Ondřej Mikula

Mgr. Ondřej Mikula, Ph.D.

Position: post-doc
Research topics: phylogeny and morphology of rodents
Department: External research facility Studenec
Phone: +420 532 290 156
Mobile: +420 777 184 259
E-mail: onmikulagmail.com

Research interests

• geometric morphometrics and species delimitation,
• evolution and taxonomy of small mammals,
• hybridization and speciation in house mice.

Education

• 1999–2004: undergraduate study - Masaryk University Brno, Faculty of Science, Systematic Zoology a Ecology. Diploma thesis: Morphometric analysis of the hybrid zone between Mus musculus and Mus domesticus in the western Bohemia.
• 2004–2009: Ph.D. study - Masaryk University Brno, Faculty of Science, Zoology. Ph.D. thesis: Changes of developmental stability in house mice as a consequence of hybridization.

Employment

• 2009-present: Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics, Laboratory of Mammalian Evolutionary Genetics - postdoctoral fellow,
• 2010-present: Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Department of Population Biology Studenec - postdoctoral fellow.

International experience

• 2005, 2006: Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii, Warsawa - short stay within the programme EU Synthesys,
• 2012: Museum national d'historie naturelle, Paris - short stay within the programme EU Synthesys,
• Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale, Tervuren Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris Natural History Museum, London American Museum of Natural History, New York - short visits at Natural History Museums.

Projects

• Immunogenetic study of a house mouse hybrid zone (2008-2012).
• Comparative phylogeography of Zambezian region in Southeastern Africa using small mammals as a model (2010-2014).
• Population structure, dispersal and explorative behaviour in the zone of secondary contact of house mice (2011-2014).

Publications

Bryja J., Kostin D., Meheretu Y., Šumbera R., Bryjová A., Kasso M., Mikula O., Lavrenchenko L. A.: Reticulate Pleistocene evolution of Ethiopian rodent genus along remarkable altitudinal gradient, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 118 (2018) 75-87.

Bryja J., Konvičková H., Bryjová A., Mikula O., Makundi R., Chitaukali W. N., Šumbera R.: Differentiation underground: range-wide multilocus genetic structure of the silvery mole-rat does not support current taxonomy based on mitochondrial sequences, Mammalian Biology 93 (2018) 82-92.

Mazoch V., Mikula O., Bryja J., Konvičková H., Russo I.-R., Verheyen E., Šumbera R.: Phylogeography of a widespread sub-Saharan murid rodent Aethomys chrysophilus: the role of geographic barriers and paleoclimate in the Zambezian bioregion, Mammalia 82 (2018) 373-387.

Šumbera R., Krásová J., Lavrenchenko L. A., Mengistu S., Bekele A., Mikula O., Bryja J.: Ethiopian highlands as a cradle of the African fossorial root-rats (genus Tachyoryctes), the genetic evidence, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 126 (2018) 105-115.

Aghová T., Šumbera R., Piálek L., Mikula O., McDonough M. M., Lavrenchenko L. A., Meheretu Y., Mbau J. S., Bryja J.: Multilocus phylogeny of East African gerbils (Rodentia, Gerbilliscus) illuminates the history of the Somali-Masai savanna, Journal of Biogeography 44 (2017) 2295-2307.

Bryja J., Šumbera R., Kerbis Peterhans J. C., Aghová T., Bryjová A., Mikula O., Nicolas V., Denys C., Verheyen E.: Evolutionary history of the thicket rats (genus Grammomys) mirrors the evolution of African forests since late Miocene, Journal of Biogeography 44 (2017) 182-194.

Mikula O., Šumbera R., Aghová T., Mbau J. S., Katakweba A. S., Sabuni C. A., Bryja J.: Evolutionary history and species diversity of African pouched mice (Rodentia: Nesomyidae: Saccostomus), Zoologica Scripta 45 (2016) 595-617.

Vošlajerová Bímová B., Mikula O., Macholán M., Janotová K., Hiadlovská Z.: Female house mice do not differ in their exploratory behaviour from males, Ethology 122 (2016) 298-307.

Bryja J., Mikula O., Patzenhauerová H., Oguge N. O., Šumbera R., Verheyen E.: The role of dispersal and vicariance in the Pleistocene history of an East African mountain rodent, Praomys delectorum, Journal of Biogeography 41 (2014) 196-208.

Bryja J., Mikula O., Šumbera R., Meheretu Y., Aghová T., Lavrenchenko L. A., Mazoch V., Oguge N., Mbau J. S., Welegerima K., Amundala N., Colyn M., Leirs H., Verheyen E.: Pan-African phylogeny of Mus (subgenus Nannomys) reveals one of the most successful mammal radiations in Africa, BMC Evolutionary Biology 14 (2014) 256.

Hiadlovská Z., Macholán M., Mikula O., Vošlajerová Bímová B.: The meek inherit the earth: less aggressive wild mice are more successful in challenging situations, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 113 (2014) 310-319.

Hiadlovská Z., Vošlajerová Bímová B., Mikula O., Piálek J., Macholán M.: Transgressive segregation in a behavioural trait? Explorative strategies in two house mouse subspecies and their hybrids, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 108 (2013) 225-235.