9416925 Bernard This U.S.-Czech cooperative research project between Dr. John Bernard of Ithaca College and Dr. Karel Fiala of the Institute of Landscape Ecology, Czech Academy of Sciences, will address the development of clonal plant populations in normal, unpolluted systems to populations growing in polluted systems. The polluted systems to be studies will feature: 1) mountain forest systems impacted by acid deposition and 2) wetland marsh systems affected by sewage, landfill, or agricultural sources that produce higher loads of decomposing organic matter. The researchers intend to produce an analysis of the effects of pollution on clonal plants in these two natural ecosystems by comparing their observations of natural and perturbed settings and laboratory environments both in the U.S. and the Czech Republic. Results should yield a rich new source of data on plant response to levels of pollution. This project in population biology fulfills the program objective of advancing scientific knowledge by enabling leading experts in the United States and Eastern Europe to combine complementary talents and pool research resources in areas of strong mutual interest and competence. ***
