Botanist.
Plant taxonomy, biosystematics, hybridization, evolution.
Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany.
Zdenek Kaplan
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Random shots from fieldwork in southern Bohemia.
These trends are already having their consequences.
We continue uncovering hidden Batrachium diversity with the discovery of an extremely rare diploid hybrid combination, newly found in the Czech Republic.
@ibotcz.bsky.social @czechacademy.bsky.social
Plants spreading fast at home often become global invaders 🌱✈️ A new Nature Comms study shows that species expanding in Europe are most likely to naturalize abroad. Watching native trends may be the key to predicting invasions: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Warning from Nature: EU and USA weaken basic scientific research, narrowing support to projects with rapid political or economic returns. This may bring short-term gains but risks future breakthroughs. Meanwhile, China is significantly increasing investment in basic research. doi.org/10.1038/d415...
Hidden diversity uncovered: molecular screening reveals cryptic Batrachium taxa in Pannonia, with their closest relatives not in central Europe, but as far as the western Mediterranean area.
@ibotcz.bsky.social @czechacademy.bsky.social
Zdenek Kaplan
Zdenek Kaplan
🌸 This year, we finally (!) have a good yield of apricots (Prunus armeniaca) here in South Moravia, after three years without apricots across the region.
Apricots are thermophilous trees, thriving in Czechia’s warmest areas. Paradoxically, though, they are suffering from global warming.
Zdenek Kaplan
Around the world, governments are demanding that research funding follow broader political priorities. They should be careful what they wish for.
Spatially uneven sampling of species occurrences can mislead biodiversity research. A new study of Czech flora by Klímová et al. reveals how different methods mitigate the distortions in the patterns of species richness.
preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.541.html
How changes in species’ native occupancy over time relate to global naturalization success remains unclear. Here, the authors show that species with both high occupancy decades ago and increasing nati...
www.nature.com
New distribution maps for 87 vascular plant taxa reveal a flora under pressure: several species now survive at a single Czech site and four are nationally extinct. In contrast, taxonomic revision reveals 22 distinct escaped Cotoneaster species.
preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2026.001.html
Zdenek Kaplan
Zdenek Kaplan
Zdenek Kaplan
Why are allopolyploids common in Batrachium, but no diploid hybrids? This puzzle is now solved: a large-scale screening uncovered a natural hybrid between diploid species, providing new insight into the early stages of polyploid evolution.
preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.637.html
Unique wetlands of the Pannonian Basin host an unexpected Batrachium diversity, including several morphologically cryptic cytotypes unknown elsewhere in central Europe. These lineages are closer to Mediterranean taxa than to their central European neighbours.
preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2026.105.html
