Eliska Kutakova

My research focuses on interactions between plants and their soil environment. I am generally fascinated by the mechanisms of species co-existence, both above- and belowground. To study these, I am combining phytocoenology, experimental plant ecology and soil ecology (with focus on soil microfauna). My study systems are mostly grasslands, ranging from subarctic meadows in northern Scandes to semi-natural calcareous grasslands in central Europe, but I am also interested in grassland-forest ecotones.

My aim is to shed more light on how plant-soil interactions respond to changing climatic conditions, and what are the consequences for species co-existence and functioning of plant and soil communities.

Forest Ecosystems Ecology (2024, 2025), Department of Forest Ecology and Management, SLU, Umeå, SE

Resource Ecology (2020, 2022), Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, CZ

Research Methods in Science Education (2017, 2018), Faculty of Science, Charles University, CZ

Experimental Plant Ecology (2016), Faculty of Science, Charles University, CZ

Field Course of Ecology (2015), Faculty of Science, Charles University, CZ

Ph.D. (2020) Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, CZ

Complementary pedagogical studies (2015), the Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, CZ

M.Sc. in Botany (2013), Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, CZ

B.Sc. in Ecological and Evolutionary Biology (2011), Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, CZ 

Mészárošová, L., Kuťáková, E., Kohout, P., Münzbergová, Z. & Baldrian, P. (2024): Closing the gap: examining the impact of source habitat proximity on plant and soil microbial communities in post-mining spoil heap succession. Frontiers in Microbiology 15: 1416515. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1416515

Dostálek, T., Rydlová, J., Kohout, P., Kuťáková, E., Kolaříková, Z., Frouz, J. & Münzbergová, Z. (2024): Beyond the rootzone: Unveiling soil property and biota gradients around plants. Science of the Total Environment 949: 175032. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175032

Yacine, Y. & Kuťáková, E.*, in 't Zandt, D., Hadincová, V., Semerád, J., Cajthaml, T. & Münzbergová, Z. (2024): Between vs. within-species variation in plant-soil feedback relates to different functional traits, but exudate variability is involved at both scales. Functional Ecology 38: 1156–1171. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.14548                              *shared first authorship

Mészárošová, L., Kuťáková, E., Kohout, P., Münzbergová, Z. & Baldrian, P. (2024): Plant effects on microbiome composition are constrained by environmental conditions in a successional grassland. Environmental Microbiome 19 (1): 8. DOI: 10.1186/s40793-024-00550-z

Kuťáková, E., Mészárošová, L., Münzbergová, Z., Baldrian, P. & Herben, T. (2023): Plant-soil feedbacks in a diverse grassland: Soil remembers, but not too much. Journal of Ecology 111: 1203–1217. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.14104

Kuťáková, E., Mészárošová, L., Münzbergová, Z. & Baldrian, P. (2020): Evaluating the role of biotic and chemical components of plant-soil feedback of primary successional plants. Biology and Fertility of Soils 56 (3): 345-358. DOI: 10.1007/s00374-019-01425-z

Kuťáková, E., Cesarz, S., Münzbergová, Z. & Eisenhauer, N. (2018): Soil microarthropods alter the outcome of plant-soil feedback experiments. Scientific Reports 8: 11898. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-30340-w

Kuťáková, E., Herben, T. & Münzbergová, Z. (2018): Heterospecific plant-soil feedback and its relationship to plant traits, species relatedness, and co-occurrence in habitats. Oecologia 187: 679-688. DOI: 10.1007/s00442-018-4145-z

Kuťáková, E. & Janštová, V. (2015): Can be the future career choice influenced by high-school students’ experience with the Biology Olympiad? ICERI2015 Proceedings: 6442-6450.

Radka Opltová (researched): Effects of belowground herbivory of garden chafer (Phyllopertha horticola) larvae on vegetation composition in a mountains grassland (Charles University, Czech Republic)

Emily Ehgartner (2025): Plant trait responses to increasing temperatures in a subarctic meadow community (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden)

Eliška Strušková (2022): Dry grassland restoration on a limestone quarry landfill using different sowing densities (Charles University, Czech Republic)

Tereza Opravilová (2020): Plant-soil feedback and its interactions with factors determining plant coexistence (Charles University, Czech Republic)

Radka Opltová (2023): Effects of insect herbivory on plant competition (Charles University, Czech Republic)

Eliška Strušková (2020): Grassland restoration in abandoned quarries by sowing seed mixtures (Charles University, Czech Republic)

Tomáš Müller (2018): Approaches to abandoned quarry reclamation (Charles University, Czech Republic)

Tereza Opravilová (2017): Plant-soil feedback and locality management as factors determining vegetation development (Charles University, Czech Republic)