European Journal of Wildlife Research, Feb 13, 2007
The population of white-tailed sea eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) in the Czech Republic declined d... more The population of white-tailed sea eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) in the Czech Republic declined dramatically during the twentieth century. None were observed in the area for more than 60 years until population recoveries were observed beginning in the 1980s. It is currently estimated that 25–30 breeding pairs of white-tailed sea eagles nest in the Czech Republic. This article analyses surveillance data from
Abstract Historical perspective is important to understand the mechanisms of current environmenta... more Abstract Historical perspective is important to understand the mechanisms of current environmental impacts on biodiversity. It may be achieved through long-term monitoring schemes aiming to record biodiversity changes over time. However, even the monitoring of bird populations, a taxon with the broadest spatial coverage and the longest time series among all organisms, does not usually cover more than 30–50 years. It is thus possible that the population status recorded by the monitoring schemes resulted from impacts preceding the monitoring data. In European birds for example, most studies use the beginning of 1980s as a baseline, even though major environmental changes likely acted earlier and its possible that many species have already depleted populations at that time. To fill this knowledge gap, we performed a unique survey among ornithologists of an older generation who performed bird observations in the Czech Republic from 1950s or 1960s up to now. They were asked to fill in a questionnaire to record relative abundance of each species in the region of their expertise during three time periods: 1950s/1960s, 1980s, and 2010s. Comparison of relative abundance between 1950s/1960s and 1980s should reflected population change prior to the time period typically set a as baseline, whereas population change between 1980s and 2010s aimed to assess the reliability of the ornithologists’ assessment by comparison with objective atlas mapping data. As expected, ornithologists of an older generation reported major population declines between 1950s/1960s and 1980s, especially among species depending on insects in their diet corresponding with steep intensification of land use for agriculture. Species associated with wetlands increased their populations, likely due to a higher nutrient input into water bodies. Interestingly, bird populations showed opposite pattern to the currently observed climate change impact, probably due to the modest climate change over these time periods. Importantly, population change between 1980s and 2010s estimated by the ornithologists corresponded well with the change based on atlas mapping data between the same time periods. Such a high level of congruence indicates suitability of memories of older generation naturalists for inferring indicators of historical biodiversity changes. We urge for performing of such assessments in other regions and for other taxa before this source of information will be lost forever.
Wetland bird species have been declining in population size worldwide as climate warming and land... more Wetland bird species have been declining in population size worldwide as climate warming and land-use change affect their suitable habitats. We used species distribution models (SDMs) to predict changes in range dynamics for 64 non-passerine wetland birds breeding in Europe, including range size, position of centroid, and margins. We fitted the SDMs with data collected for the first European Breeding Bird Atlas and climate and land-use data to predict distributional changes over a century (the 1970s–2070s). The predicted annual changes were then compared to observed annual changes in range size and range centroid over a time period of 30 years using data from the second European Breeding Bird Atlas. Our models successfully predicted ca. 75% of the 64 bird species to contract their breeding range in the future, while the remaining species (mostly southerly breeding species) were predicted to expand their breeding ranges northward. The northern margins of southerly species and souther...
The dispersion and mating system significantly affect the genetic structure of the population. Bo... more The dispersion and mating system significantly affect the genetic structure of the population. Boreal owl (Aegolius funereus) nesting biology has been studied since 1999 in the Krusne Hory Mts where the birds nest in nesting boxes. To investigate the mating system and the population genetic structure of the boreal owl population, blood samples have been collected there since 2006. We collected 241 samples from family members in 3 years period from 3 different areas - Krusne hory Mts, Jizerske Hory Mts and Žďarske Vrchy Mts. These samples were genotyped at 7 microsatellite loci. We found no evidence of EPF in any of them; only two nestlings had genotypes that were incompatible with those of their parents. In both cases, however, the genotypes of the chicks were inconsistent at only one locus. The results indicate decrease in the genetic diversity of population from the Krusne Hory Mts, which is probably the effect of relatively high rate of resident individuals in the area of study, ...
Abstract Large trees (also termed veteran trees or habitat trees) are keystone structures for bio... more Abstract Large trees (also termed veteran trees or habitat trees) are keystone structures for biodiversity worldwide. Retention forestry aims to keep large trees in production stands to support biodiversity. Nevertheless, there is insufficient information about the effect of large trees on biodiversity and how many large trees should be left in different types of stands, including spruce-dominated production forest. We aimed to investigate the influence of large trees on birds (included generalist and specialist species) in spruce-dominated production forest throughout the Czech Republic while taking into consideration effects of stand age, tree species composition, and distance to a clearing. At 20 study sites (each 600 ha), all trees with diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 70 cm were exhaustively searched. We then localized sampling plots representing a gradient of large tree numbers from zero to maximum on each plot. Birds were sampled using point count method in breeding seasons 2018 and 2019. Bird assemblages were analysed using generalized linear mixed models with Poisson error distribution. The total number of birds, number of generalist species, and number of specialist species increased significantly with the number of broadleaved trees ≥ 70 cm DBH. Furthermore, tree species diversity positively affected generalist species and negatively influenced specialist species. Our results suggest that 5 broadleaved trees ≥ 70 cm DBH/ha greatly improve bird diversity in spruce-dominated production forests and forest management should be adapted to reach ≥ 5 native, large, broadleaved trees to improve structural diversity of spruce-dominated production forests.
ABSTRACT Studies that explore species–environment relationships at a broad scale are usually limi... more ABSTRACT Studies that explore species–environment relationships at a broad scale are usually limited by the availability of sufficient habitat description, which is often too coarse to differentiate natural habitat patches. Therefore, it is not well understood how the distribution of natural habitats affects broad-scale patterns in the distribution of animal species. In this study, we evaluate the role of field-mapped natural habitats, land-cover types derived from remote sensing and climate on the composition of assemblages of five distinct animal groups, namely non-volant mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and butterflies native to the Czech Republic. First, we used variation partitioning based on redundancy analysis to evaluate the extent to which the environmental variables and their spatial structure might underlie the observed spatial patterns in the composition of animal assemblages. Second, we partitioned variations explained by climate, natural habitats and land-cover to compare their relative importance. Finally, we tested the independent effects of each variable in order to evaluate the significance of their contributions to the environmental model. Our results showed that spatial patterns in the composition of assemblages of almost all the considered animal groups may be ascribed mostly to variations in the environment. Although the shared effects of climatic variables, natural habitats and land-cover types explained the largest proportion of variation in each animal group, the variation explained purely by natural habitats was always higher than the variation explained purely by climate or land-cover. We conclude that most spatial variation in the composition of assemblages of almost all animal groups probably arises from biological processes operating within a spatially structured environment and suggest that natural habitats are important to explain observed patterns because they often perform better than habitat descriptions based on remote sensing. This underlines the value of using appropriate habitat data, for which high-resolution and large-area field-mapping projects are necessary.
ABSTRACT Anthropogenic activity can lead to deforestation and subsequent dramatic impacts on fore... more ABSTRACT Anthropogenic activity can lead to deforestation and subsequent dramatic impacts on forest-dwelling animal species. In this study, we investigated the habitat use of a forest raptor (Tengmalm’s Owl Aegolius funereus) in an air-polluted area of the Ore Mountains (Czech Republic) that has been restored by non-native spruce. Based on a 14-year Tengmalm’s Owl nest-box breeding dataset, we found that the percentage of native Norway Spruce forest was higher for occupied nest boxes than for unoccupied ones within close surroundings of the nest (buffer radius of 25 m). Meanwhile, the percentage of non-native Blue Spruce (originally from Northern America) was higher for occupied nest boxes than for unoccupied ones within the home-range breeding area (buffer radius of 750 m). Moreover, the surroundings of non-predated nests (radius of 750 m) showed a higher percentage of Blue Spruce and a lower percentage of deciduous trees than surroundings of nests predated by Pine Martens. Although small mammal availability was not affected by habitat categories, we found a positive correlation between the percentage of Apodemus mice in the diet of owls and the percentages of both Blue Spruce and open forest area within the foraging area radius (750 m). We suggest that adult owls and young fledglings use remnants of tall, old-growth Norway Spruce forests as a safe refuge against avian predators, while secondary stands of non-native Blue Spruce are suitable for hunting both main prey types (Apodemus mice and Microtus voles), and also ensure good protection against nest predation by Pine Martens.
Evaluation of the relationships between the structure of animal assemblages and habitat distribut... more Evaluation of the relationships between the structure of animal assemblages and habitat distribution crucially depends on accurate habitat description as well as on considering issues connected with spatial autocorrelation. In our study, we focus on evaluation of relative effects of field-mapped natural habitats and climatic variables on broad-scale distribution patterns of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and butterflies native to the Czech Republic. We also compare performance of field-mapped natural habitats with habitat description based on land-cover data derived from remote sensing. To quantify and test the effect of each environmental variable, we used redundancy analysis, where spatial autocorrelation was accounted for by spatial filters created by Moran’s eigenvector maps. Significant environmental variables were finally used in variation partitioning to quantify the amount of variation explained by sets of climatic, habitat and land-cover variables. Our results showed that individual climatic variables explained generally more variation than natural habitat types, but if we accounted for spatial autocorrelation the relative importance of natural habitats increased whereas importance of climatic variables generally decreased. Variation partitioning revealed that shared effects of climate, natural habitats and land-cover explain most variation in distribution patterns of all groups. However, natural habitats always performed better than land-cover and climate.
Sovy jsou považovany za socialně monogamni ptaky, nicmeně jejich genetický parovaci system byl do... more Sovy jsou považovany za socialně monogamni ptaky, nicmeně jejich genetický parovaci system byl dosud studovan jen u sedmi druhů. Hnizdni biologie sýce rousneho (Aegolius funereus) je v Krusných horach studovana již od roku 1999. V roce 2006 se zde zacalo se sběrem krevnich vzorků pro analýzy parovaciho systemu a za ucelem studia geneticke struktury populace. Dosud bylo genotypovano 107 jedinců (19 samic, 15 samců a 73 mlaďat) na 7 mikrosatelitovych lokusech. Při jednoduchem srovnani genotypů rodiců a mlaďat bylo zjistěno, že u 41,7 % mlaďat chybi alela jednoho z rodiců. Tyto nesrovnalosti jsou vsak vysvětlitelne vysokou frekvenci nulových alel na některých lokusech (až 40,4 % na lokusu BOOW13; 2,5 % na lokusu BOOW18 – odhad z programu Cervus 3.0 na zakladě genotypů vsech adultů). Při analýze paternity v programu Cervus 3.0, do niž vstupoval genotyp matky (jako matka byla oznacena samice odchycena na hnizdě), byl u osmi mlaďat z 65 (pocet mlaďat z hnizd, kde se podařilo ziskat krevni vzorek samce) urcen jako nejpravděpodobnějsi otec jiný samec, než který byl odchycen u hnizda. Hodnoty „LOD score“ pro nejpravděpodobnějsiho a socialniho otce se vsak lisily velmi malo a rovněž pocet „mismatching“ lokusů byl u obou samců stejný. U žadneho hnizda vsak nebylo zjistěno, že by mladě dvou heterozygotnich rodiců neslo cizi alelu, což by při výskytu nulových alel spolehlivě dokazovalo mimoparove oplodněni. K doplněni a upřesněni těchto předběžných výsledků přispěje navýseni vzorku zkoumaných jedinců, odběry z dalsich hnizdnich lokalit, podrobnějsi analýzy a připadne hledani nových, dostatecně variabilnich mikrosatelitů.
Investigations on the secondary production and role of birds in the reedswamp ecosystems in Czech... more Investigations on the secondary production and role of birds in the reedswamp ecosystems in Czechoslovakia were mainly aimed at (1) obtaining basic data on the species composition and numbers of birds breeding in various types of reedswamps (i.e., on their species composition and diversity, density and biomass per unit area); (2) ascertaining the basic parameters of the population dynamics of the species breeding in the reeds (clutch size, number of young produced); and (3) ascertaining the impact of the dominant bird species on the reedswamp vegetation.
Page 1. Diet composition in the Tengmalm's Owl Aegolius funereus: a comparison of camera sur... more Page 1. Diet composition in the Tengmalm's Owl Aegolius funereus: a comparison of camera surveillance and pellet analysis Markéta Zárybnická, Jan Riegert & Karel ťastný M. Zárybnická & K. ťastný, Department of Ecology ...
European Journal of Wildlife Research, Feb 13, 2007
The population of white-tailed sea eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) in the Czech Republic declined d... more The population of white-tailed sea eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) in the Czech Republic declined dramatically during the twentieth century. None were observed in the area for more than 60 years until population recoveries were observed beginning in the 1980s. It is currently estimated that 25–30 breeding pairs of white-tailed sea eagles nest in the Czech Republic. This article analyses surveillance data from
Abstract Historical perspective is important to understand the mechanisms of current environmenta... more Abstract Historical perspective is important to understand the mechanisms of current environmental impacts on biodiversity. It may be achieved through long-term monitoring schemes aiming to record biodiversity changes over time. However, even the monitoring of bird populations, a taxon with the broadest spatial coverage and the longest time series among all organisms, does not usually cover more than 30–50 years. It is thus possible that the population status recorded by the monitoring schemes resulted from impacts preceding the monitoring data. In European birds for example, most studies use the beginning of 1980s as a baseline, even though major environmental changes likely acted earlier and its possible that many species have already depleted populations at that time. To fill this knowledge gap, we performed a unique survey among ornithologists of an older generation who performed bird observations in the Czech Republic from 1950s or 1960s up to now. They were asked to fill in a questionnaire to record relative abundance of each species in the region of their expertise during three time periods: 1950s/1960s, 1980s, and 2010s. Comparison of relative abundance between 1950s/1960s and 1980s should reflected population change prior to the time period typically set a as baseline, whereas population change between 1980s and 2010s aimed to assess the reliability of the ornithologists’ assessment by comparison with objective atlas mapping data. As expected, ornithologists of an older generation reported major population declines between 1950s/1960s and 1980s, especially among species depending on insects in their diet corresponding with steep intensification of land use for agriculture. Species associated with wetlands increased their populations, likely due to a higher nutrient input into water bodies. Interestingly, bird populations showed opposite pattern to the currently observed climate change impact, probably due to the modest climate change over these time periods. Importantly, population change between 1980s and 2010s estimated by the ornithologists corresponded well with the change based on atlas mapping data between the same time periods. Such a high level of congruence indicates suitability of memories of older generation naturalists for inferring indicators of historical biodiversity changes. We urge for performing of such assessments in other regions and for other taxa before this source of information will be lost forever.
Wetland bird species have been declining in population size worldwide as climate warming and land... more Wetland bird species have been declining in population size worldwide as climate warming and land-use change affect their suitable habitats. We used species distribution models (SDMs) to predict changes in range dynamics for 64 non-passerine wetland birds breeding in Europe, including range size, position of centroid, and margins. We fitted the SDMs with data collected for the first European Breeding Bird Atlas and climate and land-use data to predict distributional changes over a century (the 1970s–2070s). The predicted annual changes were then compared to observed annual changes in range size and range centroid over a time period of 30 years using data from the second European Breeding Bird Atlas. Our models successfully predicted ca. 75% of the 64 bird species to contract their breeding range in the future, while the remaining species (mostly southerly breeding species) were predicted to expand their breeding ranges northward. The northern margins of southerly species and souther...
The dispersion and mating system significantly affect the genetic structure of the population. Bo... more The dispersion and mating system significantly affect the genetic structure of the population. Boreal owl (Aegolius funereus) nesting biology has been studied since 1999 in the Krusne Hory Mts where the birds nest in nesting boxes. To investigate the mating system and the population genetic structure of the boreal owl population, blood samples have been collected there since 2006. We collected 241 samples from family members in 3 years period from 3 different areas - Krusne hory Mts, Jizerske Hory Mts and Žďarske Vrchy Mts. These samples were genotyped at 7 microsatellite loci. We found no evidence of EPF in any of them; only two nestlings had genotypes that were incompatible with those of their parents. In both cases, however, the genotypes of the chicks were inconsistent at only one locus. The results indicate decrease in the genetic diversity of population from the Krusne Hory Mts, which is probably the effect of relatively high rate of resident individuals in the area of study, ...
Abstract Large trees (also termed veteran trees or habitat trees) are keystone structures for bio... more Abstract Large trees (also termed veteran trees or habitat trees) are keystone structures for biodiversity worldwide. Retention forestry aims to keep large trees in production stands to support biodiversity. Nevertheless, there is insufficient information about the effect of large trees on biodiversity and how many large trees should be left in different types of stands, including spruce-dominated production forest. We aimed to investigate the influence of large trees on birds (included generalist and specialist species) in spruce-dominated production forest throughout the Czech Republic while taking into consideration effects of stand age, tree species composition, and distance to a clearing. At 20 study sites (each 600 ha), all trees with diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 70 cm were exhaustively searched. We then localized sampling plots representing a gradient of large tree numbers from zero to maximum on each plot. Birds were sampled using point count method in breeding seasons 2018 and 2019. Bird assemblages were analysed using generalized linear mixed models with Poisson error distribution. The total number of birds, number of generalist species, and number of specialist species increased significantly with the number of broadleaved trees ≥ 70 cm DBH. Furthermore, tree species diversity positively affected generalist species and negatively influenced specialist species. Our results suggest that 5 broadleaved trees ≥ 70 cm DBH/ha greatly improve bird diversity in spruce-dominated production forests and forest management should be adapted to reach ≥ 5 native, large, broadleaved trees to improve structural diversity of spruce-dominated production forests.
ABSTRACT Studies that explore species–environment relationships at a broad scale are usually limi... more ABSTRACT Studies that explore species–environment relationships at a broad scale are usually limited by the availability of sufficient habitat description, which is often too coarse to differentiate natural habitat patches. Therefore, it is not well understood how the distribution of natural habitats affects broad-scale patterns in the distribution of animal species. In this study, we evaluate the role of field-mapped natural habitats, land-cover types derived from remote sensing and climate on the composition of assemblages of five distinct animal groups, namely non-volant mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and butterflies native to the Czech Republic. First, we used variation partitioning based on redundancy analysis to evaluate the extent to which the environmental variables and their spatial structure might underlie the observed spatial patterns in the composition of animal assemblages. Second, we partitioned variations explained by climate, natural habitats and land-cover to compare their relative importance. Finally, we tested the independent effects of each variable in order to evaluate the significance of their contributions to the environmental model. Our results showed that spatial patterns in the composition of assemblages of almost all the considered animal groups may be ascribed mostly to variations in the environment. Although the shared effects of climatic variables, natural habitats and land-cover types explained the largest proportion of variation in each animal group, the variation explained purely by natural habitats was always higher than the variation explained purely by climate or land-cover. We conclude that most spatial variation in the composition of assemblages of almost all animal groups probably arises from biological processes operating within a spatially structured environment and suggest that natural habitats are important to explain observed patterns because they often perform better than habitat descriptions based on remote sensing. This underlines the value of using appropriate habitat data, for which high-resolution and large-area field-mapping projects are necessary.
ABSTRACT Anthropogenic activity can lead to deforestation and subsequent dramatic impacts on fore... more ABSTRACT Anthropogenic activity can lead to deforestation and subsequent dramatic impacts on forest-dwelling animal species. In this study, we investigated the habitat use of a forest raptor (Tengmalm’s Owl Aegolius funereus) in an air-polluted area of the Ore Mountains (Czech Republic) that has been restored by non-native spruce. Based on a 14-year Tengmalm’s Owl nest-box breeding dataset, we found that the percentage of native Norway Spruce forest was higher for occupied nest boxes than for unoccupied ones within close surroundings of the nest (buffer radius of 25 m). Meanwhile, the percentage of non-native Blue Spruce (originally from Northern America) was higher for occupied nest boxes than for unoccupied ones within the home-range breeding area (buffer radius of 750 m). Moreover, the surroundings of non-predated nests (radius of 750 m) showed a higher percentage of Blue Spruce and a lower percentage of deciduous trees than surroundings of nests predated by Pine Martens. Although small mammal availability was not affected by habitat categories, we found a positive correlation between the percentage of Apodemus mice in the diet of owls and the percentages of both Blue Spruce and open forest area within the foraging area radius (750 m). We suggest that adult owls and young fledglings use remnants of tall, old-growth Norway Spruce forests as a safe refuge against avian predators, while secondary stands of non-native Blue Spruce are suitable for hunting both main prey types (Apodemus mice and Microtus voles), and also ensure good protection against nest predation by Pine Martens.
Evaluation of the relationships between the structure of animal assemblages and habitat distribut... more Evaluation of the relationships between the structure of animal assemblages and habitat distribution crucially depends on accurate habitat description as well as on considering issues connected with spatial autocorrelation. In our study, we focus on evaluation of relative effects of field-mapped natural habitats and climatic variables on broad-scale distribution patterns of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and butterflies native to the Czech Republic. We also compare performance of field-mapped natural habitats with habitat description based on land-cover data derived from remote sensing. To quantify and test the effect of each environmental variable, we used redundancy analysis, where spatial autocorrelation was accounted for by spatial filters created by Moran’s eigenvector maps. Significant environmental variables were finally used in variation partitioning to quantify the amount of variation explained by sets of climatic, habitat and land-cover variables. Our results showed that individual climatic variables explained generally more variation than natural habitat types, but if we accounted for spatial autocorrelation the relative importance of natural habitats increased whereas importance of climatic variables generally decreased. Variation partitioning revealed that shared effects of climate, natural habitats and land-cover explain most variation in distribution patterns of all groups. However, natural habitats always performed better than land-cover and climate.
Sovy jsou považovany za socialně monogamni ptaky, nicmeně jejich genetický parovaci system byl do... more Sovy jsou považovany za socialně monogamni ptaky, nicmeně jejich genetický parovaci system byl dosud studovan jen u sedmi druhů. Hnizdni biologie sýce rousneho (Aegolius funereus) je v Krusných horach studovana již od roku 1999. V roce 2006 se zde zacalo se sběrem krevnich vzorků pro analýzy parovaciho systemu a za ucelem studia geneticke struktury populace. Dosud bylo genotypovano 107 jedinců (19 samic, 15 samců a 73 mlaďat) na 7 mikrosatelitovych lokusech. Při jednoduchem srovnani genotypů rodiců a mlaďat bylo zjistěno, že u 41,7 % mlaďat chybi alela jednoho z rodiců. Tyto nesrovnalosti jsou vsak vysvětlitelne vysokou frekvenci nulových alel na některých lokusech (až 40,4 % na lokusu BOOW13; 2,5 % na lokusu BOOW18 – odhad z programu Cervus 3.0 na zakladě genotypů vsech adultů). Při analýze paternity v programu Cervus 3.0, do niž vstupoval genotyp matky (jako matka byla oznacena samice odchycena na hnizdě), byl u osmi mlaďat z 65 (pocet mlaďat z hnizd, kde se podařilo ziskat krevni vzorek samce) urcen jako nejpravděpodobnějsi otec jiný samec, než který byl odchycen u hnizda. Hodnoty „LOD score“ pro nejpravděpodobnějsiho a socialniho otce se vsak lisily velmi malo a rovněž pocet „mismatching“ lokusů byl u obou samců stejný. U žadneho hnizda vsak nebylo zjistěno, že by mladě dvou heterozygotnich rodiců neslo cizi alelu, což by při výskytu nulových alel spolehlivě dokazovalo mimoparove oplodněni. K doplněni a upřesněni těchto předběžných výsledků přispěje navýseni vzorku zkoumaných jedinců, odběry z dalsich hnizdnich lokalit, podrobnějsi analýzy a připadne hledani nových, dostatecně variabilnich mikrosatelitů.
Investigations on the secondary production and role of birds in the reedswamp ecosystems in Czech... more Investigations on the secondary production and role of birds in the reedswamp ecosystems in Czechoslovakia were mainly aimed at (1) obtaining basic data on the species composition and numbers of birds breeding in various types of reedswamps (i.e., on their species composition and diversity, density and biomass per unit area); (2) ascertaining the basic parameters of the population dynamics of the species breeding in the reeds (clutch size, number of young produced); and (3) ascertaining the impact of the dominant bird species on the reedswamp vegetation.
Page 1. Diet composition in the Tengmalm's Owl Aegolius funereus: a comparison of camera sur... more Page 1. Diet composition in the Tengmalm's Owl Aegolius funereus: a comparison of camera surveillance and pellet analysis Markéta Zárybnická, Jan Riegert & Karel ťastný M. Zárybnická & K. ťastný, Department of Ecology ...
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