History

In the 1950s, several prominent forestry experts sought to establish an independent forestry research institute within the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS). This effort was partially fulfilled in 1951 with the creation of the Forestry Laboratory of the SAS, which, however, was dissolved in 1954. At the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, three SAS researchers – Ing. Ferdinand Kubíček, CSc., Ing. Vojtech Šušlík, CSc., and Assoc. Prof. Ing. Ľudovít Weismann, DrSc. – developed a concept for a new research institute dedicated to fundamental research on forest ecosystems. Following its approval, the Branch for Forest Ecosystem Research of the Institute of Experimental Biology and Ecology of the Centre of Biological and Ecological Sciences of the SAS was established in Zvolen on 1 January 1983 by Resolution No. 743 of the SAS Presidium of 27 April 1982.

At its inception, the branch comprised twenty employees (five of whom were researchers) and three external research stations in the Central Slovak Region – in Banská Štiavnica, Staré Hory and Východná. Its first head was Assoc. Prof. Ing. Milan Voško, CSc., while the Director of the Centre of Biological and Ecological Sciences was Academician Ľudovít Weismann.

On 1 July 1987, based on Resolution No. 689/1 of the SAS Presidium of 17 June 1987, the branch was transformed into the Institute of Forest Ecology of the Centre of Biological and Ecological Sciences of the SAS. During the preceding four and a half years, the staff devoted significant scientific, professional, and physical effort to reconstructing the building on Ľudovít Štúr Street in Zvolen, where the institute remains located to this day. The building became the property of the institute later, during the directorship of Ing. Jozef Váľka, CSc.. The first director of the newly established institute was Assoc. Prof. Ing. Milan Voško, CSc. (1987–1990). By 1987, the institute employed approximately seventy staff members, including several prominent forestry scientists such as Ing. Ctibor Greguš, DrSc., Assoc. Prof. RNDr. Gejza Steinhübel, DrSc., Prof. Ing. Miroslav Stolina, DrSc., and Assoc. Prof. RNDr. Jan Patočka, DrSc. Over time, the institute gained recognition within national and international scientific communities.

By Resolution No. 36 of the SAS Presidium of 22 March 1990, the institute became independent on 1 July 1990 and adopted the name Institute of Forest Ecology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Since 2022, following the transformation of SAS organisations into public research institutions (effective from 1 January 2022), its full official name is Institute of Forest Ecology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Public Research Institution.

The director of the institute have been:

• Assoc. Prof. Ing. Milan Voško, CSc. (1987–1990),
• Prof. Ing. Eduard Bublinec, CSc. (1990–2000),
• Ing. Jozef Váľka, CSc. (2001–2016),
• since 2016 the institute has been led by RNDr. Ľubica Ditmarová, PhD.

After 1990, the institute – similarly to the SAS and society at large – underwent several organisational changes. These also affected the Arborétum Mlyňany – Institute of Dendrobiology of the SAS. On 1 January 1994, the research division of this organisation was transferred to the Institute of Forest Ecology, resulting in the creation of the Branch of Tree Biology in Nitra. Meanwhile, Arborétum Mlyňany SAS continued as an independent organisation. The branch consisted of two departments, one of which – the Department of Tree Propagation – was located directly within the Arboretum.

In 1993, the institute incorporated the workplace of the Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics of Animals SAS in Zvolen, and the Cabinet of Evolutionary and Applied Ecology SAS in Banská Štiavnica (later dissolved) was also integrated into its scope.

In 2001, the Department of Tree Propagation was separated from the Branch of Tree Biology in Nitra. The institute further expanded after 2012, when the Department of Strategic Environmental Analyses (2012) joined, followed by the Department of Molecular Apidology (2013). On 1 July 2014, Arborétum Mlyňany was formally merged with the Institute of Forest Ecology, while retaining its original name. In 2017, the Department of Plant Pathology and Mycology was established in Nitra. Another organisational change occurred on 1 April 2021, when the Laboratory of Molecular Apidology was transferred to the Centre for Biosciences SAS. Since 2024, the institute’s structure has included Arborétum Mlyňany as an organisational (predominantly infrastructural) unit. Concurrently, the Department of Dendrobiology in Vieska nad Žitavou was established.

Historical overview and characteristics of the institute

Mission and Research Disciplines

According to the full wording of the Founding Charter of the Institute of Forest Ecology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Public Research Institution, approved by the SAS Presidium on 28 October 2021, the institute’s primary mission is to conduct research in the following scientific and technical fields: ecology, nature and landscape conservation, landscape ecology, environmental management, mycology, pedology, zoology, plant and tree physiology, horticulture, landscape engineering, plant protection, forest phytology, forest protection, and other related fields of biological sciences, agricultural sciences, and forestry.

Headquarters and Organisational Structure

The institute is headquartered in Zvolen. Its organisational unit is Arborétum Mlyňany in Vieska nad Žitavou. The institute operates the following detached workplaces (external research stations):

• in Nitra – Department of Plant Pathology and Mycology of the IFE SAS,
• in Bratislava – Department of Strategic Environmental Analyses of the IFE SAS,
• in Vieska nad Žitavou – Department of Dendrobiology of the IFE SAS.