Anna Mrazova

Postdoc researcher, ecologist
 

I defended my dissertation in August 2022 at the Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Czechia. At the same time, I was (and still am) employed at the Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre, Czech Academy of Sciences.

My PhD work was based on complementary experiments conducted in nature and aviaries explaining mechanisms and ecological importance of interactions in tri-trophic systems. I executed manipulative experiments by inducing chemical defences of various plant species using plant hormone Methyl jasmonate or lepidopteran larvae in the Czech Republic, Spain, and Papua New Guinea. I proved that insectivorous birds use, besides vision, also an olfactory sense in their foraging behaviour.

I love to collaborate. My research topic is complementary to the European Research Council (ERC) funded BABE Project led by my formal supervisor Dr. Katerina Sam in which I am involved as a collaborator responsible for fieldwork, data analysis and co-authoring publications. During my master's studies, I worked as a data collection manager of the LifeWebs Project assessing the way network structure changes in relation to the environment for natural and human-created gradients (PI: Tom Fayle). I also participated in the 'Oak bodyguard' Citizen Science Project, exploring how oaks protect themselves from insects and how the role of herbivores and their predators differ across Europe (PI: Bastien Castagneyrol). In 2021, I became the coordinator of audio recording in the LIFEPLAN Global Project. This ERC project aims to establish the current state of biodiversity across the globe and to use our insights for generating accurate predictions of its future state under future scenarios (PI: Tomas Roslin).

Currently, my project "Tree defence strategies: why and how does the strength of bottom-up control vary along latitudinal gradient?" was supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (GACR). Next two years, I will be based at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE), Bordeaux, France in the laboratory of Dr. Bastien Castagneyrol where I will assess new aspects of bottom-up forces and integrate them into the knowledge of forest ecosystem functioning. For more info about the project click Here.

As seen above, I am always open to collaborations on a variety of topics, please get in touch with me at anna.mrazova.eco@gmail.com. I can be followed on Twitter and ResearchGate.