Biological Diversity in Anthropocene

Global and local changes in biological diversity (biodiversity) are considered one of the most characteristic features of the Anthropocene. Understanding these changes is impossible without grasping the fundamental principles of the structure and dynamics of biodiversity – that is, what determines the variability of biological diversity across time and space, spanning different scales. We focus on macroecological trends in biodiversity through a combination of theoretical research, complex models, analysis of large datasets, and field research.

Contributing to research in this field are: David Storch (coordinator), Irena Šímová, Arnošt Šizling, Anna Tószogyová, Jan Smyčka, Eliška Bohdalková, Ondřej Mottl, Tomáš Telenský a Petr Pokorný.

Selection of representative publications:

Storch D., Šímová I., Smyčka J., Bohdalková E., Toszogyova A. & Okie J.G. (2022). Biodiversity dynamics in the Anthropocene: How human activities change equilibria of species richness. Ecography 44: e05778.

Storch D. & Okie J. (2019). Carrying capacity for species richness. Global Ecology and Biogeography 28: 1519-1532.

Storch D., Bohdalková E. & Okie J. (2018). The more-individuals hypothesis revisited: the role of community abundance in species richness regulation and the productivity-diversity relationship. Ecology Letters 21: 920-937.

Šímová I. & Storch D. (2017). The enigma of terrestrial primary productivity: measurements, models, scales and the diversity-productivity relationship. Ecography 40: 239-252.

Šizling A.L., Storch D., Šizlingová E., Reif J. & Gaston K.J. (2009): Species-abundance distribution results from a spatial analogy of central limit theorem. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A., 106: 6691-6695.

Storch D., Keil P. & Jetz W. (2012). Universal species-area and endemics-area relationships at continental scales. Nature 488: 78-81.