmühl. (A. firmum subsp. firmum x subsp. fissurae), A. xnanum (Baumg.) Simonk. (A. buc...

The investigations on vegetation cover in the Proszowice Plateau (Małopolska Upland, southern Poland) in 1997-1999 were carried out. This vast area (770 sq. km), hitherto not in this respect investigated, is covered with arable fields in 80%. This area has been used for agriculture since the Neolithic age. The aim of the paper is to show the presen...

The genus Aconitum is distributed in the Northern and Forest Carpathians with 7 species, including the infraspecific taxa and hybrids with 23 taxa. A new combination is A. firmum subsp. maninense. This subspecies is also stated in Poland for the first time. New taxa described here are A. firmum nsubsp. paxii, A. firmum subsp. firmum var. portae-fer...

RAPD analysis was applied to nine Bromus species (B. fasciculatus, B. arvensis, B. scoparius, B. hordeaceus, B. squarrosus, B. carinatus, B. willdenowii, B. erectus, B. inermis) belonging to four subgenera: subg. Stenobromus, subg. Bromus, subg. Ceratochloa, and subg. Festucaria. With 10 out 13 primers a considerable degree of polymorphism was dete...

A. lasiocarpum has provoked a long-standing debate over its systematic and geographic status. Present taxonomic and chorological studies offer a proposal for the solution of these problems. In their result, a taxon described by Zapałowicz (1908) was rediscovered, now treated as A. lasiocarpum subsp. kotulae comb. nov. It occurs far beyond hitherto...

The karyotype structure of Aconitum lasiocarpum (Rchb.) Gáyer was investigated conventionally and by Giemsa C-banding. The chromosome complex of A. lasiocarpum is composed of two distinguishable pairs of long chromosomes and six pairs of considerably shorter chromosomes. Nucleolar organizers are localized on the shorter arms of three (1, 3 and 5) c...

The geographical distribution and habitat of Elymus hispidus (Opiz) Melderis on the Proszowice Plateau (Maλsopolska Upland, S Poland) are presented. This area has been subjected to human settlement since the Neolithic. Nowadays the area occupied by xerothermic grassland is less than 5% of that given over to arable and its stands form "habitat islan...

he role of plants in the subsistence economy of pre-agricultural societies of the eastern Sahara is poorly known because vegetal remains, except for wood charcoal, are seldom found in archaeological sites. Site E-75-6 at Nabta Playa, with rich assemblages of charred seeds and fruits, is exceptional. Around 8000 b.p. the inhabitants of this site col...

Charred seeds and fruits from an early Neolithic site Nabta Playa E-75-6 in south Egypt were studied. Multivariate methods were applied to 113 archaeological samples from one house in order to explain their floristic variability. Correspondence analysis has shown that the east and west sectors of the house differed with respect to the composition o...

In the years 1986–1988 investigations were carried out on the influence of fertilizers on the mycorrhizal status of herb-layer plants of a mixed oak-pine forest in the Niepolomice Forest (Southern Poland). The site enrichment with N, P, K altered the frequency of mycorrhizal infection in most species investigated and decreased the percentage of col...