RNDr. Martin Volf, Ph.D.
Job Position: Head of Laboratory - Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecology
Phone:
+420 387775038
E-mail:
volf@entu.cas.cz
I specialize on insect-plant relationships, evolution of plant defensive traits, and chemical ecology. In general, I am interested in insect-plant coevolution and factors driving diversification of insects and plants and evolution of plant defences.
I am interested in evolutionary trends in Ficus and Salix defences and their impact on herbivore community assembly. Both Ficus and Salix are key plant genera supporting large diversity of insects in tropical forests and temperate wetlands. Understanding evolution of their defences is thus crucial for understanding not only the evolution of host-plant defences in general but also for understanding the factors driving diversity and specialization of insect herbivores.
Furthermore, I am involved in projects examining latitudinal gradients of insect biodiversity. Mainly, we are trying to answer the question why are there more species of insect herbivores in tropical than temperate forests. To investigate this we sample canopy assemblages of key herbivore guilds using several techniques such as sampling from canopy cranes or cherry-pickers.
Education
2012 – 2016: Ph.D. in Entomology, University of South Bohemia. Honours (cum laude). Supervisor: prof. RNDr. Vojtěch Novotný CSc, Title: Specificity of insect-plant associations and their role in the formation of plant defenses and speciation
Date of defense: 12.10. 2016
2015: RNDr. in Zoology (an extension of a master degree), Supervisor: prof. RNDr. Vojtěch Novotný CSc, Title: Insect herbivores drive the loss of unique chemical defense in willows
2010 – 2012: M.Sc. in Zoology, University of South Bohemia. Honours. Awarded by the Dean's and the University President's prizes, Supervisor: M.Sc. Jan Hrček Ph.D. Title: The impact of deffensive host-plant traits on community structure of herbivorous insects on willows
2007 – 2010: B.Sc. in Biology, University of South Bohemia. Honours. Supervisor: M.Sc. Jan Hrček. Ph.D. Title: Community structure of leaf-chewing insect on willows
Professional Experience
2019 – present Group leader at Biology Center, Czech Academy of Sciences
2017 – 2019 Postdoc / Alexander von Humboldt fellow at German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (supervised by Nicole van Dam)
2017 Postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institution (hosted by K. A. Teixeira)
2016 – 2017 Postdoctoral research scientist at Biology Center, Czech Academy of Sciences
2016 Predoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institution (hosted by K. A. Teixeira)
2016 short term stay as a research assistant at Smithsonian Trop. Res. Inst. (hosted by Y. Basset)
2015 field team leader during two month stay at Tomakomai Experimental Forest, Hokkaido, Japan
2014 field team leader during three month stay at Tomakomai Experimental Forest, Hokkaido, Japan
2012 – 2016 Postgraduate fellowship at Biology Center, Czech Academy of Sciences
2011 one month research stay at University of Eastern Finland (hosted by R. Julkunen-Tiitto)
two month research stay at University of Minnesota (hosted by J. Cavender-Bares)
Student supervision
Fabian Simon Klimm (internship at iDiv) 2018. HIPV manipulation by specialized herbivores.
Jan Kadlec (B.Sc. thesis, University of South Bohemia) 2014-present. Host-preference of willow associated gallers.
Martin Libra (M.Sc. thesis, University of South Bohemia), 2013-2015. Diversity of gall-inducing arthropods in two different host communities in temperate forests.
Markéta Tahadlová (B.Sc. thesis, cosupervisor with Jakub Těšitel, University of South Bohemia), 2013-2015. The interactions of hemiparasitic plants with invertebrate herbivores.
Teaching
2018 - Research seminar in Ecology (University of Jena)
2016 - Field course in vertebrate and insect zoology (University of South Bohemia)
2015 - Field course in Alpine zoology (University of South Bohemia)
2014 - Practicals in insect systematics, Field courses in entomology and ecology (University of South Bohemia)
2013 - Field courses in entomology and ecology, Practicals in invertebrate biology (University of South Bohemia)
Prizes and Awards
2019 – Humboldt Return Fellowship
2017 – Humboldt Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers
2016 – 2nd place in the Vojtěch Jarošík´s prize for an excellent student publication in ecology; awarded by Czech Association for Ecology and Department of Ecology, Cahrles University.
2016 – Prize of Czech Entomological Society and 1st prize for the best student talk about invertabrates at national conference in zoology, České Budějovice.
2013 – Prize of Czech Entomological Society and 2nd prize for the best student talk at national conference in zoology, Olomouc.
Invited talks at Harvard University, University of Missouri-St. Louis, University of Turku, Hokkaido University, University of Ostrava, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, University of Copenhagen, University of Leipzig
Expert reviews for Botany, Current Opinion in Insect Science, Ecography, Ecological Entomology, Ecology, Ecology Letters, European Journal of Entomology, Journal of Chemical Ecology, Journal of Ecology, Plant Ecology
| Total found: 18 records
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| Sam K., Koane B., Sam L., Mrázová A., Segar S. T., Volf M., Moos M., Šimek P., Sisol M., Novotný V. (2020) Insect herbivory and herbivores of Ficus species along a rain forest elevational gradient on Papua New Guinea. Biotropica early access : DOI: 10.1111/btp.12741 |
|
Seifert C. L.,
Lamarre G., Volf M.,
Ré Jorge L., Miller S., Wagner D.L., Anderson-Teixeira K.,
Novotný V. (2020) Vertical stratification of a temperate forest caterpillar community in eastern North America Oecologia
192
: 501-514. DOI: 10.1007/s00442-019-04584-w |
|
Redmond C. M., Auga J., Gewa B.,
Segar S. T., Miller S., Molem K., Weiblen G.,
Butterill P. T., Maiyah G., Hood A.S.C., Volf M., Jorge L.R.,
Basset Y. F.,
Novotný V. (2019) High specialization and limited structural change in plant-herbivore networks along a successional chronosequence in tropical montane forest. Ecography
42
: 162-172. DOI: 10.1111/ecog.03849 |
|
Segar S. T., Volf M., Sisol M.,
Pardikes N.,
Souto-Vilarós D. (2019) Chemical cues and genetic divergence in insects on plants: conceptual cross pollination between mutualistic and antagonistic systems. Current Opinion in Insect Science
32
: 83-90. DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2018.11.009 |
|
Volf M.,
Klimeš P.,
Lamarre G.,
Redmond C. M.,
Seifert C. L., Abe T., Auga J., Anderson-Teixeira K.,
Basset Y. F., Beckett S.,
Butterill P. T., Drozd P., Gonzalez-Akre E.,
Kaman O., Kamata N.,
Laird-Hopkins B.,
Libra M., Manumbor M., Miller S., Molem K.,
Mottl O., Murakami M., Nakaji T.,
Plowman N., Pyszko P., Šigut M., Šipoš J.,
Tropek R., Weiblen G.,
Novotný V. (2019) Quantitative assessment of plant-arthropod interactions in forest canopies: A plot-based approach. PLOS One
14
: e0222119. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222119 |
|
Volf M., Salminen J.-P.,
Segar S. T. (2019) Evolution of defences in large tropical plant genera: perspectives for exploring insects diversity in a tri-trophic context. Current Opinion in Insects Science
32
: 91-97. DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2018.12.005 |
|
Volf M. (2018) Differential Response of Herbivores to Plant Defence. In J.-M. Merillon and K. G. Ramawat [eds.], Co-Evolution of Secondary Metabolites, Reference Series in Phytochemistry
1-24. Springer International Publishing.. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-76887-8_38-1 |
|
Volf M., Holec M., Holcová D., Jaroš P., Hejda R.,
Drag L., Blízek J.,
Šebek P.,
Čížek L. (2018) Microhabitat mosaics are key to the survival of an endangered ground beetle (Carabus nitens) in its post-industrial refugia. Journal of Insect Conservation
22
: 321-328. DOI: 10.1007/s10841-018-0064-x |
|
Volf M.,
Segar S. T., Miller S. E., Isua B., Sisol M., Aubona G.,
Šimek P.,
Moos M., Laitila J., Kim J.,
Zima J., Rota J., Weiblen G. D., Wossa S., Salminen J.-P.,
Basset Y. F.,
Novotný V. (2018) Community structure of insect herbivores is driven by conservatism, escalation and divergence of defensive traits in Ficus. Ecology Letters
21
: 83-92. DOI: 10.1111/ele.12875 |
|
Biranvand Amir,
Nedvěd O., Shakarami Jahanshir, Fekrat Lida, Hamidi Elnaz, Volf M., Hanley Guy A. (2017) The ladybeetle community (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in north east of Iran. Baltic Journal of Coleopterology
17
: 49-67. |
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Segar S. T., Volf M., Isua B., Sisol M.,
Redmond C. M., Rosati M., Gewa B., Molem K.,
Dahl C. N., Holloway J.,
Basset Y. F., Miller S., Weiblen G., Salminen J.-P.,
Novotný V. (2017) Variably hungry caterpillars: predictive models and foliar chemistry suggest how to eat a rainforest Proceedings of the Royal Society B
284
: article number 20171803. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1803 |
|
Segar S. T., Volf M.,
Zima J., Isua B., Sisol M.,
Sam L.,
Sam K.,
Souto-Vilarós D.,
Novotný V. (2017) Speciation in a keystone plant genus is driven by elevation: a case study in New Guinean Ficus. Journal of Evolutionary Biology
30
: 512-523. DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13020 |
|
Volf M., Kadlec Jan,
Butterill P. T.,
Novotný V. (2017) Host phylogeny and nutrient content drive galler diversity and abundance on willows. Ecological Entomology
42
: 685-688. DOI: DOI: 10.1111/een.12420 |
|
Volf M., Pyszko P., Abe T.,
Libra M., Kotásková N., Šigut M., Kumar R.,
Kaman O.,
Butterill P. T., Šipoš J., Abe H., Fukushima H., Drozd P., Kamata N., Murakami M.,
Novotný V. (2017) Phylogenetic composition of host plant communities drives plant-herbivore food web structure. Journal of Animal Ecology
86
: 556-565. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12646 |
|
Volf M.,
Redmond C. M., Albert Á., Le Bagousse-Pinguet Y.,
Biella P., Götzenberger L., Hrázský Z., Janeček Š., Klimešová J.,
Lepš J., Šebelíková L., Vlasatá T., De Bello F. (2016) Effects of long- and short-term management on the functional structure of meadows through species turnover and intraspecific trait varibility. Oecologia
180
: 941-950. DOI: 10.1007/s00442-016-3548-y |
|
Forister M.,
Novotný V., Panorska A., Baje L.,
Basset Y. F.,
Butterill P. T.,
Čížek L., Coley P., Dem F., Diniz I., Drozd P., Fox M., Glassmire A., Hazen R.,
Hrček J., Jahner J.,
Kaman O., Kozubowski T., Kursar T., Lewis O., Lill J., Marquis R., Miller S., Morais H., Murakami M., Nickel H., Pardikes N., Ricklefs R., Singer M., Smilanich A., Stireman J., Villamarín-Cortez S.,
Vodka Š., Volf M., Vagner D., Walla T., Weiblen G. D., Dyer L. (2015) The global distribution of diet breadth in insect herbivores. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
112
: 442-447. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1423042112 |
|
Volf M.,
Hrček J., Julkunen-Tiitto R.,
Novotný V. (2015) To each its own: differential response of specialist and generalist herbivores to plant defence in willows. Journal of Animal Ecology
84
: 1123-1132. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12349 |
|
Volf M., Julkunen-Tiitto R.,
Hrček J.,
Novotný V. (2015) Insect herbivores drive the loss of unique chemical defense in willows. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata
156
: 88-98. DOI: 10.1111/eea.12312 |
