On Tuesday, the Erasmus+ students traveled out of Banská Bystica to visit the Arborétum Borová hora in Zvolen, which focuses on scientific research activities for the Technical University of Zvolen and also works as a botanical garden. They spent the morning divided into two groups with specialists who work for the Faculty of Forestry, which taught them about water balance in forests, the importance of forests in the water cycle, the structures of wood and leaves, and about the stomata.
Interactive workshops in multinational groups
The students have learned that water and soil are storages of energy and that in the forest there is a complex interaction between the water cycle, soil, trees and the atmosphere. While the first group learned about solar radiation and how it affects the planet and soil, along with weather stations which measured temperatures of the soil, humidity, temperature, the speed and direction of the wind and the quantity of precipitation, the other group learned in better detail about the stomata and structure of leaves. For this purpose, they collected leaves from different trees and with the help of nail polish, tape and microscope slides they were able to observe the stomata under a microscope.
After a series of informative lectures and fascinating experiments led by the entire faculty team from the University of Zvolen, the students were able to enjoy a lunch break. They took time not only to savor the delicious meal but also to reflect on what they had seen, heard, and learned. For lunch, they spent their free time to roam around the citycenter of Zvolen and get something to eat. They all split up into small groups and most of them went to Chinese or Vietnamese restaurants or bought some street food like burgers, kebab or pizza.
Visit to research center LignoSilva
After lunch, another interesting item on the program awaited the studentswe – the Biotechnological park Stráž, LignoSilva. In this forest-based research center, they were shown a 3D CT scanner that is used for analyzing the wood and taking pictures of every centimeter to look for mistakes or dents in the huge logs of wood. So far, this whole process is done by humans, but they are in progress of teaching an AI. Then these mistakes should be recognized by itself and the perfect way to cut the logs should be calculated. The students were given a presentation on the center´s studies which included using wood bark and wood waste to turn it into energy. The beautiful hot day ended in an even hotter greenhouse, which the company uses for research. Link to a detailed report about the visit at LignoSilva.
