In this study the sexual and geographical variations in the genus Miniopterus were deeply investigated, using multidisciplinary analysis (morphometric cranial, dental, fenetic and shape analysis; molecular analysis of mt gene ND2). Different populations from western Palearctic and adjacent regions were analysed: Miniopterus schreibersii (Morocco, West Europe, Pannonia, Balkans, Crete, Near East, Middle East), Miniopterus natalensis (Yemen, Ethiopia) a Miniopterus inflatus (Ethiopia). Extensove samples of Miniopterus schreibersii were tested and existence of sexual dimorphism in cranial constitution was showed: males had generally bigger and relatively higher, shorter and narrower skulls than females; female mandibles were generally bigger than the male ones, females showed also more robust and larger teeth than males. On the other hand, males had markedly bigger canines and relatively higher P4 (in relation to other premolares). The sexes also deiffered in shape of P4 and upper molars. According to the interpopulation variation found, Miniopterus schreibersii samples from West Europe, Pannonia, Balkans, Crete, Sicily, Georgia, coastal Turkish and Moroccan areas belong most probably to the subspecies M. s. schreibersii (Kuhl, 1817). The samples from Afganistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and from localities...

The genus Rousettus has distributional pattern unique among fruitbats comprising both Asia and Africa and reaching northern distributional limits of the family in Persia, Arabia and Mediterranean basin. This could be ascribed to the ability of echolocation, consequent cave dwelling, and presumably other site-specific adaptations, which enabled dispersal independent of forest block and surviving in Mediterranean type of climate. Using fastly evolving mitochondrial marker, we aimed to assess genetic variability, its geographic distribution and demography of northern populations of the Egyptian fruitbat (Rousettus aegyptiacus). Mitochondrial network indicates deep genetic divergence between disjunct Mediterranean and eastern African parts of the range. Basal position of Sinaic and Jordanian haplotypes within northern clade indicate important role of these regions in colonization of eastern Mediterranean. Generally, the northern haplogroup is moderately diversified with partial geographic localization of particular haplotypes. Significant isolation by distance pattern suggests relatively pronounced site fidelity of particular colonies, at least in terms of maternal gene flow. Landscape genetics analyses indicate discontinuities in distribution of mitochondrial genetic variability, in some cases correlating with...

This thesis is focused in the representatives of beetle families Hydrophilidae and Hydraenidae of West Indies and adjacent regions. It consists of two parts, the phylogenetic part and the systematic part. The phylogenetic part focuses on the hydrophilid genera Phaenonotum and Crenitulus of Greater Antilles: beetles were sampled in all four main islands (Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and Jamaica) and analyzed using the combination of molecular and morphological data. The genus Phaenonotum contains four single-island endemics, of which those from Cuba, Jamaica and Hispaniola are wingless and form a clade that diversified ca. 46 million years ago (Ma) and likely colonized the Caribbean via the GAARlandia land bridge. In contrast, the Puerto Rican endemic and the two remaining non-endemic species colonized the Greater Antilles by over- water dispersal during the Oligocene-Miocene. The analysis of the genus Crenitulus revealed that Greater Antillean species belong to two separate clades: the Crenitulus yunque clade endemic for Cuba and Hispaniola, and the Crenitulus suturalis clade containing specimens from Greater Antilles and from northern America. A detailed revision of the Crenitulus yunque clade using morphology and molecular-based species delimitation recognized 11 species locally endemic for...

Population structure, biogeography and phylogenetic relationships of the fruit bat genus Rousettus have been studied in Africa and adjacent regions. The current population patterns of rousettine fruit bats in the Old World are influenced by several environmental attributes, namely the topography, climate and land cover. These variables are mirrored in fruit bat plesiomorphies related to the ecological niche of tropical flying frugivore, as well as apomorphies of rousettines including echolocation ability, roosting in caves and dispersal capacity in open landscapes with discontinuous tree cover. Phylogenetic relationships among species and subspecies of the genus have been indicated and confronted with the existing colonization scenarios. Insular populations (including habitat islands within desert oases) show frequent genetic differentiation from their mainland relatives suggesting successful founder events after traversing stretches of unsuitable habitats. Genetic differentiation evolving in less distant islands suggests involving behavioural mechanisms maintaining cohesion of isolated demes as site fidelity and natal habitat-biased dispersal. In sub-Saharan mainland Africa within the large range reaching from the southern border of Sahara to Cape Peninsula, Rousettus populations share a...

Population structure, biogeography and phylogenetic relationships of the fruit bat genus Rousettus have been studied in Africa and adjacent regions. The current population patterns of rousettine fruit bats in the Old World are influenced by several environmental attributes, namely the topography, climate and land cover. These variables are mirrored in fruit bat plesiomorphies related to the ecological niche of tropical flying frugivore, as well as apomorphies of rousettines including echolocation ability, roosting in caves and dispersal capacity in open landscapes with discontinuous tree cover. Phylogenetic relationships among species and subspecies of the genus have been indicated and confronted with the existing colonization scenarios. Insular populations (including habitat islands within desert oases) show frequent genetic differentiation from their mainland relatives suggesting successful founder events after traversing stretches of unsuitable habitats. Genetic differentiation evolving in less distant islands suggests involving behavioural mechanisms maintaining cohesion of isolated demes as site fidelity and natal habitat-biased dispersal. In sub-Saharan mainland Africa within the large range reaching from the southern border of Sahara to Cape Peninsula, Rousettus populations share a...

This doctoral thesis is submitted in the form of science publications with impact factor and presents human biological variation in two different ways. The first part is the study of phenotype variation focused on the degree of limb bones bilateral asymmetry. Besides genetic and hormonal factors asymmetry may develop as a response to biomechanical and to environmental factors influencing the individual/population. Therefore this trait can be considered as a measure of person's living conditions, health or environmental stress of different origin or exa- mine the effects of behavioral distinctions as sexual division of labor and diffe- rences in subsistence strategy. The submitted publication (Kujanová et al., 2008) is based on samples of two diachronic populations (medieval and recent) from Bohe- mia with different expected levels of health/environmental stress. The study is fo- cused especially on these aspects that may be indicative of various stresses, such as malnutrition or other nonspecific factors influencing health of persons living in the studied populations. According to the results we propose that bilateral asymmetry observed in the diachronic populations showed some differences supporting the theory that the medieval population was not subjected to as highly stressful condi- tions as the...

The Fairy shrimp Branchinecta gaini Daday, 1910 is the largest freshwater invertebrate in Antarctica and the top-level consumer of local freshwater food webs. Ecological demands of B. gaini that are accompanied by 'ruderal' life strategy together with its spatial distribution that exceeds to Patagonia indicate that it had survived last glacial period in South America and expanded to Antarctica shortly after this epoch endeed. On James Ross Island that is the most extreme environment where B. gaini occurs today was this fairy shrimp considered extinct until year 2008. Its disappearance was based on paleolimnological analysis of several lake sediment cores according to which it inhabited this island between years 4200 to approximately 1500 before present when it died out because of changes in lake catchments caused by harsh neoglacial conditions. Paleolimnological analysis of Monolith Lake presented in this study has shown that this assumption was wrong and B. gaini has lived on James Ross Island throughout neoglacial period up to recent time. Phylogeographic analysis of 16S rDNA of specimens from Patagonia, South Orkneys, South Shetlands and James Ross Island revealed that its high morphological diversity is not supported by this gene and that all examined populations of B. gaini is one species with very few...

(in English) Pipistrellus pipistrellus species complex contains two sympatric species inhabiting Europe and part of West and Central Asia (Pipistrellus pipistrellus s. str, Pipistrellus pygmaeus s. str) and several other lines, isolated in the Mediterranean (North Africa, islands and peninsulas of the Mediterranean Sea). This taxon is a part of the extensive radiation within the genus Pipistrellus, which in today's concept includes about 30 species. Mosaic line of P. pipistrellus complex, located at different stages of diversification and secondary contacts in the Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot, is a suitable model for research on speciation. In this thesis we focused on analyses of distribution, phylogeography, population structure and demography based on mitochondrial data from 323 individuals, representing almost the entire range. Control region of mitochondrial DNA was chosen as a genetic marker. Variability in the 378 pb long fragment acknowledged the existence of several genetically distinct lines whose species status is discussed. Observed fylogeografic pattern confirms the existence of groups of radiation centers in the Mediterranean region. An allopatric speciation was there, two of the lines (P. pipistrellus s. str and P. pygmaeus s. str.) later expanded into Europe and their ranges...

The research presented in my PhD thesis consists of phylogenetic, biogeographic, taxonomic and ecological research of Southern Hemisphere water scavenger beetles (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae) with a special emphasis on New Zealand. The introductory chapter provides a brief outline on the break-up of Gondwana and geological processes that shaped New Zealand and its fauna. Furthermore, the diversity of New Zealand Hydrophilidae and worldwide diversity of the hydrophilid subfamily Cylominae and its taxonomic history are illustrated. The scientific part of the thesis contains 4 published papers and 2 manuscripts. The first study recalibrates the Coleoptera time tree, providing new age estimates for the Hydrophiloidea, among others. The new age estimate is implemented in the second study, a phylogenetic study that reconstructs the biogeography of the 'Gondwanan' Cylominae beetles. The Cylominae, whose name was reinstated through nomenclatural priority over Rygmodinae in a separate paper, are found to consist of two tribes, Andotypini and Cylomini. The disjunct distribution of Cylominae is shown to be partly the result of vicariance and partly of long-distance oversea dispersal. The most remarkable long-distance dispersal is that of the only African representative of the subfamily which reached Africa from...

Adaptive population shifts in response to climate change Ing. Michaela Horníková, Doctoral thesis Abstract Understanding of species' reactions to past climate and environmental changes is a hot topic in many fields of biology as it is relevant also for addressing species' future under the contemporary climate change. Using an emerging model species, the bank vole, I combine genomic phylogeographic data with information on known intraspecific functional variability and environmental niche modelling and aim to elucidate the particular role of intraspecific variation and ultimately selection in shaping the species' response to the climatic and environmental changes after the end of the last glaciation. Based on the mtDNA markers, bank voles exhibit a complex phylogeographic pattern suggesting population replacement events during the postglacial recolonization of Europe and thus possible involvement of selection in the process. An extensive dataset of more than 6000 SNPs was used to search for signs of population replacement in the bank vole genomic DNA and to investigate the species' postglacial recolonization history throughout its European distribution range. The genomic data revealed even more complex population history than previously detected with mtDNA markers, including not only admixture but also...