The construction of railway lines usually has a negative effect on the natural environment: habitats are destroyed, collisions with trains cause deaths, and the noise and vibrations associated with rail traffic disturb the lives of animals. Cases are known, however, where the opposite holds true: a railway line has a positive effect on the fauna in its vicinity. In this study, we attempted to define the influence of a busy railway line on a breeding community of woodland birds. Birds were counted using the point method at 45 observation points located at three different distances (30, 280, 530 m) from the tracks. At each point, we determined the habitat parameters and the intensity of noise. In total, 791 individual birds of 42 species were recorded on the study plot. Even though the noise level fell distinctly with increasing distance from the tracks, the abundance of birds and the number of species were the highest near the railway line. Moreover, insectivorous species displayed a clear preference for the vicinity of the line. The noise from the trains did not adversely affect the birds on the study plot. The environmental conditions created by the edge effect meant that the birds preferred the neighborhood of the tracks: the more diverse habitats near the tracks supplied attractive nesting and foraging niches for many species of birds. Trains passing at clear intervals acted as point sources of noise and did not elicit any negative reactions on the part of the birds; this stands in contrast to busy roads, where the almost continuous flow of traffic in practice constitutes a linear source of noise.

The very rapid development of the road infrastructure in recent years has adversely affected the natural environment. The main effects of this have been the loss or deteriorating quality of habitats, the mortality of animals due to collisions with road vehicles, the withdrawal of birds as a result of disturbance and excessive noise in the neighbourhood of roads. In this study, we attempted to define the influence of a busy road on a breeding community of woodland birds. Individuals were counted using the point method at 54 observation points located at three various distances (60, 310, 560 m) from the road. At each point, we determined the habitat parameters and the intensity of noise. In total, 995 individuals of 39 species were recorded on the study plot. This study showed that the area was homogeneous with respect to habitat. The number of birds per point increased with distance from the road. Species diversity was lower near the road. The density of nine common species increased with distance from the road. Great Tit Parus major and Song Thrush Turdus philomelos preferred the neighbourhood of the road, whereas the numbers of the other species were the highest in the middle row of points. The number and species diversity of birds were correlated with the pattern of sound propagation across our study area. Our results showed that the species particularly sensitive to road traffic were those nesting near the ground and with low-frequency calls.

Insects’ exoskeleton, gut, hemocoel, and cells are colonized by various microorganisms that often play important roles in their host life. Moreover, insects are frequently infected by vertically transmitted symbionts that can manipulate their reproduction. The aims of this study were the characterization of bacterial communities of four developmental stages of the fungivorous species Hoplothrips carpathicus (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae), verification of the presence of Wolbachia, in silico prediction of metabolic potentials of the microorganisms, and sequencing its mitochondrial COI barcode. Taxonomy-based analysis indicated that the bacterial community of H. carpathicus contained 21 bacterial phyla. The most abundant phyla were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacterioidetes and Firmicutes, and the most abundant classes were Alphaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria, with different proportions in the total share. For pupa and imago (adult) the most abundant genus was Wolbachia, which comprised 69.95% and 56.11% of total bacterial population respectively. Moreover, similarity analysis of bacterial communities showed that changes in microbiome composition are congruent with the successive stages of H. carpathicus development. PICRUSt analysis predicted that each bacterial community should be rich in genes involved in membrane transport, amino acid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, replication and repair processes.

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