Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology
VOLF LAB
TEAM |
Martin Volf
Head of Laboratory - Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology I specialize on insect-plant relationships, evolution of plant defensive traits, and chemical ecology. Mainly, I am interested in the roles that insect-plant coevolution plays in promoting the astonishing chemical diversity in plants. Throughout my projects, I aim at linking various approaches to studying origins and roles of chemical diversity in plants. My research interests range from macroevolutionary studies showing how chemical diversity evolves in response to interactions with natural enemies, through studies showing how plant chemical diversity varies at intraspecific level along major ecological gradients, to studying temporal changes within individual plants that help them to cope with insect herbivores. This allows me to see the evolution and roles of chemical diversity from a broad perspective. I am particularly interested in the evolutionary trends in Ficus and Salix chemical defences. Both Ficus and Salix are key plant genera supporting high diversity of herbivorous insects. Exploring the evolution of their specialized metabolites is crucial for understanding not only the origins of plant chemical diversity but also the factors driving species richness of insect herbivores. |
Jing Vir Leong
PhD Student - Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology I am a doctoral student from New York City (USA), where I obtained a combined Bachelors (Bsc.) and Masters (Msc.) degree at the City College of New York. I am fascinated in the coevolution of plant-insect interactions under the context of pollination and herbivory. More specifically, I am interested in studying the drivers of the emergence of novel plant chemicals. Currently, my research focuses on the evolution of defenses and chemical diversity in willows in response to various insect-herbivore feeding guilds. Outside of academia, I like long-distance running and memes. |
Priscila Mezzomo
PhD Student - Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology I am a doctoral student from Brazil. The main goal of my research is to explore plant-herbivore interactions and evolution of host-plant defences in the genus Salix. Specifically, I focus on willow's chemical diversity and how it is upregulated by induction of different groups of herbivores. I expect to unravel the ecological mechanisms by which chemical diversity of plant defences arises from the specificity of insect-plant interactions |
Gibson Aubona
PhD Student - Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology I am a Doctoral student from Papua New Guinea. I am interested in the chemical ecology of plant-insect herbivore interactions. I am eager to study the defense strategies of plants including various toxic metabolites and corresponding counteradaptations by insect herbivores such as detoxification and sequestration. Understanding the interplay between plant defenses and insect counteradaptations is essential to understand the evolution of both groups and the enormous diversity of species they represent. My research aim is to study the chemical defenses and insect herbivores of Salicaceae sensu lato species of Papua New Guinea and compare them with Salicaceae species of temperate region. |
Sofian Renoult
PhD Student - Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology I joined our laboratory to study the interactions between hybrid plants and insect herbivores along ecological gradients. To do so, I focus my research on several Salix species and their hybrids. I use ecological and metabolomic approaches to characterise their chemical diversity against biotic and abiotic factors at different altitudes. This allows me to better understand how hybridization in willows allows them to adapt to their environment. I like Martini (not dry, the granny kind with lemon and ice) and 80's music (even the bad ones). |
Tereza Volfová
Research Assistant - Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology I help students and other colleagues in our lab with practical aspects of their research and administrative tasks. In addition, I am skilled in using various graphical tools and I help to prepare vector graphic for visualizing outputs of our research. I am also responsible for maintaining our webpage. Currently on maternity leave. |
Hana Šebestová
Research Assistant - Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology In our lab, I assist with practical aspects of the research, such as sample preparation for processing in molecular biology, or I use some graphical tools for processing of leaf images. Furthermore, I help with some administrative tasks.. |
Klára Aurová
Research Assistant - Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology Klára works as a research assistant with us. She has a MSc degree in Soil Biology and Applied Ecology at the University of South Bohemia. Klára helps us with sample processing and she provides invaluable support in the logistics of our research group. |