Postdoc, PhD

David Boukal

David Boukal is now a research scientist at the Department of Theoretical Ecology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

Research interests

My research interests are divided between modelling and, to a lesser part, field studies and experiments. My modelling focuses on the interplay of ecological and evolutionary processes. My early work focused on the role of optimal foraging and Allee effects in population dynamics. At present, I am interested in a wide range of research topics, including harvesting-induced life history evolution, evolution of male life histories, and the role of males in population dynamics. In addition to the members of the EvoFish group and the FishACE research network, my present and past collaborators include Ludek Berec, Vlastimil Krivan, Andre de Roos, Lennart Persson, Maurice Sabelis, Franck Courchamp, Anna Deredec, Peter Schembri, Markus Gusset, Daniel Rankin and Hanna Kokko.

I am also interested in ecology and biodiversity of aquatic insects. Together with students and colleagues in the Czech Republic, we are trying to understand factors shaping community dynamics in small temporary or permanent water bodies. We are also exploring the role of size-dependent interactions, feeding preferences, and substrate preferences of individual species in the dynamics of such communities. My pet study objects are tiny water beetles from the superfamily Dryopoidea, and I have described some new species of this group from Asia and New Guinea in the past.

See my other pages (links on the right) for more information.
 

TEE discussion group

Discussions of key and novel concepts in ecology and evolution, with focus on links between the theoretical and the empirical. More information available at TEE pages (discontinued after 2008).