Maria Lisiewska and Anna Bujakiewicz – on the occasion of their 80th and 75th birthdays and the 60th anniversary of creating Poznań Mycocoenological School

Birthday anniversaries of excellent mycologists professor Maria Lisiewska (born 2 January 1934) and professor Anna Bujakiewicz (born 1 February 1940) are an occasion for dedicating them the jubilee issue of Acta Mycologica. Both ladies are known as authors of remarkable papers on mycocoenology, chorology and taxonomy of fungi. Specially appreciated is their educational activity in the form of courses and seminars opened for people from the whole country. The entity of their work resulted with the creation of Poznań Mycocoenological School and was important for integration of Polish mycologists, which later contributed to establishing the Polish Mycological Society.

Dedicating the exceptional 50-th issue of Acta Mycologica to professors Maria Lisiewska and Anna Bujakiewicz is a sign of homage, admiration and gratitude for their over half of a century work in fields of fungal ecology, chorology and taxonomy. Their activity in science and education as well as openness for home and abroad cooperation had and still has a huge impact in growth of mycocoenology, integration and exchange of ideas among mycologists. The entity of their work and the means to realize it had gained the designation Poznań Mycocoenological School.
The jubilee ladies undertook mycological studies in 50-ties and 60-ties of the passed century. At that time, there was a vast need to gather macromycetes materials for taxonomy studies of fungi and enriching the phytosociological studies with the presence of fungi in plant communities. Professor Andrzej Nespiak [1,2]  Digital signature This PDF has been certified using digital signature with a trusted timestamp to assure its origin and integrity. A verification trust dialog appears on the PDF document when it is opened in a compatible PDF reader. Certificate properties provide further details such as certification time and a signing reason in case any alterations made to the final content. If the certificate is missing or invalid it is recommended to verify the article on the journal website.
geographical distribution of macromycetes, and preserves it throughout centuries for further studies. It also is the basis for evaluation of threats and verifying red listed fungi. The accomplishments of mycological research in Poznań came to light in the summarization of mycocoenological studies in Poland on the fifty years anniversary   [3], in which papers by Maria Lisiewska and Anna Bujakiewicz were a major contribution.
The anniversary ladies dedicated their professional and personal lives to mycology on local, national and international scale. Their study areas were both natural and anthropogenic sites. Both ladies devoted most of their scientific work to macromycetes of Wielkopolska, but they also worked in other regions of Poland, and conducted some of the studies together for example in Słowiński National Park [4] and Dębina Nature Reserve [5]. The celebrated ladies also participated in important team study projects. One of them was the CRYPTO program, the results of which are contained in a series of seven publications in Phytocoenosis (1995)(1996)(1997).
Maria Lisiewska participated in taxonomic work for preparing the series Flora Polska -Grzyby (Mycota) [Flora of Poland: Fungi (Mycota)], vol. XVII on genus Mycena [6], earlier on taking part in field trips for gathering mycological material.
Anna Bujakiewicz has special achievements in mycocoenological studies in phytocoenosis of riparian forests, alder swamps and mountain plant communities. She spend years studying fungi of Mt. Babia Góra. Her postdoctoral dissertation "Grzyby Babiej Góry II. Wartość wskaźnikowa macromycetes w zespołach leśnych [Fungi of Mt. Babia Góra II. The indicating value of macromycetes in forest associations]" includes the most important results of these studies. These results were presented on the VII Congress of European Mycologists which took place in September 1978 in Budapest. In the aftermath of this event, Anna Bujakiewicz received invitations from mycologists from United States, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands and many others, for leading field studies, seminars, lectures and joined studies and discussions. In turn mycologist from abroad visited Poland and with Anna Bujakiewicz took field and laboratory studies on mycocoenology. Three international field sessions were conducted: Danish-Polish (1981), Dutch-Swedish-Polish (1986) and Norwegian-Polish (1991). Among her publications a paper concerning alder and alluvial forests in in Europe and North America holds a special importance [7].
Maria Lisiewska took part in Polish-Czech-Italian project "Mycological monitoring in European oak forests" (1994)(1995)(1996) describing changes in the species diversity of macromycetes after 20 years. She also participated in projects in Germany, Denmark and countries of former Yugoslavia, e.g., studies in Plitvička Jezera National Park [8]. She presented her results on international congresses, conferences and symposia. In year 1992 she was invited as visiting professor to University of Bologna. Her distinguish accomplishment was a depiction of fungi in beech forests in a postdoctoral dissertation "Grzyby wyższe lasów bukowych we wschodniej części zasięgu buka w Europie [Macromycetes of beech forests within the eastern part of the Fagus area in Europe]". Both ladies were invited by professor Wulfard Winterhoff to prepare chapters in the handbook Fungi in vegetation science [9,10].
The mycological research center in Poznań is distinguished by its activity on behalf of social education. Since 1957 Maria Lisiewska has been giving lectures and lead field trips focused on identification of mushrooms approved for trade; as a part of annual courses organized in different parts of Poland by the Provincial Sanitary and Epidemiological Station (SANEPID) in Poznań. In cooperation with Marian Szmid from SANEPID in Poznań she prepared and published five editions of popular book Przewodnik grzyboznawczy [Guide to Mushrooms].
Anna Bujakiewicz is chairperson to the Mycological Section of the Poznań Unit of Polish Botanical Society (PBS) since its establishment in 1991. Within it and for 25 years now, she has been organizing nationwide mycological seminars on reviews, new trends and newest achievements in mycology. These monthly, open meetings have a great importance in integrating professional and amateur mycologists. There are specially valued by young people, inspired to take on scientific research and consulting their efforts. In year 2000 an article was published which included a tabular register of 98 reports presented by speakers from 17 research centers in Poland [11]. Till now more than 200 reports were presented on these seminars. As a part of activity of Mycological Section of the Poznań Unit of PBS, prof. Bujakiewicz organized for many years mycological field session, often linked with mushroom exhibition, in the regions of Notecka (Obrzycko; Fig. 1) or Zielonka Forest.
The broad range of topics, participation of amateurs, some of who have the knowledge and scientific achievements and are eager to exchange information have shown the need for a larger platform for communication. The issue was discussed on the plenary meeting of the general Mycological Section chaired by professor Alina Skirgiełło, during the 52nd PBS Convention in Poznań on 25 September 2001. A proposal was brought forth to create a society that would bring together not only mycologists with a botanical background, but also mycologists engaged in fields of medicine, veterinary, construction, commercial use of fungi, toxicology, nutrition etc. The proposal was endorsed by the gathered members.
Compiling the concept of the new society was entrusted to a group of young people. The preparations took time, but these strengthen the conviction that such a unit, that would embrace all the aspects of mycology is needed. After 8 years of discussion and arrangements, the concept of Polish Mycological Society had emerged on the Nationwide Mycological Symposium on 12 September 2009 in Olsztyn and the Society itself was created on the nationwide Polish Mycologists Convention on November 5th 2011 in Łódź.
Today, the Mycological Section of PBS and the Polish Mycological Society are connected by a constructive cooperation, especially that some of the members belong to both organizations. The conference "Fungi -key players in ecosystem functions" (23-27 September 2014 Łódź-Spała, Poland), was a clear sign of this cooperation. During the conference a special session on ecology of fungi was dedicated to both anniversary ladies. It finished with an excellent lecture by Anna Bujakiewicz "Fungi and plants -curious relations" [12]. Later on, during the evening ceremony the anniversary ladies received many congratulations, thanks and greetings. A special presentation by Maria Ławrynowicz on the 4th Congress of European Mycologists in Warsaw 1966 was dedicated to both ladies who participated in it and Maria Lisiewska was among organizers.