The Institute of Botany of the ASCR, v.v.i. (public research institute) is one of the research institutes of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic (ASCR). The Institute does fundamental research on species, populations and communities of plants. The following diverse fields of study are represented: taxonomy, biosystematics and phytogeography of higher and lower plants (e.g., algology, ecotoxicology, mycology and lichenology), plant ecology (population biology, synecology, comparative and production ecology, ecophysiology), mycorrhizal symbioses and geobotany of large complexes of vegetation, including vegetation mapping and paleoecology. Currently, it is especially concerned with biodiversity and evolutionary trends among plants, ecology of invasive species, responses of plants and vegetation to environmental changes and the mechanisms that enable species to coexist in ecosystems.