Past Projects
Anatomical and physiological limitations as key factors of vegetative regeneration of plants from roots
2019-2021 | Jitka Klimešová, Jana Martínková, Alena Bartušková, Arinawa Liz Del Prado Filartiga, Lubomír Adamec
The plants are able to regenerate after disruption thanks to the bank of buds. This ability is used, for example, by grazed plants or weeds on arable land. While most plants regenerate from disturbing buds on the stems, some (including field weeds) have invented a completely independent mechanism and use buds that are adventurously rooted. Only about 10% of Central European species have this ability. From an ecological point of view, this phenomenon is relatively well known, but we know almost nothing about the control processes within the plant, physiological or anatomical limitations. We propose a series of experiments in which we will find out how the vitality of root shoots after plant disturbance is related to the physiology, hormonal conditions and anatomy of roots across a range of herbaceous species.
Perennial growth strategies: from cells to whole plants
2019-2021 | Jana Martínková, Jitka Klimešová, Frederick Curtis Lubbe
Perennial herbs are the most species-rich and phylogenetically the most diverse group of temperate flora. They are unique in that they rebuild the above-ground parts of the underground organs every year. For their success under different ecological regimes must optimize the amount of reserves, the number and size of underground buds, cells, timing and growth rate, the reformation of organs. The diversity of their growth strategies is thus much greater than for annuals or trees. But this diversity is also the reason why it belongs to the least researched group of temperate flora.
In this project, three scientific groups will join forces, which deal with individual aspects of perennial growth. We will find out the mechanisms of their growth from the cellular level to the level of the whole plant and their dependence on the environment. Linking individual approaches together with data collection using innovative methods and phylogenetic, anatomical, cytometric, experimental and modeling approaches. For the first time, this will allow a comprehensive study of perennial growth strategies to fully understand the mechanisms that determine their success and role in different temperate habitats.
Functional biogeography of island habitats: do clonality and longevity determine plant persistence?
2019-2021 | Gianluigi Ottaviani, Francisco Emmanuel Méndez-Castro, Luisa Conti, Veronika Jandová
Functional biogeography is a key field of plant science – its strength lies in combining studies on a coarse and fine spatial scale and involves the use of plant properties to determine determinants of species diversity, distribution and persistence. We will use this approach to assess the role of functional properties in island habitats where plant distribution is expected to be affected by the degree of isolation and island size. We will be the first to use not only seminal but also clonal traits and longevity for such a study. We expect to find evidence of the prevalence of vegetative reproduction and plant longevity in more isolated, smaller islands. Our study system will be lawns on rocky outcrops, which form a network of islands of different sizes and distances.
Interreg ATCZ 45 Connecting Nature ConNat
2017-2020 | Andrea Kucerova
The common landscape between the Lower Austrian Mostviertel, Waldviertel, Weinviertel and the South Bohemian Region, the Vysočina Region and the South Moravian Region is exposed to increasing fragmentation due to development, roads and intensive use, and migration corridors of wild animals are interrupted. Important protected areas and nature-friendly areas are being isolated, such as the Thayatal and Podyjí National Parks or the Ramsar Wetlands and Peatlands in the Waldviertel and Southern Bohemia, whose biodiversity is threatened by the lack of species exchange. In addition to fragmentation, there are other threats caused by, for example, peat extraction and drainage. As part of the project, the Institute of Botany will inventory the sites affected by peat mining in the Třeboň Basin, create a strategy for their revitalization and carry out monitoring before and after revitalization interventions on peatlands.
Response to disturbance as a key process in the evolution of herbs and clonal plants: a combination of phylogenetic and experimental approaches
2016-2018 | Jana Martínková, Jitka Klimešová, Gianluigi Ottaviani
The functional differences between herbs and woody plants are some of the deepest in the plant kingdom. The common hypothesis is that the key factor for its emergence is the reaction to frost or escape from competition, but good data on the factors that determine evolution and the role of herbalism surprisingly do not exist. We plan to test the hypothesis that a key factor for the evolution of herbalism is recurrent aboveground disturbance, which damages the aboveground parts but leaves the underground organs unharmed. We propose to test this hypothesis using phylogenetic analysis of the functional properties of large data sets of American and European species. In them, we will examine the little-known functional differences between herbs and woody plants and find out whether they arose in response to disturbance, regardless of the phylogenetic position of the species. We further propose to supplement these analyzes with manipulative experiments testing the functional responses of species directly. • find out by means of phylogenetic analysis and experiments whether the functional properties determining the response to disturbance are responsible for the development of herbaceous and woody syndromes • find out whether the functional specializations within herbs and within tree species differ and which environmental factors are responsible for it.
Factors governing community stability over time: the role of functional differences between species and between individuals
2016-2018 | Francesco de Bello, Lars Götzenberger, Jitka Klimešová
Our objective is to run different tests on questions about community and species stability using existing datasets. Specific fieldwork will complement information of available data. A combination of field and green-house experiments will also allow answering questions related to the importance of functional diversity and redundancy in community stability and intraspecific trait variability in time. We propose a project focussed on two main objectives, and related four research questions, arranged in two interacting work packages (WP). WP1 will focus on assessing the drivers of temporal stability within species and at the community level, as to integrate analyses at these different levels of biological organization. This will results in understanding how synchrony and asynchrony in fluctuations between species interact with the temporal variability of biological communities and to which extent functional traits and functional redundancy can be important. In this sense new indices of functional redundancy will be tested with simulations and assessed with existing data. WP2 will focus on relating within-species trait diversity to temporal variability in communities and the potential of trans-generational trait adjustments effects on stabilizing communities. A strong international collaboration with specialists in these fields and a multidisciplinary team in the Czech Republic characterizes this project.