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U.S. Invasion of Grenada - Reagan's Attempt at Democracy Promotion?
Hřivna, Václav ; Sehnálková, Jana (advisor) ; Raška, Francis (referee)
The concern of the thesis is the US Foreign Policy after Ronald Reagan took the office of the President of the USA. It deals with the question whether the US invasion of Grenada in October 1983 was in accordance with such policy. Apart from a general conception of Reagan's Foreign Policy which is important for understanding the development of events, the US policy towards Latin America is directly analysed. The thesis follows with the outlining of US-Grenada relations from 1979 which was the year during which a leftist coup d'état took place on Grenada until the invasion itself. Simultaneously there is also outlined the internal Grenadian agenda which played a crucial role in the whole context prior the US invasion. The invasion itself partly took place as a result of a turmoil, which was created by the power struggle within the leading party on Grenada. The thesis also analyses the consequences of the US invasion, especially debates over legitimacy of the whole action which took place on a domestic as well as international level. The goal of the thesis is to find and explain the causes that led the US and Ronald Reagan to invade the island of Grenada.
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Invasive species mapping beyond activities of Nature Conservation Agency
Joščáková, Aneta ; Pergl, Jan (advisor) ; Chobot, Karel (referee)
Invasive species are a persistent problem in environmental protection. In order to grasp invasions properly and especially for their effective management, it is necessary to have good information on the occurrence of invasive species. However, mapping activities to date have mostly been narrowly focused, mainly on sites of conservation interest and selected flagship species. Records from these activities are now concentrated in the Nature Conservancy Central Register of the Nature Conservation Agency of the Czech Republic. This database is currently the best data source on the occurrence of invasive species in the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, it still does not contain a satisfactory number of records. The largest gaps are in areas outside the interest of nature conservation. Mapping of these areas can be done through citizen science, which is specifically very suitable for mapping invasive species. Another promising but rarely used source of data on the occurrence of invasive species is the grey literature, the potential of which has been explored in this bachelor's thesis. Thesis and professional surveys organised by the county were examined. It was shown that all the studied works and surveys contained large amount of good data on the occurrence of invasive species. Unfortunately, these data...
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Adaptability and Phenotype Plasticity of Invasive Parrots in Europe
Nový, Jakub ; Figura, Roman (advisor) ; Makal, Jakub (referee)
The diploma thesis on Adaptability and Phenotypic Plasticity of Invasive Parrots in Europe deals with the analysis of a recent phenomenon, which is the emergence of non-native parrot populations in European cities. Until now, this issue has been studied mainly from the perspective of the fight against invasive species. So far much less is known about the ecological and ethological characteristics of these populations. Although most of the large non-indigenous populations are located in the territory of southern or northern Europe, this work also examined the observation and semi-wild population of parrots located in the Czech Republic. Research into phenotypic plasticity and overall adaptability of invasive species is also discussed here. The work includes hypotheses and theories related to the invasion process, including predictions of the future development of non-native populations.
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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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Czech desinformative of the first stage of Russian invasion of Ukraine (so-called "Speciál Military Operation" in Ukraine).
Štorek, Michal ; Stracený, Josef (advisor) ; Samek, Tomáš (referee)
The aim of the diploma thesis is to analyse the content of 8 websites that were blocked by the CZ.NIC association on the 25th of February 2022 for providing disinformation in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The theoretical part covers disinformation in general, the annual reports of the Security Information Service and formation of Russian-Ukrainian relations from the creation of Ukraine until the onset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. In the practical part, an analysis of the content of eight websites blocked by CZ.NIC spanning the period of the so-called first stage of the Special Military Operation in Ukraine, is carried out. The analysis examines, on the one hand, the extent to which the so-called disinformation websites focus on the war in Ukraine and, on the other hand, which of the disinformation techniques described in the theoretical part were used and whether the narrative of the blocked websites in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine corresponds to the view that the disinformation websites promote the interests of the Russian Federation in the Czech Republic.
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Great Britain and Its World Dominance Story: A Reassessment
ŘÍHA, Zdeněk
The bachelor´s thesis deals with the history of the United Kingdom in reponse to Stuart Laycock´s claims that the United Kingdom, or its parts, have in history invaded 90% ofexisting countries. The theoretical part of the thesis defines the methodology for determining which military operations can be classified as invasions and which cannot. The practical part describes the situation in individual countries and the reason for their calssification as invaded, or uninvaded.
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Analysis of the macrozoobenthos community in flows with non-native fish and crustacean species
LORENC, Ondřej
The main objective of this bachelor thesis was to analyse and correctly determine the individual species of benthic organisms, that were present in the samples collected from the Jílovský (LJ) and Luční (LL) brooks, which are tributaries of the Elbe River. The sampling was carried out for two years (2018 and 2019). In each year, 12 samples were collected from the upper and lower reaches of these streams, both from the pools (P) and the stream reaches (R). The information was then used to assess various indicators of the macrozoobenthos community, namely the Sorenson similarity index, the Shannon Wiener diversity index and the saprobic index. The dominant group during both years for most samples was Diptera, with abundances ranging from 826 to 4228 ind. m-2 for individual sections. Their abundance was exceeded in only two cases out of eight. The first time was in 2018 in section LJ1, where many Oligochaeta (Enchytraeus sp.) were present, exactly 49942 ind. m-2, and the second time, also in 2018, in section LL2. Similarity according to the Sorenson index was found only once before comparing the upper sections with the lower sections in 2018 in the Jílovský Brook (70.97%). Diversity was mostly low, except in section LL2 in 2019 where medium diversity was found. Saprobic index values were higher in the lower reaches than in the upper reaches for both streams. It reached the highest value of 3.85 (polysaprobity) in the lower section of Luční Brook in 2018. The lowest value of the saprobic index was 1.9, which was reached in the upper section of Luční Brook in 2019. Results of diversity and saprobicity indicate an unnatural benthic condition in both streams, especially in sections closer to the confluence with the Elbe River. The macrozoobenthos community is strongly influenced by anthropogenic activities in these parts of both streams. One non-native species of macrozoobenthos, the Potamopyrgus antipodarum, was found in samples from both streams. In view of the condition of the macrozoobenthos communities in the Jílovský and Luční brooks, the main problem of these streams is the organic load caused by human activities.
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Vliv různých teplot na konkurenceschopnost raka mramorovaného v agresivních interakcích
KREJČÍ, Miloslav
Crayfish are an important aquatic ecosystems engeneers. Non-indigenous crayfish often decrease the abundance of native species and they affect ecosystem balance. Changes in freshwater ecosystems are usually caused by invasive species of crayfish, especially North American species. These species transmit crayfish plague (Aphanomyces astaci) too. One of these species is marbled crayfish (Procambarus virginalis).Aim of the thesis was an experimental comparison of the competitiveness of marbled crayfish in interspecies interactions with red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii), signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) and spiny-cheek crayfish (Faxonius limosus) depending on water temperature. The experiment included 20 runs of interspecific interactions at 16 °C, 18 runs of interspecific interactions at 20 °C and 19 runs of interspecific interactions at 24 °C. Interactions occurred in individual plastic tanks with tempered water. Interactions in tanks were recorded by camera. Subsequently, the agonistic interactions of crayfish were evaluated from 30 minutes of recordings. In conclusion, marbled crayfish is competitive opponent for psychrophilic and thermophilic crayfish species, especially at higher temperatures. The global warming could increase the success of spreading to new areas for marbled crayfish, as well as the survival of winter. In new areas, marbled crayfish could cause negative impacts for native organisms, especially native crayfish species.
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The Bay of Pigs and its influence on U.S.-Cuba relations
Jaroš, Milan ; Pondělíček, Jiří (advisor) ; Perutka, Lukáš (referee)
This bachelor thesis focuses on the Bay of Pigs invasion which had been an important part of the U.S.-Cuba relations in the 1960s. The period between the Cuban revolution and the Cuban missile crisis was marked by rapid deterioration of those relations. The thesis is set exactly in this time frame. The invasion was the outcome of the previous deterioration and Castro's victory became the reason for further escalation of the hostilities between the United States and Cuba. This thesis answers the question what decision-making process led to the actual execution of the invasion, what mistakes caused the invasion to fail, who is to blame for this outcome and what consequences did the American failure have on further evolution of the U.S.-Cuba relations. It analyses steps of the planning process and the influence of all the interested parties on this process. It reaches conclusion that the aggressive approach was implemented because of cold war circumstances and the communist threat, the American fear of losing their influence in the western hemisphere and personal ambitions of involved participants. The responsibility for the failure cannot be assigned to just Kennedy's decision making, the CIA's planning or poorly organized Cuban opposition because the fiasco resulted from all these things together....
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