A project of the Department of Botany dealing with the research of cyanobacteria and algae, especially in Latin America.

 

The focus of Earth's biodiversity is in the tropics. Despite this, most cyanobacteria and algae that have been described are from the temperate zone, especially from Europe. Our research aims to discover new, as yet undescribed species (sometimes genera) of these organisms and compare them morphologically, ecologically, ultrastructurally, and genetically with similar populations from the temperate zone. In addition to the actual discovery of the undiscovered, it is also a search for an answer to the question of the ubiquitous distribution of cyanobacteria and algae. Probably due to the considerable concentration of similarly focused colleagues in Latin America, we focus primarily on this area. We have very  promising research under way on the Venezuelan Table Mountains and the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest, as well as undertaking extensive work on the flora of the Caribbean - our last (2013) major excursion for 8 students and teachers was to Puerto Rico and Florida.

   

However, we certainly do not neglect other tropical areas, we are also working on smaller projects in Hawaii, Thailand, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea. From our tropical projects (in addition to a number of scientific publications of course) five defended diploma theses have arisen, with one in progress. However, we have so many projects that we can easily take on more students.

The project takes place at the Department of Botany (contact person Jan Kaštovský, hanys at prf.jcu.cz).