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Biennial Report 2013 – 2014

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Biennial Report 2013 – 2014 ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC INSTITUTE OF VERTEBRATE BIOLOGY BIENNIAL REPORT 2013 –2014 BRNO 2015 RENEWED INFRASTRUCTURES before after MOHELNO FIELD STATION accommodation facility new lecture hall STUDENEC RESEARCH FACILITY 2012 2013 (Photo by P. Bártová) BIENNIAL REPORT INSTITUTE OF VERTEBRATE BIOLOGY ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC 2013–2014 BRNO 2015 BIENNIAL REPORT 2013–2014 A periodical continuation of the Institute’s previous bulletins: Vertebratologické Zprávy (1969–1987), Zprávy ÚSEB (1988–1991) and the ILE Biennial Report (1993–1994). Edited by Josef Bryja, Jana Komárková, Hana Slabáková and Marcel Honza Published by the Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the ASCR, v. v. i., Brno English correction by Kevin Roche Layout and pre-press by Jiří Kaláček Printed by H.R.G. Litomyšl © Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v. v. i. Front cover: A pair of European bitterling (Rhodeus amarus) prior to oviposition in a unionid mussel. (Photo by C. Smith) Back cover: Experimental pools situated at the institute garden are routinely used for long-term mesocosm experiments with bitterling fish. (Photo by M. Reichard) ISBN 978-80-87189-15-3 CONTENTS PREFACE . 5 1. BASIC FACTS ........................................................................... 7 | STRUCTURE OF THE INSTITUTE OF VERTEBRATE BIOLOGY AS CR......................7 | STAFF AND BUDGET ................................................................... 8 Addresses ...............................................................................11 | HEADQUARTERS......................................................................11 | RESEARCH FACILITIES ............................................................ 11 | FIELD STATION ................................................................... 11 | MANAGEMENT AND SERVICES ........................................................11 | BOARD OF THE INSTITUTE ............................................................12 | SUPERVISORY BOARD.................................................................12 | RESEARCH STAFF .....................................................................13 2. RESEARCH PROJECTS ..................................................................19 Projects supported by the Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (GA AV ČR) . 19 Projects supported by the Czech Science Foundation (GA ČR) . 19 Projects supported by the Ministry of Environment . 20 Projects supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport . 21 International projects . 21 3. SCIENTIFIC RESULTS ...................................................................23 | SUMMARY OF PUBLICATION OUTPUT . .23 Geographical distribution of selected research activities abroad . 25 Complete list of publications . 26 Books, textbooks, edited proceedings . 26 Chapters in books . 26 Papers in journals included in the databases Web of Science . 26 Papers in other refereed journals . 41 Papers in proceedings . 42 Book reviews . 43 Popularization books and articles . 43 SELECTED SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS ....................................................46 EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY . 49 BIODIVERSITY . 65 PARASITES AND DISEASES . 79 4. OTHER ACTIVITIES .....................................................................91 | MEETINGS ORGANISED BY THE INSTITUTE .............................................91 | POPULARISATION ACTIVITIES AND COLLABORATION WITH UNIVERSITIES AND HIGH SCHOOLS �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������95 | MEMBERSHIP IN EDITORIAL BOARDS ..................................................99 | EDUCATION AND TEACHING ACTIVITIES ..............................................100 Teaching at universities . 100 Supervising of university students . 100 PhD students working at the Institute and/or supervised by the Institute’s fellows over 2013–2014 . 101 PhD theses defended over 2013–2014 and supervised by the Institute’s fellows: . 103 | EDITORIAL ACTIVITIES ...............................................................104 | AWARDS ............................................................................105 | OBITUARIES .........................................................................106 lows in educational activities and science popular- isation. Several educational projects have recently been successfully completed, supported through the European Social Fund via the Education for Competitiveness Operational Programme. Fur- thermore, our huge participation in education activities at Czech universities, and the amazing number of graduate and post-graduate students (more than 100) studying with us, is further strong evidence of the IVB’s important position in the Czech educational system. Our scientists are highly competitive and suc- cessful in obtaining research grants and effective in fund-raising from both national and foreign sources. These research grants and other contract funds contributed significantly to the IVB budget, PREFACE representing an additional 45 and 44 million CZK in 2013 and 2014, respectively. At this point, I would like to express my deepest appreciation Dear reader, to all the fellows of the Institute who successfully It is my great pleasure to introduce you to the Bi- applied for research grants and to express a vote ennial Report of the Institute of Vertebrate Biol- of heartfelt thanks for the truly excellent results ogy (IVB) for 2013–2014.The major goal of this achieved over the past two years. traditional publication is to provide both a rep- It also gives me pleasure to announce that over resentative overview of the extensive range of re- the past two years we have been able both to com- search activities undertaken at the IVB and to in- plete the long-term renovation of our Mohelno form the reader about the most important news field station and to open a new pavilion at our and events occurring at the IVB over 2013–2014, Studenec research facility. As regards further de- all in a style that is fully accessible to the interest- velopment, we have recently begun the building ed layperson. Furthermore, the report is a means of a new modern breeding facility at Studenec. of advertising our achievements to the wider re- To conclude, I sincerely hope that our work will search community, of attracting new students and continue to be guided by a spirit of mutual under- post-doctoral researchers and of providing a base- standing and collaboration, allowing us to reach line against which to measure our future progress. even greater achievements over the coming years. At the IVB, we focus on advanced research at the frontiers of evolutionary ecology, biodiversity With my very best wishes, and medical zoology and the studies undertaken have both fundamental and applied significance. The majority of scientific papers resulting from these studies have been published in high ranking journals; indeed, the last two years can be consid- ered the most productive in the history of the IVB in terms of both scientific output measured by simple criteria such as number of papers and Impact Factors achieved. Our research is distinctly based on broad inter- national collaboration and I believe that you will Marcel Honza find the vast majority of our results to be both Director of the Institute of Vertebrate Biology novel and exciting. Of particular note in recent years has been the active involvement of IVB fel- May, 2015 5 6 BASIC FACTS 1. BASIC FACTS | STRUCTURE OF THE INSTITUTE OF VERTEBRATE BIOLOGY AS CR Board of the Institute Director Supervisory Board Deputy Directors Scientific Secretary Research Sector * Services (Brno) Research Team 1 Economic Department (headed by group leader 1) Research Team 2 Library and Editorial Office (headed by group leader 2) Research Team 3 Secretariat (headed by group leader 3) Research Team … X (headed by group leader … X) * dispersed at three research facilities – Brno, Studenec, Valtice The Institute of Vertebrate Biology is a relatively small institute of the Academy of Sciences and hence is not structured into separate research departments. Senior researchers are usually principal investigators of national and international projects and are responsible for creating and maintaining their teams, pre- dominantly through external funding. Principal project investigators are directly subordinate to the Di- rector. Research teams are highly flexible and composed of junior researchers, post-doctorates, research assistants, technicians and pre- and post-graduate students. Research subjects can be divided into three main domains – evolutionary ecology, biodiversity and pathogens and diseases (see below); however, individual projects can cover wider topics and researchers often use interdisciplinary approaches. 7 INSTITUTE OF VERTEBRATE BIOLOGY | ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC BIENNIAL REPORT 2013–2014 | STAFF AND BUDGET The Institute of Vertebrate Biology is relatively small (regarding number of employees and budget) but is impor- tant in scientific output and other activities. Seventy-seven people were employed full-time in 2013, a number that rose to 80 in 2014. Staff structure was similar in both years. A significant decreasing trend in the number of institutional employees has stopped though the number of workers (mainly post-doctorate students, PhD students and technicians) employed on the basis of (unpredictable) external project funding is still almost 60 %. 36
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