Staff

I was trained as a taxonomist and graduated in Zoology under J. Buchar at Charles University, Prague in 1993, where I specialized in the community ecology of spiders. Then I began my doctoral studies. I focused on the ecology of spiders in agroecosystems and the behavioural ecology of Zodarion spiders (under V. Jarošík), gaining my PhD in 1999. From 1994 to 2005, I worked at the Crop Research Institute in Prague, after which I became an associate professor at Masaryk University. I am fascinated by various facets of the natural history of arachnids. In particular, I focus on interactions between spiders and their prey. My research includes the following topics:

• the adaptations of spiders in prey specialization (morphological, behavioural, physiological, venomic)
• the use of mimicry (Batesian, aggressive, Mullerian) as a defence against predators
• sexual conflict in arachnids (sexual cannibalism, forced copulation, mating plugs)
• the role of spiders in biological control (promoting their natural enemy role during winter)
• the taxonomy of Zodarion and Myrmarachne spiders
• parasitoid host manipulation

Jiří Schlaghamerský holds a Masters (Diplom-Biologe) in Biology from the Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany (Thesis: Enchytraeidae of spruce and beech forests: The effect of soil factors and acid rain, 1992, supervised by Prof. Matthias Schaefer) and a Ph.D. from the Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry in Brno, Czechia (Thesis: The Saproxylic Beetles (Coleoptera) and Ants (Formicidae) of South Moravian Floodplain Forests, 2000, supervised by Prof. Jaromír Vaňhara). One year of his doctoral studies was supported by a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and from 2010 to 2011 he spent seven months as a Fulbright visiting scholar at the University of Minnesota, investigating the effect of exotic earthworm invasion on enchytraeids in forest soils, with Dr. Lee E. Frelich (Dept of Forest Resources, Centre for Forest Ecology). He was appointed associate professor at Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, on the basis of his habilitation thesis “Annelids in soils of Europe and North America: diversity of species and assemblages in dependence on ecological factors” (2014).

• ecology and taxonomy of enchytraeids and other primarily soil-dwelling annelids, in particular the effect of ecological factors on community structure
• ecology and conservation of saproxylic (dead-wood associated) beetles (effect of factors such as forest management, inundation in alluvial forests, microhabitat, forest stand stratification)
• ecology of ants, in particular the saproxylic/arboricolous European velvety tree ant (Liometopum microcephalum)

I received my masters (2001, in Systematic biology and ecology) and Ph.D. (2008, in Zoology) degrees at the Faculty of Science, Masaryk University. As a Ph.D. student of PD Dr. Daniel Burckhardt, I spent one year (2002–2003) at the Naturhistorisches Museum and Universität Basel in Switzerland. From 2001 to 2013, I worked full-time as curator of insect collections at the Department of Entomology, Moravian Museum, Brno. I joined the Terrestrial Invertebrate Research Group at the Department of Botany and Zoology as assistant professor in 2014. Meanwhile, I continue to manage the Auchenorrhyncha and Sternorrhyncha collections at the Moravian Museum. I am a member of the editorial board of the Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae journal and a member of the Czech Entomological Society and the Central European Auchenorrhyncha Working Group. In my research, I focus on the systematics and biology of hemipteran insects, namely psyllids (Sternorrhyncha: Psylloidea) and leafhoppers and planthoppers (Auchenorrhyncha). I am also interested in the ecology of insects in central-European grasslands and post-industrial habitats. My current projects include:

• taxonomic revisions of selected psyllid, leafhopper and planthopper groups (e.g., family Phacopteronidae, Hemiptera of Socotra island, ground-dwelling taxa of Membracoidea)
• studies of the diversity and distribution of Auchenorrhyncha and Psylloidea species in the Czech Republic
• the community ecology of phytophagous insects in species-rich grasslands (in relation to grassland restoration, management, and tritrophic interactions with hemiparasitic plants)

My interest in dipteran flies began during my graduate study in Bratislava (SK). The focus was on faunistics of the family Ceratopogonidae (or biting midges) from industrially affected region of NW Bohemia. Since then, the systematics, morphology and phylogeny of this group have also become the focus of my research. Under the supervision of J. Vaňhara, I completed my doctoral thesis on the phylogeny of central European ceratopogonids in 2006. Besides biting midges, I am interested and involved in studies on the taxonomy, systematics and phylogeny of both the nematoceran and brachyceran Diptera families, employing both multigene DNA analysis and the examination of morphological features (Anthomyzidae, Bibionidae, Keroplatidae, Mycetophilidae, Platypezidae, Sciomyzidae, Stratiomyidae, Rhinophoridae, Tachinidae, etc.). The non-dipteran projects I am participating in include molecular studies of chosen invertebrate taxa (earthworms, spiders, ants, beetles, etc.) dealing with taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography.