Winter activity of terrestrial isopods from thermal habitats in western Romania

Terrestrial isopods from warm shores neighboring the thermal waters from western Romania remain active in the winter. This phenomenon is registered in 35 habitats, affecting 12 species (Hyloniscus transsilvanicus, H. riparius, Haplophthalmus danicus, Trichoniscus sp., Androniscus roseus, Cylisticus convexus, Protracheoniscus politus, Trachelipus nodulosus, T. rathkii, Porcellio dilatatus, Armadillidium vulgare, A. versicolor), the most common being T. nodulosus. Females with a marsupium were observed in the cold season in the case of some small-sized species that are present in the immediate vicinity of the shores of thermal waters (A. roseus, H. riparius and H. transsilvanicus). The high temperatures of the thermal waters warm the surrounding terrestrial environment, affecting the life cycle of the terrestrial isopods

Predation pressure of invasive marsh frogs: a threat to native amphibians?

Anurans have been introduced in many parts of the world and have often become invasive over large geographic areas. Although predation is involved in the declines of invaded amphibian populations, there is a lack of quantitative assessments evaluating the potential risk posed to native species. This is particularly true for Pelophylax water frogs, which have invaded large parts of western Europe, but no studies to date have examined their predation on other amphibians in their invaded range. Predation of native amphibians by marsh frogs (Pelophylax ridibundus) was assessed by stomach flushing once a month over four months in 21 ponds in southern France. Nine percent of stomachs contained amphibians. Seasonality was a major determinant of amphibian consumption. This effect was mediated by body size, with the largest invaders ingesting bigger natives, such as tree frogs. These results show that invasive marsh frogs represent a threat through their ability to forage on natives, particularly at the adult stage. The results also indicate that large numbers of native amphibians are predated. More broadly, the fact that predation was site- and time-specific highlights the need for repeated samplings across habitats and key periods for a clear understanding of the impact of invaders

Carpathians Environment Outlook 2007

Perspectivas del Medio Ambiente de los Cárpato

Coppice Forests in Europe

This book is the final output fronm the COST Action FP1301 EuroCoppice Innovative managementand multifunctional utilisation of traditional coppice forests - an answer to future ecological, economic and social challenges in the European forestry sector. This book was produced with input from partners form 35 countries and contains eight chapters (1) Overview (2) Silviculture (3) Utilisation (4) Conservation (5) Governance (6) reports from each of the 35 participating countries (7) Outlok and (8) Annex

NEW FINDINGS OF PARASITE FAUNA OF ENDEMIC SALMONID’S FISHES FROM LAKE OHRID (MACEDONIA)

Lake Ohrid is situated in the Ohrid valley and occupies the farthest southwest part of the Republic of Macedonia. It belongs to the category of oligotrophic lakes. Lake Ohrid fish fauna is represented by 17 autochthonous species, among which 60% are endemic in terms of species or subspecies. Ten species are commercially important, priority being given to the two endemic and relic trout species - Ohrid trout (Salmo letnica Karaman, 1924) and Belvica (Salmo ohridanus Steindachner, 1892). In order to explore the parasite fauna of endemic fishes from Lake Ohrid, sampling of fish material was carried out by seasons in one year. During that period, 203 specimens of fish were caught, which belong to 2 species: Ohrid Trout - Salmo letnica and Ohrid Belvica - Salmo ohridanus. Parasitological examinations of the fish from the Macedonian part of Lake Ohrid were made on 78 specimens of Ohrid’s trout (Salmo letnica Karaman, 1924), of which 59 fishes (75.64%) were infected. We determined the presence of 4 parasite species in Ohrid’s trout (Salmo letnica): Eubothrium crassum, Cyathocephalus truncatus, Proteocephalus neglectus and Pomphorhynchus laevis. Parasitological examinations of the fish from the Macedonian part of Lake Ohrid were made on 125 specimens of the Ohrid’s belvica (Salmo ohridanusSteindachner, 1892), of which 68 fishes (54.40%) were infected. We determined the presence of 7 parasite species in Ohrid’s belvica (Salmo ohridanus): Discocotyle ohridana n.sp., Nicolla testiobliqua, Eubothrium salvelini, Metechinorhynchus truttae, Metechinorhynchus salmonis, Acanthocephalus anguillae and Pomphorhynchus bosniacus