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Phytophily - its origin and influence onto humans
Hůla, Martin ; Komárek, Stanislav (advisor) ; Kleisner, Karel (referee)
Phytophilia, the love of plants, is a widespread and probably inborn human quality. This work shows evolutionary interpretations of its origin. These suggest that phytophilia has evolved as an adaptation to the choice of the resource-rich habitat and to the effective orientation in space. The work also presents the effects of plants on human psyche and briefly mentions cultural and individual differences.
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Effects of multimodal warning siglals of Tritomegas sexmaculatus on reactions of bird predators
Binderová, Jana ; Exnerová, Alice (advisor) ; Kleisner, Karel (referee)
Aposematic animals advertise their defensive mechanisms to potential predators using warning signals. Signalling through more than one sensory pathway is called multimodal warning display. Most experimental studies of aposematism have been focused on the effect of a particular warning signal rather than on importance of multimodal signalling. Focusing on the multimodal signalling of real prey is the best way how to understand its effect in nature. The present study is focused on comparing the effect of multimodal warning display of insect prey with its particular warning signals on two species of bird predators. Multimodal warning signalisation of the burrowing bug, Tritomegas sexmaculatus consists of visual (black and white coloration), chemical (odour, possibly taste) and acoustic (stridulation) signals. We compared reactions of wild-caught great tit (Parus major) and blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) to three types of bugs with different warning displays. The non-manipulated bugs displayed multimodally, the brown painted bugs had their warning coloration manipulated and the dealatized bugs couldn't emit acoustic signals. The wild-caught birds of both species avoided all types of bugs. In an experiment with naive hand reared great tits we compared their reactions to non-manipulated and dealatized bugs. Naive...
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The Evolution and Functional Role of the Colour of Iris in Humans, Its Biological Role, and Cross-Cultural Perception
Kočnar, Tomáš ; Kleisner, Karel (advisor) ; Windhager, Sonja (referee) ; Wacewicz, Slawomir (referee)
The human eye is a conspicuous and unique component of facial appearance. From other mammalian eyes it is set apart mainly by its unusual shape, visible white sclera, and a wide range of iris colours, which is something unique within a single species. Whether alone or in the context of the face as a whole, eye colour is an underexplored area within research into the perception of various personality traits. In this thesis, the author first reviews the physiological factors connected with eye colour and reported correlations between eye colour and different psychological and behavioural conditions. This is followed by an investigation of a possible relationship between eye colour and perceived dominance and attractiveness. The first and second study examines whether and to what extent eye colour is associated with facial morphology responsible for perceived dominance. The results are ambiguous. A cross-cultural comparison in the third study revealed that faces with blue eyes are judged as more attractive only in populations where individuals with darker eyes predominate. It is thus discussed whether this population-specific pattern is the consequence of a negative frequency-dependent selection that may have contributed to the present-day eye colour diversity. In short, the aim of this thesis was to...
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The distribution and role of UV reflectant patterns in Scarab beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)
Vlach, Jan ; Šípek, Petr (advisor) ; Kleisner, Karel (referee)
The diploma thesis is focused on the distribution and role of UV reflectant patterns in beetles (Coleoptera) with focus on the family Scarabaeidae. Through a survey of European museum collections, we discovered over 900 species of UV reflectant beetles, of which 850 species were identified as UV reflectant for the first time. The surface structures responsible for UV reflectant patterns in beetles were studied in detail using a scanning electron microscope. We have identified two ways how the UV reflectant patterns occur. The first way: the light rays interact with the internal structure of the cuticular formations or the cuticle itself; the second way: the light rays interact with the surface layer formed by cuticular secretion. Additionally we carried out experiments with live animals, where we investigated the effect of an individual's age on the intensity of UV reflectant patterns and the effect of UV reflectance on reproductive activity. In a pilot study we were able to show that freshly hatched individuals show a higher level of UV reflectance than older individuals.
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Relative importance of visual and acoustic modality in imprinting-like effect
Šípková, Kristýna ; Štěrbová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Kleisner, Karel (referee)
The similarity between a partner and a parent of the opposite sex was found across different characteristics. Most often, similarity was found in visual characteristics (e.g., eye colour, hair colour, facial features). Visual characteristics have been tested in context of mate choice mostly individually, however mate choice is multidimensional with involvement of all modalities The aim of our study was to test visual and acoustic modality and their correlations in ratings of perceived similarity of partners and parents of the opposite sex. The aim of this study was also to test perceived similarity of partners and parents of opposite sex in faces and voices and whether the quality of the respondent's relationship with the parent in childhood has an effect on the similarity.The photography of face and voice record was provided by 66 female partners and mothers and 67 male partners and fathers. Similarity between partners and parents of opposite sex was rated by 494 independent female raters. The results of the study showed that partners are similar with parents of the opposite sex in face and voice in both women and men. The results of tested correlations of similarity in the face and voice between the partner and the parents showed that the partners were evaluated as more similar to the parents in...
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Spatial and temporal variation of UV reflectance in relation to environmental factors in genus Pieris and Colias.
Stella, David ; Kleisner, Karel (advisor) ; Bogusch, Petr (referee) ; Morehouse, Nathan (referee)
A bst r a ct Ultravi olet ( U V) mea ns' bey o n d vi olet' (fr o m t he Lati n - ultra - bey on d), w here by vi oletis t he c ol o ur wit h hig hestfre q ue nciesi n t he'visi ble'lig ht s pectr u m. By'visi ble' we refer t o h u ma n visi o n b utit m ust be ta ke n i nt o acc o u nt t hat h u ma n vis ual perce pti o n is i n c o m paris o n t o ma ny ot her orga nis ms rat her li mite di n ter ms of wavele ngt hsit ca n perceive. isis w hy c o m m u nicati o ni n t he U V s pectr u mis of- te n calle d hi d de n, alt h o ug hit m ostli kely plays a ver yi m p orta nt r olei n t he c o m m u nicati o n of vari o us ki n ds ofi nf or mati o n a m o ng a wi de variet y of orga nis ms. e ai m of t he prese nt t hesis is t o el uci date t he fu ncti o ns a n d relative i m p orta nce of U V pa er ns mai nl y i n L e pi d o ptera fr o m a h olistic ec ol o gical a n d ev ol uti o nar y pers pective. U V re fl ecta nce ca n- n ot be st u die d i n is olati o n: i m p orta nt i nteracti o ns a m o n g several ot her varia bles s uc h as li g ht c o n - dit i o ns, ge neral o ptic pr o perties of nat ural o bjects, t he vis ual s yste m, a n d si g nal pr ocessi n g are t h us disc usse d as well, b ut a n overall e m p hasis o n U V re flecta nce is mai ntai ne d t hr o u g h o ut. M ore over, t his w or k...
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Towards an Ecology of the Brain: Reassessing the Dominant as a Paradigm of Organismic and Anthropological Physiology
Kurismaa, Andres ; Kleisner, Karel (advisor) ; Labra-Spröhnle, Fabián (referee) ; Kazansky, Alexander B. (referee)
This thesis presents a series of inter-related case studies (Kurismaa 2015; Kurismaa and Pavlova 2016; Pavlova, Berlov and Kurismaa 2017) aiming to reexamine, from modern perspectives, one of the most significant and integrative approaches to neurophysiology in the 20-th century - the study of the dominant (учение о доминанте) by the physiologist acad. A.A. Ukhtomsky (1875-1942) and his scientific school. Although recognized as a critical contribution and framework for organism-centered study of physiology, knowledge of this school has remained minimal in the West, and to this day, almost entirely unexplored for its prospects of integration and interrelation with respective foreign research programs in biology and neuroscience, both past and present. In recent years, and partly on the initiative of the present author, some of the first attempts have been made to overcome these limitations, and to more systematically address the legacy of Ukhtomsky's school from modern perspectives of Western science (Nadin 2015). The present thesis, growing out from these efforts, contributes further materials to such comparative and methodological investigation. It aims specifically to clarify the modern status and significance of the dominant framework as an integrative and organismic paradigm for neuroscientific...
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Ecological factors influencing variability of ultraviolet colouration of flowers
Zitko, Martin ; Kleisner, Karel (advisor) ; Neustupa, Jiří (referee)
Ultraviolet colouration of flowers varies both among and within species. The significance of these patterns and differences among them was usually associated with a visual per- ception of pollinators. In this study we examine the variation of marsh marigold's (Caltha palustris) bull's-eye pattern on a basis of 289 observed individuals from 32 distinct locati- ons. The variation of this pattern is shown to be quite large within separate locations and the pattern is predictably changing according to latitude. This trend of darker colouration towards the equator is an another example of a more widely understood Gloger's rule in the plant kingdom. The effect of ultraviolet radiation appears to be one of the most likely causes of this phenomenon. Hereafter we analyse the weakness of this explanation, the gaps in current knowledge and propose possible directions of further research. Keywords: ultraviolet, bull's-eye, marsh marigold, Caltha palustris, Gloger's rule
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Multi-component signalling in turtles and squamate reptiles
Brejcha, Jindřich ; Kleisner, Karel (advisor) ; Rehák, Ivan (referee) ; Carazo, Pau (referee)
Multicomponent signals are complex stimuli directed to receptors of only single modality. Colourful ornaments of animals are multicomponent signals. In this thesis I present results of studies on the origin of coloration in turtles and squamate reptiles together with notes on relativistic view of the functionality of animal coloration. The results show that turtle coloration, which have been studied only marginally until now, is shaped by sexual selection. It is shown that turtles share mechanisms of coloration by vertical organization of different pigment cell types together with squamate reptiles. Turtles also produce colour by organization of collagen fibres which share trait with birds and mammals. Mechanisms of body coloration differ dramatically between closely related turtle species studied even though the individual constituting components are shared among these species. On the example of polymorphic lizards, it is shown that qualitative categorical difference between groups of individuals of the same population are maintained based on quantitative changes in pigment contents regulated by ancient loci shared by different species. The turtles and reptiles are valuable source of our knowledge on the evolution of multicomponent visual signalling due to their intriguing composition of skin....
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