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Zoochorous dispersal of vascular plants in the context of rewilding - study in the Milovice grazing reserve
Mádrová, Terezie ; Lepková, Barbora (advisor) ; Janíková, Eva (referee)
Seed dispersal is one of the most important mechanisms of plant population dynamics. One type of such dispersal is zoochory, i.e. the dispersal of seeds by animals, which is divided into two types - epizoochory (dispersal of seeds on the animal's body) and endozoochory (dispersal of seeds in the animal's digestive tract). For endozoochory in particular, the essential dispersers are large herbivores, which are one of the important elements defining the character and structure of vegetation and many species of which have disappeared from the European landscape as a result of human activity. Conservation management that uses the reintroduction of animal species to care for sites, is called rewilding. The non-profit organization Česká krajina deals with the reintroduction of large herbivores in our environment and established a reserve with horses (Equus ferus), European bison (Bison bonasus) and aurochs (Bos primigenus) in the former military area Milovice. My aim was to determine how these animals contribute to a local vegetation dynamics through zoochoric seed dispersal. I studied epizoochory using a germination experiment with the soil samples from under the so-called rubbing trees (by Heineken et al. 2006) from the spring of 2021. A total of 27 seedlings germinated from 120 soil samples, 85 % of...
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Endozoochorous seed dispersal by free ranging herbivores
Lepková, Barbora
Endozoochorous dispersal of seeds is a very common phenomenon which may occur anywhere some animals feed on plants bearing mature seeds. Endozoochory has been identified as a potential driver for long-distance migration but there is a strong discrepancy between endozoochory by frugivorous animals and herbivores. Despite the fact that the latter has been observed as early as a century ago, our understanding of the herbivorous endozoochory is still limited, even more so when it comes to the free-ranging wild species of herbivores. Furthermore, the endozoochorous dispersal shows significant differences between study areas and between herbivore species suggesting we need information about the process from various study areas to draw any conclusions. This thesis aimed to: (i) research the species composition found in dung samples of wild boars and deer, (ii) quantify the effect of deer dung deposition on vegetation of dry grasslands, (iii) establish the adaptation of plant species to the passage through digestive tract, and (iv) disentangle the drivers of species composition dispersed in dung. The results of my research indicates: (i) the species composition in dung samples differs up to a point between deer and wild boars: some species are dispersed by both dispersers while other only by one of them....
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Tasty rewards for ants: differences in elaiosome and seed metabolite profiles are consistent across species and reflect taxonomic relatedness
KONEČNÁ, Marie
The reward for ants in myrmecochory is a nutrient-rich appendage, the elaiosome. This study evaluates the metabolite composition of five groups (i.e. amino acids, fatty acids, organic acids, polyols, and sugars) in elaiosomes compared to the respective seeds. Two plant species from each of the four families (Amaryllidaceae, Boraginaceae, Papaveraceae, and Poaceae) were examined, with each species represented by three populations. The hierarchically designed data enabled the decomposition of variability in metabolite composition at three levels: family, species, and population. Another aspect studied was the consistency of elaiosome metabolite composition across unrelated species from monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous families with different elaiosome origins, which may reflect the convergent evolution of elaiosomes.
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Endozoochorous seed dispersal by free ranging herbivores
Lepková, Barbora ; Herben, Tomáš (advisor) ; Eycott, Amy Elizabeth (referee) ; Mudrák, Ondřej (referee)
Endozoochorous dispersal of seeds is a very common phenomenon which may occur anywhere some animals feed on plants bearing mature seeds. Endozoochory has been identified as a potential driver for long-distance migration but there is a strong discrepancy between endozoochory by frugivorous animals and herbivores. Despite the fact that the latter has been observed as early as a century ago, our understanding of the herbivorous endozoochory is still limited, even more so when it comes to the free-ranging wild species of herbivores. Furthermore, the endozoochorous dispersal shows significant differences between study areas and between herbivore species suggesting we need information about the process from various study areas to draw any conclusions. This thesis aimed to: (i) research the species composition found in dung samples of wild boars and deer, (ii) quantify the effect of deer dung deposition on vegetation of dry grasslands, (iii) establish the adaptation of plant species to the passage through digestive tract, and (iv) disentangle the drivers of species composition dispersed in dung. The results of my research indicates: (i) the species composition in dung samples differs up to a point between deer and wild boars: some species are dispersed by both dispersers while other only by one of them....
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Factors limiting the distribution of the mycoheterotrophic plants in fragmented landscape
KOTILÍNEK, Milan
This thesis investigates the influence of habitat, dispersal abilities and evolution on distribution of mycoheterotrophic plants represented by six orchid species. Several methods including seed trapping, in situ seed germination, fungal barcoding, gene flow study and stable isotopes analyses were used to examine this topic. The final synthesis of these approaches shows lower limitation by dispersal abilities and stronger limitation by habitat.
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Germination requirements of rare and common plant species of Giant Mountains
Paulů, Andrea ; Münzbergová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Moravcová, Lenka (referee)
For a long time studies were focused on searching optimal conditions of germination of individual species. During the last few years studies have started to search for a relationship between germination and various species characteristics. Most of them, however, use only one temperature during germination tests. Very few studies use more than one temperature during the germination tests. In the last years studies started also to compare germination between rare and common species, but these studies compare just a few species. There are no studies which would compare germination on broader range of species. Aim of this study was to indentify which factors are determing germination of species and to find relationships between germination and characteristics of rare species (n=62). Another aim was to find out differences in germination of pairs (n=24) of closely related rare and common species. To test the germination I have chosen a methodology with several consecutive temperatures. Throughout the time of testing , the seeds were placed either in light or in dark. The dataset was processed by linear regression. The results show that germination requirements of species are determinet by time of flowering, weight of seeds, dispersal mode, species requirements for soil humidity and nutrients and type of...
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Factors determining distribution of species in dry grasslands
Průchová, Dana ; Münzbergová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Hadincová, Věroslava (referee)
Factors determining distribution of species in semi-natural grasslands Survival and colonization of plant species in fragmented landscapes are topic of many recent studies. Most of them deal with one or just a few species or with overall species diversity. There are also a lot of studies devoted to the effect of abiotic characteristics and other parameters of fragmented habitat patches. Studies that would enable to evaluate behaviour of a large number of individual species are still relatively rare, especially in case of grassland species. Comparison of species traits in conjunction with the knowledge of type of historical land use and abiotic requirements of species can be a key to understanding of current species dispersal and their regional dynamic in fragmented landscape. This method of prediction of species dispersal can be a good implement for landscape planning and conservation of species and also their habitats. Goal of my thesis was to determine which traits of species influence response of species on land-use history in fragmented habitat of dry grasslands. I tried to use effect of land-use history without effect of environmental factors on species composition in phytosociological relevés. Then I tried to explain the reaction of species through their traits. I focused partially on traits...
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Factors affecting the course of primary succession in queries
Kuťáková, Eliška ; Münzbergová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Püschel, David (referee)
Abandoned quarries represent very important habitats for ecology and conservational biology: they have a potential to become refuges of species diversity in present landscape, strongly disturbed by humans. Natural value of these localities increases in case the localities are left for natural development and spontaneous succession, or if they are managed with the aim to obtain a natural community. To be able to do such a management is necessary to understand the mechanisms of succession as much as possible. In the theoretical part of my thesis I deal with factors, which can affect the course of succession in different ways, especially with climate, soil conditions, seed dispersal and interactions among plants and between plants and animals. This thesis is a theoretical basis for a research in quarry Čeřinka in the Czech Karst Protected Landscape Area. Dispersal abilities of species from the surrounding communities, changes in abiotic conditions at the localities and changes in species composition will be studied. The results of these studies should contribute to our understandings of primary succession in abandoned quarries and I am going to deal with them in my future diploma thesis.
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