Zdenek Kaplan
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Zdenek Kaplan
@zdenek-kaplan-ibot.bsky.social
Botanist.
Plant taxonomy, biosystematics, hybridization, evolution.
Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany.
We continue uncovering hidden Batrachium diversity with the discovery of an extremely rare diploid hybrid combination, newly found in the Czech Republic.
@ibotcz.bsky.social @czechacademy.bsky.social
Why are allopolyploids common in Batrachium, but no diploid hybrids? This puzzle is now solved: a large-scale screening uncovered a natural hybrid between diploid species, providing new insight into the early stages of polyploid evolution.
preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.637.html
December 16, 2025 at 8:30 AM
Plants spreading fast at home often become global invaders 🌱✈️ A new Nature Comms study shows that species expanding in Europe are most likely to naturalize abroad. Watching native trends may be the key to predicting invasions: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Many plants naturalized as aliens abroad have also become more common within their native regions - Nature Communications
How changes in species’ native occupancy over time relate to global naturalization success remains unclear. Here, the authors show that species with both high occupancy decades ago and increasing nati...
www.nature.com
September 7, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by Zdenek Kaplan
Spatially uneven sampling of species occurrences can mislead biodiversity research. A new study of Czech flora by Klímová et al. reveals how different methods mitigate the distortions in the patterns of species richness.
preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.541.html
September 5, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Reposted by Zdenek Kaplan
🌸 This year, we finally (!) have a good yield of apricots (Prunus armeniaca) here in South Moravia, after three years without apricots across the region.

Apricots are thermophilous trees, thriving in Czechia’s warmest areas. Paradoxically, though, they are suffering from global warming.
July 12, 2025 at 11:06 AM
🧵1/5 Botanical visit to the Krkonoše Mountains, the highest mountain range in Czechia. Peat bogs with Pedicularis sudetica (type locality) and Andromeda polifolia.
July 12, 2025 at 5:28 AM
🧵1/3 Another field trip in search of interesting plants, this time to fishponds and other wetlands in the Odra river basin, north-eastern Czechia. Utricularia australis, Trapa natans and Salvinia natans.
July 12, 2025 at 4:09 AM
Another paper from our Batrachium team: subtle yet evolutionarily intriguing aquatic plants have arisen in the beautiful postglacial landscapes of the Alps.
Lakes in the Alps hide a surprising story: Alpine populations are genetically identical to the Nordic Ranunculus confervoides, yet show unexpected haplotype diversity and novel hybrids, revealing a complex evolutionary history.
preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.191.html
June 24, 2025 at 1:24 PM
🧵1/4 An abandoned limestone quarry in the Český kras karst area, Czech Republic. Vicia tenuifolia, Sedum album.
June 14, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Celebrating #TaxonomyRecognitionDay with blooming plants from Průhonice Park and Castle, where @ibotcz.bsky.social‬ is located. We live and work for the understanding of nature and biodiversity.
#nameittosaveit
‪@czechacademy.bsky.social‬
@tettris.eu‬
May 25, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Reposted by Zdenek Kaplan
The head of our Průhonice Botanical Garden and president of the Union of Botanical Gardens Pavel Sekerka explains why taxonomy is important for botanical gardens. @tettris.eu #nameittosaveit
May 23, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Reposted by Zdenek Kaplan
Our colleagues are joining the @tettris.eu, which links institutions across the continent in an effort to raise the profile and promote taxonomy not only in science but also in practical conservation. Lichenologist Jiří Malíček explains why taxonomy is needed ⬇️ #nameittosaveit
May 18, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Zdenek Kaplan
Proper taxonomic classification is crucial for many practical fields. It allows, for example, to distinguish between useful and harmful species, but also between edible and poisonous fungi. Don't forget to take photos of your favorite plants and share them with #nameittosaveit! @tettris.eu
May 16, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Reposted by Zdenek Kaplan
Thousands of species of organisms remain undiscovered. Many of them are disappearing from the wild before we can even get to know them. Taxonomy Recognition Day (23rd May) will remind us, why is taxonomy important. What is taxonomy and why is it important? Follow us
@tettris.eu #NameItToSaveIt #avcr
May 13, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Have you ever wondered how complex the pathways of evolution truly are? In aquatic plants, they are far more intricate than we imagined. The deeper we explore, the more tangled the evolutionary network becomes. #evolution #speciation #hybridization #polyploidy rdcu.be/ei5UQ
April 24, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Reposted by Zdenek Kaplan
Česká botanická společnost otevřela profil na Bluesky a přestala zveřejňovat informace na síti X.
The Czech Botanical Society has opened a profile on Bluesky and discontinued sharing information on X.
bsky.app/profile/bota...
March 26, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Reposted by Zdenek Kaplan
Decline of the most beautiful Czech orchid, and spatial and temporal dynamics of 102 other species in another instalment of the series on the distribution of plants in the Czech Republic.
preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2025.175.html
March 5, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Winter mood
February 16, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Vilmo! Kde jsi koupila tenhle kalendář?!!
February 15, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Reposted by Zdenek Kaplan
Narrow-leaved ragwort (Senecio inaequidens) is the plant of the year 2025 in the Czech Republic.
In previous years, the Czech Botanical Society awarded this title to endangered species, but this year, we chose an alien species whose invasion is taking place at breakneck speed right before our eyes.
January 22, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Good morning from the Průhonice Park, Czech Republic.
@ibotcz.bsky.social
1/3
December 29, 2024 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Zdenek Kaplan
Expansive plants are native but behave similarly to alien invasive plants and can also have negative impacts. The first catalogue of the expansive flora of the Czech Republic includes 126 taxa, with the regions and habitats, where they spread. preslia.cz/doi/preslia.2024.299.html
December 16, 2024 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Zdenek Kaplan
Preslia, a peer-reviewed scientific journal of the Czech Botanical Society, publishes research papers on plant systematics, morphology, phytogeography, ecology, vegetation science and Quaternary palaeobotany, with a geographical focus on central Europe.🌿🍁🌳 We start on Bluesky! www.preslia.cz
Preslia - About the journal
www.preslia.cz
December 7, 2024 at 10:27 AM
Reposted by Zdenek Kaplan
New issue (96/4) is out!
- Catalogue of expansive plants in the Czech Republic (Axmanová et al.)
- Urtica kioviensis threatened by hybridization (Urfus et al.)
- Environmental DNA data and taxonomic surveys of lichens (Vondrák et al.)
See more at www.preslia.cz
#Botany #PlantScience #Evolution
Preslia - About the journal
www.preslia.cz
December 12, 2024 at 11:15 AM
Looking back at the May botanical expedition to the Balkan Peninsula, mainly to the Dinaric Alps in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. 1/5
December 8, 2024 at 9:21 PM