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Diversity of traits of aculeatan hymonopterans in habitats with finely-grained substrate
Wofková, Gabriela ; Tropek, Robert (advisor) ; Šlancarová, Jana (referee)
Natural habitats of aculeate hymenopterans are rapidly decreasing and strictly specialized species are thus going to be endangered or extinct. However, in the last decades the conservation potential of postindustrial sites has been found. There were many endangered and nationally extinct species recorded along with the drift sand specialists. However, one unclear thing remains - on postindustrial sites there were still no recordings of species that have similar biological traits to the species that are colonizing these sites. The main target of my thesis was to find traits which make it possible for the insects to colonize postindustrial sites. A matrix of 79 traits was made to describe aculeate hymenopterans biotope preferences, phenology, morphology, biogeographical area, nest, food and life history strategies. With these traits I describe 351 species systematically collected on twenty-one localities with finely - grained substrate found in Polabi and South Bohemia. These traits were tested with weighted mean abundances on type of substrate (artificial vs. sandy) with GEE analysis and the type of locality (dumping ground of coal combustion, ore and sand sludge vs. sandpits vs. natural sand) with PCoA analysis. A phylogenetic correction was incorporated in both analyzes. My results show that on...
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Land Abandonment in the Mediterranean Effects on Butterfly Communities with Respect to Life History Traits
ŠLANCAROVÁ, Jana
This thesis deals with the effects of changing land use, following landscape abandonment, on butterfly communities in the Mediterranean Basin. It consists of three case studies. The first focuses on the effects of forest encroachment on butterflies in the Southern Balkans; the second studies butterfly communities in Portuguese 'montados' and the third explores demography and life histories of three co-occurring Papilionidae butterfly species (Archon apollinus, Zerynthia polyxena and Zerynthia cerisy) in Greek Thrace. The results describe shifts in butterfly communities, detectable even at the level of individual species life history traits, with increasing forest encroachment. The preference of range-restricted Mediterranean endemics for either grasslands or open woodland formations contributes to falsifying the forested Mediterranean hypothesis, favouring a hypothesis of finely grained landscape mosaic instead. This mosaic is currently threatened by land use change and biodiversity homogenisation. Maintaining habitat and landscape heterogeneity is crucial for conserving the Mediterranean biodiversity hot-spot.
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How life history affects threat status: Requirements of two Onobrychis-feeding lycaenid butterflies, Polyommatus damon and Polyommatus thersites, in the Czech Republic
ŠLANCAROVÁ, Jana
The study compares ecological requirements of two related (congeneric) butterflies, Polyommatus damon and P. thersites, both of them reaching their northern distribution margins in Central Europe, where they co-occur on xeric grasslands, utilising identical larval host plants. Despite these similarities, one of them is substantially more endangered than the other. We describe their egg-laying behaviour and egg placement patterns, and analyse their distribution in a model landscape, showing that minute life history details affect differing species' fates in human-dominated landscapes.
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