The replacement of successive tree generations is a fundamental process which shapes the structure and dynamics offorest ecosystems and essential ecosystem services. Conditioning this process are the complex relationships between thespatial and temporal patterns of tree death (i.e. gap formation) and the recruitment and growth of young individuals. In thisproject, Magdalena Żywiec (hereinafter: MŻ) will investigate natural forest regeneration in an exceptionally well preservedarea of Europe – the subalpine spruce forest of Mt. Babia Góra (Western Carpathians, Poland) – which remains in a nearlyprimeval state. MŻ will investigate the natural regeneration of two phylogenetically distant tree species which differ in anumber of ecological and functional traits, making the results from this project generalisable to a range of European treespecies. To address our general objective (i.e. to comprehensively understand the replacement of tree speciesgenerations), an inclusive evaluation of the spatio-temporal relationships between canopy gaps and natural treeregeneration must employ sophisticated state-of-the-art ecological models based on rigorous empirical data. This requires astrong background in point pattern analysis in addition to deep knowledge of the natural history of the studied system. MŻwill acquire comprehensive skills in aspects of different modelling disciplines such as spatial point pattern analysis, markedpoint pattern analysis and generalised linear mixed models. This project presents an excellent opportunity to integrate recentadvances in spatial point pattern analysis (SPPA) with field data exhaustively collected during the last several decades.Finally, the novel approach to be applied and the long-term series of ecological data to be used make this proposal unique inEurope and the fellowship will lead directly to original results of huge significance for European forests preservation.