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Start Over Creator Šťastný, Karel

2. How effective can be the national law in protecting birds? A case study from the Czech Republic

Creator:
Voříšek, Petr, Reif, JIří, Šťastný, Karel, and Bejček, Vladimír
Type:
article and TEXT
Subject:
monitoring, legal protection, protected species, and trends
Language:
English
Description:
An effect of the Czech nature conservation law on a conservation status of bird species was examined using data on population size from two Atlases of breeding bird distribution in the Czech Republic (1985–1989 and 2001–2003). On average, species with the highest level of legal protection did better than other species. This pattern was probably driven by marked population increase of the species which were already increasing before the law came into the effect. Negative trends of declining species were not reversed after the law was accepted and it appears that the law failed to protect common bird species. Positive trends of protected species in the Czech Republic seem to mimic the trends in Europe and in neighbouring countries. Available official assessment of species conservation actions together with mixed message of our analysis suggest that the law could bring more positive results if implemented properly.
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

3. Mitochondrial DNA sequence variation and evolution of Old World house mice (Mus musculus)

Creator:
Macholán, Miloš, Mrkvicová Vyskočilová, Martina, Bejček, Vladimír, and Šťastný, Karel
Type:
article, model:article, and TEXT
Subject:
Bayesian skyline plot, control region, house mouse, numt, and phylogeography
Language:
English
Description:
We analyzed sequences of two variable segments of the mitochondrial control region (CR) and flanking regions in the house mouse (Mus musculus). Most of the material was sampled from the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, i.e., a source area for the colonization of Europe. These sequences were supplemented with other samples from the whole range of the species including the Yemeni island of Socotra. This island was shown to harbour mice bearing M. m. domesticus and M. m. castaneus CR haplotypes. In addition, we found 10 distinct sequences at the same locality that were markedly different from all known CR sequences. Sequencing of the whole mitochondrial genome suggested these sequences to represent nuclear fragments of the mitochondrial origin (numts). We assessed genetic variation and phylogeography within and among the house mouse subspecies and estimated the substitution rate, coalescence times, and times of population expansion. We show the data to be consistent with time dependency of substitution rates and recent expansion of mouse populations. The expansion of European populations of M. m. musculus and M. m. domesticus estimated from the CR sequences coincide with presumed time of colonization of the continent in the Holocene.
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ and policy:public

4. Relationships between winter temperature and breeding bird abundance on community level

Creator:
Reif, Jiří, Telenský, Tomáš, Šťastný, Karel, Bejček, Vladimír, and Klvaňa, Petr
Type:
article and TEXT
Subject:
climate, food type, body size, abundance, bird assemblage, and population regulation
Language:
English
Description:
Winter weather limits populations of resident bird species. Although many small-scale or speciesspecific studies illustrated this fact, our knowledge of interspecific differences in population responses to winter temperatures is incomplete due to lack of community-level studies. For this purpose, we have used long-term monitoring data on breeding bird populations of 37 common bird species wintering in the Czech Republic. We predicted that species will differ in their relationship between winter temperature and abundance with respect to their body mass and dietary niche. Smaller species having relatively higher energy expenditure should show closer relationship between breeding abundance and winter temperature than larger species. Concerning dietary niche, abundance of species feeding on animals should be more affected by temperature than abundance of species feeding on plants or omnivorous species. Our results confirmed the second prediction: populations of species preying on animals followed winter temperatures more closely than populations of species feeding on both animals and plants. Food-mediated mortality is probably more important than direct effects of low temperatures. In general, relationships between abundance and temperature were relatively weak in most species and we suggest that possible changes in winter temperatures may not seriously affect populations of common breeding birds in the Czech Republic.
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

5. Species richness of vertebrates in the Czech Republic

Creator:
Krojerová-Prokešová, Jarmila, Barančeková, Miroslava, Šímová, Petra, Šálek, Miroslav, Anděra, Miloš, Bejček, Vladimír, Hanák, Vladimír, Hanel, Lubomír, Lusk, Stanislav, Mikátová, Blanka, Moravec, Jiří, Šťastný, Karel, and Zima, Jan
Type:
article and TEXT
Subject:
mapping squares, species numbers, environmental variables, and PCA
Language:
English
Description:
The species richness of free-living vertebrates was analysed using mapping of occurrence within individual grid squares (12 x 11.1 km) over the territory of the Czech Republic. The data on species distribution were derived from recent distributional atlases published in the last 15 years, and the records originated mostly in the last 20 years. Altogether, 384 species of cyclostomes, bony fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals were included in this study and their presence or absence was recorded in 678 grid squares. The species numbers ascertained in the 523 grid squares situated completely within the Czech Republic varied from 92 to 259 species, with a median of 182 species. The first two principal components explained 44.9 % of the total variance and separated two main habitat gradients based on values of different environmental, topographic, and demographic variables in particular squares. The PC1 represents a gradient from urban habitats at lower altitudes to more homogenous habitats with dominant coniferous forests and meadows situated at higher altitudes. The importance of natural habitats (represented by broad-leaved and mixed forests, as well as by protected areas) and landscape heterogeneity increases along the PC2. Generalized Linear Modelling for each group of vertebrates was fitted using the number of species of individual vertebrate groups as a response variable and the first two principal components as explanatory variables. The species richness of all vertebrate groups except for reptiles is highly dependent on the PC1. The number of fish, amphibian, and bird species in squares decreases with increasing value of the PC1, i.e. it is higher in urban areas at lower altitudes. By contrast, the number of mammal species is higher in uninhabited areas at higher altitudes. The gradient represented by the PC2 is highly significant for species richness of reptiles and mammals, and the number of species of both groups increases with increasing importance of natural habitats.
Rights:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/