Syllabus
Prerequisites for successful completion of the lectureWe do not have any strict requirements on what you should know before writing our lecture, but we think it is appropriate to have some previous knowledge of general ecology and evolutionary biology (ideally if you have taken e.g. Introduction to Evolutionary Biology - MB170P55) and Ecology - MB170P75, but it is more about orientation in concepts and issues than some specific knowledge).Syllabus and program of lectures Explanatory notes - ZJ - Zdeněk Janovský; EH - Eva Horčičková; TK - Tomas Koubek 1) General introduction (ZJ, TK, EH)The types of interactions differentiated and which the plants enter.
The types of interactions covered in the talk and those which are taught in separate lectures (mycorrhiza) or are covered in other ecological sourses (competitions, facilitation, epiphytism, symbiotic bacteria - Plant ecology, partly also parsitism and mycorrhiza; soil biota - Population biology of plants). Evolution of plant interactions (no longer limited to pollination, herbivoria and pathogen relationships) in the context of global ecosystem development.
Selected uncommon interactions not covered by separate lectures - plant relationships with ants (myrmecochoria, domatia, non-fungal tritrophic plant interactions), nematodes and soil biota (brief introduction, more in Plant Population Biology). Pollination2) Introduction to pollination - who are the actors, how they look and where they occur (ZJ)Types of pollination in plants (evolutionary benefits and other consequences of pollination by abiotic vectors), overview of pollinator groups, their spread across biomes, pollination syndromes (flower characteristics leading to attraction of individual groups). 3) Pollination and small spatial scales - pollinators (ZJ)Pollinator senses and memory (resolution - reflectance and guide UV patterns, sequence of visits and constants), pollen carryover capacity (detected and effective), rewards (types, behavioral effects, circadian changes), different reward collection strategies and their evolutionary biological rationale , the influence of spatial arrangement of plants on pollination on a range of meters - the role of flowering neighbors 4) Pollination and small spatial scales - plants (ZJ)Flower morphology and preferences of pollinator groups, position of reproductive structures within flowers, phenology of inflorescence and its relation to plant reproductive system and life strategy, pollen (grain size and abundance, pollen grain / egg ratio, pollen viability) and its relation plant reproductive system and other aspects of life strategy, theft of rewards and morphology, pollinator manipulation by plants (flower mimicry, blooming flowers).
Influence of other plant properties on the success of pollination. 5) Pollination and large spatial scalesPollinator mobility and its impact on plant population structure, landscape structure and management effects on pollinator community composition, phenology and intergenerational interactions on pollinator community composition, geographical gradients, pollination networks tool for description and analysis of pollinator communities - network properties and their importance, differences between networks based on visits to the amount of pollen transferred and deposition; generalization within pollinator communities Herbivorie6) Herbivory - general introduction (ZJ, EH)What all the components of the plant biological herbivory impact (herbivory × plant predation), types of herbivory in terms of action (leaves, seeds - pre- and post-dispersion predation, roots, infestation of phloem and xylem, seedlings, frugivorie). Other effects of herbivores (pedaling, seed dispersion).
Impacts of various types of herbivory damage on plants - herbivory of generative × vegetative parts, roots and stems × leaves, ontogenetic stages of organs (herbivory of young × old leaves). Methods of plant defense against herbivores - avoidance × tolerance, possibilities of regeneration, escape from herbivores in time and space, constitutive × induced defense, mechanical × chemical defense, specificity of herbivory defense.
Some minor but interesting / important types of herbivory - root herbivory, bast and wood-eating (bark beetles, saproxylic insects etc.). 7) Herbivory of invertebrates and plant life cycle (ZJ)Tolerance vs. avoiding herbivorisms (and pre- and post-dispersal seed predation and seedlings predation) implications for plants and their life cycle, impacts of individual herbivor functional groups on the plant life cycle, and possible evolutionary consequences. Methods of plant defense against herbivoria (types of secondary metabolites, mechanical defense, escape in time and space, induced defense) and their distribution across plant life strategies.
Impacts of different timing of attack of herbivores due to phenology. Specialization vs. generalization of invertebrate herbivores, relation to specificity of defense.
Completion of the topic in the following lecture. 8) Herbivory of invertebrates and effects of external conditionsLatitudinal Gradients of Form and Intensity of Invertebrate Herbivory (Dom
Annotation
The lecture deals with the main ecological interactions of plants with exception of competition and mycorrhiza, namely herbivory, pollination and pathogens. Emphasis is placed on the introduction of basic ecological relationships, their influence on biological fitness and evolution of plants, both at the level of individual plant species and at the lavel of their communities.
The lecture is given by a team of lecturers from the Department of Botany consisting of Zdeněk Janovský (55% - pollination, herbivory of invertebrates), Eva Horčičková (20% - herbivory of vertebrates) and Tomáš Koubek (25% - fungal pathogens of plants, interactions with ants).