KERAMIČKI NALAZI S LOKALITETA GLAVICE – STARA POVLJANA U KONTEKSTU PRAPOVIJESNIH NASELJA NA OTOKU PAGU

Numerous remains of ceramic vessels were discovered during the archaeological excavations carried out in 2012 at the site of Glavice near Stara Povljana on the island of Pag. Some of these finds can be attributed to the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period (indicated also by the finds of Venetian coins), and others are clearly dated to the prehistoric period, predominantly Iron Age. The aforementioned remains were discovered around and even within the heavily damaged dry stone structures, which, although they cannot be precisely dated to either prehistoric or later periods, indicate the longevity of use of this site for habitation. Due to the context of these finds it is highly possible that the prehistoric settlement was organized on the plateau below the nearby hill and adjacent to the arable field, which is considered to be atypical for the area and indicates a possible change in settlement placement patterns. Therefore, in this paper we shall analyse fragments of prehistoric vessels, their consistency, typology and decorations, and place them in the context of prehistoric finds in the wider territory as well as evaluate the importance of this site in the overall distribution of prehistoric settlements on the island of Pag.

Soil nematodes in the field and fallow - density and diversity

The results presented here concern the study, which was carried out in the spring of 2009 on an arable field and a fallow. Following parameters were analysed: density, taxonomic composition, trophic and dominance structure of soil nematode communities. Shannon-Weaver diversity index, Sørensen’s index of similarity and Maturity index were also calculated. The results show that the nematode community in the soil of arable field differed from that on the fallow in respect of density and trophic structure. Nematode density was higher in the arable soil than in the fallow. The group of bacterial-feeding nematodes was the most numerous among five trophic groups recorded in the study. The higher density of that group in the arable soil than in the fallow indicates the positive response of bacterial-feeding nematodes to the higher nutrient supply after the manure applying. The results show that in three years of fallow nematode communities became more mature and diverse than in the arable soil. The study confirms the indicative value of some nematode community parameters and indices for the assessment of the varying human intervention on the functional state of the soil.

Stellaria ruderalis M. Lepší, P. Lepší, Z. Kaplan et P. Koutecký, a new species record for the flora of Ukraine

Stellaria ruderalis is an annual (semi)ruderal species from the S. media group, which has been recently published by Lepší et al., therefore, its distribution range in Europe is insufficiently known. This paper is based on field exploration of 39 localities of S. media s.l. in the Lviv region, Western Ukraine. The first report of S. ruderalis in Ukraine comes from Dmytre village, where it grows at roadsides and arable field edges in a semiruderal habitat of the alliance Aegopodion podagrariae. As only a single population was found, Stellaria ruderalis is obviously still spreading in Western Ukraine, a fact which was reported already for northern Central Europe. This record represents the northeasternmost locality of the species so far known.

Movement patterns of the grey field slug (Deroceras reticulatum) in an arable field

We report the results of an experiment on radio-tracking of individual grey field slugs in an arable field and associated data modelling designed to investigate the effect of slug population density in their movement. Slugs were collected in a commercial winter wheat field in which a 5x6 trapping grid had been established with 2m distance between traps. The slugs were taken to the laboratory, radio-tagged using a recently developed procedure, and following a recovery period released into the same field. Seventeen tagged slugs were released singly (sparse release) on the same grid node on which they had been caught. Eleven tagged slugs were released as a group (dense release). Each of the slugs was radio-tracked for approximately 10 h during which their position was recorded ten times. The tracking data were analysed using the Correlated Random Walk framework. The analysis revealed that all components of slug movement (mean speed, turning angles and movement/resting times) were significantly different between the two treatments. On average, the slugs released as a group disperse more slowly than slugs released individually and their turning angle has a clear anticlockwise bias. The results clearly suggest that population density is a factor regulating slug movement.