1983-1993: Pollution
The roots of the RECETOX Centre go back to 1983, when the Department of Environmental Protection was established at the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University (MU) in response to the deteriorating state of the environment, the growing amount of information about environmental accidents and serious impacts of chemical pollution on the environment and human health.
PEOPLE and TEAMS
The first head of the newly established department in 1983-1989 was Rudolf Rozkošný, a leading Czech entomologist, who focused on the ecology of terrestrial ecosystems and general problems of environmental protection. At the new department, the chemist Ivan Holoubek introduced the problem of chemical pollution and related risks. The botanist and ecologist Zdeněk Šeda dealt with the impact of anthropogenic activities on plant ecosystems and the possibility of using plants as bioindicators of the accumulation of toxic substances in the environment. The geographer Pavel Trnka focused on biogeography and landscape ecology and the use of geographic information systems and remote sensing in landscape research and landscape cartography was later also the focus of Jaromír Kolejka. Pedologist Dagmar Procházková studied the influence of anthropogenic activities on the soil and agroecosystem, and Antonín Brzobohatý specialized in the recreational function of forests and issues of environmental legislation.
RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, INNOVATION, APPLICATIONS
The department focused on ecology, analysis of the impact of anthropogenic activities and risks associated with environmental pollution. From the outset, it has developed cooperation with industry and affected regions, contributing its expertise to mapping the situation and finding ways to improve the state of the environment. In 1988, the lack of data and research capacity and the need to address specific environmental problems gave rise to the unique TOCOEN (Toxic Organic COmpounds in the ENvironment) project linking Czech and Slovak experts dealing with chemical pollution. The project was the first step towards the establishment of the MU spin-off company of the same name in 1993.
EDUCATION
In 1990, the Centre accredited its first Master's degree programme in Environmental Protection and Design.
PROJECTS and COOPERATION
In 1988, the Department started long-term cooperation with the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute on integrated monitoring of environmental pollution at the newly established observatory in Košetice. Through this programme, the Department also entered into cooperation with the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) supporting the new European Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution. The data series, continuing to the present day, provide information on long-term trends in pollution by selected pollutants that are unique in the Central European region. The cooperation of the RECETOX Centre with the CHMI and later also institutes of the Academy of Sciences (Institute of Chemical Processes and CzechGlobe) resulted in 2011 in the establishment of the joint research infrastructure ACTRIS CZ.
RESULTS and INTERESTING FACTS
Atmospheric concentrations of polyaromatic hydrocarbons, which are the products of combustion, increase dramatically during winter periods. Their levels depend, among other things, on the method of heating (which is determined, for example, by fuel prices), but also on polluting industry, traffic and the meteorological situation.
