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Bacteria associated with decomposing deadwood
Tláskal, Vojtěch ; Baldrian, Petr (advisor) ; Uhlík, Ondřej (referee) ; Bárta, Jiří (referee)
Deadwood is a hotspot of microbial diversity and its decomposition contributes to carbon and nitrogen cycling in temperate forests. The historically recognized importance of fungi in the decomposition of deadwood has recently been complemented by the description of bacterial functions thanks to the rapid progress of culture-independent methods based on the analysis of nucleic acids. To study different aspects of deadwood decomposition, a temperate mixed forest in Zofinsky prales National Nature Reserve was selected as a site with rich historical forestry data where deadwood decomposition represents an important process in wood turnover. The aim of this thesis is to describe role of bacteria in deadwood decomposition at fine scale resolution with respect to community composition, enzyme transcription, and metabolic potential of dominant species. Effects of deadwood age together with pH and water content on the bacterial community composition proved to be more important than tree species identity. Bacteria showed distinct composition between early and late community in decomposing deadwood. The bacterial community was also under a significant influence of fungal community composition. Despite being in a close contact, bacterial and fungal communities differed significantly between deadwood and the...
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The importance of dung beetles for the renovation of the cattle pasture sward
JANOVSKÝ, Jindřich
This theses focuses on the importance of coprophagous beetles for dung decomposition and restoration of grass in the cattle pastures. Diversity of coprophagous beetles was measured using special traps in four cattle pastures at the family farm in western Bohemia. The measurement was provided 3 times in May 2014, August 2014 and September 2013 during one-week sampling periods. In total, 444 specimens of 22 species was collected. Caught species belonged to the family Scarabaeidae and Hydrophilidae. The beetles belonged to the functional group, " dwellers ". The greatest influence on the grass restoration have tunneling species. However, these were not caught on pastures. The highest abundance was detected in May with 379 species. In this period, there was significantly higher abundance of small and large non-tunneling kinds and of Hydrophilidae compared to September (P<0.05). Abundance of Scarabaeidae did not differ significantly (P>0.05) between August and September. The greatest significance for the functional decomposition of dung in a pasture can be expected due to a large Aphodius rufipes species which may be present in the feces in a large number at the end of summer.
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Examination of the diversity and digging activity of dung beetles in pasture
ANDĚL, Tomáš
The survey of the diversity of coprophagous beetles (Scarabaeidae, Geotrupidae, and Hydrophilidae families) and their soil activity took place at two sites in a cattle pasture in southern Bohemia (site A: 49°29'31.720"N, 14°23'44.310"E; site B: 49°29'23.257"N, 14°23'35.964"E; 575 m a. s. l.). Baited pitfall traps with fresh cow dung (1.5 l per trap) were used to capture the beetles. During the survey of the diversity of coprophagous beetle community, a total of 29 species of beetles numbering 1,189 specimens were captured from May to September 2013. Of these, the most numerous were the beetles of the genus Aphodius, who made up 79 % of the total number of captured specimens. In terms of biomass, Geotrupes spiniger (Marsham, 1802) was significant, in that it made up 24 % of the total biomass of all of the captured beetles. This species contributes most to the decomposition of dung in the pasture. The family with the least number of specimens was Hydrophilidae. Beetles from this family made up 19 % of total number. Measurement of soil activity took place repeatedly over the course of 3 weeks, always after one-week measurement of diversity. The most numerous species (A. fimetarius, A. rufus and A. fossor) showed a linear dependence of the abundances in soil-activity traps on the abundances in diversity traps from the precedent capture period. A. sticticus was one of the most numerous species during surveys of diversity (10 %). This species, belonging to the dwellers group, was not recorded in soil-activity traps, however. Large tunnellers were represented mainly by G. spiniger in traps, for which the linear dependence was not possible to confirm.
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