scholarly journals The influence of mature oak stands and spruce plantations on soil-dwelling click beetles in lowland plantation forests

Author(s):  
Tereza Loskotová ◽  
Jakub Horak

Most European forests have been converted into forest plantations that are managed for timber production. The main goal of this paper was to determine the difference between mature native sessile oak (Quercus petraea) stands and non-indigenous Norway spruce (Picea abies) plantations with respect to communities of Athous click beetles in approximately 6,500 ha of lowland plantation forest area in the Czech Republic. Athous subfuscus was the most abundant and widespread species, followed by A. zebei and A. haemorrhoidalis, while A. vittatus was considered rare. Spatial analysis of environmental variables inside studied patches showed that the species composition of Athous beetles best responded to a 20 m radius surrounding traps. Species’ responses to the environment showed that A. vittatus and A. haemorrhoidalis preferred oak stands, while A. zebei and A. subfuscus were associated with spruce plantations. In addition, oak stands showed higher diversity of beetle communities. The studied species are important for their ecosystem services (e.g. predation on pests or bioturbation) and seems to tolerate certain degrees of human disturbances, which is beneficial especially for forest plantations managed for timber production.

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e1568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tereza Loskotová ◽  
Jakub Horák

Most European forests have been converted into forest plantations that are managed for timber production. The main goal of this paper was to determine the difference between mature native sessile oak (Quercus petraea) stands and non-indigenous Norway spruce (Picea abies) plantations, with respect to communities ofAthousclick beetles in approximately 6,500 ha of lowland plantation forest area in the Czech Republic.Athous subfuscuswas the most abundant and widespread species, followed byA. zebeiandA.haemorrhoidalis, whileA. vittatuswas considered rare. Spatial analysis of environmental variables inside studied patches showed that the species composition ofAthousbeetles best responded to a 20 m radius surrounding traps. The species’ responses to the environment showed thatA. vittatusandA. haemorrhoidalispreferred oak stands, whileA. zebeiandA. subfuscuswere associated with spruce plantations. In addition, oak stands showed higher diversity of beetle communities. The studied species are important for their ecosystem services (e.g. predation on pests or bioturbation) and seem to tolerate certain degrees of human disturbances, which is especially beneficial for forest plantations managed for timber production.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tereza Loskotová ◽  
Jakub Horak

Most European forests have been converted into forest plantations that are managed for timber production. The main goal of this paper was to determine the difference between mature native sessile oak (Quercus petraea) stands and non-indigenous Norway spruce (Picea abies) plantations with respect to communities of Athous click beetles in approximately 6,500 ha of lowland plantation forest area in the Czech Republic. Athous subfuscus was the most abundant and widespread species, followed by A. zebei and A. haemorrhoidalis, while A. vittatus was considered rare. Spatial analysis of environmental variables inside studied patches showed that the species composition of Athous beetles best responded to a 20 m radius surrounding traps. Species’ responses to the environment showed that A. vittatus and A. haemorrhoidalis preferred oak stands, while A. zebei and A. subfuscus were associated with spruce plantations. In addition, oak stands showed higher diversity of beetle communities. The studied species are important for their ecosystem services (e.g. predation on pests or bioturbation) and seems to tolerate certain degrees of human disturbances, which is beneficial especially for forest plantations managed for timber production.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Homer Pagkalinawan

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Selected cities in the Philippines follow, to a certain extent, an organized street layout and orientation based on a designed plan including major cities like Manila and Quezon City. However, others cities developed organically on a less organized manner, expanding haphazardly. Being the spatial backbone of these cities, street patterns controls and limits the flow of people, goods, and activities. Measuring entropy, or the state of orderliness or disorderliness, of a street network can assess the difference between a planned and an unplanned city development. Possibly, it can be correlated to the various socioeconomic variables e.g. population, density, income level, poverty level, etc. or environmental variables e.g. night time light data, urban heat, vegetation cover, etc., that characterizes a city.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Jarmila Čelakovská ◽  
Josef Bukač ◽  
Lenka Čáková ◽  
Marie Šimková ◽  
Eva Jandová

Aim: To evaluate the occurrence of melanoma in the period 1996–2017 in East Bohemia region in the Czech Republic. Method: We studied the incidence of melanoma and the age of diagnosis (adjusted calculation) and the parameters such as histology, body site of lesions, the length of the duration of lesions in 2810 patients. Results and conclusion: No change in the occurrence of melanoma and in age of melanoma during this period was found. The difference between men and women was not confirmed in histology, but the difference between men and women was confirmed in the body site of lesion and in the length of duration of lesion. No relation between the length of duration of lesions from which melanoma had originated and its histology was confirmed. The relation was confirmed between histology and body site of melanoma. The relation between the body site and the length of duration of previous lesions was confirmed also. The increasing occurrence of melanoma on the trunk according to the duration of the previous lesions was confirmed.


2009 ◽  
Vol 55 (No. 11) ◽  
pp. 519-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Střeleček ◽  
R. Zdeněk ◽  
J. Lososová

The Common Agricultural Policy has been implemented in order to guarantee the appropriate life quality for farmers and to preserve the European heritage. Costs of its realization amounted to 40% of the EU budget. The EU has not established the same conditions for all member states. The aim of the paper is to assess the influence of agricultural subsidies and the structure of production on the incomes of agricultural holdings and their comparison with the largest producers in the EU with similar production structure. The shift-share analysis is used. Different amount of subsidies according to the type of farming together with increasing subsidy rate may influence the type of farming. Therefore, it may cause a paradox that the structure of subsidies according to the type of farming will stimulate products that are currently suppressed. The difference in subsidies in comparison with the largest producers with a similar structure of agricultural production is significant for the Czech Republic and it is possible to compare it to the increase of the SAPS by 75%.


2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 558-563
Author(s):  
Markéta Gloneková ◽  
Karolína Brandlová ◽  
Jan Pluháček

Abstract In polygynous mammals, females are expected to bias maternal investment in favor of male calves. The mother should invest more in males to enhance their reproductive success in adulthood, or the males require greater investment as they are bigger and stronger than females. In this study, we used nursing duration to compare the difference in the amount of maternal investment provided by females. We compared differences according to sex of the offspring and the influence of calves’ identification by sniffing, using captive giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) as a model. Since a high intensity of allonursing (nursing of a nonfilial calf) was reported in giraffes, we also focused on the difference between filial and nonfilial calves. We observed 22 nursing females and 47 suckling calves in four zoological gardens in the Czech Republic from 2007 to 2011. Nursing duration was longer for male calves than for female calves and for calves sniffed by the nursing female regardless whether the calves were filial or nonfilial. We conclude that male calves are more demanding for the amount of investment received and they are more successful in this effort than female calves. Since females provided investment in the same way to filial and nonfilial calves, selection for higher demand for investment by male than by female offspring should be important for their future development. Our results also demonstrate the importance of sniffing for the identification of the suckling calf by the female.


2010 ◽  
Vol 56 (No. 9) ◽  
pp. 417-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Švestka

In the period between 2003 and 2009 we evaluated the abundance of adults of Melolontha hippocastani Fabr. and Melolontha melolontha (L.) cockchafers in four forest regions of the Czech Republic. During this period each of the evaluated localities was hit twice by heavy swarming. The course of swarming, species composition, abundance of the respective tribe, sex ratio during swarming and the correlation between the course of swarming and average daily temperature were monitored by means of a light trap, an automatic meteorological station and observations in the open space; the data were represented in the form of graphs. We evaluated how the trend of the abundance of the particular species developed in the respective localities in order to work out a more specific prediction of the occurrence of the cockchafer in subsequent years and the extent of damage caused by the grubs to forest plantations. Research will continue in 2010&ndash;2011.


1993 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 694-698 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Q. Hendrickson ◽  
J. Richardson

Natural forests may be viewed as containing nested nutrient cycles: an "external" cycle mediated by atmospheric processes, a "soil" cycle of litter production and decay, and one or more "plant" cycles involving retranslocation and internal storage pools. The goal of plantation forest management should be to enhance all of these cycles. Stimulating the "external" cycle by adding fertilizer nutrients is likely to increase "soil" and "plant" cycling rates as well. A basic understanding of how these nested cycles are linked can improve the management of nutrients in forest plantations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (No. 8) ◽  
pp. 305-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ptáček Martin ◽  
Ducháček Jaromír ◽  
Schmidová Jitka ◽  
Stádník Luděk

Lamb growth performance traits in relation to parental breeding values (BVs) for these traits were evaluated in a purebred Suffolk sheep population in the Czech Republic. The research lasted over 8 years and included 24 886 lambs. Four relevant parental BVs were observed: BV predicted for lamb live weight direct effect (BVLW-DE), BV predicted for lamb live weight maternal effect (BVLW-ME), BV predicted for lamb musculus longissimus lumborum et thoracis depth (BV-MLLT), and BV predicted for lamb backfat thickness (BV-BT). The lamb live weight (LW; kg), musculus longissimus lumborum et thoracis depth (MLLT; mm), and backfat thickness (BT; mm) were assessed at 100 days of age. A dataset was created using the most current parental BVs for each year (2007–2014) and subsequent growth traits of their lambs in the next season (2008–2015). Linear regressions showed an increased tendency when one point in dam BVs was associated with an increase in lamb LW (0.393 kg; P &lt; 0.01 in BVLW-DE and 0.090 kg; P &lt; 0.05 in BVLW-ME), MLLT (0.340 mm; P &lt; 0.01 in BV-MLLT), or BT (0.243; P &lt; 0.01 mm in BV-BT). Lower (but significant – P &lt; 0.01) values on linear regression were detected for sire BVs, when 0.135 kg of LW, 0.217 mm of MLLT, and 0.214 mm of BT corresponded to 1-point increases of BVLW-DE, BV-MLLT, or BV-BT. This was confirmed by ANOVA evaluation, especially for LW and MLLT traits. Maximal differences (P &lt; 0.05) in lamb LW were 1.84 kg or 0.88 kg regarding to dam or sire BVLW-DE groups. Similarly, the difference (P &lt; 0.05) in lamb MLLT reached 0.82 mm in dam BV-MLLT, while 0.57 mm was detected in sire BV-MLLT groups. These results have practical implications for the objectives of selection schemes used in the Suffolk sheep population in the Czech Republic.


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