About
59
Publications
21,023
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
1,400
Citations
Publications
Publications (59)
Urbanisation is transforming environments globally. The altered abiotic conditions and biotic interactions in urban habitats inflict divergent selection pressures on urban versus rural populations. Genetic drift may simultaneously be significant in typically small urban populations. A key question in urban evolution is whether urban genotypes have...
Artificial light at night (ALAN) and noise pollution in urban ecosystems change the behavior of birds in many ways, one of these being in their singing. These changes are crucial because singing is highly important in bird communication. As birds rely on the spread of acoustic information, they were found to modify their singing activity in urban a...
Agricultural intensification and landscape simplification are among the major drivers of biodiversity loss in agricultural landscapes. Increasing field edges might be a key solution for enhancing biodiversity and related ecosystem services within arable fields. In this study, we investigated the spatial distribution of nine arthropod groups and wee...
Organic farming is considered beneficial for farmland biodiversity. However, it is often unclear what specific factors are underlying the biodiversity benefits of this farming practice. The positive effects may be driven by factors acting at the field level represented by, for instance, the absence of pesticides, or by the factors acting at the lev...
Urbanization and its urban‐heat‐island effect (UHI) have expanding footprints worldwide. The UHI means that urban habitats experience a higher mean and more frequent extreme high temperatures than rural habitats, impacting the ontogeny and resilience of urban biodiversity. However, many organisms occupy different microhabitats during different life...
Introduction: Abandoned military training areas are biodiversity strongholds, and this is particularly true for open-habitat and threatened species in Central Europe. Such species benefited from a specific disturbance regime created by military activities that maintained small-grained environmental heterogeneity. However, the disturbance regime no...
Light pollution is increasingly affecting biodiversity and may also disrupt seasonal adaptations. Even dim artificial light, such as skyglow—which can spread far beyond urban areas—can interfere with using photoperiod as a seasonal cue.
Here, we test how light pollution impacts diapause induction and whether urban evolution counteracts it, by using...
Arable land covers a large part of the European landscape, and its biodiversity is declining rapidly due to agricultural intensification. Among the most threatened groups of organisms are insectivorous ground-foraging farmland birds. To reverse their decline, it is necessary to understand the impact of agriculture on the factors potentially shaping...
[in Czech] Středoevropské stepi jsou kriticky ohroženým biotopem, jehož kontinuitu provázejí spory. Vhled do historie může poskytnout genetika a klimatické modelování. Okáč skalní (Chazara briseis), modrásek ligrusový (Polyommatus damon) a m. komonicový (P. dorylas) jsou stepní druhy motýlů vymírající v celé střední Evropě. První dva druhy mohly bý...
Non-crop habitats are supposed to provide valuable resources to beneficial arthropods inhabiting agricultural landscapes during both the growing and winter seasons. Unfortunately, studies focused on the performance of non-crop habitats during the winter period are much less abundant, despite their importance for efficient biodiversity conservation...
The construction of shelters on plants by arthropods might influence other organisms via changes in colonization, community richness, species composition, and functionality. Arthropods, including beetles, caterpillars, sawflies, spiders, and wasps often interact with host plants via the construction of shelters, building a variety of structures suc...
Current climate change is disrupting biotic interactions and eroding biodiversity worldwide. However, species sensitive to aridity, high temperatures and climate variability might find shelter in microclimatic refuges, such as leaf rolls built by arthropods. To explore how the importance of leaf shelters for terrestrial arthropods changes with lati...
Biodiversity is rapidly declining worldwide, with agricultural intensification being among the main drivers of this process. Effective conservation measures in agricultural landscapes are therefore urgently needed. Here we introduce a novel low-cost conservation measure called artificial field defects, i.e., areas where crop is not sown and spontan...
Non-crop habitats are important to support biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes. Whereas perennial and managed non-crop habitats have known benefits, temporary non-crop patches within arable fields (field defects) have been poorly studied. We created artificial field defects (unsown patches) in oilseed rape (Brassica napus...
Central European dry grasslands represent extrazonal patches of the Eurasian steppe biome. They suffer from severe habitat alterations due to land-use changes, abandonment, or inappropriate management. The butterflies Chazara briseis (Linnaeus, 1764) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), Polyommatus damon (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenid...
Current climate change is disrupting biotic interactions and eroding biodiversity worldwide. However, species sensitive to drought, high temperatures and climate variability might persist in microclimatic refuges, such as leaf shelters built by arthropods. We conducted a distributed experiment across an 11,790 km latitudinal gradient to explore how...
Agricultural intensification seriously threatens European biodiversity. To mitigate this threat, farmland habitat suitability should be improved. Mid-field woodlots surrounded by intensively cultivated fields or grasslands, represent one of the promising tools for such improvement. However, woodlots can be dominated by non-native plants and their i...
Background
Effective conservation of specialised, endangered species depends on the knowledge of all vital resources they require within species’ lifetime. The butterfly Chazara briseis is endangered throughout Europe, especially so in all states north from the Alps. It depends on large areas of open steppe grassland with short and sparse turf.
Ai...
Frequent extreme weather events, which jeopardize agriculture by affecting crop health, characterize the ongoing climate change. Temporary patches where sown plants are poorly developed (hereafter “field defects”) are likely to increase with climate change and can be colonized by other plant species. Although perennial non-crop habitats can act as...
Landscape heterogeneity and higher complexity generally increase biodiversity in agroecosystems. Carabid beetles represent abundant and important predators of pests and weed seeds in temperate agroecosystems and are affected by landscape structure. Several studies have described the impact of permanent non-crop habitats such as woodlots, hedgerows,...
The harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis, is considered to be one of the most invasive insect species worldwide. Its invasion success and extreme speed of range expansion has been partially attributed to weak control of its populations by natural enemies. Previously published data on emergence rates of the hymenopteran parasitoid Dinocampus coccin...
Aim
Landscape simplification and the spread of invasive species are considered beyond the main threats to global biodiversity. It is well recognized that non‐crop habitats bring complexity to farmland and provide refuge for a wide range of organisms, including arthropods. However, knowledge about the effects of invasive trees on arthropods in non‐c...
Landscape simplification and the spread of invasive species are considered the main threats to global biodiversity. It is well recognized that non-crop habitats bring complexity to farmland and provide refuge for arthropods. However, knowledge about the effects of invasive trees on arthropods in non-crop habitats in intensive agricultural landscape...
Non-crop habitats can act as refuge for insects in agricultural landscapes and increase ecosystem services (ESs) in neighboring arable fields. Among the different types of non-crop habitats, field defects are temporary patches where sown plants are poorly developed and other plant species emerge. These defects can be common and large in years with...
Leptotina butterflies (Lycaenidae, Polyommatiinae) are found mostly in tropical and subtropical areas around the globe, marginally penetrating into temperate regions. Here, we investigated phylogenetic and biogeographical relationships of most representatives of the subtribe, using both likelihood and Bayesian approaches. We also estimated the timi...
This article presents recent findings of Horisme radicaria (La Harpe, 1855), supplemented by available
historical records from the Czech Republic. The species is already known from a number of localities, in Bohemia
only from the vicinity of Srbsko in the Bohemian Karst Protected Landscape Area. Recently, it has been found in
Plzeň-Krkavec (Bohemia...
Non-native invasive plants are among the main threats to global biodiversity, including insects, and it is thus important to understand the mechanisms of how invasive plants impact native species. The community composition of nocturnal Lepidoptera was studied in the Czech Republic (Central Europe) in stands of native deciduous trees and in stands d...
Temporal patterns in butterfly behavior should reflect diurnal, seasonal and population-level changes in mate availability. Investment into mating should peak at times when potential mates are at a maximum; at other times, individuals should save energy and focus on maintenance activities. To explore these assumptions, we re-analyzed mark-recapture...
With ongoing climate change, it is likely that shifts in species distribution ranges will lead to changes in the type and intensity of plant–herbivore interactions. Plants currently exposed to lower levels of herbivory could have less developed defensive mechanisms and therefore could suffer in case of increased herbivore pressure.
We performed a c...
Zodarion ohridense Wunderlich, 1973 was found to be introduced in an abandoned stone quarry near Kolín in the Czech Republic. The Central European species of Zodarion are discussed.
Aim
To investigate the community‐level impacts of woody plant invasions using Robinia pseudoacacia as a model species, affecting organisms on different trophic levels: vascular plants, nocturnal Lepidoptera and birds.
Location
Czech Republic, central Europe.
Methods
Nineteen plots with strong dominance of the invader were compared to 20 plots wit...
Post-industrial sites, including fly ash deposits, are common landscape components in many Central European regions. Their effective restoration is thus crucial because such habitats have been recognised as critical secondary refuges for many endangered and declining species. Controversially, the overwhelming majority of restoration projects consid...
Aims
We aim to document elevational richness patterns of geometrid moths in a globally replicated, multi‐gradient setting, and to test general hypotheses on environmental and spatial effects (i.e. productivity, temperature, precipitation, area, mid‐domain effect and human habitat disturbance) on these richness patterns.
Location
Twenty‐six elevati...
The ecological value and conservation potential of post-mining areas have been increasingly recognized by scientists and conservationists during recent decades. Especially valuable are sites left to spontaneous succession, which constitute habitats with high species diversity, or habitats that serve as refuges for threatened species. In contrast to...
Geometrid moths occurring in late autumn and early spring in temperate forest habitats are often harmful defoliators of deciduous stands. Their populations can cause locally cyclic outbreaks and thus preventive monitoring actions have been developed, mainly based on pheromone attraction of males. Females are mostly flightless with reduced or lost w...
The Grayling Hipparchia semele L. belongs to rapidly vanishing butterfly species in its central and western European range. We studied larval microhabitat preferences of two last viable populations of the Grayling in the Czech Republic. The field study was carried out at two types of human-influenced habitats: a fly ash deposit a postindustrial sit...
Prague, which is the capital of the Czech Republic, occupies 496 km2 and has a population of 1.2 million people. This chapter describes six of the major invertebrate groups that occur in the city: Arachnida (spiders and related species)—504 species or 58 % of the national species; Coleoptera—Carabidae (ground beetles)—362 species found between 1790...
Trapping live butterflies using bait traps is a traditional monitoring method used in tropical regions. We compared the utility of bait traps with zigzag walks in temperate Central Europe where butterfly bait traps have not been systematically tested yet. We focused on butterfly communities in steppes, forest steppes and open woodlands. We carried...
K nejohroženějším motýlům patří na území Evropy druhy úzce vázané na světlé řídké lesy a xerotermní stepní trávníky. Do této skupiny patří i námi studovaný okáč metlicový (Hipparchia semele L.), okáč medyňkový (Hipparchia fagi Scop.), okáč bělopásný (Hipparchia alcyone Den. & Schiff.) a okáč skalní (Chazara briseis L.). Za účelem zefektivnění monit...
Okáč bělopásný (Hipparchia alcyone (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775)) je kriticky ohrožený denní motýl s vazbou na řídké a světlé lesy. Práce byla vytvořena za účelem doplnění informací o chování a biotopových preferencích H. alcyone ve střední Evropě. Tyto údaje jsou potřebné k navržení managementových opatření, které povedou k obnově a rozšiřování j...
Despite the increasing evidence that post-mining sites often provide biodiversity refuges in anthropogenically impacted landscapes, thus offering valuable analogues of natural habitats, technocratic methods still prevail over natural processes in restoration practice. Selection of the restoration approach, however, crucially affects the future cons...
Okáč metlicový (Hipparchia semele L.) patří v České republice mezi kriticky ohrožené motýly. Dříve hojný xerotermofilní druh ubyl v důsledku absence vhodného biotopu – především krátkostébelných stepních trávníků s řídkou vegetací. Pro jeho přežití jsou v současnosti klíčová i postindustriální stanoviště (lomy, výsypky, pískovny). Na území NPP Zlat...
Cities contain only a low representation of natural and semi-natural habitats, existing in fragments surrounded by built-up areas. In 2003-2004, we surveyed butterflies and Zygaenidae moths in 21 reserves and 4 parks within the city of Prague, Czech Republic, situated from the periphery to city centre. A total of 85 species (47% of the Czech fauna...
Butterflies are widely used in biodiversity surveys, and several methods of relative abundance counts have been developed. The most frequently used linear
transects are praised for a good replicability, but recently have been criticised for poor species detecting ability, especially for poorly visible or extremely sedentary species. As an alternati...
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2009, xii + 513 pp. Paperback ISBN 978-052-176-6975, price USD 75.00, hardback ISBN 978-052-174-7592, price USD 160.00.
1. The view of post-mining sites is rapidly changing among ecologists and conservationists, as sensitive restoration using spontaneous succession may turn such sites into biodiversity refuges in human-exploited regions. However, technical reclamation, consisting of covering the sites by topsoil, sowing fast-growing herb mixtures and planting trees,...
An assemblage of moth species at a suburb of Prague (50°5′ 11″N,14°18′06″E) was monitored by a highly efficient mercury light trap for 23 years (1967-1976, 1980-1992). Species caught were divided into guilds according to habitat specialisation, and analysed using species richness S , Shannon's diversity H and evenness J as the response variables, a...
Large populations, seemingly not at risk of extinction, can decline rapidly due to alteration of habitat. This appears to be the case of the butterfly Chazara briseis, which is declining in all of Central and Eastern Europe, even from apparently large areas of its steppe grassland habitats. We combined mark–recapture, allozyme electrophoresis and a...
We report the larval microhabitat preferences of the critically endangered Hermit butterfl y, Chazara briseis (L.) (Nymphalidae, Satyrinae), from a population inhabiting steep basaltic hills of the Ceske Stredohori highlands, Czech Republic. Based on fi eld records of 61 pre-pupation larvae, we argue that they require dry, south to south-west expos...
We studied changes in the composition of butterfly and burnet fauna in 25 reserves of xeric grasslands within the city Prague, Czech Republic, based on a recent repetition of a survey conducted three decades ago. The past and recent survey detected 91 and 84 species, 12 species were lost and four were gained between the surveys. There was no signif...