This study in Lithuania showed that the abundance dynamics of the common dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) populations were comparatively “smooth”, without outbreaks and crashes. Decreases and increases of abundance continued for some years, and abundance differed no more than three-fold in two successive years. A close negative correlation was revealed between spring population density and percentage of juveniles in the autumnal population. The last parameter is a consequence of reproduction success, which determined the scale of population increase in autumn and was due to several factors. Among them, proportion of breeding adult females had the greatest significance and was inversely proportional to population density in spring. Some young-of-the-year females usually joined the breeding process, when population density was low. The proportion of late breeding cases, when juveniles were born in September, was also negatively correlated with spring population density. The number of litters produced by one female during the season, and the average litter size also influenced reproduction success. The negative correlation between population density and reproduction success shows the presence of a reproduction success based pattern of density dependent self-regulation in M. avellanarius in the populations investigated.
The abundance of Coleoptera, Diptera and Collembola on different species of fungi was investigated in relation to the size and abundance of fungal resources at different spatial scales; i.e., the size of the fungal fruiting body, the quality of resource in terms of number of conspecific sporophores growing within a radius of 50 cm, crowding of the clumps of fruiting bodies, and the quality of resource within a plot (20 m × 30 m). Multiple linear regression analyses showed that the influential spatial scale varied among the arthropod orders. The amount of resource at the scale of a clump made a significant contribution to the abundance of Coleoptera, and the fruiting body size significantly affected the abundance of Diptera on each fungal species. Collembolan abundance was significantly affected by the crowding of the clumps of fruiting bodies and the number of fruiting bodies per plot. These results suggest that the spatial distribution of fungal fruiting bodies may determine whether they are selected by arthropods visited.
The impact of transgenic Bt-maize, expressing the Cry1Ab protein, on aphids, leafhoppers, cutworms and wireworms was evaluated at the farm scale by comparing their abundance on Bt-plots and those sown with the isogenic variety over three consecutive growing seasons. The impact of Bt-maize was different on each of the three-herbivore groups. There were significantly more aphids on the Bt-maize but in terms of aphid species, the difference was only statistically significant for Sitobion avenae and not for the other three most abundant species (Metopolophium dirhodum, Rhopalosiphum padi and Macrosiphum euphorbiae). The analysis of aphid age structure showed consistently more individuals on Bt-plots; differences were significant for alates, apterous adults and young nymphs of R. padi, apterous adults and apterous fourth instar nymphs of S. avenae, alates, apterous adults and apterous fourth instar nymphs of M. dirhodum. Leafhoppers (Zyginidia scutellaris), particularly mature nymphs, were also more abundant on the Bt-maize. In spite of this there was no difference in leafhopper damage to Bt and non Bt-maize. The reasons for this are unclear but may be due to changes in Bt-maize that favoured aphids and leafhoppers. Differences in aphid and leafhopper densities were not high enough to affect yield. However, they may have affected the availability of prey for polyphagous predators such as Orius sp. The Bt-maize did not affect the incidence of cutworms (Agrotis segetum) or wireworms (Agriotes lineatus). These results indicate that Bt-maize does not have a negative impact on the non-target maize biocenosis at the farm scale.
The cyber sphere forms a fifth domain of activities were interactions between state and non-state actors could happen. It starts to play an important role within the conflicts and hostilities. Especially in these situations, international society does not have a unified view on the question how to deal with the activities in cyberspace. We could see the different forms of abuse of cyberspace also within the crisis in Ukraine. This crisis is a good example of the complexity of the legal approach and the (non)capability of the legal understanding of cyber operations and attacks. The goal of this article is to highlight this complexity and to determine the status of cyber incidents realized in the Ukraine from the perspective of international law., Jozef Valuch, Ondrej Hamuľák., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy