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Proteomic architecture of sperm-egg interactions
Otčenášková, Tereza ; Stopka, Pavel (advisor) ; Petr, Jaroslav (referee) ; Vrbacký, Marek (referee)
Recent advances in proteomic methods provide new insights for biological research including the field of reproductive biology. Determination of the proteomic basis of spermatozoa is pivotal for understanding the complex process of gamete interactions during fertilization such as acrosome reaction. Great differences imposed by postcopulatory sexual selection and phylogeny can be observed regarding the size, shape, and molecular composition of sperm across animal taxa. The first objective of this doctoral thesis is to characterize the protein contents of the acrosome to ascertain its further functional significance in sperm-egg interaction. Also, we aim to investigate the potential relationships between sperm protein composition and sperm morphology diversification, risk of sperm competition, and species phylogenetic background. Wild-caught males from natural populations of species of Mus musculus musculus, Apodemus flavicollis, Microtus arvalis (order Rodentia), Acrocephalus palustris, Chloris chloris, Phylloscopus collybita, Cinclus cinclus, Hirundo rustica, and Taeniopygia guttata from a captive population (order Passeriformes) were subject to the analyses. Nano-liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry was applied as the main methodological approach in this thesis. Our data implicate...
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Host-microbiota, pro-inflammatory immunity and physiological senescence in wild birds
Těšický, Martin
Triggered by microbial ligands, inflammation serves as a "double-edged sword" to fight infections on the one hand, but on the other hand causing tissue damage due to oxidative stress if it is dysregulated. For example, chronic inflammation can contribute to inflammaging, which is now widely regarded as one of the causes of ageing. In my interdisciplinary dissertation, my colleagues and I investigated three interrelated aspects of inflammation, using an evolutionary framework and various free-living birds as models: (1) ecological and evolutionary determinants of gut microbiota (GM) composition and diversity, a driver of wild bird immunity, (2) diversity in immune genes affecting inflammatory responses in wild birds and (3) inflammation-related physiological senescence in a free-living passerine bird, the great tit (Parus major). Firstly, using 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding, we revealed high intra- and interspecific variation in passerine gut microbiota (GM) dominated by the major phyla Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes. Although in mammals GM depends strongly on host phylogeny and diet, in birds we found only moderate effects of phylogeny and very limited effects of host geography and ecology on GM composition. While microbiota diverged between the upper and lower...
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Yellowhammer dialects and citizen science
Diblíková, Lucie ; Petrusková, Tereza (advisor) ; Linhart, Pavel (referee) ; Osiejuk, Tomasz S. (referee)
Bird dialects, the cultural phenomena that can be linked to migration, gene flow, speciation and cultural evolution, have been studied extensively. The yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella, a common European bird with a simple song and long singing season, has been a model species for studying dialects for decades. In this thesis, I collate several studies that benefited from citizen science approaches to push this field forward. First, we have compiled and unified information on yellowhammer dialect distribution scattered in numerous publications, and unified different dialect nomenclatures used in the past. We supplemented this with data available thanks to volunteers contributing to public databases and other online sources, and demonstrated that the continental distribution patterns of yellowhammer dialects do not support the existence of broad, geographically distinct macrodialect groups as previously believed. In 2011, as part of the Bird of the Year campaign of the Czech Society of Ornithology, we launched a year-long public awareness project "Dialects of Czech Yellowhammers". Its first year's results exceeded expectations in quality and quantity, so a one-year, conservation-focused citizen science project became a long-term, investigative one. In subsequent years, improvements to the web user...
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Host-microbiota, pro-inflammatory immunity and physiological senescence in wild birds
Těšický, Martin ; Vinkler, Michal (advisor) ; Tschirren, Barbara (referee) ; Štěpánek, Ondřej (referee)
Triggered by microbial ligands, inflammation serves as a "double-edged sword" to fight infections on the one hand, but on the other hand causing tissue damage due to oxidative stress if it is dysregulated. For example, chronic inflammation can contribute to inflammaging, which is now widely regarded as one of the causes of ageing. In my interdisciplinary dissertation, my colleagues and I investigated three interrelated aspects of inflammation, using an evolutionary framework and various free-living birds as models: (1) ecological and evolutionary determinants of gut microbiota (GM) composition and diversity, a driver of wild bird immunity, (2) diversity in immune genes affecting inflammatory responses in wild birds and (3) inflammation-related physiological senescence in a free-living passerine bird, the great tit (Parus major). Firstly, using 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding, we revealed high intra- and interspecific variation in passerine gut microbiota (GM) dominated by the major phyla Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes. Although in mammals GM depends strongly on host phylogeny and diet, in birds we found only moderate effects of phylogeny and very limited effects of host geography and ecology on GM composition. While microbiota diverged between the upper and lower...
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Mechanisms enabling individual recognition of passerine birds
Caha, Ondřej ; Petrusková, Tereza (advisor) ; Vokurková, Jana (referee)
Vocalization allows birds to communicate over long distances or in environments, where can be difficult to detect visual signals. Vocalization can be divided into songs and calls. Song may inform a listener of signal about species, sex, male quality, aggressive motivation and also about singer's identity. Recognition of different individuals is very valuable ability that is commonly used during territorial interactions among males. Correct identification of males, that pose different threat, enable to respond adequately to the situation and save energy or to avoid injury in potential conflict. The ability of individual distinguishing based on song was demonstrated by using playback experiments for many passerines, but it was rarely revealed the way of such identification. This review deals with the issue of neighbour-stranger experiments that confirm the ability of passerines to discriminate between neighbours and strangers. Further, it focus on structures or characteristics of birdsong enabling individual recognition of passerines and their possibly use for individual acoustic monitoring.
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Winter teritoriality im passerines in relation to environmental and climatic conditions
Glückseligová, Pavla ; Musil, Petr (advisor) ; Reif, Jiří (referee)
This thesis is focused on winter territoriality of passerines. It summarizes general knowledge of territories, territorial behaviour and broader knowledge about winter territoriality. Winter social behaviour of individual species, their territoriality, migratory strategy and food preferences were summarized for Western Palearctic bird species. Furthermore, effect of climate change on passerines and their migratory behaviour, timing of breeding and their relationship to food abundance and conspecific competition. In the last chapter, there is discussed effect of climate change on species displaying wintering territoriality. Increasing temperature can affect food availability, competition for sources and consequently reproduction success.
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Yellowhammer as a model species for studies on passerine dialects
Diblíková, Lucie ; Petrusková, Tereza (advisor) ; Procházka, Petr (referee)
Even though birdsongs and bird dialects have been subject to considerably intense scientific research, the domain of bird dialects is still worth attention of scientists. There is a large number of hypotheses about the emergence of bird dialects which separately or combined explain their origin. Dialects can be classified on the basis of the structure of a birdsong which they are related to or according to a geographical scale (micro and macrodialects). Research on bird dialects belongs to such type of studies that require great amount of data and thus large amount of time and finance is needed. Nonetheless, this obstacle can be avoided by involving general public into the research, however choosing a suitable model species is necessary. Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella), which was chosen in this study, is undoubtedly a convenient species for its common occurrence and distinguishable birdsong. Yellowhammer males sing during a large part of the season and their dialects can be easily recognized. Moreover, some scientists differentiate between macrodialects, that should be divided across western and eastern Europe, and could be used to make the research more attractive for general public. Till now yellowhammer dialects have been thoroughly explored in Denmark and in some parts of Germany, but in other...
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Macroecology and macroevolution of birdsong
Mikula, Peter ; Albrecht, Tomáš (advisor) ; Osiejuk, Tomasz S. (referee) ; Šálek, Miroslav (referee)
Birdsong is one of the most astounding natural sounds which profoundly shaped our evolutionary thinking since the 19th century. Despite a strong interest in birdsong for over 100 years, our understanding of birdsong ecology and evolution over large spatial and phylogenetic scales is still very fragmentary. Answering many basic questions requires a global synthesis covering vast diversity of extant bird species and adoption of multidisciplinary approaches. In presented dissertation thesis, my co-workers and I have explored important patterns in macroecology and macroevolution of song in passerines (Order: Passeriformes), the most diverse and widespread bird order. We have focused on three key song phenomena: (1) song complexity, (2) song frequency and (3) the presence of song in female birds. We have exploited birdsong "big data" available on public citizen science databases and other open sources in order to fill several important gaps in the current knowledge. These data were analysed by a combination of phylogenetically-informed cross-species analyses and spatial macroecological approaches. Since the publication of Darwin's seminal work, elaborated songs are generally agreed to be the result of sexual selection. We developed a simple but reliable song complexity metric to explore a global diversity in...
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Macroecology and macroevolution of birdsong
Mikula, Peter
Birdsong is one of the most astounding natural sounds which profoundly shaped our evolutionary thinking since the 19th century. Despite a strong interest in birdsong for over 100 years, our understanding of birdsong ecology and evolution over large spatial and phylogenetic scales is still very fragmentary. Answering many basic questions requires a global synthesis covering vast diversity of extant bird species and adoption of multidisciplinary approaches. In presented dissertation thesis, my co-workers and I have explored important patterns in macroecology and macroevolution of song in passerines (Order: Passeriformes), the most diverse and widespread bird order. We have focused on three key song phenomena: (1) song complexity, (2) song frequency and (3) the presence of song in female birds. We have exploited birdsong "big data" available on public citizen science databases and other open sources in order to fill several important gaps in the current knowledge. These data were analysed by a combination of phylogenetically-informed cross-species analyses and spatial macroecological approaches. Since the publication of Darwin's seminal work, elaborated songs are generally agreed to be the result of sexual selection. We developed a simple but reliable song complexity metric to explore a global diversity in...
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Macroecology and macroevolution of birdsong
Mikula, Peter
Birdsong is one of the most astounding natural sounds which profoundly shaped our evolutionary thinking since the 19th century. Despite a strong interest in birdsong for over 100 years, our understanding of birdsong ecology and evolution over large spatial and phylogenetic scales is still very fragmentary. Answering many basic questions requires a global synthesis covering vast diversity of extant bird species and adoption of multidisciplinary approaches. In presented dissertation thesis, my co-workers and I have explored important patterns in macroecology and macroevolution of song in passerines (Order: Passeriformes), the most diverse and widespread bird order. We have focused on three key song phenomena: (1) song complexity, (2) song frequency and (3) the presence of song in female birds. We have exploited birdsong "big data" available on public citizen science databases and other open sources in order to fill several important gaps in the current knowledge. These data were analysed by a combination of phylogenetically-informed cross-species analyses and spatial macroecological approaches. Since the publication of Darwin's seminal work, elaborated songs are generally agreed to be the result of sexual selection. We developed a simple but reliable song complexity metric to explore a global diversity in...
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