Ecology and biogeography of butterflies

Butterflies (and moths) are one of the most favourite, charming and popular insect groups, however, much information on their life histories, population biology and evolution remains obscured. Our research group forces on not only the direct studies in the field (Czech fauna recording and mapping, studying causes of threats and conservation requirements of individual species, population and  community ecology, life-history traits analyses, ecophysiology of mountain species), but also genetic methods (population genetics, phylogeny and phylogeography). Field projects are centred to the Czech Republic, the Alps, or, e.g., Eastern Mediterranean, and acquisition of samples spans across entire World. We combine both approaches to answer questions concerning the survival of isolated population or the influence of Quaternary climate change on historical and current populations and species distribution and modelling. We view butterflies and moths as important model group for assessing land use change and studying impacts of conservation-oriented projects, including restoring natural habitats and managing ecosystems via reestablishment of large herbivores populations.

Head: doc. Mgr. Martin Konvička, Ph.D.
e-mail: konva@entu.cas.cz
tel.: +420 387 775 312

Researchers:
RNDr. Zdeněk Faltýnek Fric, Ph.D. (externist)
MSc. Alena Bartoňová
MSc. Jana Marešová
MSc. Jatishwor Singh Irungbam
MSc. Meenakshi Irungbam

Collaborating institutions:
Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut, Müncheberg, Germany; Lund University, Sweden; Technische Universität Munich, Germany; Museum Witt, Germany; Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Kraków, Poland; University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA

Selected posters:
The Moths of Shirui Hills, Manipur, NE India (Irungbam 2017), 20th European Congress of Lepidopterology, Podgora, Croatia
Molekulární fylogeneze žluťásků rodu Gonepteryx (Hanzalová et al. 2017), Zoologické dny 2017, Brno
Historical biogeography of the hawkmoth genus Theretra Hubner, 1819 (Sphingidae) based on mitochondrial genes (Rindoš et al. 2017) 20th European Congress of Lepidopterology. Podgora, Croatia
Steppe species under the glacial cycles: Phylogeography of Proterebia afra (Bartoňová et al. 2016) 4th international symposium on Future of Butterflies in Europe, Wageningen, Netherlands
„Funkční vlastnosti“ v analýzách společenstev denních motýlů (Šlancarová et al., 2015), Ekologie 2015, České Budějovice