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.
One of the most important services provided by biodiversity is thought to be the biological control of pests in agricultural landscapes, including aphids on cereals. The food webs potentially contributing to biological control of aphids primarily consist of polyphagous predators, parasitoids and pathogens. The problems of aphid pests have increased greatly since the 1970-ies, possibly as an effect of agricultural intensification, which is thought to have reduced diversity and abundance of these predators and parasites and consequently their biocontrol potential. The main objective of this study was to test this by measuring this potential for biological control of aphids, and relate it to agricultural intensification and predator abundance. We selected 30 farms distributed along agricultural intensification gradients, based on the amount of fertilizers applied per hectare. Estimates of ground-living predator density were obtained using pitfall trapping over a one-week period. Traps were placed inside the cereal fields, 10 m from the margin, in 2 replicates per field. Predation risk due to ground-living predators (biocontrol potential) was estimated by monitoring removal of aphids glued to labels. This was done in the same fields, in the immediate vicinity of the traps, over a period of 2 days. The proportion of aphids eaten per unit time was the response variable. We present the correlations between intensity of agricultural exploitation, predator abundance and biocontrol potential. The outcomes are not straightforward in that intensification begets a reduction in predator density and biocontrol potential. We discuss the potential confounding issues that might have affected our results.
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
Cannibalism, the act of eating an individual of the same species has been little studied in omnivorous insect predators. Dicyphus errans (Wolff) (Hemiptera: Miridae) is a generalist omnivorous predator that commonly occurs in tomato greenhouses and field crops in the Mediterranean basin. In this work cannibalism among same-aged neonate nymphs of D. errans was studied when 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 individuals were placed in a Petri dish along with or without heterospecific prey. Although nymphs were unable to complete their development in the absence of prey they survived longer when there were initially 2 individuals per dish than in any other treatment including a single individual. This may indicate that cannibalism in this predator has positive effect on nymphal survival, which however was not the case at higher densities. The presence of heterospecific prey increased nymphal survival and individuals were as equally successful in completing their development as when kept singly. Developmental time in all the treatments was very similar. Adult weight of both females and males was significantly greater when a nymph was reared alone and similar in all the other treatments. The results indicate that cannibalism occurs among neonates of D. errans if heterospecific prey is scarce and has a negative effect on adult weight when heterospecific prey is abundant. This should be considered in studies on enhancing the biocontrol efficiency or mass rearing of this predator.
We consider the space $D(X,Y)$ of densely continuous forms introduced by Hammer and McCoy and investigated also by Holá. We show some additional properties of $D(X,Y)$ and investigate the subspace $D^*(X)$ of locally bounded real-valued densely continuous forms equipped with the topology of pointwise convergence $\tau _p$. The largest part of the paper is devoted to the study of various cardinal functions for $(D^*(X),\tau _p)$, in particular: character, pseudocharacter, weight, density, cellularity, diagonal degree, $\pi $-weight, $\pi $-character, netweight etc.
This study determined the effect of larval density-dependent competition for food on development and adult fitness in Sesamia nonagriodes Lef. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Different numbers (5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 individuals) of larvae of the pink stalk borer were reared on a constant amount of food. Although crowding during the immature stages did not significantly increase mortality, it prolonged the larval developmental period and resulted in reduced pupal weight. Females were more adversely affected by high density than males, resulting in lighter females, indicating that female growth is more sensitive to density. The fecundity of the adults reared in the various larval crowding treatments was analysed. Total female fecundity was correlated negatively with increasing larval density. The effects of crowding on fecundity were not caused by the reduced pupal weight, indicating that food shortage during larval development may affect adult traits. Female longevity was negatively affected by density and positively related to pupal weight. Thus, larval density may affect the allocation of food resources and adult fitness. We conclude that crowding related changes during larval development directly affect larval life and reduce female fitness.
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
Macroptery is common in many species of Orthoptera, but the causes are still discussed. Besides the assumption that macroptery is genetically determined, there is evidence that wing dimorphism is induced by environmental factors, particularly population density. However, most of the research is on pest species. In contrast, knowledge of wing dimorphism in species that occur at low population densites is still poor. Our study aims to test how density actually affects macroptery. As model organisms we chose two bush-cricket species of the genus Metrioptera (Ensifera: Tettigoniidae): While long-winged M. roeselii (Hagenbach, 1822) occur regularly, macropterous M. brachyptera (Linnaeus, 1761) are rare and are never observed outside their mating habitat. Nymphs of populations from the range core of both species (340 individuals each) were reared in groups of three and six individuals per 500 cm3 box, and individually. Our analyses revealed that development of macropters was mainly affected by the initial rearing densities. Compared with those reared individually the number of macropters was significantly higher among individuals reared at medium and high densities. The percentage of macropterous individuals was about twice as high in M. brachyptera as in M. roeselii, and the development of macropters significantly differed between the two species. These findings lead to the conclusion that macropterism is mainly influenced by density stress in both bush-crickets. Genetically determined wing dimorphism is unlikely, otherwise the observed high numbers of long-winged individuals of M. brachyptera, which are very rare under natural conditions, would never have developed in the laboratory. Macropterous M. brachyptera may rarely be found in the field, but we argue that this is due to low natural densities and, accordingly, to rare exposure to density stress.
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.