Masaryk University, Department of Botany and Zoology

The Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, is a modern centre of research and teaching in the fields of evolutionary biology, biosystematics and ecology. Its individual research groups study phylogenetic relationships and the classification of organisms, their diversity from the local to the continental level, and the ecological relationships of individual species, populations and communities in relation to both natural and human-induced changes in entire ecosystems. It holds small to medium-sized collections of vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as a herbarium established in 1921 as part of the Institute of Botany. The Department also hosts and coordinates the Czech National Phytosociological Database, a database of vegetation plots. In 2014–2018, the Department coordinated the Pladias project (Plant Diversity Analysis and Synthesis Centre) aimed at integrating all available data on flora and vegetation for the Czech Republic in the Database of the Czech Flora and Vegetation.