The results of botanists’ research describing the differences in the functional diversity of meadow vegetation above and below the earth’s surface after translocation of the entire habitat have been published in the journal Land Degradation and Development.

Researchers of the University of Opole, together with employees of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Botanical Garden in Mikołów, have determined that the most sensitive type of vegetation in terms of changes in such features as seed weight, height, leaf size and architecture of underground parts of plants is the meadow community.

Research was conducted on the meadows in Radzionków. The researches include monitoring of the species of meadows and heaths, after the construction of the second runway of the Katowice-Pyrzowice airport had to transfer over a hectare of valuable natural patches of plant communities. This was done using heavy equipment, and the method proved to be effective enough to be used in other cases.