Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk Uni

We are proud of our colleague Zdeňka Lososová, she was awarded with MUNI Scientist prize. @masarykuniversity.bsky.social www.sci.muni.cz/en/current-n...

Using mass spectrometry, scientists found these proteins resemble those in beetles and moths but evolved independently through convergent evolution. Understanding these adaptations could help boost natural pest control and reduce reliance on insecticides in agriculture.

FEBS Press Antifreeze proteins from winter-active spiders were purified using their affinity for ice. After LC–MSMS characterization, corresponding transcripts were identified. The antifreeze protein folds as a...

New arachnology research shows that Clubiona spiders—key natural enemies of orchard pests—stay active even in winter thanks to unique antifreeze proteins that stop ice crystals from growing. Read more: doi.org/10.1111/febs...
@FEBSJournal @QueensKingston #arachnology #spider

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New paper out in @ecography.bsky.social ! 🌍🌳
We looked at temperate deciduous forests across North America, West Eurasia, and East Eurasia, three regions that share ancient roots but have been separated for millions of years. What does that long breakup mean for today’s biodiversity?

Although the success of such crossbreeding depends on genetic compatibility between plants and cannot always be guaranteed, this discovery demonstrates that interploid crossbreeding may be a way to create new, viable forms of ginkgo.

Our botanists fianlly discovered "flowering" tetraploid ginkgo tree (with four sets of chromosomes). Using pollen from this plant, they performed controlled crossbreeding with common diploid female plants and obtained four new triploid plants—the first in this species! doi.org/10.1016/j.in...

Our new paper in Ecology Letters, led by Jan Divíšek, shows that non-invasive alien plant species that successfully establish within local plant communities tend to resemble the resident native species. In contrast, invasive alien species usually differ from native plants.
doi.org/10.1111/ele....

The first European classification of vegetation in seasonally drained salt lakes, led by Svitlana Iemelianova from our Vegetation Science Group, and supported by an MSCA4Ukraine grant. Our findings will change the standard European vegetation classification system.
doi.org/10.1111/avsc...

Minister of Education honours four Masaryk University experts Ladislav Bartoš, Milan Chytrý, Richard Štefl and Robert Vácha received awards from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MŠMT) on Tuesday, 4 November, at the Liechtenstein Palace in Prague.

www.em.muni.cz/en/news/1836...

Gratulujeme Milanovi Chytrému k Ceně ministra školství, mládeže a tělovýchovy za vynikající vzdělávací činnost na vysoké škole! Kromě toho, že je špičkovým vědcem v oblasti ekologie a botaniky, je i inspirativním učitelem, který dokáže nadchnout své studenty.
www.em.muni.cz/udalosti/183...

In our new article led by Gabriele Midolo, published in Ecology Letters, we show that plant species richness in European plant communities generally decreased between the 1960s and 1980s. However, since the 1990s, this trend seems to have stopped or even reversed.
dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele....

Symposium on Fish Mating Systems (Czechia, 21-23 Jan 2026): REGISTRATION NOW OPEN at fish.ivb.cz/registration/ Plenary talks by Suzanne Alonzo, John Fitzpatrick, and Chiara Benvenuto.
@ivb-cas.bsky.social

@uniofjyvaskyla.bsky.social

Unmanaged forests are the backbone of biodiversity conservation … efforts needed to increase structural features (old trees, deadwood, patchiness) also in managed forests.
These results highlight that protecting and expanding unmanaged forests is vital to conserving forest biodiversity in Europe.

New study in which our colleagues were involved shows that landscapes with ≈ 60 % unmanaged forests + 40 % intensively managed forests maximise multitaxonomic biodiversity (birds, plants, fungi, lichens, etc.).
Read more 👀: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Vysokohorské ryby v Evropě? Kde? Proč? a Jak se tam dostaly? Více v odpovědi pro Zeptej se vědce
shorturl.at/0RrVO

Milan Chytrý elected member of the prestigious Academia Europaea Prof. Milan Chytrý from the Department of Botany and Zoology of the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University has been elected member of Academia Europaea, one of the most respected scientific societies in Europe.

We are proud of Milan Chytrý, who has been elected member of Academia Europaea, one of the most respected scientific societies in Europe.
@milanchytry.bsky.social, @masarykuniversity.bsky.social
www.sci.muni.cz/en/current-n...

Our hydrobiologists reveal, thanks to the Horizon 2020 project DRYvER, the impacts of current and future river drying up to the year 2100 In the year 2025, based on research within the Horizon 2020 project addressing river drying, four articles were published involving our hydrobiologists Petr Pařil and his Croatian PhD student Luka Polović. They relate to predictions of the impacts of river drying up to 2100 and include a focus on the South Moravian Velička River basin. In these publications, the authors analyze how aquatic invertebrates survive drying across various European and other continental climate types. Using the model group of aquatic insects, caddisflies, they demonstrate the importance of connecting isolated river segments, without which recolonization of drying areas is very limited.

Our hydrobiologists have been involved in research in the #H2020 #DRYvER project, revealing how drying rivers will affect aquatic life up to 2100.
Find out why connecting river reaches is key to returning life to drying streams.
www.sci.muni.cz/en/current-n...

Our new online application EVA-MAP provides interactive maps of vegetation plots from the European Vegetation Archive and ReSurveyEurope databases. It enables filtering the plots by various criteria. More details can be found in this new article in the IAVS Bulletin:
www.sci.muni.cz/botany/chytr...

„Přijmout doktoranda mi dává smysl jen tehdy, když něco v oboru umí lépe než já“: rozhovor s Milanem Chytrým S oceněným vyučujícím, botanikem z Přírodovědecké fakulty Milanem Chytrým, jsme mluvili o důležitosti zahraničních kontaktů, kritické diskuse a samostatné práce studentů.

"Doktorandy se snažím vychovávat s vědomím, že v budoucnu mají být lepší než já a rozvíjet náš obor."

Rozhovor s Milanem Chytrým otevírá důležitá témata o roli školitele, o kvalitě výuky, o respektu ke studentům:
kvalita.muni.cz/aktualne/akt...

What determines mitochondrial number in Ethiopian Rodents from two Mountain regions? Species? Tissue? Elevation?
@botzool.bsky.social @ivb-cas.bsky.social
doi.org/10.25225/jvb...

In our new article, Zdenka Preislerová and I review the trends in describing new syntaxa of European vegetation from the early 20th century to the publication of the EuroVegChecklist (Mucina et al. 2016) and beyond.
@applvegsci.bsky.social @euroveg.bsky.social
🔗Open access: doi.org/10.1111/avsc...

They recorded species specialized to temporary pools, including regionally rare species (Daphnia atkinsoni species complex, Wlassicsia pannonica, Hemidiaptomus amblyodon). Number of species and occurrence of rare zooplankton species increased significantly in wetlands with historical continuity.

Our hydrobiologists observed ephemeral wetlands on arable land which belong to of the last fish-free aquatic habitats that have the potential to serve as refugia for regionally rare zooplankton species. What did they found: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

In our new Preslia article, led by Barbora Klímová, we corrected bias in the occurrence data using rarefaction and mapped the geographical distribution of plant species richness in Czechia (left: raw data, right: corrected data).
🔗 doi.org/10.23855/pre...

In our new article with Rui-Ling Liu and Wen-Yong Guo in J. Ecol., we quantified how plant strategy scores derived from leaf traits (Pierce method) correlate with other plant traits and plant environmental preferences.
🔗 Open-access article: doi.org/10.1111/1365...
‪@journalofecology.bsky.social‬

Česká krajina dál trpí nedostatkem vody a toky vysychají. Hydrobiolog Petr Pařil upozorňuje, že ubývá i prostor pro vodní živočichy. S úbytkem vody mizí druhová pestrost a ekosystémy jsou stále zranitelnější s dlouhodobými následky pro všechny. Reportáž ČT zde: www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/10971...

🌱 In our new article led by Luigi Cao Pinna, we show that alien plants in the Mediterranean often shift their niches, i.e. either do not fill or expand their occupied climatic space compared to the native range, partly depending on their traits.
🔗 fulltext: doi.org/10.1111/gcb....

I am searching for 1-2 postdocs to join our research team at the Vegetation Ecology Lab, IEEB, National Taiwan University, from August 2025 for one to three years.

Details: davidzeleny.net/veglab/lib/e...

davidzeleny.net/veglab

#postdocjobs #vegetation #TaiwanIsaCountry

Coarse woody debris requirements for maintaining land snail diversity in managed spruce forests Coarse woody debris (CWD) plays a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity in forest ecosystems by supporting habitat complexity and influencing soil …

Coarse woody debris plays a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity in forest ecosystems by supporting habitat complexity and influencing soil properties. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #malacology #snails #biodiversity #forest @forestecosyst.bsky.social