P. Adamík

... Jana Pietruszková1, 2 & Peter Adamík3, 4 ... lc). Některé druhy bahňáků (pisík obec-ný, bekasina otavní) využívají v průběhu tahu strategii, při které zastavují na mno-ha vodních plochách a mezi těmito místy podnikají jen krátké přelety (Meissner 2002, van de Kam et al. lc). ...

ABSTRACT Mammals are common predators on bird nests. However, their species identity frequently remains unknown. Here we present long-term data (1975–2005) from a central European woodland on the predatory effect of three dormice species (Rodentia, Gliridae) on cavity-nesting birds. Dormice are mostly frugivorous during the active late-summer season, but shortly after they terminate hibernation, they frequently depredate cavity-nesting-bird nests. The seven bird species studied, lost on average between 2.9 to 18.4% of their broods. MigratoryFicedula flycatchers suffered the highest brood losses, while the residentParus titmice and the nuthatchSitta europaea had much lower brood losses. The three dormice species differed significantly in their predatory effect during different avian breeding stages. The edible dormouseGlis glis (Linnaeus, 1766) depredated both eggs and nestlings equally, while the common dormouseMuscardinus avellanarius (Linnaeus, 1758) and the forest dormouseDryomys nitedula (Pallas, 1778) destroyed more nests during egg laying and the incubation period. Among adult birds, females were taken more frequently by dormice than males. Among avian species, adultFicedula flycatchers were more often depredated than the titmice and nuthatch. Our study provided further evidence, that among the traditional studies on the costs of reproduction, parental mortality at the nests needs to be considered and that incubating or brooding females might be under higher predation risk than the males. Key wordsdormouse-mortality bias-predation-reproductive costs-rodents-songbirds-Associate editor was Karol Zub.

Biological responses to climate change have been widely documented across taxa and regions, but it remains unclear whether species are maintaining a good match between phenotype and environment, i.e. whether observed trait changes are adaptive. Here we reviewed 10,090 abstracts and extracted data from 71 studies reported in 58 relevant publications, to assess quantitatively whether phenotypic trait changes associated with climate change are adaptive in animals. A meta-analysis focussing on birds, the taxon best represented in our dataset, suggests that global warming has not systematically affected morphological traits, but has advanced phenological traits. We demonstrate that these advances are adaptive for some species, but imperfect as evidenced by the observed consistent selection for earlier timing. Application of a theoretical model indicates that the evolutionary load imposed by incomplete adaptive responses to ongoing climate change may already be threatening the persistence...

Korňan M., Adamík P.: Structure of the breeding bird assemblage of a natural beech-spruce forest in the Šútovská dolina National Nature Reserve, the Malá Fatra Mts. Ekológia (Bratislava), Vol. 33, No. 2, p. 138-150, 2014.The structure of a breeding bird assemblage of a natural beech-spruce forest in the Šútovská dolina National Nature Reserve, the Malá Fatra Mts was studied in the period 2000−2002. A 20-ha forest interior study plot was established for bird censusing. Population abundances were estimated by a combined version of the mapping method from April to the beginning of July. Altogether, 49 breeders were recorded and the total mean breeding bird assemblage density of the beech-spruce forest was 54.23±8.60 pairs/10 ha (CV = 15.85%). One species were characterised as eudominant (≥10%): Fringilla coelebs; and five species as dominant (≥5%): Erithacus rubecula, Sylvia atricapilla, Parus ater, Regulus regulus and Certhia familiaris. The Shannon diversity index (H') varied bet...

Geographic variation in phenotypes plays a key role in fundamental evolutionary processes such as local adaptation, population differentiation and speciation, but the selective forces behind it are rarely known. We found support for the hypothesis that geographic variation in plumage traits of the pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca is explained by character displacement with the collared flycatcher Ficedula albicollis in the contact zone. The plumage traits of the pied flycatcher differed strongly from the more conspicuous collared flycatcher in a sympatric area but increased in conspicuousness with increasing distance to there. Phenotypic differentiation (PST ) was higher than that in neutral genetic markers (FST ), and the effect of geographic distance remained when statistically controlling for neutral genetic differentiation. This suggests that a cline created by character displacement and gene flow explains phenotypic variation across the distribution of this species. The diffe...

ABSTRACT Global climate change has been shown to cause variable shifts in phenology in a variety of animals and unexpected outcomes across food chains are to be found. Here we examined how rising annual spring temperatures affected the interactions between seed masting, cavity nesting birds and dormice using long-term data from Eastern Czech Republic. We have shown that climate change was associated with unequal shifts in the phenology of two cavity-breeding groups: dormice and birds. Rising spring temperatures have progressively advanced the termination of hibernation for the edible dormouse Glis glis, a common bird predator, leading to an increasing overlap in the use of nesting boxes between dormice and birds. In contrast, only the collared flycatcher Ficedula albicollis, of the four cavity-nesting bird species, advanced its breeding dates in response to rising temperatures. At the same time, favourable weather conditions, coupled with good seed masting years, have been associated with a substantial rise in dormice numbers. Concurrent with the increasing dormice abundance, the number of bird nests destroyed significantly increased in three out of four bird species. We showed that while there was a significant change in the date that the dormice emerged from hibernation during the course of the study, it did not significantly contribute to predation levels when controlling for their abundance and timing of breeding in birds. We found that the increasing dormice abundance was the main factor causing high brood losses in birds, while the timing of breeding in birds had a variable effect between bird species. This study illustrates how changes in climate might affect organisms at various trophic levels with often unexpected outcomes. Limited evidence from other study organisms suggests that species most at risk are those at different trophic levels that do not shift at the same rate or in the same direction as their food resources, predators or competitors.

ABSTRACT Understanding how animals respond to disturbance by investigators is essential for a fair assessment of the presence of bias in routinely used research protocols. It is also an essential prerequisite for anyone interested in animal welfare and ethically sound research. Here, we utilize an automatic logging system to monitor nest box use by PIT-tagged edible dormice, Glis glis, after standard handling procedures applied during a regular nest-box monitoring programme. The edible dormouse is an arboreal nocturnal rodent that relies on tree hollows as daytime den sites. We assessed the effect of disturbance on dormice in two ways: whether it affected the decision of an individual to stay in the same den site for a subsequent day and whether it affected the timing of the individual's nocturnal emergence from the den site. We found handling had a strong negative effect on short-term den use. In addition, females and sexually active individuals were more likely to spend the following day in the nest box. Individuals that had left the den site after our handling returned to them after an average of 4 d. Handling did not have a significant effect on the period of absence, but reproductively active animals returned on average after 3 d, while reproductively quiescent animals returned after more than 5 d. Manipulation did not have a significant effect on the initiation of nocturnal activity. Our study suggests that disturbance by investigators may modify certain aspects of animal behaviour, but this effect is likely to be short term and does not appear to impair the efficacy of routinely practiced capture-mark-recapture field protocols

ABSTRACT We present data on spring occurence (April–early July) of the yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis) in bird nest boxes during 1980–2005. Data were collected in mixed deciduous forests in Nízký Jeseník Mts., Northern Moravia, Czech Republic. Forty cases of Apodemus mice were recorded – 39 cases of yellow-necked mouse and in one case striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius). In most cases (30 observations), solitary individuals were found. During the 26 years of study, yellow-necked mice were recorded in 12 years. The highest occurence (15 cases) was found in 2002. Over the spring season, the occurence of mice seems to be very low and evenly distributed until the second half of June. The later summer absence of their occurence in bird nest boxes might be related to the appearance of the edible dormice (Glis glis).

ABSTRACT During three winters (2005–2007), I studied roosting of birds in nest boxes. The study was conducted within a large mixed deciduous woodland near Dlouhá Loučka, Northern Moravia, Czech Republic (49°50’ N, 17°15’E). I found 34 (13.0 %) birds of two species in 261 nest boxes. I found the nuthatch in 20 (7.7 %) and the great tit in 14 (5.4 %) nest boxes. I found the highest occupancy rate (30.0 %) in a forest patch that was in neighbourhood to a local village.

... from higher latitudes eg Scandinavia or Russia where the late breeding season shortens the time interval available during summer for more complete moult of their juvenile feathers (ORELL et OJANEN ... We thank Julia Bojarinova for her invaluable help with ageing of the bird. ...

ABSTRACT The Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) is one of the favourite species of the Czech bird ringers’ community. In this study we summarise the ringing activity on Red-backed Shrike nestlings ringed during the period 1964–2004. All ringing data on nestlings were digitalised. During the late sixties and seventies, 200–800 nestlings were ringed annually. In the late eighties the activity reached its peak with a maximum of c. 2 800 nestlings ringed per year. Since then, there has been a continuing decline in the number of ringed nestlings, which probably mirrors the fall in ringing activity. More than 4 000 nestlings ringed in the districts of Trutnov, Vsetín, Jičín and Zlín indicate a highly region-specific level of ringing activity. In addition, we tested whether the ringing data could be used for assessing selected parameters of breeding biology (productivity and phenology). Comparing our data with published local data we show that ringing records match the published data. Therefore, we suggest that ringing records can be used to investigate long-term changes in avian breeding parameters.

ABSTRACT Theory predicts that optimality of life-long investment in reproduction is, among other factors, driven by the variability and predictability of the resources. Similarly, during the breeding season, single resource pulses characterized by short periods and high amplitudes enable strong numerical responses in their consumers. However, it is less well established how spatio-temporal dynamics in resource supplies influence the spatio-temporal variation of consumer reproduction. We used the common vole (Microtus arvalis)—white stork (Ciconia ciconia) resource—consumer model system to test the effect of increased temporal variation and periodicity of vole population dynamics on the strength of the local numerical response of storks. We estimated variability, cycle amplitude, and periodicity (by means of direct and delayed density dependence) in 13 Czech and Polish vole populations. Cross-correlation between annual stork productivity and vole abundance, characterizing the strength of the local numerical response of storks, increased when the vole population fluctuated more and population cycles were shorter. We further show that the onset of incubation of storks was delayed during the years of higher vole abundance. We demonstrate that high reproductive flexibility of a generalist consumer in tracking the temporal dynamics of its resource is driven by the properties of the local resource dynamics and we discuss possible mechanisms behind these patterns.