We studied the response of the barn owl annual productivity to the common vole population numbers and variability to test the effects of environmental stochasticity on their life histories. Current theory predicts that temporal environmental variability can affect long-term nonlinear responses (e.g., production of young) both positively and negatively, depending on the shape of the relationship between the response and environmental variables. At the level of the Czech Republic, we examined the shape of the relationship between the annual sum of fledglings (annual productivity) and vole numbers in both non-detrended and detrended data. At the districts’ level, we explored whether the degree of synchrony (measured by the correlation coefficient) and the strength of the productivity response increase (measured by the regression coefficient) in areas with higher vole population variability measured by the s-index. We found that the owls’ annual productivity increased linearly with vole numbers in the Czech Republic. Furthermore, based on district data, we also found that synchrony between dynamics in owls’ reproductive output and vole numbers increased with vole population variability. However, the strength of the response was not affected by the vole population variability. Additionally, we have shown that detrending remarkably increases the Taylor’s exponent b relating variance to mean in vole time series, thereby reversing the relationship between the coefficient of variation and the mean. This shift was not responsible for the increased synchrony with vole population variability. Instead, we suggest that higher synchrony could result from high food specialization of owls on the common vole in areas with highly fluctuating vole populations.
Poprach K., Machar I., Maton K.: Long-term decline in breeding abundance of Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) in the Czech Republic: a case study of a population trend at the Chomoutov lake. Ekológia (Bratislava), Vol. 35, No. 4, p. 350-358, 2016.The aim of this paper is to evaluate the long-term trend in breeding abundance of Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) at the Chomoutov lake, Czech Republic. In the period 1978-2014 (always between April 22 and May 10), we conducted 14 nest counts in the bird colony using the direct nest search method. In total, we counted 57,860 nests, from which 2,174 nests were found in the initial year 1978, the maximum number of nests (8,371) in 1993 and 3,304 nests in the last counting year 2014. The nests were located on the ground on an island elevated 2-3 m above the water level. In 1997, we found an unusually located nest on a nesting pad in a poplar tree (Populus sp.), 821 cm above the water level. In this paper, we point out the long-term decline in breeding abundance of Black-headed Gull in major breeding colonies in the Czech Republic, where the abundance declined by up to 95%, while numerous colonies have vanished completely. We discuss factors influencing the negative population trend of Black-headed Gull on the monitored site and in the entire Czech Republic.
Knowledge of the structure and diversity of bird populations in forest ecosystems is important for the conservation of forest biodiversity. The results of bird population studies in forest ecosystems are influenced by the detectability of the subject birds. In spite of this fact, the detectability of birds in different forest habitats is often paid little attention. The aim of the present study is an assessment of the key factors which are important for the detectability of birds in floodplain forest ecosystems. The paper analyses the detectability of bird species in floodplain forests (Litovelské Pomoraví, Czech Republic) during the period 1998-2012. In this study the authors analysed data with relation to the date of the census, climatic factors (cloud cover, air temperature, wind and precipitation) and the main two habitat types (closed mature forest and ecotone). The results of the study show that the numbers of dominant bird species change significantly during the particular census dates within one season, mainly with respect to bird detectability.
Sustainably managed forests provide multiple ecosystem services in cultural landscapes, including maintaining biodiversity. Better understanding of the benefits regarding the biodiversity of different silvicultural practices is important for sustainable landscape management. Conservation targets in forested landscapes should be determined by land managers and policy-makers, based on serious ecological research. This study deals with response of bird diversity to three different habitat types of temperate hardwood floodplain forests, which reflect specific forms of forest management. Research was based on long-term field bird census in the years 1998 to 2002 applying the point count method. Data was analysed using regression analysis with dummy variables. The results of the study indicate that hardwood floodplain forest heterogeneity, supported by different types of forest management (old-growth forest protection, group-selection harvesting and forest edge protection), provides large-scale habitat mosaic conditions suitable for many breeding bird species with different ecological niches. This result suggests that comparison of bird diversity response to different forest management types can be used as a decision support tool for sustainable landscape management strategy and local management practices in forested cultural lowland landscapes. Improvements in both regional and local ecological knowledge are generally needed in order to control floodplain land use decisions, which are typically made on the scale of landscape management. 2 of 15 above transition zones, below which, species loss is likely to occur. Forest ecosystems are crucial in maintaining climate, biodiversity and human well-being [7]. At the landscape scale, the benefits produced by forests are strongly influenced by forest management [8]. This is especially important in cultural lowland landscapes along large rivers, areas which have suffered from a significant decline in riparian floodplain forests [9].In the European temperate zone, hardwood floodplain forests (HFF) are endangered habitats. HFF provide various important ecosystem services in the lowland landscapes [10]. Land use changes and land use intensification induced by human activities are closely connected to the current ecological status of HFF in many European regions [11]. Despite centuries of intense human pressure, HFF are forest ecosystems with very rich alpha-biodiversity on the scale of individual trees and on the scale of forest stands [12,13]. A mosaic of floodplain forest habitats (including rivers and wetlands) creates a unique ecological gradient of beta-biodiversity [14]. Thus, HFF are key ecosystems in the maintenance of biodiversity on the scale of lowland riparian landscapes [15]. Because of their high biodiversity value, the natural and semi-natural remnants of HFF are usually included in ecological networks in a landscape [16]. They are also protected within the framework of international (such as the Natura 2000 European Network) or national systems for protected area...
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