Search results for "Cape"
showing 10 items of 1938 documents
A comparative study of Ural Owl Strix uralensis breeding season diet within its European breeding range, derived from nest box monitoring schemes
2018
Capsule: Voles are the main prey of the Ural Owl Strix uralensis in Europe, with larger prey and higher prey diversity being positively associated with owl breeding performance. Aims: To assess the breeding diet and its influence on the breeding performance of the Ural Owl across a north–south gradient of its European range using nest box monitoring data. Methods: Comparable monitoring of nest boxes in different biogeographical regions of Europe (Finland, Latvia, Slovenia) and diet analysis from nest samples to assess the taxonomic and trait influence of prey on owl breeding performance in different environments. Results: High plasticity in the Ural Owl hunting behaviour under different pre…
Post-fire beetle succession in a biodiversity hotspot: Białowieża Primeval Forest
2020
Abstract Fires can heavily impact forest ecosystems but fire consequences for animal communities at burned and control sites are rarely investigated in natural forests. Here we present a 10-year study of post-fire beetle succession in natural ecosystem of Bialowieza Primeval Forest, Poland, being a hotspot for beetle fauna. We sampled beetles at burned and unburned (control) sites and compared local alpha and regional gamma diversity between treatments and over time. In total, 27,958 individuals belonging to 630 beetle species were recorded. Average species richness (alpha diversity) and density per sample was higher in burned forest than in control sites, and this difference was especially…
Predation and resource fluctuations drive eco-evolutionary dynamics of a bacterial community
2012
Predation and temporal resource availability are among the most important factors determining prey community dynamics and composition. Both factors have been shown to affect prey diversity, but less is known about their interactive effects, especially in rapidly evolving prey communities. In a laboratory microcosm experiment, we manipulated the presence of the predatory protozoan Tetrahymena thermophila and the temporal patterns in the availability of resources for a bacterial prey community. We found that both predation and temporal fluctuations in prey resources resulted in a more even prey community, and these factors also interacted so that the effect of predation was only seen in a flu…
The use of ecological traits in extinction risk assessments: A case study on geometrid moths
2008
Identifying ecological traits that make some species more vulnerable than others is vital for predictive conservation science. By identifying these predisposing traits we can predict which species are most prone to decline and gain an understanding of the reasons behind the decline. The aim of this study was to determine the ecological traits that best predict extinction risk and distribution change in Finnish geometrid moths and to develop an understanding of the biological connections between these traits and threats. We found that larval specificity, overwintering stage and flight period length predicted distribution change and extinction risk. There was also an interaction effect betwee…
Farm Productions and Rural Landscapes
2017
Farm landscapes in the Philippines are dominated by rice and coconuts in most provinces. In a country of generally small farm holdings, rice, the staple food, is cultivated across the archipelago, even if corn plays a bigger role in the southern part of the country. In the mountains of northern Luzon, the Ifugao tribe have developed over several centuries a remarkable landscape of rice terraces on steep slopes, but most of the rice is grown in the plains of Central Luzon around Manila. The coconut “tree of life”, most abundant in Quezon and Bicol, is used in many different ways, from food to construction materials. Bananas and pineapple are the leading export productions, mostly grown on la…
Rediscovery of Riella alatospora (Riellaceae, Sphaerocarpales), an aquatic, South African endemic liverwort previously known from a now largely trans…
2012
7 páginas, 4 figuras.
A Mediterranean Monk Seal Pup on the Apulia coast (Southern Italy): sign of an ongoing recolonisation?
2020
The Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) is one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world. This species has been threatened since ancient times by human activities and currently amounts to approximately 700 individuals distributed in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (Aegean and Ionian Sea) and Eastern Atlantic Ocean (Cabo Blanco and Madeira). In other areas, where the species is considered “probably extinct”, an increase in sporadic sightings has been recorded during recent years. Sightings and accidental catches of Mediterranean monk seals have become more frequent in the Adriatic Sea, mainly in Croatia but also along the coasts of Montenegro, Albania and Southern Italy. A Med…
Functional diversity of different vegetation types does not respond homogeneously to change over time after conservation translocation from a rural l…
2019
Abstract The anthropogenic impact on natural environments and the loss of species diversity along with changes in functional diversity call for effective steps to ensure habitat conservation. The functional diversity in particular has suffered in recent decades due to investment and land use changes. The translocation of whole turfs of certain vegetation plots prior to being destroyed is one possible solution for maintaining habitat functional diversity. In the presented paper, we analyse the functional changes in adaptive, regeneration and urbanity plant traits for meadow, heath and fen that were translocated from a rural site to a post-industrial site in a city. After five years of monito…
Thirty years unmanaged green roofs: Ecological research and design implications
2016
Abstract The variations in species composition and assemblage of unmanaged simple-intensive green roofs in Hannover, Germany, were investigated over a thirty year period, in order to assess the persistence of the initial seed mixture and to evaluate floristic changes. The roofs were greened in 1985 with soil-based turf rolls sown with a mixture of five grasses (Festuca rubra, Festuca ovina, Agrostis capillaris, Lolium perenne and Poa pratensis). Three sets of 120 phytosociological releves, sampled in 1987, 1999 and 2014, have been compared to assess: (1) nestedness vs spatial turnover, (2) functional diversity and (3) the importance of vegetation dynamics on green roof performance and desig…
Age is not just a number—Mathematical model suggests senescence affects how fish populations respond to different fishing regimes
2021
Abstract Senescence is often described as an age‐dependent increase in natural mortality (known as actuarial senescence) and an age‐dependent decrease in fecundity (known as reproductive senescence), and its role in nature is still poorly understood. Based on empirical estimates of reproductive and actuarial senescence, we used mathematical simulations to explore how senescence affects the population dynamics of Coregonus albula, a small, schooling salmonid fish. Using an empirically based eco‐evolutionary model, we investigated how the presence or absence of senescence affects the eco‐evolutionary dynamics of a fish population during pristine, intensive harvest, and recovery phases. Our si…