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Let's meet in the littoral: Diversity of symbiosis in the Verrucariaceae lichens
Schmidtová, Jana ; Škaloud, Pavel (advisor) ; Peksa, Ondřej (referee)
Lichens are organisms formed by several symbiotic partners, most importantly a fungus (mycobiont) and an alga or cyanobacteria (photobiont). Although most lichens are terrestrial, some can be found also in aquatic environments. Black crustose lichens from the family Verrucariaceae (Verrucariales, Eurotiomycetes, Ascomycota) were able to adapt to this environment very well and often dominate in the seashore near fluctuating water level. The ability of these lichens to inhabit various environments is associated with their unusually wide range of photobionts. However, this symbiont is not known to most of them. This work investigates the diversity of lichens of the family Verrucariaceae in the littoral zone of the Baltic and the North Sea coasts, the relationships between symbionts and the connection between lichen diversity and the salinity gradient. Using metabarcoding, the diversity of free-living algae in the vicinity of the studied lichens is determined and the symbiotic algae are compared with the photobionts found in the lichens. Mycobionts and photobionts were identified using ITS and 18S rDNA. A total of nine lineages of mycobionts and photobionts were found. The most common lichen turned out to be the species Hydropunctaria maura with its photobiont Pseudendoclonium submarinum. For several...
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The phylogeny of the Protaetia Burmeister, 1842 flower beetles in the western palearctic region
Žďárská, Kateřina ; Šípek, Petr (advisor) ; Bezděk, Aleš (referee)
This diploma thesis deals with the phylogeny and phylogeography of flower beetles of the genus Protaetia, especially with the complicated taxonomic complex around the species Protaetia (Potosia) cuprea, P. cuprina and P. caucasica in the western Palearctic region. In light of the results presented by Vondráček et al. (2018), it seems that the classic taxonomic approach, based only on coloration, geographical distribution or poorly analysed morphological characters, is not able to adequately explain the evolution of the taxon, nor correctly identify individual taxa at the species level (i.e. species and subspecies). To understand the evolution of the group and the population structure, it is therefore necessary to use the now standard molecular-phylogenetic approaches as well. Based on analyses of one nuclear (internal transcribed spacer 1) and two mitochondrial genes (cytochrome oxidase I and cytochrome b) from 231 individuals, a phylogenetic hypothesis of the West Palaearctic representatives of the genus Protaetia was compiled. It was found that the currently recognized subgenera of the genus do not correspond to the results of the analyses. The subgenera Eupotosia, Netocia and Potosia proved to be non- monophyletic. Within the species complex of P. cuprea, in addition to the European clade of P....
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Diversity of the geotrupide genus Jekelius (Coleoptera: Geotrupidae)
Sommer, David ; Král, David (advisor) ; Bezděk, Aleš (referee)
The first part of this thesis focuses on the family Geotrupidae, with special focus on the representatives of the genus Jekelius. It summarizes the present and historical taxonomic concepts and phylogenetic relationships within this family. Moreover, the morphology of adults and larvae and the geographical distribution of individual taxa are described. In the section on the biology and ecology of the family, emphasis is placed especially on feeding strategies, breeding behaviour and parental care. The results of this thesis consist of three parts, 1) taxonomy, 2) molecular analyses, and 3) flow cytometry. The first part brings a taxonomic revision of the Jekelius brullei species complex defined here. This part focuses on redescribing each known species, as well as describing additional species not yet formally described. This thesis defines the distribution ranges of each species based on previously published literature and our own data. Molecular analyses performed in this thesis generated a phylogenetic tree including a significant part of the species of the Jekelius brullei species complex. The last part of the thesis presents results obtained by flow cytometry for representatives of the species complex Jekelius brullei and a number of other taxa of the family Geotrupidae. The discussion then...
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Evolution of vipers and the role of key innovations in their diversification
Waldhauser, Vojtěch ; Šmíd, Jiří (advisor) ; Gvoždík, Václav (referee)
The family Viperidae consists of 36 genera, containing more than 350 species in total. The family is distributed throughout Africa and most of Eurasia, however the greatest diversity is located in North and South America, where more than 40 % of the viper species can be found. The family is thus missing only in Australia, New Guinea, Madagascar, New Zealand and a number of other islands and archipelagos. As with most reptiles, they are also almost completely absent from polar regions, with the exception of Vipera berus, the only snake that has ventured north of the Arctic Circle. Their relative evolutionary success is attributed to many so called "key innovations", which include solenoglyphous dentition, viviparity of many genera or heat- sensing pits in the subfamily Crotalinae. Vipers are not only interesting because of their evolutionary history, but they are also subject of important medical studies regarding their venom and toxicity. WHO estimates that around 100,000 people worldwide may die from snake bites each year. This thesis presents a summary of our current knowledge of the evolutionary history of this family, including phylogeny and biogeography, and contemplates the mechanisms behind its amazing diversity.
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Role of evolutional mechanisms in designing of acoustic signals
Rulfová, Alena ; Policht, Richard (advisor) ; Linhart, Pavel (referee)
Acoustic communication is a wide-spread phenomen in all animal taxones. The theme of evolutional mechanisms and their functioning in acoustic communication has become more and more frequently studied during last years, and geographic variation in acoustic signals has been reported in various taxa such as insect, birds, anurans and mammals. However, some evolutional mechanism still remain poorly understood. The mechanisms comprise mainly stochastics forces such as genetic drift and bottleneck or cultural drift. Genetic drift causes stochastic changes in acoustic signals, whereas bottleneck probably primarily spawns reduction of acoustic variability. Some acoustic parameters are shaped by habitat and others by species' phylogeny. Physical environment and other ecological factors play important role in shaping vocalizations in most species, and thus distantly related populations occupying similar habitats may possess very simmilar vocalization. Because of that, revealing phylogenetic pattern is possible only by careful cladistic analysis of vocal characters in taxa that have simple songs or calls that are not learned, and whose habitat distributions are well understood. By finding the proper acoustic parameters we can also e.g. map connection between acoustic divergence and glaciations, history of colonisation...
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Evolution of sex chromosomes and karyotypes in geckos (Squamata: Gekkota)
Koubová, Martina ; Kratochvíl, Lukáš (advisor) ; Choleva, Lukáš (referee)
Gekkota is species-rich and diverse group of squamate reptiles (Reptilia: Squamata) with almost global distribution. There were many hypothesis defined about the phylogeny of this group, traditionally based on morphological data. The essential reversal in phylogenetic relationships occurred with the entry of molecular analysis, whose differ in their conclusions from traditional approach fundamentally, even in positions of mayor lineages. This fact has an essential importance for the karyotype evolution study of this group. The ancestral state is considered as 2n=38 karyotype with all chromosomes acrocentric. In some species is this karyotype kept, in another there is apparent an influence of chromosome changes, mostly Robertsonian fusions and pericentric inversions. Diploid chromosome number is from 16 to 46, but the most common is 2n=38 karyotype of mostly acrocentric chromosomes, gradually decreasing in size. The interesting character of this group is extraordinary variability in sex determining mechanisms. We can find there species with temperature sex determination and also species with genotypic sex determination (both types XX/XY and ZZ/ZW). Sex chromosomes data are documented in only 17 species. Sex chromosomes differ rapidly in their morphology and their homology between sister taxa was not proved...
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Overview of the family Deinotheriidae C.L. Bonaparte, 1841 [Mammalia, Proboscidea] with direction to fossil discoveries in Czech Republic.
Šmejkal, Roman ; Mazuch, Martin (advisor) ; Wagner, Jan (referee)
This work presents the family Deinotheriidae including the subfamily Chilgatherinae. Morphological differences of teeth point to anatomical differences between the genders Chilgatherium, Prodeinotherium and Deinotherium. Further, the anatomical differences of skull and postcranial skeleton of the Deinotherinae subfamily are described. The Extension of the family Deinotherium is tied to the migration routes from Africa to Asia and Europe. The Occurrence in the Czech Republic is confirmed by 2 important discovery sites. The first one is located in Horní Ves near Franzensbad where the skeleton of the species Prodeinotherium bavaricum was discovered. The second one is located near Česká Třebová and represented by the fragments of the lower jaw of the species Prodeinotherium cuvieri. The discussion focuses on the use of the lower tusks and the method of food intake.
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Habitat shifts to aquatic environment and back to dry land in the evolution of Coleoptera
Sýkora, Vít ; Fikáček, Martin (advisor) ; Král, David (referee)
The order Coleoptera (beetles) includes both terrestrial and aquatic species. The whole order as well as for all suborders (Archostemata, Myxophaga, Adephaga and Polyphaga) in ancetrally terrestrial. Habitat shifts occured in all suborders except Archostemata. A single shift to aquatic environment is probable in Myxophaga and Adephaga, multiple independent shifts from aquatic to terrestrial environments took place in Polyphaga. Multiple secondary habitat transitions back to terrestrial life style occured in Adephaga, Myxophaga and Polyphaga. However, phylogenetic relationships and/or detailed habitat requirements of adults and larvae are still unknown for many groups. That is why a reliable reconstruction of the evolution of habitat transitions between aquatic and terrestrial environment is still impossible in many cases. Key words: Coleoptera, habitat shifts, aquatic environment, terrestrial environment, evolution, phylogeny, biodiversity, morphology, adaptation
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Phylogeny and ecology of family Planorbidae
Běláčová, Kateřina ; Juřičková, Lucie (advisor) ; Lorencová, Erika (referee)
Phylogenetics is a sub-discipline of biology which focuses on classification of organisms based on their evolutionary development. Morphological and anatomical features have been traditionally used in reconstruction of phylogeny but with the onset of modern technology their role has been partly taken up by molecular analysis. Family Planorbidae is a very diverse group that includes species with very different morphology. This work aims to provide an overview of the phylogeny within Planorbidae family and discuss the importance of the individual features used in determination based on the results of the published studies.
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Current view on the biology of theropod dinosaurs
Honskus, Adam ; Teodoridis, Vasilis (advisor) ; Řezníček, Jan (referee)
This bachelor thesis hes summarised available data from morphology, anatomy, ecology, ethology, ontogeny and phylogeny of theropod representatives of the clade Dinosauria that are based on the recent results deriving from the application of modern scientific methods and technologies. Main methods are laser scanning, computed tomography, electron microscope analysis and virtual and physical model reconstruction. Application of these results have changed radically historical and dogmatic point of view on this fascinating group of dinosaurs that had ruled on the Earth for more than 150-million years. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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