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Phylogenetic, morphological and ecological context of microevolution in pennate diatoms
Veselá, Jana ; Neustupa, Jiří (advisor) ; Řeháková, Klára (referee) ; Vanormelingen, Pieter (referee)
Visual assessment of discontinuities in the morphological features of diatom cells has been widely used in the discovery and delimitation of diatom species. However, a multidisciplinary approach to species-level taxonomy has revealed hidden diversity within the traditional diatom morphospecies. Consequently, this work examined both the natural and clonal populations of diatoms by diverse traditional and modern approaches, in order to assess the diversity, ecology, and distribution of diatom species. Although a detailed investigation of natural diatom samples was confounded by uncertain morphological boundaries between the traditional diatom species, it recognized that the diversity was relatively high; even one new diatom species was described using the morphological species concept. The multivariate statistical analyses showed that the variation of natural communities of traditional diatom morphospecies reflected differences in the local environmental conditions, as well as microhabitat heterogenity within a region. Since each diatom morphospecies is most likely a complex of sibling species, the two model traditional morphospecies were investigated, in order to assess morphological variation, genetic diversity, and/or the reproductive compatibility of monoclonal cultures. Even though isolated...
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Sociality and ecology in ground squirrels (tribe Marmotini).
Matějů, Jan ; Vohralík, Vladimír (advisor) ; Macholán, Miloš (referee) ; Zima, Jan (referee)
of the Ph.D. thesis Autor: Jan Matějů Name: Sociality and ecology in ground squirrels (tribe Marmotini) Ground-dwelling squirrels are parafyletic group of rodents from the family Sciuridae (tribes Marmotini and Xerini). Ground-dwelling squirrels are semi-fossorial inhabitants of treeless biotopes. They share most aspects of general biology. They usually breed once a year, have exclusively diurnal activity and are omnivorous. On the contrary, ground-dwelling squirrels display different levels of sociality, which makes them an ideal model to study different ecological aspects connected with evolution of sociality. The first part of the Ph.D. thesis is focused on the relationship between sociality and sexual size dimorphism and relative and absolute size of brain. At first, supposing that different levels of sociality are connected with differences in intensity of sexual selection acting on males, we tested association between sociality and sexual size dimorphism as well as association between sexual size dimorphism and body size - so called Rensch rule. Next, we tested correlation between sociality and relative brain size. In agreement with the Social brain hypothesis, we assumed that e.g. solitarily living species should have smaller relative brain size than species living in stable pairs. We found...
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Political Parties Turning Green: Adoption of the Environmental Issues by Political Parties in the Czech Republic
Sálová, Anna ; Novák, Miroslav (advisor) ; Mlejnek, Josef (referee)
UNIVERZITA KARLOVA FAKULTA SOCIÁLNÍCH VĚD Institut politologických studií Mgr. Anna Sálová ZELENÁNÍ POLITICKÝCH STRAN - ADOPCE ENVIRONMENTÁLNÍ POLITIKY PARLAMENTNÍMI STRANAMI V ČESKÉ REPUBLICE Rigorózní práce Praha 2012 Autor práce: Mgr. Anna Sálová Konzultant práce: Prof. Dr. Miroslav Novák Rok obhajoby: 2012 Bibliografický záznam: SÁLOVÁ, A., Zelenání politických stran - Adopce environmentální politiky parlamentními stranami v ČR, Rigorózní práce, Univerzita Karlova, Fakulta sociálních věd, Institut politologických studií, Konzultant rigorózní práce Prof. Dr., Miroslav Novák, Praha 2012, 169 s. Anotace: Rigorózní práce "Zelenání politických stran - Adopce environmentální politiky parlamentními stranami v České republice" se zabývá fenoménem zelenání univerzalistických politických stran ve smyslu jejich postupné adopce environmentální politiky do volebních programů. Objektem zkoumání jsou programy českých parlamentních stran podle výsledků voleb do Poslanecké sněmovny Parlamentu České republiky v červnu 2010. Problematika je zkoumána z kvantitativního i kvalitativního komparativního hlediska, snaží se odhalit trendy v přijímání environmentální politiky do programových dokumentů a popsat jednotlivé postoje českých parlamentních stran k zelenému programu. Práce dále zkoumá vztah této programové změny k...
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Biology of gall wasps (Diplolepis spp.) (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) in palearctic region
Vitáček, Jakub ; Janšta, Petr (advisor) ; Holý, Kamil (referee)
This bachelor thesis is focussed on description of biology of gall wasps from the genus Diplolepis spp. (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) in the palearctic region with the emphasis on some interesting phenomenons in their life cycle. These wasps induce galls obligatory on roses (Rosa spp.) and are widely distributed in the holarctic region. Many authors focussed on research of parasitoids, which use wasps larvae as food source. It was also recognized that inquilines lost their ability to induce own galls. However, their development is still dependent on galls tissues, because they feed on cells within galls. Rose gall wasps reproduce mostly without any mating. Female lay unfertilized eggs and males are very rare. Recently, development of modern techniques enable authors to study infection by bacteria of the genus Wolbachia and its role in the wasps parthenogenetic development. It is also apparent difference between the levels of our knowledge about individual species in this bachelor thesis. We have relative rich knowledges about European rose gall wasps, on the other hand biology of some Asian species is still very poor.
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Biogeography and specificity of Asterochloris photobionts
Řídká, Tereza ; Škaloud, Pavel (advisor) ; Vondrák, Jan (referee)
This diploma thesis has focused on the diversity and biogeography of Asterochloris photobionts. Since no study so far has been published on the biogeography of symbiotic microorganisms, the presented thesis is the first attemp to trace the biogeographic distribution and endemism of symbionts. By gathering 121 Asterochloris sequences obtained from lichen thalli sampled outside Europe and America, the diversity within the genus increased dramatically. The phylogenetic analysis based on the concatenated alignment of ITS rDNA and actin sequences obtained from Cladonia and Stereocaulon photobionts revealed 28 differently supported clades. Of them, eight lineages were newly discovered. Three environmental factors explaining the best the distribution pattern of Asterochloris photobionts were selected according to the statistical tests of the phylogenetic signal: two different types of biogeographical ecoregions and the substrate type. In general, the genus Asterochloris is distributed cosmopolitally, with a very low rate of endemism. Newly obtained data indicate that the restricted distribution of any photobiont clade is not caused by either historic or biological factors, but more likely by specific climatic or habitat preferences.
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Epiphytic species of the Lecanora subfusca group in the Czech Republic
Malíček, Jiří ; Palice, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Guttová, Anna (referee)
- 4 - ABSTRACT During the revision of epiphytic species of the Lecanora subfusca group in the Czech Republic, nine taxa have been recorded. L. cinereofusca and L. exspersa are reported for the first time from the country. L. circumborealis has been excluded from the list of Czech lichens. L. cinereofusca and L. horiza could be considered as extinct. L. rugosella and L. subrugosa are regarded as extreme morpholocial forms from L. chlarotera and L. argentata. These morphotypes corelate with ecological conditions: substrate (nutrient enriched bark) and habitat (eutrophisation effect). In case of L. subrugosa, this speculation was confirmed by molecular data (ITS rDNA sequences). Several new secondary metabolites have been discovered during the detailed research of chemical lichen compounds. These substances belonging to terpenoids are taxonomically important and very helpful for distinguishing single species. The abundance of L. allophana and L. chlarotera has decreased during last decades. Contrarily, L. pulicaris expanded slightly. The main reasons of changes in distribution are air pollution and acidification of substrates as the impact of acid rains. The rate of substrate acidification has been shown on example of L. pulicaris. In the past, this lichen predominated on acid-barked porophytes. Nowadays, it...
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Small mammals in diet of barn owl in the Eastern Meditarranean
Šindelář, Jiří ; Horáček, Ivan (advisor) ; Anděra, Miloš (referee)
The extensive material of skeletal remains of mammals from a diet of barn owl in the eastern Mediterranean has been processed and evaluated with different techniques of chorological and morphometric analysis. At least 8400 individuals of 45 species of insectivores, rodents and bats were found in our total collection of samples, which represents a significant portion of fauna of the region. We have evaluated a chorological composition of the taphocoenoses and the interregional differences, manifested primarily by differences in the representation of satellite and accessory elements. We found a highly significant impoverishment of the isolated island taphocenoses (Cyprus, Karpathos, partly on Crete), where Cricetidae, Arvicolidae, C. leucodon etc. are missing. On the other hand the essential part of the dominance structure takes up the Rattus rattus, which acts here as an invasive species, significantly more successful than in the ragged continental contexts. The species diversity of the examined samples is positively correlated with the geographic latitude (taphocenoses of the northern regions are significantly richer) and negatively with the island effect and the degree of aridization. The morphometric analysis of the three most abundant species of Soricidae within the studied region showed...
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Vertical migration of benthic cyanobacteria and algae
Mensa, Jakub ; Neustupa, Jiří (advisor) ; Němcová, Yvonne (referee)
Vertical migration has been observed in different taxonomic groups of benthic microalgae and cyanobacteria in both marine and freshwater habitats. It seems to be an advantageous survival strategy of motile photoautotrophic organisms. In general, algae inhabiting tidal environments migrate up to the sediment surface during daytime emersion and then migrate below the surface prior to high tide or dusk. Freshwater microalgae stay on the surface during daytime and migrate below the surface before dusk. The migratory rhythm can be controlled or influenced by light, waves, subsurface nutrient supplies and reducing conditions in the sediment. Sometimes, the rhythm persists even in constant conditions and it seems to be controlled by biological clock system.
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