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PhD Studentship in Plant-Herbivore Ecology: Global trends in phytochemical diversity and plant-herbivore interactions
 The President of the Czech Science Foundation (GACR) Petr Baldrian awarded the five best scientific projects this evening at the Strahov Monastery. The awarded basic research has significantly contributed to the deepening of knowledge in the given disciplines and opened the way to further practical application.
Martin was awarded for our research on the origins of chemical diversity in plants: gacr.cz/en/the-best-scientists-received-the-czech-science-foundation-presidents-award/ image source : GAČR Our recent study shows how six closely related willow species respond to different insect herbivores. We found that both willow species and herbivore identity drives variation in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), non-volatile metabolites (non-VOCs), and salicinoids. Interestingly, herbivore treatment significantly explains the variation in VOCs more than in non-VOCs and salicinoids.
Plants employ diverse anti-herbivore defenses, forming syndromes of multiple traits. These include direct defenses like toxic compounds and trichomes, and indirect defenses like volatile organic compounds that can attract predators of herbivores. Syndromes provide complementary defenses against various herbivores through trade-offs among plant traits such as nutrient content, chemical, and physical defenses.
What are the patterns of specialization in insect herbivores associated with diverse tree genera?2/9/2024 The majority of multi-cellular terrestrial life is found in tropical forests, and is either invertebrate or a plant: for decades ecologists have sought to understand why. In an age of biodiversity loss this endeavour has become critical to understanding ecosystem functioning and resilience. As a part of a team including Simon Segar and our colleagues working in Papua New Guinea, we studied three feeding guilds of caterpillars to understand the drivers of their diet breadth across four diverse tropical plant genera.
 Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Merry Christmas and happiness, good health, love and many publications in the New Year 2024! from Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology Priscila received an award at the VII Congress of the Latin American Association of Chemical Ecology12/22/2023 Our PhD student Priscila Mezzomo received an award for her oral presentation at the VII Congress of the Latin American Association of Chemical Ecology, held in Buenos Aires - Argentina in early December 2023. In her talk, she shows how volatile and non-volatile metabolites can have contrasting roles as plant defensive strategies. Specifically, Priscila's results suggest great specificity in volatile plant responses, as induced upon feeding by different insect herbivores.
In the past month, we kickstarted the first year of field work within a project that aims to explore adaptive hybridization in willows.  |
New PublicationsMarinček P., Leong J.V., Pittet L., Léveillé-Bourret È., Nyma T., Tomoshevich M., Banaev E., He L. , Hörandl E., Volf M., Wagner N.D., (2025) Spatio-temporal evolution of shrub willows (Salix subgenus Vetrix clade) on a global scale, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 108480, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2025.108480
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