Team news

Supporting the biodiversity of solitary bees
April 2025: we launched a long-term study using our own equipment

What attracts birds back to agricultural landscapes?
March 2025: our co-authorship in a new study

Management activities at our sites around Prokopské Valley
February 2025: mowing, raking, and shrub pruning

Workshop about urban biodiversity conservation
January 2025: available online (in Czech language)

Project in photovoltaic power plants
December 2024: Initial results from biodiversity monitoring and management efforts at FVE Komorovice

Citizen science activities to support pollinators in urban environments
November 2024: Workshops, lectures, and participation in insect monitoring

Monitoring, management, and educational activities for children in locations around Prokopské údolí
November 2024: Biodiversity as a public good

Perennial experimental wildflower strips
October 2024: last data collection in perennial experimental wildflower strips

Biodiverse green roofs supporting natural plant and insect communities
October 2024: Experimental plots on a green roof – enhancing biodiversity in central Prague

Rationalisation of agricultural landscapes to combine production functions with efficient biodiversity support
September 2024: project introduction

Rationalisation of wildflower strip application to support biodiversity on arable land
September 2024: project introduction

Annual Meeting of the German Ecological Society (GFÖ)
September 2024: our active participation (6 contributions)

Insect monitoring in photovoltaic power plants
August 2024: Successful completion of the first year of field data collection

Catching dragonfly larvae
July 2024: Evaluating a manipulative experiment with dragonfly larvae

Introducing our ideas to farmers and government officials
June 2024: Workshop presenting potential improvements of flower strips and the EIPC concept

Results of a three-year monitoring
May 2024: Targeted support for endangered butterfly species based on a combination of flexible habitat management and detailed biological data is almost complete

Alfredo has his first first-author paper
April 2024: Publication in Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment reveals important results from field experiments with arthropods

Again, we were part of the best zoological conference in the Czech Republic
February 2024: Successful Zoological days in Ostrava...

How do carabid beetle communities change from field edges to interiors?
January 2023: Eze and Michal K. publish study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Rationalizing agriculture with simple adjustments benefits all parties involved
December 2023: Our conceptual study was published in Biological Conservation

Post with the most likes and comments on our Facebook page
November 2023: Publication of our study on mating of ladybird males with dead females

Light pollution as a threat to the overwintering of the Chiasmia clathrata
October 2023: Our new study in the Journal of Applied Ecology

Presentation of our results at the GfÖ conference
September 2023: We were seen and heard not only during the scientific program

New publication in the prestigious journal Communications Biology
August 2023: Heatwaves have irreversible impacts on the ecophysiology of ladybirds

Effects of different temperatures on infections
July 2023: Ecophysiological experiment with the Dinocampus coccinellae, a parasitoid wasp of the ladybird Harmonia axyridis

Artificial caterpillars around the world
June 2023: Start of the global predation experiment with caterpillars

Management measures to support biodiversity continue
May 2023: Vegetation preparation in spring

Females are more affected by early/life nutritional stress
April 2023: Meta-analysis of sex differences in insects published in the prestigious journal Ecology Letters

Management activities to support the biodiversity of arthropods around the Prokop Valley
March 2023: management in the Prokop valley are carried out even during the dormant season

Zoological days with our abundant participation
February 2023: six contributions at the traditional conference were from our team

Butterflies of Prague - Atlas of Distribution
January 2023: a new book about butterfly distributions of Prague.

What do ecologists do in the winter?
January 2023: sorting samples and writing grant reports

Successful habitation thesis defence by Michal Knapp
December 2022: team leader is associate professor

Party, party, and party again
December 2022: Celebration of 150 years of the Insect Ecology Team

The effect of environmental temperature on insect development rate does not differ between sexes
December 2022: Tiit published his meta-analysis in Evolution Letters

Kostelecké Inspirování
November 2022: four members of our team presented their research at a traditional FES conference

Help with active nature conservation near Innsbruck
October 2022: management activities to support diurnal butterflies and other invertebrates

The importance of grassland islands and forest habitats for the overwintering of terrestrial arthropods in agricultural landscape
October 2022: Our multi-taxonomic study published in Biological Conservation

Monitoring arthropods in nectareous strips successfully completed
October 2022: Data pertaining to the impact of differentially managed flower strips on arthropod communities
Our team participated in the organization of the ECCB 2022 in Prague
September 2022: European Congress of Conservation Biology

Michal K. and Michal Ř. presented their work at ICE "2020"
July 2022: International Congress of Entomology in Helsinki

Anička, Adam and Filip continue with their work on artificial ponds for aquatic invertebrates
July 2022: "tents" for aquatic invertebrates in Jevany

We have new reinforcements, this time from abroad
June 2022: Dr. David Awde and Shahriar Abul Fazal, M.Sc.

Publication in Global Change Biology and Ecology
May 2022: four team members participated in a world experiment

Management supporting of Hipparchia semele
April 2022: work in the spring can also be so sweaty
The new TAČR project “flowery strips” is already running
April 2022: long-lived nectareous flower strips for effective biodiversity support in agricultural landscapes

The Praha kvete project
April 2022: realization, oral presentations, and children programmes

Publication in Proceedings of the Royal Society B
March 2022: ladybirds in the most traditional journal of the world

Reservation V Bahnách under patronage FES-CZU
March 2022: Tomáš Kadlec participates in the entomological monitoring PR V Bahnách

First year of monitoring in the project mistopromotyly.cz
February 2022: Among the target species, the most common species are Hipparchia semele and Polyommatus thersites

Research of field defects bring well-deserved publications
February 2022: Field defects artificial and natural…

Our team have new group members
February 2022: Tom Dvořák has first publication with our affiliation

Christmas time in the Insect Ecology group
December 2021: This year we got the board games

Eze is darling in Journal of Applied Ecology!
November 2021: Ezequiel pushed one of his articles to the prestigious Journal of Applied Ecology

Managements in action
October 2021: A combination of mechanical and manual work is needed for quality care of the site
Congratulations Alfredo!
September 2021: Alfredo Venturo is just starting the second year of his PhD and has the first published article in his pocket

A place for butterflies - we create new habitats around the Prokop Valley
August 2021: support of endangered butterfly species based on a combination of flexible habitat management and evaluation of detailed biological data

Cooperation with the Institute of Entomology of the Biology Centre in České Budějovice
August 2021: strength of coagulation of haemolymph and resistance to nematode parasites across different ladybird species

2021 is the year of the dragonflies
July 2021: thanks to the support of the Prague City Hall this year we launched the Prague dragonfly monitoring project

The project “Okáčům na stopě” was launched
July 2021: involving the broad public in the study of the population ecology of the critically endangered Hipparchia semele

Public lesson in front of the National Museum of Agriculture
June 2021: the participants learned interesting facts and news on pollinators, insect biodiversity loss in urban environments and our project Praha kvete

Blooming of our wildflower strips received a lot of attention from the media
June 2021: finally, our wildflower strips in fields around Prague-Vinoř are in full beauty!

The Praha kvete project expands even in 2021
May 2021: the educational project focuses on the differences between a short mowed lawn and a flowering area from an insect biodiversity perspective

Great publication by Tiit Teder
May 2021: Why do males emerge before females? Sexual size dimorphism drives sexual bimaturism in insects

Additional 30 hectares of wildflower strips sown in cooperation with the company VIN AGRO
April 2021: nectar-rich wildflower strips northeast of Prague
Publishing successes during spring
March 2021: in March, several of our articles were accepted for publication

Eze’s success in the Journal of Applied Ecology
March 2021: Ezequiel González among the final candidates for the Southwood Prize for Young Scientists for his article

Interview in the Živá univerzita (Life University) journal
December 2020: detailed description of our activities at the Dívčí hrady site

November sampling as our last field work in 2020
November 2020: successful autumn light trapping

We did not let our conference fall – the Kostelecké inspirování 2020 (Kostelec inspiration 2020) conference was online
November 2020: thanks to the contribution of our team members

Conference Naše příroda 2020 (Our Nature 2020)
November 2020: Michal Knapp and Tomáš Kadlec presented our research and conservation activities at the Dívčí hrady

Kim Jensen as a new reinforcement for our team
November 2020: Kim will be to join in our research on ladybird physiology and insect life span

Healthy light in the TV show Nedej se! (Don't Give Up!)
October 2020: Tom in Czech TV show called Nedej se!

Dragonflies deserve systematic monitoring
October 2020: publication in the top-ranked scientific journal Bioscience

Alfredo Venturo became a new member of the Insect Ecology Group
October 2020: Welcome, Alfredo!

31 hectares of flower strips were sown in collaboration with farmers from VIN AGRO s.r.o. company
September 2020: Martin as helper in a tractor

In the footsteps of rare butterflies
September 2020: it seems that this species is currently even rarer than we thought

The importance of forest patches for the functioning of agricultural landscapes
September 2020: article in the Journal of Applied Ecology

Patience brings flowers: the first phase of the Praha kvete (Prague is blooming) project
August 2020: first phase is done

Monitoring carabid beetles in arable fields from the Prague City Hall
June 2020: the impact of changes in farming management and landscape structure on carabids

Tomáš Dvořák joins our team
May 2020: Tomáš Dvořák is the new reinforcement of the Insect Ecology Group (with a part-time position).

Dívčí hrady … everything goes according to the plan
May 2020: reintroduced blue butterflies

New project investigating the impacts of flower strips on invertebrate assemblages and ecosystem services provision was launched
May 2020: flower strips in agricultural landscapes

The third year of the freshwater exclusion experiment was launched
April 2020: pond works were launched

Nectar-rich meadow area in front of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences
March 2020: support for pollinators

Fruitful March: several interesting publications were published
March 2020: March - behind the stove we climb (and publish)

New project investigating the influence of black locust cover on moth communities
March 2020: first fieldwork of the year 2020 under supervision of Tomáš Kadlec was lunched

Successful trip to the Zoological Days 2020 conference
February 2020: Zoological days - we can't miss this event :-)