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Phylogeography and genetic variation of benthic crustaceans in European inland waters
Pešek, Pavel ; Petrusek, Adam (advisor) ; Sacherová, Veronika (referee)
This thesis summarises published information about geographic distribution of genealogical lineages and genetic variability of benthic crustaceans of European continental waters, and evaluates the historical factors that affected their distribution. it is focused mainly on species for which multiple or in-depth studies have been published. A particular attention is given to crayfish of the genus Austropotamobius. Present distribution of genealogical lineages has been affected by changes in connectedness and availability of aquatic habitats. Species lineages often split in consequence to geological and climatic processes during the Tertiary, as exemplified on species complexes of Austropotamobius crayfish, species lineages of the amphipod Gammarus fossarum species complex, and the isopod Asellus aquaticus. The distribution of intraspecific lineages has been strongly affected by Quaternary cycles of glaciation, which not only destroyed many habitats by moving glaciers but also created new colonisation routes. Such routes were peri-glacial lakes, which had been used by Gammarus lacustris, or retreat of sea level, which enabled white-clawed crayfish to colonise England, and a freshwater crab to colonise Italy. Changes in sea levels are also the likely reasons for colonisation of continental waters by the...
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Phylogeography of the genus Squalius in Albania
Lerch, Zdeněk ; Švátora, Miroslav (advisor) ; Kalous, Lukáš (referee)
The thesis is focused on the issue of the Squalius genus phylogeography in Albania in the Balkan region. Phylogenetic analyses of sequence variation at mitochondrial genes (cytochrome b) were used to examine these issues for the freshwater fish genus Squalius from various river systems in the Adriatic Sea region. There were identified 3 genetic lineages of vague taxonomic position where the genetic variation amount to 1.6-2.1 %. The first lineage is distributed in north of Albania and in the whole Periadriatic region, the second lineage is especially spread to northern part of Albania and the third lineage covers especially the zone of the European ancient lake systems on the Balkan Peninsula (Lake Ohrid and Prespa), from where expands to the southern part of Albania. There sympatrically coincide the both lineage in the hydrological river-lake system of Drin and Skadar. The phylogenetic and taxonomic position of the Squalius genus in the region seems to be interesting topic for subsequent and more detailed study. Keywords: Squalius, Albania, cytochrome b, phylogeography
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Diversity, distribution and genetic structure of the tribe Pipistrellini
Eliášová, Kristýna ; Hulva, Pavel (advisor) ; Fornůsková, Alena (referee)
This literature review discusses phylogenetic relationships within the family Vespertilionidae with a detailed focus on tribus Pipistrellini relations and then the individual genera and species within this tribe. A historical summary of efforts to resolve the phylogenetic relationships within the taxon first on the basis of morphological studies, comparison of karyotype and most recently on the basis of genetic markers. Mitochondrial genetic markers are useful in studying phylogeography, as this paper shows on the example of the Pipistrellus species complex and on species Nyctalus azoreum, Nyctalus leisleri, Nyctalus noctula and Pipistrellus abramus. Furthermore, this work describes the current distribution of individual taxa of tribe, the fossil record and migration behavior of European temperate species in the context of their population structure (also studied in some species using mtDNA and microsatellites) and Annex shows the areas extending all five genera Pipistrellini tribe. Key words: Pipistrellini, phylogenenetics, phylogeography, distribution, population structure
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Evolution of the genus Arabidopsis in its centre of diversity
Šrámková, Gabriela ; Marhold, Karol (advisor) ; Greimler, Josef (referee) ; Mártonfi, Pavol (referee)
A prerequisite for addressing general questions concerning the evolution of intraspecific variability in space and time is the knowledge of the distribution of variability within the species' range. The development of molecular methods has been a major step forward, allowing various evolutionary questions to be addressed using natural populations of model species and their close relatives. Although wild relatives of Arabidopsis thaliana have long been in the focus of plant evolutionary biologists and molecular geneticists, the patterns of genetic diversity and phenotypic variation in their natural populations are often overlooked. The present work focuses on some of the most studied model species in the Brassicaceae family, Arabidopsis halleri and the complex of A. arenosa, whose members are widely used to study ecology, physiology and evolution as well as the molecular basis of phytoremediation and parallel adaptation. The study aimed to determine intraspecific variation at the ploidy level, to reveal phylogenetic relationships and the spatial distribution of genetic diversity across the range, and to propose a new taxonomic concept based on the detected intraspecific genotypic and phenotypic variation. In order to accomplish this goal, we used DNA flow cytometry, several molecular methods (AFLP,...
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Larval morphology, phylogeography and automatic identification of chosen flower chafer beetles (Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae)
Vondráček, Dominik ; Šípek, Petr (advisor) ; Bezděk, Aleš (referee) ; Kundrata, Robin (referee)
Currently, over 4.300 species of flower chafer beetles (Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae) are described in more than 485 genera, with the number of genera, species and subspecies increasing by dozens of new taxa each year. Especially in the past, some of the species descriptions were relatively vague and short operating only with the coloration of beetles, or with extremely subtle differences on the male genitalia without any support of other data and analyses. In this dissertation, I focused on the use of various data and methodological approaches that can help understand the evolutionary processes within this group and its complicated taxonomy and systematics, which is also still very unstable even at higher taxonomic ranks. In two works we studied the morphology of immature stages of flower chafers and their bionomy. In the case of the Taenioderini tribe, whose immature stages were not known until then, we found surprisingly significant morphological variability in the eight described species, which is unusual in larval stages of flower chafers. In the second work, we focused on the genus Oxythyrea. We described the larvae of nine of the ten currently known species and confronted the obtained data with the already existing descriptions of the larvae of the Leucocelina subtribe, to which the studied...
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Allopatric evolution in rousettine fruit bats: from population and landscape genetics to phylogeography
Stříbná, Tereza
Population structure, biogeography and phylogenetic relationships of the fruit bat genus Rousettus have been studied in Africa and adjacent regions. The current population patterns of rousettine fruit bats in the Old World are influenced by several environmental attributes, namely the topography, climate and land cover. These variables are mirrored in fruit bat plesiomorphies related to the ecological niche of tropical flying frugivore, as well as apomorphies of rousettines including echolocation ability, roosting in caves and dispersal capacity in open landscapes with discontinuous tree cover. Phylogenetic relationships among species and subspecies of the genus have been indicated and confronted with the existing colonization scenarios. Insular populations (including habitat islands within desert oases) show frequent genetic differentiation from their mainland relatives suggesting successful founder events after traversing stretches of unsuitable habitats. Genetic differentiation evolving in less distant islands suggests involving behavioural mechanisms maintaining cohesion of isolated demes as site fidelity and natal habitat-biased dispersal. In sub-Saharan mainland Africa within the large range reaching from the southern border of Sahara to Cape Peninsula, Rousettus populations share a...
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Allopatric evolution in rousettine fruit bats: from population and landscape genetics to phylogeography
Stříbná, Tereza ; Hulva, Pavel (advisor) ; Bryja, Josef (referee) ; Vallo, Peter (referee)
Population structure, biogeography and phylogenetic relationships of the fruit bat genus Rousettus have been studied in Africa and adjacent regions. The current population patterns of rousettine fruit bats in the Old World are influenced by several environmental attributes, namely the topography, climate and land cover. These variables are mirrored in fruit bat plesiomorphies related to the ecological niche of tropical flying frugivore, as well as apomorphies of rousettines including echolocation ability, roosting in caves and dispersal capacity in open landscapes with discontinuous tree cover. Phylogenetic relationships among species and subspecies of the genus have been indicated and confronted with the existing colonization scenarios. Insular populations (including habitat islands within desert oases) show frequent genetic differentiation from their mainland relatives suggesting successful founder events after traversing stretches of unsuitable habitats. Genetic differentiation evolving in less distant islands suggests involving behavioural mechanisms maintaining cohesion of isolated demes as site fidelity and natal habitat-biased dispersal. In sub-Saharan mainland Africa within the large range reaching from the southern border of Sahara to Cape Peninsula, Rousettus populations share a...
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Phylogeography of temperate plant species with the focus on Central Europe
Daneck, Hana
Phylogeography of temperate plant species with the focus on Central Europe Hana Daneck Charles University Prague Faculty of Science Department of Botany Supervisor: Prof. RNDr. Karol Marhold, CSc. Consultant: Mgr. Tomáš Fér, Ph.D. Praha 2012 Abstract This thesis presents contribution to clarification of postglacial history of temperate plant taxa in Europe with the focus on especially interesting region of Central Europe, for which diverse roles in postglacial plant histories were suggested. The first part of the thesis summarises general phylogeographical views and methodological approaches with the respect to species history after the last ice age in Europe. Further, the most important aspects of phylogeography of European temperate plant taxa are discussed. The second part contains a set of papers dealing with selected European temperate plant species, for which phylogeographical patterns throughout their present distribution area were inferred, including assumptions on the origin of their contemporary Central European populations and comparisons with another previously studied species.
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Evolutionary history, systematics and biogeography of Southern Hemisphere hydrophilid beetles (Coleoptera)
Seidel, Matthias ; Fikáček, Martin (advisor) ; Gomez-Zurita, Jesus (referee) ; Gimmel, Matthew L. (referee)
The research presented in my PhD thesis consists of phylogenetic, biogeographic, taxonomic and ecological research of Southern Hemisphere water scavenger beetles (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae) with a special emphasis on New Zealand. The introductory chapter provides a brief outline on the break-up of Gondwana and geological processes that shaped New Zealand and its fauna. Furthermore, the diversity of New Zealand Hydrophilidae and worldwide diversity of the hydrophilid subfamily Cylominae and its taxonomic history are illustrated. The scientific part of the thesis contains 4 published papers and 2 manuscripts. The first study recalibrates the Coleoptera time tree, providing new age estimates for the Hydrophiloidea, among others. The new age estimate is implemented in the second study, a phylogenetic study that reconstructs the biogeography of the 'Gondwanan' Cylominae beetles. The Cylominae, whose name was reinstated through nomenclatural priority over Rygmodinae in a separate paper, are found to consist of two tribes, Andotypini and Cylomini. The disjunct distribution of Cylominae is shown to be partly the result of vicariance and partly of long-distance oversea dispersal. The most remarkable long-distance dispersal is that of the only African representative of the subfamily which reached Africa from...
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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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