Department of Population Ecology - The Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Department of Population Ecology > 07. Ecology of polyploids

Department of Population Ecology

07. Ecology of polyploids

Ecology of polyploids

Understanding the consequences of polyploidization is a major step in the attempt to understand species diversification. Within our research we are primarily interested in the consequences of polyploidization for species performance and for dynamics of populations of polyploid species. To do this, we study distribution of different cytotypes of polyploid species in natural localities, explore environmental conditions at these localities as well as their genetic differentiation. Under controlled conditions, we study performance of the plants under different environments. Importantly, we have also developed synthetic polyploids of our models and use them to separate the true effects of polyploidization from effects of their subsequent evolution. We are also interested in the evolution of breeding barriers between the cytotypes and in the effects of polyploidization on plant-herbivore interactions.