Diversity, distribution and changes in communities of fleas on small mammals along the elevational gradient from the Pannonian Plain to the Carpathian Mountains

Parasitology ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Ivan Baláž ◽  
Michal Ševčík ◽  
Filip Tulis ◽  
Martina Zigová ◽  
Alexander Dudich
Keyword(s):  
Small Mammals ◽  
Elevational Gradient ◽  
Causal Chain ◽  
Flea Species ◽  
High Altitudes ◽  
Spatial Change ◽  
Diversity Gradient ◽  
Pannonian Plain ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Unimodal Pattern

Abstract The causal chain of parasite–host–environment interactions, the so-called ‘dual parasite environment’, makes studying parasites more complicated than other wild organisms. A sample of 65 282 fleas taken from 336 different locations were analysed for changes in the distribution, diversity and compensation of flea communities found on small mammals along an elevational diversity gradient ranging from the Pannonian Plain to the base of the Carpathian summits. The fleas were divided into four groups, which were derived from changes in abundance and occurrence determined from cluster analysis. They are (1) flea species whose range seems unrelated to any change in elevation; (2) species that avoid high altitudes; (3) a group that can be subdivided into two types: (i) host-specific fleas and (ii) mountains species and (4) species opting for high altitudes on the gradient or preferring lower to middle elevations below 1000 m. Our study showed a unimodal pattern of flea diversity along the elevational gradient. It indicated that seasonality significantly conditions changes in biodiversity and patterns of spatial change along the elevational gradient, with specific flea species influenced by their host, while the impact of environmental conditions is more pronounced in opportunistic flea species.

scholarly journals The effects of environmental regulation and technological innovation on green growth: A theoretical analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 04054
Author(s):  
Xuefei Xu ◽  
Lili Wang ◽  
Shang Chen
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Regulation ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Causal Chain ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Green Growth ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Causality Chain

As green growth has attracted a great deal of attention due to the growing concern about the degradation of natural resources and environmental pollution in China, the questions of how to achieve it and which factors drive green growth have become hot topics. Environmental regulation and technological innovation are two main fulcrums in the realization of green growth. However, there is lacking a deeper understanding of the impact of environmental regulation and technological innovation on green growth in a methodological framework. Accordingly, this paper attempts to analyze how these factors affect the implementation of green growth in a model. The findings reveal that (1) in the short term, environmental regulation has inhibited green growth, but has a positive impact on green growth in the long run, (2) technological innovation plays a positive role in green growth improvement, and (3) the causality chain among regulation, technological innovation, and green growth is a typical mediation model. Technological innovation plays an important mediation role in the causal chain. This study not only enriches and deepens theories on green growth, but also successfully implements green growth practices and improve their performance.

Assessing the Impact of Competition on Community Assembly: A Case Study using Small Mammals

Ecology ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 1283-1296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas A. Kelt ◽  
Mark L. Taper ◽  
Peter L. Meserve
Keyword(s):  
Small Mammals ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals The Effect of Fire on Bird and Small Mammal Communities in the Grasslands of Wind Cave National Park

1983 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 95-99
Author(s):  
Jon Forde ◽  
Norman Sloan
Keyword(s):  
Small Mammals ◽  
Small Mammal ◽  
National Park ◽  
Breeding Populations ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Small Mammal Communities ◽  
Management Recommendations ◽  
Mammal Communities ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Prairie Vegetation

Specifically, the objectives of this research project were to: 1) Census burned and unburned grassland areas for breeding populations of birds and small mammals. Population censuses have been made on areas prescribed burned between 1973 and 1978 as well as the areas burned in the spring of 1981; 2) Analyze study transect vegetation to determine the impact of burning treatments on prairie vegetation and its relationship to bird and small mammal densities; 3) Provide usable management recommendations that will aid not only in vegetation maintenance but also with the animal populations associated with the grasslands.

Climate change impact chains in the water sector: observations from projects on the East India coast

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-232
Author(s):  
Sibylle Kabisch ◽  
Ronjon Chakrabarti ◽  
Till Wolf ◽  
Wilhelm Kiewitt ◽  
Ty Gorman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Management ◽  
Climate Change Impact ◽  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
Causal Chain ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Change Impact ◽  
The Impact

With regional variations, climate change has a significant impact on water quality deterioration and scarcity, which are serious challenges in developing countries and emerging economies. Often, effective projects to improve water management in the light of climate change are difficult to develop because of the complex interrelations between direct and indirect climate impacts and local perceptions of vulnerabilities and needs. Adaptation projects can be developed through a combination of participatory, bottom-up needs assessments and top-down analyses. Climate change impact chains can help to display the causal chain of climate signals and resulting impacts and thereby establish a system map as a basis for stakeholder discussions. This article aims to develop specific climate change impact chains for the water management sector in rural coastal India that combine bottom-up and top-down perspectives. Case studies from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, India, provide a basis for the impact chains developed. Bottom-up data were gathered through a vulnerability and needs assessment in 18 villages complemented with top-down research data. The article is divided into four steps: (1) system of interest; (2) data on climate change signals; (3) climate change impacts based on top-down as well as bottom-up information; (4) specific impact chains complemented by initial climate change adaptation options.

Desert-Dwelling Small Mammals as Granivores - Intercontinental Variations

1994 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 543 ◽  
Author(s):  
GIH Kerley ◽  
WG Whitford
Keyword(s):  
Climate Variability ◽  
South African ◽  
Seed Production ◽  
Small Mammals ◽  
North American ◽  
Desert Plant ◽  
The North ◽  
Desert Rodents ◽  
Alternative Hypotheses ◽  
The Impact

Deserts are, by definition, environmentally similar, and this has lead to hypotheses of convergence in the properties of desert biotic communities as well as the components of these communities. There is considerable evidence for convergence in some characteristics of desert biota, ranging from plant growth forms to the well-known bipedal, nocturnal rodents. One area that has received considerable attention has been granivory by desert rodents, largely because of the effort focused on the North American desert heteromyids, and also because the process of granivory has far-reaching ramifications for desert plant communities. Specific tests for convergence in the impact of rodents as granivores, by means of bait-removal experiments, however, have shown that the high levels of seed removal by rodents in the North American deserts differs from that of rodents in the South American, Australian and South African deserts, where ants are the most important seed harvesters. The only studies to measure the impact of rodents on desert seed fluxes confirm these patterns, with rodents consuming up to 86% of seed production in North American deserts, but less than 1% of seed production in South African deserts. A review of dietary data for desert rodents confirms these trends, with little evidence for the presence of granivores in deserts besides those of North America. A variety of hypotheses have attempted to explain these variations in desert rodent granivory. These include recent extinctions of granivores, that seed burial, low soil nutrients and/or limiting seed production prevented the radiation of granivorous small mammals, and that particular deserts are too young or too recently colonised by rodents for granivorous rodents to have evolved. However, none of these hypotheses are supported by available evidence. Alternative hypotheses suggesting that climate variability may have precluded the development of specialised granivores need to be tested. In particular, more data are needed to confirm these patterns of granivory, and gain an understanding of the effects of Pleistocene and recent desert climate variability on seed production. An alternative perspective suggests that the presence of the heteromyid rodents may explain the high levels of granivory by small mammals in North American deserts. The variability in granivory by small mammals between deserts suggests that deserts will also differ in terms of anti-granivore adaptations of plants, seed fluxes and the mechanisms whereby small mammals coexist.

Communities of small mammals (Soricomorpha, Rodentia) in urbanized environment

Biologia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 70 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Klimant ◽  
Ivan Baláž ◽  
Zuzana Krumpálová
Keyword(s):  
Small Mammals ◽  
Peripheral Zone ◽  
Clethrionomys Glareolus ◽  
City Centre ◽  
Mus Spicilegus ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Urban Conditions ◽  
Sorex Minutus ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

AbstractThe study is focused on analyses of the impact of urbanized environment on the occurrence and structure of small mammals that are important with regard to transmission of diseases to man and domestic animals. The city of Nitra (Slovakia) was chosen as a model area, where an urban - rural gradient was determined. It was categorized into three zones, depending on the distance from the city centre. Small mammals were examined by a comprehensive annual research during the seasons. Overall, 12 species of small mammals were found, Microtus arvalis (29.6%), Apodemus sylvaticus (23.1%), Apodemus flavicollis (20.6%) were eudominant. The communities of small mammals showed an increase in species diversity and richness from the suburban to the peripheral zone, and a decrease of diversity and richness with increasing urban conditions from the peripheral to the pericentral zone. The identified species of small mammals were categorized according to their dependence on urban environment as exoanthropic species, avoiding the presence of man and his habitations (A. sylvaticus, A. flavicollis, and Clethrionomys glareolus); hemisynantropic species, which thrive on the edges of towns, with greater or lesser affinity to humans (M. arvalis, Apodemus uralensis, Sorex araneus, Sorex minutus, Mus spicilegus, and Microtus subterraneus); and synanthropic species, tied to human dwellings, very dependent on human resources (Crocidura suaveolens).

The Changing Role of the Development Plan in Managing Spatial Change

1998 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Hull ◽  
G Vigar
Keyword(s):  
Land Use Planning ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Development Plan ◽  
Planning System ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Spatial Change ◽  
Development Plans ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

The authors examine the role of development plans in managing spatial change, The impact of the enhanced status of the development plan in the UK context is assessed with the aid of research material drawn from detailed case studies in Lancashire and Kent. Two governance ‘episodes’ are highlighted: a highly structured game within the mainstream planning system; and an innovative private-sector-led approach to planning for an area with the potential for rapid change. By means of these two illustrations the authors indicate the importance of the processes of development-plan preparation in the local context, the political tensions inherent to the land-use planning system in managing growth, and explore notions of plans being a store of local consensus about future spatial change.

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