Clear-cutting, the main method of harvesting in many forests in the world, causes a series of dramatic environmental changes to the forest habitat and removes habitat resources for arboreal and epigeal species. It results in considerable changes in the composition of both plant and animal communities. Ants have many critical roles in the maintenance and functioning of forest ecosystems. Therefore, the response of ants to clear-cutting and the time it takes for an ant community to recover after clear-cutting are important indicators of the effect of this harvesting technique on the forest ecosystem. We investigated ground-dwelling ant communities during secondary succession of deciduous forests in Transylvania, Romania. Using space-for-time substitution, we explored a chronosequence from clear-cuts to mature forests (> 120 years). The object was to determine if cutting has measurable effects on ant community structure, and if ant species richness differs between successional stages. We recorded a total of 24 species of ants, 11 characteristic of forests and seven of open landscape. Ant species richness was higher in clear-cuts compared to closed-canopy and old stands. Number of ant individuals was highest in young age classes and lowest in closed-canopy age classes. There was no drastic change in species richness during the succession, however differences in community composition at different stages were recorded. Open landscape species are able to rapidly colonize following disturbance but disappear when the forest sites mature and many forest ant species are capable of surviving clear cutting., Ioan Tăuşan, Jens Dauber, Maria R. Trică, Bálint Markó., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Průběh počasí a v dlouhodobém pohledu podnebí patří k limitujícím podmínkám pro výskyt organismů, dokladem je výskyt teplomilných a naopak i chladnomilných nebo suchomilných a mokřadních druhů na našem území. A nejde pouze o přirozená společenstva, rozdíly nacházíme i ve skladbě pěstovaných plodin. Plošnou proměnlivost ovlivňují rozdílné klimatické podmínky - kromě podnebí hrají roli také půdní vlastnosti, které i díky odlišným geologickým podmínkám jsou velmi různorodé. Podnebí je však nejdynamičtější složkou přírodního prostředí. A právě pro území České republiky je typická vysoká proměnlivost podnebí i počasí v čase. Sucho se v posledních letech vyskytuje stále častěji, což však není dáno pouze nedostatkem srážek, ale také schopností krajiny zadržet vodu. Označení „sucho“ je výraz v obecném pojetí dosti neurčitý a v různých vědních i hospodářských oborech odlišně definovaný. Sucho meteorologické je nejčastěji vyjádřené časovými a prostorovými deficity srážek, které představují prvotní příčiny výskytu tohoto jevu. Kromě množství a intenzity spadlých srážek vztažených k dlouhodobým srážkovým úhrnům pro dané místo a roční dobu stanovili mnozí autoři různé definice sucha, a to v závislosti i na dalších klimatologických prvcích (teplota vzduchu, výpar, rychlost větru, vlhkost vzduchu aj.). Sucho zemědělské (agronomické) je vyjádřeno nedostatkem vody v půdě pro zemědělské plodiny ovlivněným předchozím nebo stále trvajícím výskytem meteorologického sucha. Z hlediska vodních poměrů v krajině je pak důležité sucho hydrologické. Člověk svou činností ovlivňuje krajinu, což platí i pro území ČR, kde může časem nastat nedostatek vody, a proto bychom se při hospodaření v krajině měli zaměřit, Climate has a substantial influence on the occurrence of organisms and thanks to its high variability various communities are to be found on our territory. The last years have seen increasingly frequent extreme climatic events, including the occurrence of serious drought. To assess the occurrence of drought the moisture balance method (difference between total precipitation and potential evapotranspiration) is the most frequently used. The extent and intensity of drought also depend on water retention capacity of the landscape. In view of possible climate change (particularly increase in air temperature), more pronounced drought periods may occcur in the near future., and Jaroslav Rožnovský.
Performance of the invasive horse-chestnut leaf miner, Cameraria ohridella Deschka & Dimic, 1986 (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), was studied on two host plants: the white-flowering horse-chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum L. and the Ohio buckeye Aesculus glabra Willd. C. ohridella developed successfully on both host plants; however, mine density and survival were much higher on A. hippocastanum than on A. glabra. The pupal mass and potential fecundity were strongly affected by the host plant on which the larvae fed. On A. hippocastanum pupae were significantly heavier and females more fecund than those on A. glabra. Furthermore, on both host plants there was a significant positive correlation between the number of oocytes in ovaries and pupal body mass, and as a consequence, heavier females produced more eggs. Our study demonstrates that the mine density, survival, pupal mass and potential fecundity were significantly lower on A. glabra than on A. hippocastanum. The observed lower performance of C. ohridella on the exotic host plant was assumed to be due to its poor food quality (nutritional and chemical composition)., Urszula Walczak, Edward Baraniak, Piotr Zduniak., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Zbarvení hraje v životě zvířat zásadní roli a je často pod přísným dohledem přírodního a/nebo pohlavního výběru. Abychom mohli objektivně zhodnotit jeho vliv na životní strategie zvířat, je zaprvé důležité barvu správně měřit a zadruhé nahlížet na ni zrakovým aparátem zainteresovaného pozorovatele. Obě tyto metody popisujeme na příkladu ptáků, konkrétně hodnocení mimeze parazitických vajec., Colouration plays a very important role in the life of animals and its evolution is often under natural and/or sexual selection. For objective assessment of the influence of colouration on animal life strategies the colour should be measured properly and evaluated from the perspective of the studied species. These methods are briefly described based on the example of birds, specifically on the mimicry of parasitic eggs., and Michal Šulc, Marcel Honza.
Čeleď kabarovitých představuje pro většinu lidí nejméně zajímavou čeleď kopytníků. Zahrnuje 7 málo známých druhů žijících ve východní Asii (od východního Afghánistánu přes Himálaj, Tibet a Čínu po střední a východní Sibiř). Tento článek obsahuje hlavní charakteristiky jednotlivých druhů včetně jejich fylogeneze a shrnuje dosavadní znalostí o životě kabarů. Vzhledem k tomu, že kabaři představují významný zdroj pro tradiční čínskou medicínu, stávají se v poslední době i jednou z nejvíce ohrožených čeledí kopytníků., The family Moschidae involves 7 species of musk deer, inhabiting forests and mountains of East Asia (from Afghanistan to the Himalayas, from Tibet and China to Siberia). This article summarizes current knowledge of individual species characteristics, including their phylogeny and natural history. Since these animals are a valuable source for the traditional Chinese medicine, they are the most endangered ungulate species in the world., and Jan Pluháček.
Malajsie jako tropická země patří mezi 12 biologicky nejbohatších a druhově nejrůznorodějších států světa. Její přírodní bohatství tak představuje jedno z vhodných míst k prvnímu seznámení se s faunou a flórou tropických lesů. Jedním z největších přírodních lákadel kontinentální Malajsie je světově nejstarší tropický nížinný les národního parku Taman Negara, jehož druhová diverzita obojživelníků a plazů je předmětem tohoto článku., Malaysia is one of the twelve biologically richest and the most species diverse states in the world. One of the biggest natural attractions of continental Malaysia is the world’s oldest lowland tropical forest in the Taman Negara National Park. The species diversity of amphibians and reptiles of the Taman Negara are presented., and Daniel Jablonski.
To explore the debated phylogenetic relationship of two Hesperiidae subfamilies, Pyrginae and Eudaminae, and contribute to the understanding of the evolution of mitogenomic architecture in butterflies, we sequenced the complete mitogenome of Tagiades vajuna. The mitogenome is a typical circular duplex molecule of 15,359 bp. Apart from the standard 22 tRNAs, it has a tandem duplication of trnS(AGN) and trnE, which is unique in lepidopteran insects. Comparison with Ctenoptilum vasava indicates that the trnS1 duplication is not an ancestral state shared with other species of Tagiadini. Independent origin of the trnS1 duplications was further confirmed by the reconstruction of the ancestral character state based on the topology of the phylogram. Furthermore, comparative analysis of mitogenomes with and without tRNA duplications indicates that tRNA duplication does not alter the codon usage pattern. The mitogenome has negative AT- and GC-skews, and it is highly A+T-biased (79.7%). The AT-rich (or control) region (283 bp) contains "ATAGA" and "ATTTA" motifs. Regarding the phylogenetic analysis, we found that removal of the third codon position (3CP) from datasets used for the mitochondrial phylogenomics of Hesperiidae is likely to produce results that are more consistent: Pyrginae were rendered paraphyletic by Eudaminae in both analyses of the dataset from which the 3CP was removed (13 PCGs + all RNAs), but inclusion of the 3CP resulted in a destabilized topology, resulting in both monophyly and polyphyly. We conclude that even shallow-phylogenies of insects should pay close attention to compositional and mutational biases in mitogenomes., Fang-Fang Liu, Yi-Ping Li, Ivan Jakovlić, Xiang-Qun Yuan., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The tendency for self-superparasitism and it's effects on the quality of the parasitoid Ooencyrtus pityocampae (Mercet) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) in parasitizing a new laboratory host, Philosamia ricini (Danovan) (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), were investigated. In this study, female parasitoids of various ages (1-, 3- and 5-day-old) were tested individually. Parasitoids were provided with 1-day-old P. ricini eggs at ratios of 5, 10, 20, 30 and 40 host eggs per wasp. The tendency to superparasitize was dependent on the female's age and host density. Five-day-old females showed a strong tendency to superparasitize at low host densities. The development time of wasps in superparasitized eggs was longer than that of wasps in singly parasitized eggs. The size and longevity of adult parasitoids decreased significantly with superparasitism. This work contributes to the development of an efficient mass rearing and laboratory rearing of the parasitoid O. pityocampae using a new host., Hilal Tunca, Maurane Buradino, Etty-Ambre Colombel, Elisabeth Tabone., and Obsahuje bibliografii
This paper presents biological notes on two species of Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae that emerged from old spongy-woody galls of Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu, 1951 collected in Sicily (Italy) in April 2015: Leptophyes sicula Kleukers, Odé et Fontana, 2010 (Phaneropterinae) and Cyrtaspis scutata (Charpentier, 1825) (Meconematinae). Between the end of April and the first few days of May a total of 30 neanids emerged from the galls, were reared and their life-cycle recorded. While L. sicula laid eggs in groups, C. scutata laid single eggs inside the galls; both species in a few years have adapted to exploiting this new shelter for egg laying. No interaction with the gall inducing insect was noted., Giuliano Cerasa, Bruno Massa., and Obsahuje bibliografii
When insect herbivores develop over many generations on the same plant species, their descendants may evolve physiological adaptations that enable them to develop more successfully on that plant species than naïve conspecifics. Here, we compared development of wild and lab-reared caterpillars of the cabbage moth, Mamestra brassicae, on a cultivar of cabbage Brassica oleracea (cv. Cyrus) and on a wild plant species, sorrel, Rumex acetosa, on which the wild strain had been collected and reared for two earlier consecutive generations. The lab strain had been reared on the same cabbage cultivar for more than 20 years representing > 200 generations. Survival to adult did not vary with strain or plant species. Both strains, however, developed significantly faster when reared on R. acetosa than B. oleracea. Pupae from the field strain were larger when reared on B. oleracea than on R. acetosa, whereas the identity of the plant species did not matter for the lab strain. Our results show that long-term rearing history on cabbage had little or no effect on M. brassicae performance, suggesting that some generalist herbivores can readily exploit novel plants that may be chemically very different from those on which they have long been intimately associated., Jeffrey A. Harvey, Eke Hengeveld, Miriama Malcicka., and Obsahuje bibliografii