The chair of forest ecology

Head of Chair: Dr. Olivera Košanin, associate professor
Deputy Head of Chair: Dr. Milan Knežević, full professor
Chair Secretary: MSc Janko Ljubičić, teaching assistant

The Chair of Forest Ecology was established by the statute of the Faculty of Forestry in 1998. In  terms of organization it belongs to the Department of Forestry. According to the current accreditation of the Faculty of Forestry (2013) subjects taught at the Chair of Forest Ecology are divided into three accredited levels of study programs including undergraduate studies, master’s degree studies and doctoral studies. All subjects, except Petrography with geology, originally belong to the Faculty of Forestry and the narrow scientific field “Forest Ecology, protection and improvement of the environment”.
Compulsory subjects of the undergraduate studies degree program belonging to the Chair of Forest Ecology are: Petrography with geology, Dendrology, Soil Science, Forest phytocenology, Forest and the Environment and Forest Typology. Elective subjects include: Plant Nutrition, Endemic and Endangered Tree Species in Serbia and Ecological Classification of Deforested and Degraded Sites.

All subjects of the master’s degree program belong to the Chair of Forest Ecology within the study program Forestry – Module Forest Ecology, Protection and Improvement of the Environment. The compulsory subjects are: Methods and Techniques of Research in Ecology, Protection and Improvement of the Environment, Dendrology and Soil Science. The elective subjects include: Anthropogenic and Technogenic Soils, Forest Vegetation of Serbia, Ecological Classification of Forests and Forest Sites, Typological Mapping and Forest Types in Serbia, Typological definition of Stands of Different Origin and Structure and Nature Conservation and Protected Natural Areas.

Compulsory subjects of doctoral studies in the module Forestry – sub-module “Forest Ecology, Protection and Improvement of the Environment”, which belong to the Chair of Forest Ecology are Dendrology and Soil Science. The elective subjects include: Degradation, Protection, Use and Reclamation of Soils, Soil Quality Determination and Mapping, Hazardous and Harmful Substances in the Environment, Phytocoenology, Floristic Diversity of Serbia and Typological Bases in Forest Purpose Determination. Subjects at the Chair of Forest Ecology are taught by seven professors and one teaching assistant. The fully employed staff includes six (6) of the teachers (2) full professors, one (1) associate professor and three (3) assistant professors), as well as one full professor engaged as a visiting professor. The technical preparation of lessons involves one (1) teaching associate and four (4) laboratory technicians.

The Chair of Forest Ecology has two laboratories and two teaching collections: the Laboratory of soil physics and the Laboratory of Soil Chemistry, a Herbarium – a collection of materials herbanized trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants and a collection of minerals and rocks.
Since the establishment of the Chair (1998) a large number of bachelor’s, master of science theses, master’s degree theses and doctoral dissertations have been defended at the Chair. A total of 12 doctoral dissertations have been defended so far.  Seven dissertations were defended in the field of soil science, two (2) in the field of dendrology, 1 (one) in the field of phytocenology and  2 (two) in the field of forest typology. Scientific and research work of the teachers and staff of the Chair of Forest Ecology is achieved through basic, applied and development research in the field of forest ecology, soil science and environmental protection.