In cooperation with the South Bohemian and Prague Universities, the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) organize a summer school in the Czech Republic on pollination ecology. We invite students (Bachelor, Master or PhD level²) from Germany and the Czech Republic to participate.

The summer school aims to provide an introduction to the study of plant-pollinator interactions. We will teach students how to collect data on plant-pollinator networks in the field and to perform analyses in order to assess the structure and dynamics of these networks. The data collected will be analysed in order to:

• identify pollinating insects (Hymenoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera) to broad taxonomic groups
• determine the structure of the plant-pollinator visitation networks for different communities of co-flowering plant species
• determine the effectiveness of different pollinator taxa as pollinators for selected plant species
• identify pollen grains transported by different pollinator taxa as a basis for reconstructing pollen transport networks

16 - 23 June 2019
(arrival on 16 June; departure on 23 June)

Prof. Dr. Tiffany Knight (UFZ/ MLU/ iDiv): expertise in pollination ecology, experimental design and network analyses

Prof. Dr. Jana Jersaková (University of South Bohemia): expertise in pollination ecology and botany, floral signals

Prof. Dr. Robert Tropek (Charles University): expertise in pollination ecology and restoration ecology, especially in insects

Dr. Reinart Feldmann (UFZ): expertise in entomology

Dr. Demetra Rakosy (UFZ/ iDiv):expertise in pollination ecology, pollen identification

• Bachelor students (in their final years), MSc students or PhD candidates² in the fields of botany, ecology, entomology, or other related fields.
• Interest in pollination ecology
• Good English skills
• Motivation to learn in an intercultural working environment

Applications for the summer school can be submitted by 28 Febuary 2019.

Prospective participants of the summer school should send their application to demetra.rakosy@ufz.de. Please enclose the following documents in one PDF document:

- a short CV (1 page), including detailed contact information

- a statement (max. 1 page) explicitly addressing

• why you want to attend the summer school
• your research interests
• how you expect to benefit from this summer school
• your experience (if any) with statistics using R

- names of two people that can provide references

The summer school committee will select 15 students.

28 February 2019