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Population biology of Dianthus carthusianorum in populations infested by anther-smut
Kasner, Marek ; Koubek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Dostálek, Tomáš (referee)
Anther-smuts (Microbotryum violaceum s. l.) are systemic plant pathogens sterilizing their hosts, thus decreasing its reproduction on the expense of own sporulation. The spores are, consequently, transmitted by pollinator vectors and deposited on healthy flowers. This thesis contributes novel, to date missing information about population-level impact of the pathogen that severely influences its host fitness by examining a relatively new model species Dianthus carthusianorum. Additionally, it considers the effect of pre-dispersal seed predators (caterpillars of Hadena moths). Deterministic matrix models were used for the quantification of the effects of both plant antagonists. Notably, the use of such type of models is rather unique in population biology of plant pathogens. The research was conducted in three localities in Střední Povltaví area in years 2018-2021 when the demographic data were collected, reflecting the whole plant life cycle. During the annual censuses we gathered not only the information about the vital rates of the plants (growth, reproduction, infections...) but also selected size characteristics of permanently marked plants were measured to explore possible changes induced by a systemic infection. The seed recruitment and seedling growth data were provided by seed-addition...
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