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In-flight measurements of micro aerial vehicles
Málek, Ladislav ; Zikmund, Pavel (referee) ; Dvořák, Petr (advisor)
Bachelor thesis deals with flight measurements on selected unmanned platforms within the project Detection and monitoring of invasive spieces using unmanned aircraft. Firstly, the project itself and the platform used are presented. The theoretical part is devoted to methods of measuring flight performance. Finally, thesis contains used measurement methodology, processing and evaluating of data.
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Biotic and abiotic components of soil in plant-soil feedback of invasive and native plant species
Drtinová, Lucie ; Münzbergová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Štajerová, Kateřina (referee)
Plant-soil feedback (PSF) is a mechanism which may contribute to the success of invasive plant species. Which of the soil components have the greatest impact on PSF? In a two-phase experiment, I observed changes in germination and growth of plants in reaction to intraspecific plant cultivation: selected plant species were grown in substrate consisting of cultivated or uncultivated soil, containing different composition and amounts of soil biota. The effect of changes in abiotic and biotic components of the soil was then assessed and compared among pairs of closely related invasive and native plant species. The main observed phenomenon was species-specificity of plant responses to changed soil conditions. The cultivation-induced changes in soil composition affected germination and biomass of the test plants positively, negatively, or were neutral, their effect differed between tested species - some of the observed species were more affected by changes in abiotic properties of the soil, some reacted to changes in soil biota composition. Nevertheless, the composition of soil biota affected germination and biomass of plants even regardless of cultivation: the presence of all biotic components of the soil had negative effect on biomass - with growing representation and amount of pathogens, fungi, micro-...
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Allelopathy in constitution of plant communities
Kučera, Pavel ; Weiser, Martin (advisor) ; Hadincová, Věroslava (referee)
Allelopathy, the ability of some plants to decrease the fitness of other plants by secondary metabolites, has been known for a very long time. The scientific community paid great attention to its research. Despite this, there is still a lot of ambiguity surrounding this phenomenon. In the past, the role of allelopathy in the constitution of plant communities had been often overlooked. The situation improved slightly in the past years. Several new articles summarizing information about the ecological aspect of allelopathy have been published. However, there are many unanswered questions about its widespread in plant communities and the degree of its influence on the ecosystem. This bachelor thesis is focused on summarizing contemporary knowledge about the influence of allelopathy, mainly from the ecological viewpoint, and presenting possible directions for future research. There is included a short list of the most common allelochemicals, basic principles of the functioning of allelopathy, its widespread through plant taxa, and its effect on the plant communities, mutualistic microorganisms, and the whole ecosystem. There is also mentioned the role of allelopathy in the process of invasion of alien species and at the end of the thesis, I discussed possible utilization of accumulated information in...
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The effect of pathogens on invasive plants
Sládečková, Julie ; Koubek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Čuda, Jan (referee)
Invasive plants can destroy entire ecosystems, reduce biodiversity and thus threaten the environment. Number of invasive species is increasing and so their negative impact on the environment. Various reasons can be behind the emergence of invasions, one of them is, for example, escaping from natural enemies. This can make the plant more competitive, have greater reproductive potential and spread better. However, if natural enemies are added to the new area, the number of invasive plants can be regulated. This is the principle of biocontrol, which is a method used to reducing the magnitude of invasions and their consequences. This method has almost no negative impacts on the environment, unlike chemical and mechanical methods of plant removal. Biocontrol has a long-term effect and therefore is also cheaper. However, when biocontrol is used, there is a certain risk that non-target plant species will be affected or that it will not be effective enough. Pathogens are also used as biocontrol agents because they are more specialized than herbivores, so the risk for non-target plants is lower. The aim of this thesis is to compare biological control with other methods used to removing invasive plants and to summarize the most significant positives and negatives of using fungal pathogens in plant biocontrol.
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The importance and use of wetland plants in the past and present times
KOZÁK, Martin
This paper deals with a research on the importance and use of wetland plants in history and present. The aim of the work is to collect information and critically assess the information on the importance of wetland plants to human society in the past and present including their uses. The review builds on the existing treatment of the topic in the Czech language and extends it with information published in foreign-language scientific and professional literature over the last 20 years and summarizes knowledge especially on wetlands, useful, invasive and endangered wetland plants.
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The effect of alien mycorrhizal plants on the community composition of mycorrhizal fungi
Kubove, Eva ; Kohout, Petr (advisor) ; Kolaříková, Zuzana (referee)
Among the most significant changes in biotic conditions is the globalization of the biosphere and the moving of organisms to their non-native range, which affects the local biocenosis and poses a threat to both the ecological and economic prosperity. Since mycorrhizal plants include most species, an important aspect that the plant must deal with when introducing and colonizing new territories is mycorrhizal symbiosis. This association, along with the composition of the symbiotic fungal community, can change in dynamic process, often in the negative way. Invasive plants disrupt the symbiosis with their allelopathic substances, dicrease the abundance of mycorrhizal fungi and host fitness. Also, they can take over the symbionts of native plants or change their community. When they gain monodominance in the community, they can change the dynamics of the entire ecosystem. This thesis aims to characterize and describe the role of mycorrhizae in plant invasions and the influence of these plants on the community composition of the mycorrhizal microbiome.
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The formation and maintenance of odd ploidy level cytotypes in the heteroploid system and their contribution to the heteroploid gene flow in invasive perennial species
Dýbová, Markéta ; Slovák, Marek (advisor) ; Šrámková, Gabriela (referee)
Polyploidy is one of the crucial evolutionary factors in the evolution of vascular plants. Polyploid cytotypes are mostly reproductively isolated from their diploid counterparts; however, there exists the possibility of gene exchange between different ploidies/species via heteroploid geneflow. The heteroploid gene exchange might be mediated through the odd and aneuploid cytotypes, which evolved via hybridisation but also de novo via the fusion of reduced and unreduced gametes. The primary focus of the thesis will be to review knowledge about the formation of odd cytotypes in heteroploid systems and evaluate their contribution to gene exchange between given ploidies. The particular focus will be on gene flow between higher ploidy levels in perennial invasive species complexes. Attention will also be paid to mechanisms enabling their maintenance in the population and the consequence of their long term persistence on between ploidy (species) hybridisation on their invasive potential. Key words: odd ploidy level, invasive plants, hybridization, life strategy
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Impacts of invasive plant species on European environment
Breburdová, Vendula ; Pyšek, Petr (advisor) ; Kindlmann, Pavel (referee)
The DAISIE project in the 6. framework program of the European Union provides valuable data about European invasive species. Invasive plants have various impacts, positive and negative, and effects all four types of ecosystem services (supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural). Invasive species are also known to cause serious economic looses. The proposed work aims at summarizing the up-to-date knowledge about the impact of invasive flora on European environment and human well-being. key words: invasive plants, impact, DAISIE, Europe, ecosystem services
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Geographical origin of alien plants in the Czech Republic
Kopicová, Irena ; Chuman, Tomáš (advisor) ; Matějček, Tomáš (referee)
The topic of the proposed thesis is the geographical origin of non-native species of plants in the Czech Republic and it deals with non-native plants while identifying their phyto- areas. The causes of introduction, plant characteristics as well as ecological consequences, gains and dangers for the biodiversity in the Czech Republic are also assessed. The thesis is divided into two parts with first part dealing with a theoretical introduction in a form of a literary research on the geographic origin of non-original species of higher plants in the Czech Republic. Here, the basic terminology is discussed and so are specific issues. A chapter dealing with neo-phytes contains also a subsection on invasive plants, where it was necessary to stress their potential threat to ecosystems. Second part is devoted to the application of the topic in the education of geography by creating a work sheet and by defining main terminology for high school students. The aim is to encourage students to think about which plants are important, where they come from and why and how they reached us. Likewise, it is important that students could reflex on how non- native plants may affect the ecosystem in which they had been introduced.
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Intraspecific plant-soil feedback as a mechanism underlying invasiveness of neophytes of the Czech Republic
Knobová, Pavlína ; Münzbergová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Štajerová, Kateřina (referee)
Intraspecific plant-soil feedback is a relationship in which plant affects the composition of the soil and such modified soil affects growth of the same plant species. This relationship and its intensity may be linked with plant dominance and invasiveness. Dominant species can alter the composition of the soil in their favor and thus show positive intraspecific plant-soil feedback. As the invasive species are commonly being dominant in their new environment, it can be expected that intraspecific positive plant-soil feedback could be an important factor allowing the invasive species to achieve their dominant position and become invasive. To test if the existence of positive intraspecific feedback could be a general mechanism underlying plant invasiveness I compared intraspecific plant-soil feedback in a group of invasive and introduced, but non-invasive, plants in the Czech Republic. I did this using a preselected set of 34 species - 17 invasive and 17 non-invasive. For realization of the project I used the method of two-phase experiment. The first phase is called soil conditioning - influencing of soil by the plant. In the second phase the same plant species are planted in conditioned soil from the first phase and in control (unconditioned) soil. Then I compared plant biomass from conditioned and...
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