Mgr. Jan Kollár, Ph.D.

I am interested in the diversity, ecology and evolution of diatoms, especially in the cryosphere-associated habitats of the alpine and polar regions of the Earth. I tend to study diatoms by means of a polyphasic approach, with an emphasis on the methods of microbial culturing, molecular biology and bioinformatics, and spanning the levels of populations, species and communities. I am particularly interested in (1) how (cryptic) species diversity is generated (i.e., population genetics and speciation research), (2) how to disentangle it (i.e., species delimitation research), and (3) how species diversity is generated and maintained at the community level (i.e., community assembly and biogeographic research). Inevitably, these research questions bring me also to the edge of theoretical evolutionary biology, to the area called (4) the Species Problem, concerned with the intricate question of ‘What is a species?’ Besides research, I also popularize science, mainly through elementary and secondary school lectures and pop-science articles (e.g., for Vesmír magazine and Vědátor website).

Web: Diatoms in Cryospheric Ecosystems (DiCE lab), ResearchGate