Dissemination

15. European Diatom Meeting

Maja Mucko, Ph.D., presented the results of the project at the international conference 15th European Diatom Meeting, held in Ohrid, North Macedonia from 7-9. May 2024. The results of the project included the diversity of diatoms during the research in July 2022, and were presented in a poster presentation. The poster is available in the project repository - Mucko-15EDM.


The project leader, PhD Ivana Rešetnik and project collaborator PhD Martina Temunović participated from September 20 to 23, 2023 in the international congress "XVII OPTIMA Meeting" held in Erice, Italy.
Ivana Rešetnik held an invited lecture entitled "Multiple Balkan glacial refugia - an overview of genetic imprints", and Martina Temunović presented the poster presentation "Environmental niche differences between different ploidy levels in the Dianthus ciliatus s. l. (Caryophyllaceae)".


The project "Phylogeography and evolution of three ecologically divergent amphi-Adriatic plant groups - AmphiAdriPlant" led by  Ivana Rešetnik, Ph.D., in cooperation with the University Computing Center - "SRCE", organizes a workshop entitled "UNIX for bioinformatics in processing of genetic data".

The workshop represents the transfer of knowledge that was acquired during the duration of the project, mainly in processing of NGS genetic data of the researched plant groups. The main lecturer is  Maja Mucko, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the Division of Botany, while technical support is provided by the University Computing Center ˝SRCE˝. The workshop will be held in the premises of the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology from March 1 to 3, 2023.

HBoD lecture "Dianthus sylvestris in the Balkans - a great phylogeographic and taxonomic challenge"
On February 9, 2023, Ph.D. Ana Terlević held a lecture as part of the lecture series of Croatian Botanical Society (HBoD) entitled "Dianthus sylvestris in the Balkans - a major phylogeographic and taxonomic challenge".
The lecture is an overview of Ana's work during her PhD on the AmphiAdriPlant project, and was held in premises of University of Zagreb in front of many interested HBoD members and the audience.

HBoD lecture "Phylogeography of plants on the Balkan Peninsula"
On January 26, 2023, the project manager, Ph.D. Ivana Rešetnik held a lecture as part of the lecture series of Croatian Botanical Society (HBoD) entitled "Phylogeography of Plants on the Balkan Peninsula".
Ivana Rešetnik presented an overview of previous research on phylogeography of different plant taxa in the Balkans, and she used the published overview article as a framework:
Španiel, S., Rešetnik, I. Plant phylogeography of the Balkan Peninsula: spatiotemporal patterns and processes. Plant Syst Evol 308, 38 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00606-022-01831-1
The lecture was held in the premises of the University of Zagreb in front of many interested HBoD members and the audience.

Disemination of project work at congresses


Members of the project team presented the results of all three plant groups included in the project at two international botanical congresses and one domestic botanical symposium with international participation. 


The 14th Symposium on the Flora of Southeastern Serbia and neighboring regions was held from June 26th to 29th, 2022 in Kladovo. The Symposium was organized by the Faculty of Science and Mathematics of the University of Niš and the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia in Belgrade. 


The 8th Balkan Botanical Congress was held from July 4th to 8th, 2022 in Athens. The Congress was organized by the Department of Biology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and the Hellenistic Botanical Society. 


The 7th Croatian Botanical Samposium with international participation was held in Zagreb, from September 12th to 14th at hotel Dubrovnik. The symposium was organized by Croatian Botanical Society and included presentations of scientific research by a total of 209 authors from 13 European countries. At the symposium, the project team presented a total of three oral and one poster presentations, while the project itself was the sponsor of the symposium section entitled "Evolution, Taxonomy and Phylogeny". Additionally, a round table was held on the topic of phylogeography of plants in the Balkan Peninsula.

Presentations of Phd student Ana Terlević
At the 14th Symposium on the Flora of Southeast Serbia and neighboring regions in Kladovo, PhD student Ana Terlević presented the results of morphological and ecological research on the Dianthus sylvestris species in a lecture entitled "Morphological and ecological variability of the Dianthus sylvestris complex (Caryophyllaceae) on the Balkan Peninsula". is carried out as part of her doctorate thesis. Also, one of the coordinators of the Synthesys program, Bernadette Dome from the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest, presented with a poster the results of the SYNTHESYS+ Virtual Access program of digitization of historical museum collections, the realization of which began in the second half of 2020 and was carried out until the end of 2021. One of a total of 30 projects that were selected and accepted for financing and implementation in that cycle is the project of digitization of historical herbarium collections of the genus Dianthus from a total of 7 natural history museums, and this project was written by PhD student Ana Terlević in collaboration with colleagues from Italy, Germany and Switzerland who research species from that genus. Part of the digitized collections from those 7 institutions is already publicly available in databases such as the Virtual Herbarium of the JACQ consortium.
 

At the 8th Balkan Botanical Congress in Athens, PhD student Ana Terlević gave an oral presentation entitled "Complex pattern of morphological and genome size variation in Dianthus sylvestris Wulfen s.l. (Caryophyllaceae))" in addition to the morphological and ecological results of research on the Dianthus sylvestris species, she also presented the results of variations in the genome size.
Ana received the award for the best oral presentation of the congress!

At the 7th Croatian Botanical Symposium with international participation, PhD student Ana Terlević presented a comprehensive approach to research on the taxonomy of the subspecies Dianthus sylvestris Wulfen s.l. under the title: "The challenge of subspecies delimitation in Dianthus sylvestris Wulfetn s.l. on the Balkan Peninsula: Integrative approach to taxonomy".

Presentations of project leader dr Ivana Rešetnik
The project leader, Ph.D. Ivana Rešetnik presented the variability of the relative genome sizes in the Festuca varia complex (“Cytotype diversity and genome size variation in Festuca varia complex (Poaceae) in south-eastern Europe”) as a poster presentation, while in Athens she also gave a lecture on the phylogeography of the species Aurinia saxatilis under the title: “Phylogeographic patterns in Aurinia saxatilis (Brassicaceae) revealed with genomic RADseq data”.

POSTER (pdf)

At the 7th Croatian Botanical Symposium in Zagreb, project leader Dr Ivana Rešetnik presented an overview article accepted for publication in the journal Plant Systematics and Evolution under the title: "Plant phylogeography of the Balkan Peninsula: an overview”. After the lectures, Dr Ivana Rešetnik, Dr Sando Bogdanović and Dr Nevena Kuzmanović moderated the round table at the topic of challenges and future studies on plant phylogeograpy in the Balkans.

Presentations of post-doctoral fellow Maja Mucko
At the 8th Balkan Botanical Congress in Athens, postdoctoral fellow Dr Maja Mucko presented the results of the project related to the phylogeny and phylogeography of the species complex Festuca varia in the areas of the Balkans, the Apennines and the Alps in form of a lecture entitled "Festuca varia complex under the scope: multigene phylogeny of fine-leaved Loliinae with focus on F. bosniaca". 
 

At the 7th Croatian Botanical Symposium in Zagreb, post-doctoral fellow Dr Maja Mucko gave a lecture entitled "RAD-seq in plant phylogeography: case study of Festuca varia complex (Poaceae) on the Balkan Peninsula" in which she covered the core of the RAD-Seq method and its use in plant phylogeography and finally showed the results of the first sequenced library of Festuca varia complex.
Additionally, at the same symposium, the Maja presented the results of the morphometry of the F. varia complex with a poster entitled "Morphometry of Festuca bosniaca Kumm. et Sendtn. (Poaceae) and related species".

POSTER (pdf)

Presentations of project collaborators
At the 14th Symposium on the Flora of Southeast Serbia and neighboring regions in Kladovo, project collaborator Dr Ivica Ljubičić gave a lecture entitled "Maxent modeling for predicting the potential distribution of an amphi-Adriatic plant Festuca bosniaca Kumm. et Sendtn. (Poaceae)" in which he presented the results of modeling the potential distribution of the amphi-Adriatic species Festuca bosniaca in the present and at the time of the last glacial maximum along with the influence of climatic variables on the favorable habitat of this species. 
At the 8th Balkan Botanical Congress in Athens, Dr Ivica Ljubičić in co-authorship with Dr Martina Temunović, Dr Sando Boganović and project leader Dr. Ivana Rešetnik presented a poster entitled "Impact of climate factors on habitat suitability of an amphi-Adriatic plant Festuca bosniaca Kumm. et Sendtn." in which he presented the results of the influence of climatic variables on the suitability of the habitat of the species F. bosniaca.

POSTER (pdf)

At the 8th Balkan Botanical Congress in Athens, project collaborator Dr Martina Temunović gave a lecture following up on the presentation of PhD student Terlević, supplementing the whole story about the diversity of the species D. sylvestris with the results of analyzes of the genomic diversity of the collected populations. The presentation entitled “Unravelling patterns of genomic variation of Dianthus sylvestris Wulfen s.l. in the Balkan Peninsula” fulfilled the integrative approach to diversity of D. sylvestris s.l. in the Balkans.

At the 7th Croatian Botanical Symposium in Zagreb, project collaborator Dr Sandro Bogdanović presented the master graduate student Petar Tokić, who presented the morphological variability in an within the Dianthus ciliatus complex, on samples collected during field research of the AmphiAdriPlant project. The lecture was entitled: "Morphological variability of the Dianthus ciliatus complex (Caryophyllaceae) in the Adriatic region".

PhD student Ana Terlević in PhD Café
At the last edition of the PhD Café before the summer break, held on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, in Booksa, doctoral student Ana Terlević presented the research she is conducting as part of her doctorate. She presented her work entitled "Phylogeography and Taxonomy of the Wood Pink (Dianthus sylvestris Wulfen) on the Balkan Peninsula" to the audience of doctoral students from the Faculty of Science, Ruđer Bošković Institute and the Institute of Anthropology.

Article publication in Plants
The article entitled „Genome Size Variation in Dianthus sylvestris Wulfen sensu lato (Caryophyllaceae)“ was published on May 31, 2022, in Plants. This article is part of the doctoral dissertation of Ana Terlević and it is available at the link: https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/11/11/1481.

Dr Ivana Rešetnik published a scientific article as the main author in the prestigious journal Frontiers in Plant Science entitled "Stability in the South, Turbulence Toward the North: Evolutionary History of Aurinia saxatilis (Brassicaceae) Revealed by Phylogenomic and Climatic Modeling Data". This work was done in collaboration with colleagues from the Institute of Botany and Charles University in Prague, Institute of Botany, University of Innsbruck and the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb.
The paper presents the evolutionary dynamics and phylogeographic patterns within the widespread eastern Mediterranean and central European species Aurinia saxatilis, with usage of phylogenomic (restriction-site associated DNA sequencing, RADseq) and phylogenetic (sequences of the plastid marker ndhF) data as well as species distribution models generated for the present and the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Analyses of combined methods revealed early evolutionary separation of the southern and eastern Mediterranean populations, while the mainland populations had more complex evolutionary dynamics influenced by Pleistocene climate oscillations. Finally, the data confirmed the existence of multiple glacial refugia in southeast Europe and characterize the Balkan Peninsula as a source of dispersion and divergence of plant species. 
The article can be accessed here.

Postdoctoral fellow dr.sc. Maja Mucko attended lectures at an online symposium entitled "Fire burn and cauldron bubble" organized by the ForBio group. The online symposium was subsequently organized due to the postponement of the course that the postdoctoral fellow attends in October, entitled "Population genetics of polyploids, from theory to practice". The symposium was held on February 23 and 24, 2022, from 3 pm to 6 pm. The topics of the symposium were diverse, covering materials that will be delivered at workshop on population genetics and phylogeny of polyploid organisms, which will be held live in Drøbak Marine Station, Norway.

PhD student Ana Terlević presented the results of previous research conducted as part of her doctoral dissertation on Dianthus sylvestris Wulfen at a virtual symposium dedicated to the family Caryophyllaceae - Phylogenetics and taxonomy of Caryophyllaceae. The symposium was held from 8 to 10 February 2022, organized by the Botanical Garden and the Botanical Museum in Berlin.
In the presentation, Ana summarized the main morphometric results, the results of genome size analysis, population genetics and environmental niche analysis.

 

PhD student Ana Terlević and Dr. Ivana Rešetnik co-authored an article with colleagues from the University of Palermo, the University of Pisa and the University of Cagliari. The article entitled "Typification of 14 names in the Dianthus virgineus group (Caryophyllaceae)" was published in the PhytoKeys journal on December 13, 2021. Part of the article focused on typification of the name Dianthus sylvestris Wulfen in Jacq. and Dianthus virgineus var. tergestinus Rchb. These are the names that refer to the taxa from the Dianthus sylvestris species complex on the Balkan Peninsula, which are the subject of Ana Terlević's doctorate. 

Smaller plant on illustration was chosen as Dianthus sylvestris Wulfen in Jacq. lectotype.

Plant marked with identification number 5049β? Was chosen as Dianthus virgineus var. tergestinus Rchb. lectotype.

From 24.-25. April 2021, doctoral students Ana Terlević and Marko Doboš participated in the 5th Symposium of Doctoral Students of the Faculty of Science in Zagreb. Due to epidemiological recommendations, the symposium was held online through the Spatial Chat platform where interested visitors and participants entered virtual rooms with posters and asked questions. Doctoral student Ana Terlević participated with a poster presentation entitled “Morphological variability in Dianthus sylvestris Wulfen s.l. on the Balkan Peninsula." Doctoral student Marko Doboš participated with a poster presentation entitled "Genome size of Festuca bosniaca (Poaceae) on the Balkan Peninusla".
The book of abstracts is available at: https://www.pmf.unizg.hr/_download/repository/Knjiga_sazetaka_SSDS_PMF_2021.pdf

On April 12, 2021, doctoral student Marko Doboš published a popular article on the Bioteka.hr portal entitled "It's just ordinary grass!". The article presents the vast diversity of grasses (Poaceae) and their use for different purposes (food, biofuels, material production). This large plant group includes as many as 12,000 species and is distributed in various habitats around the world. Article is available at: http://www.bioteka.hr/modules/zivisvijet/index.php/zivi-svijet.%C4%8Clanci.89/To-je-samo-obi%C4%8Dna-trava.html

 

On May 12th 2020, a popular-scientific article by PhD student Ana Terlević on the genus Dianthus in Croatia was published on the portal Biologija.com.hr.

In October 2020, a short scientific article was published in the Journal of the Croatian Botanical Society by Ana Terlević and Ivana Rešetnik: Inventory of the historical Dianthus sylvestris herbarium materials from Herbarium Croaticum and Herbarium Ivo and Marija Horvat. In the same issue of that Journal, a short scientific paper - The genus Aurinia Desv. (Brassicaceae) in ZA and ZAHO herbaria written by Ivana Rešetnik in collaboration with biology students of the Faculty of Science.


On February 28th 2020, PhD student Ana Terlevic participated in the “4th Symposium of Faculty of Science PhD Students” in Zagreb with the poster presentation entitled "Genome size variation in Dianthus sylvestris group (Caryophyllaceae) across the Balkan Peninsula".

On February 27th 2020 Project team members Marin Grgurev, Ana Terlević and Marko Doboš gave a popular science lecture "Tour në Gadishullin Ballkanik / Tour to the Balkan Peninsula" for members of the Croatian Botanical Society, which presented field research conducted during 2019.

 

On February 6th 2020 Marin Grgurev participated in the roundtable of the 64th Plant Protection Seminar on "How to Protect Crops in Protected Areas". His presentation was related to the debate on invasive alien species in protected areas and the impact of climate change on biodiversity.

 

On November 29th 2019 Ivana Rešetnik gave an invited lecture on "Phylography of amphi-Adriatic plant groups - ongoing research" within the "Mini-symposium of the Croatian Society of Plant Biologists" organized by the Croatian Society of Plant Biology.

Find more information here: http://www.hdbb.hr/MiniSymposiumCSPB2019.pdf

On September 10th to 11th 2019, Ivana Rešetnik and Martina Temunović visited ETH Zürich, Switzerland, at the invitation of prof. Alex Widmer. The project leader delivered the invited lecture “Phylogeography of amphi-Adriatic plant groups - ongoing research” within the Dianthus mini-symposium.

 

 

On August 30th to 31st 2019 Ivana Rešetnik and Ana Terlević participated in the Sixth Croatian Botanical Symposium held in Zagreb. The project leader delivered an invited plenary lecture on "Phylogeography of Amphi-Adriatic plant groups" as part of the research conducted within the AmphiAdriPlant HRZZ project. 

Find more information here: https://www.imp-du.com/sesti-hrvatski-botanicki-simpozij/plenar-predavaci

 

  

On April 25th 2019 Project team members Ivica Ljubičić, Sandro Bogdanović and Ana Terlević gave a popular science lecture "Searching for carnations (Dianthus sylvestris agg.) in the Balkans" for members of the Croatian Botanical Society, which presented field research conducted during 2018.

On May 24th 2018 Ivana Rešetnik gave an invited lecture on “Molecular Phylogeny of the tribe Alysseae” for members of the Croatian Society of Plant Biology where she presented the planned research within the AmphiAdriPlant HRZZ project.