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Conservation genetics of the grey wolf in Central Europe
Valentová, Kamila Anna ; Hulva, Pavel (advisor) ; Galov, Ana (referee)
Conservation genetics of the grey wolf in Czech Republic and adjacent regions is studied in the present thesis. Analyses of twenty-one microsatellite loci, one sex-determining amelogenin gene and mitochodrial control region were used to verify species determination, identify individuals and estimate relationships between them, analyse population structure and estimate demographic trends based on samples collected between 2014 and 2021. Genetic detection of red fox and dog samples incorrectly assigned to wolves illustrates the hurdles of field monitoring of grey wolf. Direct evidence for the occurrence of F1 hybrids was not found. Wolves from Bohemia showed lower values of allelic richness in comparison to the ones from Western Carpathians, probably as a consequence of recent expansion. Geographic distances between detection sites of identical individuals were relatively small or moderate in this study, suggesting regular movements of animals within their home ranges. Only two long-distance dispersal events exceeding 300 km were detected. Results of parental analysis provided evidence of pack distribution within the studied area. Most relationships were detected between wolves in the northern region of Czech Republic where the first recolonizing wolf pack in 2014 was registered. Within the studied...
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Population genetics of grey wolf in Western Carpathians
Veselovská, Lenka ; Hulva, Pavel (advisor) ; Suchomel, Josef (referee)
The grey wolf is a top predator that plays a keystone role in maintaining the ecological balance of forested habitats. This master thesis focuses on the population structure and demography of the grey wolves in Slovakia, using data collected over two winter seasons between 2017 and 2019. Special attention is directed to the Western Carpathians. In Slovakia, the range of the wolf may cover up to 60% of the whole area. The population size and structure of grey wolves are influenced by both natural factors, such as mountain ranges isolation and dispersal, and anthropogenic influences, such as population fragmentation caused by linear infrastructure and increased mortality from traffic collisions. Additionally, the annual culling quotas for grey wolves have had an impact on their populations until recently. Mainly a non-invasive genetics approach utilizing selected 10 nuclear microsatellite markers, a marker for sex detection and mitochondrial sequences was used. Firstly, the species determination was verified and data quality filtering was carried out under statistical control. The sex ratio of the examined sample was 1:1,3. Mitochondrial data were assigned to haplotypes to help infer population origin. Bayesian clustering analysis of microsatellite data using the STRUCTURE program was used to...
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Grey wolf in the magazine Myslivost
Grosser, Dominik ; Novák, Arnošt (advisor) ; Pospíšilová, Tereza (referee)
The thesis deals with the tension between the hunting perspective and strict protection of the grey wolf in the context of the Czech Republic. Within the theoretical part, I construct an understanding of hunting from historical and contemporary practical perspectives, discuss its "traditional" conception, present the naturalistic arguments for the return of the wolf, its current distribution, legal protection and the obstacles that may hinder its return. At the same time, I further problematize the conflict between the return among local people and the discourse of strict wolf protection, in which elements of power asymmetry, based on foreign literature, stand out due to the imposition of dominant and hegemonic protection within the public space. With these assumptions in mind, I enter the subsequent critical discursive analysis of the journal Myslivost, published by the Czech- Moravian Hunting Union. For my work, I set out to unravel the modes of representation through which the Myslivost magazine constructs the social reality of the grey wolf, while also analysing the ideologue(s) that underpin and enable the legitimisation of the discourse in question. On the basis of my analysis, I find that the wolf is represented within Myslivost magazine primarily as a "mongrel" and "artificially released"...
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Comparison of Attitudes of Primary and Secondary Schools Students to Large Carnivores, Especially the Common Wolf (Canis lupus) and Domestic Dog (Canis lupus familiaris)
Mejzr, Martin ; Andreska, Jan (advisor) ; Hanel, Lubomír (referee)
Today, the issues related to the presence of bears and wolves in the Czech Republic are more frequently discussed due to their occasional occurrence. The significant part of the public still considers these predators dangerous and they even think that a man is supposed to be their potential prey. A lot of surveys confirming this have been already taken, but none of them was focused on the views of primary and secondary schools students. As they are a part of the school education system, their views on the large carnivores should be mainly shaped by it. A questionnaire-based survey was used to find the attitudes of students. The first part of the questionnaire focused on the students' opinions about the dangerousness of predators, its reasons and common wolf presence in the Czech Republic. The second part of the questionnaire is focused on the domestic dog, which has wolf origins. It deals mainly with the attitudes of students to selected dog breeds, dog domestication awareness and views on the so- called "fighting breeds". This work has been aimed at identification of attitudes of the primary and secondary school students from different regions of the Czech Republic to the selected predators. The survey was also taken at primary schools in the High Tatras Mountains, an area where all the large...
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Vocal accommodation in howling of grey wolf (Canis lupus)
Schindlerová, Loretta ; Schneiderová, Irena (advisor) ; Linhart, Pavel (referee)
Vocal accommodation is the adjustment made by interlocutors while communicating, such as the adjustment of vocal pitch (i.e. the fundamental frequency) to match that of the other speaker. This behaviour can strengthen social bonds and has been predominantly studied in humans but recently also in the field of animal communication. Wolves are highly social animals and their howls - solos, duets, and choruses - are rich in information, yet vocal accommodation has not been studied in this species. Using a number of approaches, we explore whether grey wolves (Canis lupus) vocally accommodate to other wolves in duet howls by altering their howl contours to either converge to or diverge from another wolf's howl. To this aim we assessed the differences in the variables of the fundamental frequency and the contour of fundamental frequency using linear mixed models, Euclidean distance and dynamic time warping as metrics. Of the multiple analyses that we performed, one analysis identified significant differences between solo and duet howls, while another analysis indicated that duet howls within dyads were more similar than duet howls from different dyads. Our results point to the need for further exploration of the sources of variability and the role of context in order to confirm the existence of vocal...
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Comparison of Attitudes of Primary and Secondary Schools Students to Large Carnivores, Especially the Common Wolf (Canis lupus) and Domestic Dog (Canis lupus familiaris)
Mejzr, Martin ; Andreska, Jan (referee) ; Hanel, Lubomír (referee)
Today, the issues related to the presence of bears and wolves in the Czech Republic are more frequently discussed due to their occasional occurrence. The significant part of the public still considers these predators dangerous and they even think that a man is supposed to be their potential prey. A lot of surveys confirming this have been already taken, but none of them was focused on the views of primary and secondary schools students. As they are a part of the school education system, their views on the large carnivores should be mainly shaped by it. A questionnaire-based survey was used to find the attitudes of students. The first part of the questionnaire focused on the students' opinions about the dangerousness of predators, its reasons and common wolf presence in the Czech Republic. The second part of the questionnaire is focused on the domestic dog, which has wolf origins. It deals mainly with the attitudes of students to selected dog breeds, dog domestication awareness and views on the so- called "fighting breeds". This work has been aimed at identification of attitudes of the primary and secondary school students from different regions of the Czech Republic to the selected predators. The survey was also taken at primary schools in the High Tatras Mountains, an area where all the large...
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Conservation genetics of grey wolf and snow leopard: effect of landscape attributes to the population structure
Benešová, Markéta ; Hulva, Pavel (advisor) ; Kreisinger, Jakub (referee)
Landscape genetic approaches allow to study effects of landscape to population microevolution. Landscape can influence gene flow even in large carnivores with good dispersal ability. Understanding the influence of landscape to the gene flow between populations is crucial for species conservation, especially in the species with low population densities. Aim of the study was to describe genetic structure of the grey wolf (Canis lupus) and snow leopard (Panthera uncia) in selected areas and to determine the influence of the landscape features on observed structure. Non-invasive genetic samples of snow leopard from Nepal were analysed, as well as invasive and non-invasive samples of grey wolf from Central Europe. Population structure was determined a posteriori using Bayesian clustering approaches that integrate genetic and geographical data, and compared to landscape connectivity models. Population structure of snow leopards is mostly influenced by human presence and presence of frequented roads, which represent a substantial dispersal barrier. Habitat suitable for this species is greatly restricted by altitude, however, during dispersal they are able to overcome areas with higher elevation than what is optimal for them. Pronounced genetic difference was found between central European and Carpathian...
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Conservation genetics of the grey wolf in Central Europe
Valentová, Kamila Anna ; Hulva, Pavel (advisor) ; Galov, Ana (referee)
Conservation genetics of the grey wolf in Czech Republic and adjacent regions is studied in the present thesis. Analyses of twenty-one microsatellite loci, one sex-determining amelogenin gene and mitochodrial control region were used to verify species determination, identify individuals and estimate relationships between them, analyse population structure and estimate demographic trends based on samples collected between 2014 and 2021. Genetic detection of red fox and dog samples incorrectly assigned to wolves illustrates the hurdles of field monitoring of grey wolf. Direct evidence for the occurrence of F1 hybrids was not found. Wolves from Bohemia showed lower values of allelic richness in comparison to the ones from Western Carpathians, probably as a consequence of recent expansion. Geographic distances between detection sites of identical individuals were relatively small or moderate in this study, suggesting regular movements of animals within their home ranges. Only two long-distance dispersal events exceeding 300 km were detected. Results of parental analysis provided evidence of pack distribution within the studied area. Most relationships were detected between wolves in the northern region of Czech Republic where the first recolonizing wolf pack in 2014 was registered. Within the studied...
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Phylogeography and adaptive evolution of the grey wolf
Veselovská, Lenka ; Hulva, Pavel (advisor) ; Fornůsková, Alena (referee)
Grey wolf is a highly mobile top predator, a keystone and umbrella species within ecosystems throughout the Holarctic area. The occurrence of wolves' populations is influenced by glacial history, environmental conditions and human activity. Nowadays, wolves are returning to a man-altered country where they were exterminated, and they are adapting to human dominated landscape. People have largely contributed to its extinction in many areas around the world, resulting in a decline in genetic diversity. Due to different demographic and environmental conditions, many different lineages have evolved, which can be distinguished based on morphological and genetic analyses. Climatic factors can result in the formation of ecotypes, which become heritable and genetically distinguishable. The aim of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive overview of the phylogeography and adaptive evolution of the grey wolf in the context of genetic, geographical and morphological combination data. Keywords: grey wolf, Canis lupus, phylogeography, ecotypes, adaptive evolution
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Conservation genetics of grey wolf and snow leopard: effect of landscape attributes to the population structure
Benešová, Markéta ; Hulva, Pavel (advisor) ; Kreisinger, Jakub (referee)
Landscape genetic approaches allow to study effects of landscape to population microevolution. Landscape can influence gene flow even in large carnivores with good dispersal ability. Understanding the influence of landscape to the gene flow between populations is crucial for species conservation, especially in the species with low population densities. Aim of the study was to describe genetic structure of the grey wolf (Canis lupus) and snow leopard (Panthera uncia) in selected areas and to determine the influence of the landscape features on observed structure. Non-invasive genetic samples of snow leopard from Nepal were analysed, as well as invasive and non-invasive samples of grey wolf from Central Europe. Population structure was determined a posteriori using Bayesian clustering approaches that integrate genetic and geographical data, and compared to landscape connectivity models. Population structure of snow leopards is mostly influenced by human presence and presence of frequented roads, which represent a substantial dispersal barrier. Habitat suitable for this species is greatly restricted by altitude, however, during dispersal they are able to overcome areas with higher elevation than what is optimal for them. Pronounced genetic difference was found between central European and Carpathian...
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