Department of Botany and Zoology

Department of Botany and Zoology is a part of Faculty of Science, Masaryk University in Czech Republic. The Department originated in 2006 by joining of Departmet of Zoology and Ecology, Department of Botany.

The department provides education in the basic courses for Bachelor programme Biology, Master programme Biology, specializations Systematic Biology and Ecology and Teacher Training in Biology, Doctoral programme Biology, specializations Botany, Ecology, Hydrobiology, Parasitology and Zoology.

Basic courses cover the areas of systematics and evolution of organisms, ecology, biogeography, methods of various biological and ecological disciplines, and didactics of biology. External teachers from the Czech Academy of Sciences and other universities teach some of these courses. An integral part of teaching is determination exercises and field excursions in the Czech Republic and abroad.

Research activities of the Institute include:

Systematics of vascular plants
- until recently research was mainly focused on the treatment of selected genera of the Czech flora for the monograph Flora of the Czech Republic. Currently the focus has moved to biosystematical studies of selected genera in wider Central Europe, especially in the families Asteraceae, Cyperaceae and Poaceae. Services for biosystematic research are provided by Institute's laboratories of plant caryology, plant molecular analyses and flow cytometry. An important source of plant material for taxonomical studies is the Herbarium of the Department of Botany (BRNU) which contains ca. 560,000 specimens.

Vegetation science
- main targets of the current research include (1) elaboration of the formalized vegetation classification of the Czech Republic, linked to the international projects European Vegetation Survey and SynBioSys Europe, (2) development and testing new methods of data analysis using large phytosociological databases, and (3) studies of vegetation diversity at landscape scale, with special reference to geographical areas of Central Europe and southern Siberia. The Institute hosts the coordinating point of the Czech National Phytosociological Database.

Mire ecology
- the present investigation is focused on the relationships between species composition of vegetation and environmental factors: water chemistry, nutrient availability, water regime and long-term changes caused by human activities in Central Europe. We also focus on relationships between higher plant communities and the communities of other taxonomical groups (algae, invertebrates). The emphasis is on large spatial scales. Comparable research methods are used in different macroclimatic, geologic and geographic areas (Central Europe, Carpathians, Balkans).

Terrestrial invertebrates
- the members of the research team study various aspects of the zoology and ecology of terrestrial invertebrates. Since the second half of the 1990s particular attention was given to investigations of invertebrates of the UNESCO Pálava Biosphere Reserve. Currently, a similar methodology is being used to survey selected groups of invertebrates within the Podyjí National Park. The research team has a long-term involvement in organising research on Diptera. In this context a national reference centre has been set up at the Institute, with the purpose of collecting published data, preparing national bibliographies, and faunistic inventories. Second field of interest is the research on soil-dwelling Enchytraeidae and saproxylic insects. A third area of research is the ethology of spiders with a particular focus on specialised ant predators.

Hydrobiology
- at present, members of the department work on the following research topics: - invertebrate species and population traits - life history and strategies, biodiversity of running water ecosystems, -hyporheic and groundwater fauna, - flow regime effects on stream, river and lake bed biota, - primary production and diversity of algae in running waters, - biomonitoring of streams status and water quality, - impoundment and regulation effects on stream ecosystem and revitalization, persistent harmful pollutants in stream ecosystem and ecotoxicology and ecological risk assessment.

Vertebratology
group of the Institute of Botany and Zoology, have specialized mainly in the research of bat ecology. This specialisation in studying mammals of the order Chiroptera resulted from the development since 1969 when J. Gaisler, one of the two founders of modern Czech chiropterology, joined the Department. Later on Z. Řehák assumed that research design as well. Since the beginning of vertebratology at the Department, close collaboration existed with the present Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The bats have been the subject of numerous Bachelor's and Master's theses.

Parasitology
or Monogenean Group research topics are: Morphology, taxonomy, biology and distribution of monogeneans parasitic fish, Organismal and molecular diversity of monogenean parasites, Population and community ecology of metazoan parasites of fish, especially monogeneans, Evolutionary ecology of metazoan parasites of fish, Diversity analysis of different parasite - host systems in relation to environmental conditions, and Neurobiology, surface architecture and topography of model parasite species.

Research is done in the above-mentioned fields and mainly funded by grants and the Research Plan funds.

Since 2002, the Department of Botany and Zoology is a part of the Centre for Applied Plant Ecology, a corporate unit of Masaryk University in Brno and the Brno branch of the Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.