Berec – home page

ludek.berec(at)prf.jcu.cz
berec(at)entu.cas.cz
tel: +420 38777 2236
dormitory K3, room 206

Dr. Luděk Berec

My research focuses on mathematical modelling in biology, particularly in ecology, epidemiology and evolutionary biology. I am primarily interested in consequences of individual behaviour for dynamics of populations and communities, and in revealing and studying mechanisms responsible for experimentally observed patterns. I am also interested in population-dynamic consequences of anthropogenic influences. Like my empirically-oriented colleagues I pose primarily biological questions, but for getting answers I develop and study mathematical models, in various disciplines used e.g. for forecasting weather, designing turbine shapes or calculating trajectories of cosmic objects. My models are of various sorts, depending on studied problems, from deterministic models in the form of difference or differential equations up to highly flexible and stochastic individual-based models. My long-term research subjects include dynamics of populations subject to so-called Allee effects, dynamics of sex-structured populations and impacts of infectious diseases (mostly sterilizing diseases) on dynamics of populations and communities.

Research topics

Individual projects

  • Allee effect

    Allee effect

    Allee efekt (česky též Alleeho jev), nese jméno amerického behaviorálního ekologa Wardera C. Alleeho. Tento jev nastává, pokud (průměrná) zdatnost jedince v populaci roste s velikostí či hustotou této populace. Jedná se tedy o jev na úrovni celé populace, nikoli na úrovni jedince. Jedná se tedy o pozitivní hustotní závislost. Mechanismů, které vedou k Allee […]Více →
  • Evolution of Allee effects

    Evolution of Allee effects

    Allee efekt nastává, klesá-li s klesající velikostí či hustotou populace zdatnost jedinců. S každým Allee efektem je tedy spojen určitý dědičný znak ovlivňující zdatnost a tedy podléhající přirozenému výběru. U Allee efektu, který vzniká díky klesající šanci nalézt si partnera při klesajících populačních hustotách, takovým znakem může být rychlost hledání partnera či doba, po kterou […]Více →
  • Mate-finding Allee effect

    Mate-finding Allee effect

    Allee efekt díky páření je nejpozorovanějším typem Allee efektu, jak se můžeme přesvědčit v tomto článku. Vzniká díky snížené schopnosti jedinců nalézt si partnera v populacích s nižší hustotou, což například v případě rostlin může znamenat, že pylovému zrnku se nepodaří dostat k samičím reprodukčním orgánům. V rámci našeho výzkumu se snažíme prostřednictvím matematických modelů […]Více →
  • Sexually transmitted diseases

    Sexually transmitted diseases

    Sexually transmitted diseases are not just a matter of humans, but at a much larger scale also a matter of animals. By definition, pathogens responsible for these diseases are transmitted through the sexual intercourse, in contrast to the other pathogens that are transmitted by another medium (air, water, soil) or other contact than the sexual […]Více →
  • Consistency of host reproduction and infection transmission in sexually transmitted diseases

    Consistency of host reproduction and infection transmission in sexually transmitted diseases

    Classic models of infection dynamics describe host reproduction independently of infection transmission. This is fine for air-borne or vector-borne infections, and also for sexually transmitted diseases in humans, where only a negligible proportion of sexual intercourses results in reproduction. However, it can be an important omission in case of sexually transmitted diseases in many animals […]Více →
  • Evolution of infection-induced host sterility

    Evolution of infection-induced host sterility

    Harmful effects of parasitism include reduction of host reproductive abilities and increased host mortality. Whereas the former effect is commonly caused by sexually transmitted infections, increased mortality is typically due to other infection types. The initial models of the evolution of sterility virulence predicted development of fully sterilizing parasites, that is, infertility of the infected […]Více →