Specializations in Ph.D. study programme Zoology

Faculty of Science - Ph.D. study programmes accredited in English

Programme Zoology
Specialization Zoology

Programme Director:
Assoc. Prof. František Sedláček, CSc.
Contact phone: ++420-387772258; e-mail: sedlacek@usbe.cas.cz

Co-operating institutions:
Biological Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (Institute of Hydrobiology, Institute of Soil Biology, Institute of Parasitology), Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic; Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Characteristics:
The Ph.D. program provides instruction in basic zoological disciplines, supervised by thesis advisors who are active zoological and ecological research workers able to apply modern methods and laboratory equipment. The topics of Ph.D. theses include problems and methodology of modern biology and ecology of the animals, especially animal phylogeny, tropical ecology, host-parasite coevolution, arthropod morphology and systematics, bird ecology and behaviour, mammal ecology, neuroethology and sociobiology, and fish ecology and phylogeny.

The degree Doctor of Philosophy ensures that the students are equipped with the necessary skills and methodological knowledge to undertake original research in their chosen field of study. They have all the necessary pre-requisites for leading positions in a broad array of biologically oriented fields of research and management. Graduates are expected to launch their professional career at research and education institutions including universities, at institutes of applied research and institutions for environment protection and management (e.g. in national parks' and protected landscape regions' managements), forestry, agriculture, education, and locations of public interest (e.g. museums, ZOO's).

Areas of Ph.D. research:
Phylogeny of selected animal taxa (e.g.Arthropoda, Vertebrata). Experimental and evolutionary analysis of insect warning coloration and its relationship to bird predation. Influence of fluctuating temperatures on the development and survival of the ectotherm animals; infraspecific geographic variability of the parameters of cold hardiness and diapause. Population and feeding ecology of fish. Phylogeny and historical ecology of the selected fishes (Cichlidae). Nesting biology, feeding ecology and habitat preferences of selected bird species (Falconidae, Laridae, Passeriformes). Behaviour and sociobiology of fossorial mammals (Arvicolidae, Bathyergidae). Sense ecology and neuroethology of small mammals.

Recently defended Ph.D. theses - Zoology

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