The J.G. Mendel Czech Antarctic Station represents a unique research infrastructure not only at the Czech national level. It is the excellent research facility with long-term multidisciplinary research aimed to the ice-free terrestrial ecosystems and geosystems of Antarctica. The station is located in the northern part of James Ross Island (Ulu Peninsula), near Antarctic Peninsula. It has been built in 2004-2006 and is operated by the Czech Antarctic Research Programme, based at the Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia, since its construction. The base is operational during the austral summer only, i.e. typically from January to mid-March. The basic concept of the station calls for ecological requirements to be met in a realistic way by using the renewable sources of energy (wind power, solar radiation). Many technical solutions are highly innovative in the context of Antarctic stations. The result is a modern and ecologically sophisticated polar research facility that offers suitable conditions for the stay of a crew of up to 16 members. The station offers high accommodation quality (single/double/triple bed per bedroom), temperature comfort of the rooms, personal sanitary facilities (hot and cold water, showers, toilets), and provides the basic conditions for scientific work including “dry” and “wet” laboratories with necessary laboratory equipment.
The maintenance and technical rooms for the technical support of the scientific activities are fully equipped with handicraft and manufacturing tools including a welding unit, compressor, mobile diesel-powered electric generators and electrical appliances (grinding machines, drills, saws, soldering lamps, etc.). For coastal transport (cabotage) within the research territory, there are three Zodiac-type motorboats available; in case of unsuitable weather conditions for sea navigation there are two all-terrain vehicles to support land operations. Well-trained technical staff at the station is always ready to assist the scientists.
The “CZ*ECO Nelson” field camp in Nelson Island, the South Shetland Islands, used to be the only privately owned research station in the Antarctic, founded by the enthusiastic Czech citizen, Mr. Jaroslav Pavlíček in season 1988-89, originally under the name “Eco-Nelson”. In 2017, this rather specific infrastructure (incl. customary right of use related to the locality) was redeemed by the Czech Antarctic Foundation (https://www.antarcticfoundation.cz/en/), which has rented out the station for 99 years to the Czech Antarctic Research Programme based at the Masaryk University to operate it. The installation has been renamed to CZ*ECO Nelson and long-run reconstruction works have begun already in season 2018-19 to improve the building condition and create the dignified scientific facilities to allow (Czech) research activities on Nelson Island. Currently, the scientific investigations are focused on the fields of climatology, ornithology and plant physiology. The station is located in an ice-free oasis of 4 km2 area on the nothern tip of the Nelson island. The ice-free area has rugged relief, but is also amply covered by vegetation, as far as the harsh conditions allow. The climate is warmer and oceanic here due to exposition to strong western winds and temperate air masses, compared to the leeward position of James Ross Island with more continental climate.
The research group Polar-Geo-Lab is focused on the investigation and long-term monitoring of various Antarctic abiotic environments, i.e. glaciers, permafrost, atmosphere and hydrosphere, under changing climate conditions. Polar-Geo-Lab has available basic field and laboratory equipment enabling the research of Antarctic atmospheric, glacier, permafrost and lacustrine geo- and eco-systems and their ongoing and past changes. Polar-Geo-Lab is divided into two main working groups: 1) Climate-Glacier working group, which focuses on meteorology, climatology and glaciology, and 2) Geoscientific working group, concentrating on geomorphological processes, permafrost and periglacial environments, and (palaeo)limnology.
Polar Biology laboratory consists of two units: (1) Extreme Environments Life Laboratory and (2) Czech Collection of Microorganisms. The first one focuses the attention to stress physiology of polar autotrophs such as e.f. mosses, lichens, algae and cyanobacteria. The scope of the second one are heterotrophic microorganisms, such as e.g. bacteria and fungi.
EEL
The Extreme Environments Life Laboratory (EEL) is a part of the facilities serving for the research related to Antarctica (mainly localities along the Antarctic peninsula) and Arctics (mainly Svalbard). In general senseGenerally, its mission is to investigate the responses of extremophilic polar organisms, autotrophic lichens, algae and cyanobacteria in particularwith relation to environmental stressors. Main research directions are: (1) stress physiology of extremophilic autotrophs from polar regions, such as cyanobacteria, algae, lichens and mosses. (2) optimization of cultivation techniques of Antarctic autotrophs, (3) responses of polar algae, cyanobacteria, lichens and mosses to ongoing climate changes, atmospheric warming and ozone hole in particular, (4) collection and taxonomy of autotrophs from Antarctica. The EEL laboratory is well equipped for laboratory -based experiments focused on resistance of polar autotrophs to stress factors. In last two decades, advanced biophysical methods have been used in photosynthetic studies of polar autotrophs.
The Czech Collection of Microorganisms (CCM) is a Biological Resource Centre (BRC) that serves as a depository and distribution facility for bacterial and filamentous fungal cultures intended for research, industrial applications, education and general scientific interest. The CCM cultures are mainly stored as freeze-dried ampoules or in liquid nitrogen, while some fungi are maintained under paraffin oil or in distilled water. Over the last two decades, increasing attention has been paid to Antarctic bacteria and fungi. Currently, CCM has a special collection of Antarctic isolates containing about 10,000 strains of bacteria and rock-inhabiting fungi. Some of these microbial isolates are available to other researchers as they have been included in the Czech Antarctic Microbial Biobank (CAMB). The bacterial strains were isolated from various sources such as water, lake sediments, soil, rock fragments, cryoconite and animals. Research on Antarctic bacterial isolates focuses mainly on the biodiversity and taxonomy of different bacterial groups, e.g. psychrophilic, oligotrophic or heterotrophic or animal-associated bacteria. Special attention is paid to the Gram-positive bacteria that produce antibacterial compounds. Research on microscopic fungi focuses primarily on the study of the species diversity and taxonomy of black microcolonial fungi inhabiting rock surfaces.
