BIOSKETCH AND RESEARCH INTERESTS

I received my masters (2001, in Systematic biology and ecology) and Ph.D. (2008, in Zoology) degrees at the Faculty of Science, Masaryk University. As a Ph.D. student of PD Dr. Daniel Burckhardt, I spent one year (2002–2003) at the Naturhistorisches Museum and Universität Basel in Switzerland. From 2001 to 2013, I worked full-time as curator of insect collections at the Department of Entomology, Moravian Museum, Brno. I joined the Terrestrial Invertebrate Research Group at the Department of Botany and Zoology as assistant professor in 2014. Meanwhile, I continue to manage the Auchenorrhyncha and Sternorrhyncha collections at the Moravian Museum. I am a member of the editorial board of the Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae journal and a member of the Czech Entomological Society and the Central European Auchenorrhyncha Working Group. In my research, I focus on the systematics and biology of hemipteran insects, namely psyllids (Sternorrhyncha: Psylloidea) and leafhoppers and planthoppers (Auchenorrhyncha). I am also interested in the ecology of insects in central-European grasslands and post-industrial habitats. My current projects include:

• taxonomic revisions of selected psyllid, leafhopper and planthopper groups (e.g., family Phacopteronidae, Hemiptera of Socotra island, ground-dwelling taxa of Membracoidea)
• studies of the diversity and distribution of Auchenorrhyncha and Psylloidea species in the Czech Republic
• the community ecology of phytophagous insects in species-rich grasslands (in relation to grassland restoration, management, and tritrophic interactions with hemiparasitic plants)