As apex predators with a regulating effect on interspecific competitors and prey demographics, monitoring of spotted hyaena (Crocuta crocuta) population trends can provide a reliable indicator of ecosystem health. However, the ability of current survey techniques to monitor carnivore densities effectively are increasingly questioned. This has led recent studies to advocate increased application of spatial capture-recapture (SCR) methods to estimate population density for large carnivores. We reviewed the literature regarding methods used to estimate population density for spotted hyaena since 2000. Our review found that SCR methods are underutilised for estimating spotted hyaena density, with only eight published studies (13% of articles assessed) using an SCR approach. Call-in surveys were the most frequently used method, featuring in 47% of studies. However, 63% of studies that used call-in surveys could not estimate a site-specific calibration index. The calibration index estimates the distance and rate at which the focal species responds to audio lures and, as response rates are impacted by site-specific ecological and environmental factors, studies that could not calibrate this index are likely inaccurate. Further application of SCR techniques will allow more robust estimation of spotted hyaena density, reducing uncertainty and potential overestimation that limit inference from existing survey methods.
The presented work is focused on the biomechanical study of the dental disk implant. The first part of the study deals with the strain analysis of the affected bone tissue and the dental implant loaded in the coronoapical direction by force 190 N. The study includes three types of implant anchorge, four degrees (stages) of osseointegration and nine degrees describing the quality of the cancellous bone. Two types of the disk implant were researched: single-disk and double-disk implant. Biomechanical study of the implant was focused on a stress-strain analysis of the affected bone rissue. The highest influence on the stresses in the bone tissue was primarily an implant anchorage. By the application of correlation relationships between Young modulus and the apparent density of the bone tissue - which is measurable in patients - we achieved the variable presented in this study. and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The presented work follows the first part [1], which is focused on the analysis of bone tissue in terms of dependence of bone tissue 'quality' and its subsequent behaviour based on the stress around the disk implant when biting.
This second part is focused on the stress-strain analysis (and tolerability) of disk implants as loaded during the masticating process.
The study includes two types of disk implants (single-disk and double-disk), three types of anchorage, four degrees (stages) of osseointegration in three quality degrees of the cancellous bone. The study, as expected, has shown that the problematic area of he implants is a transition between the implant body and the disk component, where the equivalent stress in the analyzed implants reaches 700 MPa. and Obsahuje seznam literatury
In order to evaluate effect of weedy rice on the photosynthesis and grain filling of cultivated rice, cultivated rice ‘Nanjing 44‘ was planted in the field under different densities of weedy rice ‘JS-Y1‘ for two years. The results showed that net photosynthetic rate (PN), net assimilation rate, grain filling rate, and the grain yield of cultivated rice all decreased with increasing weedy rice density. Furthermore, yield component analysis revealed that increasing weedy rice density had the most significant effect on the percentage of filled grains and the number of rice panicles. The correlation analyses indicated that the yield of cultivated rice was highly correlated with the net photosynthetic rate and the net assimilation rate. Our results illustrated that high density of weedy rice might cause yield losses in cultivated rice by inhibition of photosynthesis and grain filling., X. M. Xu, G. Li, Y. Su, X. L. Wang., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The influence of increasing number of mating partners on the copulatory behaviour and reproduction in Brandt’s voles (Microtus brandti) was studied. Compared with the control group of 1 ♂ + 1 ♀, our results showed when increasing only female partners, the mating opportunity was increased in males while decreased in female in the treatment group of 1 ♂ + 2 ♀♀; the mating opportunity of male and female were both decreased significantly in the treatment group of 1 ♂ + 3 ♀♀. When increasing only male partners, male mating opportunity in treatment groups 2 ♂♂ + 1 ♀ and 3 ♂♂ + 1 ♀ decreased significantly while no change was significant in females in both treatment groups. When increasing the number of male and female partners simultaneously in the treatment group of 2 ♂♂ + 2 ♀♀, the mating opportunity for both males and females was decreased significantly. Comparing with the control, the mean litter size in all five-treatment groups lessened significantly and female pregnancy rate dropped significantly if they copulated less than five times. From these results, we have demonstrated a significant reproductive interference due to mate competition in Brandt’s voles and thus, competitively reproductive interference may be an important behavioural mechanism in regulating population density in this rodent species. However, due to possible laboratory artifacts, we still need further study, especially in the field, to validate our results.
In summer 1992 through spring 1994, amphibian abundance and breeding was studied in the pristine temperate forests, typical of central European lowlands. The years 1991, 1992, and 1993 were among the driest in the recent decades, with the spring-summer precipitation 35% lower than the long-term average. In the primeval forests of Białowieża National Park, common frogs Rana temporaria spawned in small (on average, 0.2 ha) ponds (postglacial melt-out hollows) devoid of wood cover and characterised by water pH 5.1-6.0 (as measured in April). Breeding success of frogs, monitored qualitatively in 1993, was rather poor due to pond desiccation. The capture of amphibians on forest grids revealed that densities and seasonal dynamics differed between wet and drier deciduous forests. No amphibians were captured in the mixed coniferous forests during the study. In the wet ash-alder forests, on average, 39 amphibians ha-1 were recorded in late April, 12 ind ha-1 in summer, and 195–222 ind hasup-1 in autumn (September). In those forests, 90% of captured amphibians were common frogs, 6% common toads Bufo bufo, and 4% moor frogs R. arvalis. In the drier oak-lime-hornbeam forests, amphibians appeared in May, and increased in numbers towards summer (19–24 ind ha-1) and autumn (45–71 ind ha-1). Of all amphibians caught in those forests, 43% were common frogs, 38% common toads, and 19% were moor frogs. A majority of amphibians captured in autumn were young of the year. By mid-October, all amphibians had left the forest for their hibernation sites. Comparison of our data collected in very dry years with other available data from Bia∏owie ̋a Primeval Forest (various years between 1955 and 1998) revealed that summer indices of amphibian abundance were strongly positively correlated with rainfall in April-June of the census year and the previous year.
Among the programmes aimed at developing a standard model for properties and state of the Earth’s crystalline crust, those dealing with drilling the Kola (SG-3), Ural (SG-4) and German (KTB) superdeep boreholes yielded the most interesting results. No marked depth dependence of rock volume density and seismic wave velocities was observed in the sections of SG-3 and SG-4. A new result of the investigations is the discovery of strongly anisotropic rocks in the SG-3, SG-4 and KTB sections. In the massifs of the Kola and German superdeep boreholes such rocks constitute the majority of the drilled sections. The presence of the velocity anisotropy as well as the complex structure of the rocks composing crystalline metamorphosed sequences greatly hamper the interpretation of the results obtained from the seismic survey conducted at the surface., Felix F. Gobratsevich., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The common hamster (Cricetus cricetus L.) is supposed to be an abundant species in Eastern Europe including Ukraine. However, the current data on hamster’s occurrence in Ukraine from 1990 till nowadays show that the species became rare. The common hamster can be found in the West, North-East Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula. The species have declined in the forest-steppe zone and became extinct in most part of the steppe zone. Its actual distribution range has thus been strongly reduced. One of the possible causes of this decline is the habitat loss due to changes in agricultural management.