Expansion of invasive species can be clearly seen all over Poland. Foreign tree and herbaceous plant species are effectively taking over more and more habitats competing with native vegetation. This phenomenon is strongly pronounced in the areas subject to strong anthropogenic pressure. The...

Historical parks, as an inseparable element of manors and landowners’ palaces, constitute a valuable cultural heritage, commemorating the times of the Polish nobility. From among the 16,000 manor houses existing before 1939, only 3433 objects remained, including 1965 of them are residential parks without the dominant feature in the form of a building. Numerous studies and activities are carried out to protect, restore, maintain and adapt these facilities to current needs. They are general, often theoretical, or individual concern objects, or only mansions or palaces, excluding parks, which makes it difficult to assess the problem objectively. The aim of this study is a comprehensive assessment of the distribution (in terms of spatial, social and administrative terms), the state of preservation (in terms of area size, technical, phytosanitary and original composition) and the use of the potential of historical parks in manor or palace complexes. The authors examined the distribution of these objects using relative indicators and descriptive statistics. The economic potential of the parks was explored in comparison to the facilities based on their sale offers, using the analysis of variance and the Tukey test. The results show the detailed distribution, state of preservation and problems related to the current and potential use of post-manor parks, manor and palace parks in 16 voivodeships of the country.

One of the basic conditions for the sustainable development of a modern city is the presence of a developed and efficiently functioning system of green infrastructure. It consists of all natural resources: greenery areas (gardens, parks, squares, street shelters, green roofs, etc.) and spontaneous (urban forests, green wastelands, etc.), water (watercourses and water reservoirs). Taking into account the specific, usually unfavorable conditions of the urban environment and the strong anthropopressure occurring there, all forms of vegetation should be subject to comprehensive management, including among others, the successful development of new facilities and plantings, as well as protection with the constant control and maintenance of existing valuable resources [2]. The long-term studies of the condition and transformations of urban tree stands [1, 3, 4, 5, 6] conducted by the authors allow the formulation of a set of recommendations at the implementation level to ensure the efficient functioning of the green infrastructure in the city.

Although the research on the defense mechanisms of trees was carried out in the 1930s, it was not until the mid-1980s that – under the influence of Alex Shigo – an arborist movement began, which was based on understanding defense mechanisms, growth physiology and development of trees. A...

Urban greenery contributes to improve air quality through carbon dioxide sequestration and to increase air humidity by transpiration. These processes are dependent on diurnal physiological activity of vegetation as well as its spatial distribution. In our study we aimed to find out (1) how urban...