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Habitat and pairing preferences among coexisting lineages of the Gammarus fossarum species complex in the Western Carpathians
Bystřický, Pavel Karel ; Petrusek, Adam (advisor) ; Čiampor, Fedor (referee)
In recent years, due to the development of molecular methods, a great level of cryptic diversity across multiple taxa was discovered. One of these groups are freshwater amphipods. Amphipods due to lower dispersal and recolonization abilities present a suitable model system for studying potential ecological interactions among genetically distant lineages during their secondary contact. In this thesis, I studied the cryptic species complex Gammarus fossarum in a contact zone of several genetically divergent lineages known from the previous research in the Vsetin region. I focused on two main questions: Firstly, whether there are preferences among individuals from different lineages for sexual partners from the same lineage rather than from the different one (i.e., I test for the potential existence of prezygotic reproduction barrier between the lineages). I tested this hypothesis by collecting pairs from natural contact zone and also (in a limited extent) by an aquarium experiment. Secondly, I tested whether these lineages differ in mesohabitat (pool versus riffle) distribution in syntopy, which may indicate competition among lineages and potential diversification of their ecological niches. Animals from nine localities (with expected contact of two lineages per locality) were examined. In more than...
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Ecological interactions and niche differentiation of coexisting freshwater amphipods
Bystřický, Pavel Karel ; Petrusek, Adam (advisor) ; Pařil, Petr (referee)
Freshwater amphipods are ecologically important crustacean group. They act mainly as shredders of detritus in fast-running and cold waters, contributing to the nutrient cycles. Ecological interactions within this group are interesting especially in connection with a considerable degree of cryptic diversity, as well as due to contacts of invasive and native species. This thesis deals with so far studied interactions between syntopic species or lineages, especially those that may affect coexistence or competitive exclusion, such as: different levels of selective predation, ecologically significant differences in morphology or behavior, varying degrees of aggressiveness or intraguild predation, and differences in habitat preferences or resource use ability. Due to the large number of newly discovered cryptic lineages, only little effort has been invested to studies of their ecological interactions. For the time being, research has been limited to sexual interactions (potential reproductive interference or hybridization), differences in habitat preferences, or infestation rates by parasites. It is worth mentioning that only a few lineages have been explored in this way, and the lessons learned from these few works cannot yet be generalized. In my work, I focus on cryptic species complexes in which at...
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