Ltd. "Zvaigzne" financial analysis

Bakalaura darba tēma ir „SIA „Zvaigzne” finansiālā stāvokļa analīze”. Darba izstrādes pamatā tika veikta finanšu analīze, pielietojot teorētiskās zināšanas. Savukārt darba rezultātā tika izstrādāti priekšlikumi uzņēmuma turpmākajai darbībai. Bakalaura darbs sastāv no ievada, 3 nodaļām, secinājumiem un priekšlikumiem. Darba pirmajā nodaļā autore izklāsta finanšu analīzes būtību, liekot uzsvaru uz analīzes nozīmi un tās veikšanas metodēm. Apkopojot teorētiskās zināšanas, tika veikta uzņēmuma „Zvaigzne” finanšu analīze. Darba otrajā nodaļā autore raksturo SIA „Zvaigzne” uzņēmuma darbību, veic bilances un peļņas un zaudējumu atskaites vertikālo, un horizontālo analīzi, analizē likviditātes, aktivitātes, maksātspējas un rentabilitātes rādītājus, nosaka uzņēmuma bankrota diagnostikas rādītājus, ar mērķi gūt priekšstatu par uzņēmuma finansiālo stāvokli. Trešajā nodaļā autore sniedz uzņēmuma darbības vērtējumu ar mērķi konstatēt ieteicamo rīcības plānu uzņēmuma vadībai. Apkopojot izpētītos rezultātus, darba beigās autore sniedz secinājumus un izstrādā priekšlikumus. Bakalaura darbā ietilpst 65 lapaspuses, tajā skaitā 39 formulas, 33 tabulas, 4 attēli, kā arī ir pievienots 21 pielikums. Atslēgvārdi: uzņēmuma finansiālā stabilitāte, likviditāte, uzņēmuma aktivitātes rādītāji, rentabilitāte, maksātspēja.The topic of bachelor’s work is “Ltd. “Zvaigzne” financial analysis”, which was worked out according to theoretic knowledge and financial analysis application. As the result, there were worked out some proposals for further activity of the enterprise. The bachelor’s work consists of introduction, three parts, conclusions and proposals. At the first part of the work the author lays out the essence of financial analysis, marking out the significance and methods of financial analysis. The aim is to get financial analysis of Ltd. “Zvaigzne” condition, based on theoretic knowledge application. In the second part of the work the author gives the characterization of the Ltd. “Zvaigzne”, performs horizontal and vertical balance, analyses liquidity, turnover, solvency, and profitability indexes, to have an idea of financial state of the enterprise. In the third part of the work the author gives personal evaluation of the enterprise, to state the recommended plan for further activity. To sum up the results of research, at the end of the work the author gives conclusions and proposals. The bachelor’s work consists of 65 pages, including 39 formulas, 33 tables, 4 images; there are is added 21 supplement. Key words: financial stability of the enterprise, liquidity, turnover, profitability, solvency

Can establishment success be determined through demographic parameters? A case study on five introduced bird species

The dominant criterion to determine when an introduced species is established relies on the maintenance of a self-sustaining population in the area of introduction, i.e. on the viability of the population from a demographic perspective. There is however a paucity of demographic studies on introduced species, and establishment success is thus generally determined by expert opinion without undertaking population viability analyses (PVAs). By means of an intensive five year capture-recapture monitoring program (involving >12,000 marked individuals) we studied the demography of five introduced passerine bird species in southern Spain which are established and have undergone a fast expansion over the last decades. We obtained useful estimates of demographic parameters (survival and reproduction) for one colonial species (Ploceus melanocephalus), confirming the long-term viability of its local population through PVAs. However, extremely low recapture rates prevented the estimation of survival parameters and population growth rates for widely distributed species with low local densities (Estrilda troglodytes and Amandava amandava) but also for highly abundant yet non-colonial species (Estrilda astrild and Euplectes afer). Therefore, determining the establishment success of introduced passerine species by demographic criteria alone may often be troublesome even when devoting much effort to field-work. Alternative quantitative methodologies such as the analysis of spatio-temporal species distributions complemented with expert opinion deserve thus their role in the assessment of establishment success of introduced species when estimates of demographic parameters are difficult to obtain, as is generally the case for non-colonial, highly mobile passerines

Personality-dependent breeding dispersal in rural but not urban burrowing owls

Dispersal propensity has been correlated with personality traits, conspecific density and predation risk in a variety of species. Thus, changes in the relative frequency of behavioural phenotypes or in the ecological pressures faced by individuals in contrasting habitats can have unexpected effects on their dispersal strategies. Here, using the burrowing owl Athene cunicularia as a study model, we test whether changes in the behavioural profile of individuals and changes in conspecific density and predation pressure associated with urban life influence their breeding dispersal decisions compared to rural conspecifics. Our results show that breeding dispersal behaviour differs between rural and urban individuals. Site fidelity was lower among rural than among urban birds, and primarily related to an individual's behaviours (fear of humans), which has been reported to reflect individual personality. In contrast, the main determinant of site fidelity among urban owls was conspecific density. After taking the decision of dispersing, urban owls moved shorter distances than rural ones, with females dispersing farther than males. Our results support a personality-dependent dispersal pattern that might vary with predation risk. However, as multiple individuals of two populations (one urban, one rural) were used for this research, differences can thus also be caused by other factors differing between the two populations. Further research is needed to properly understand the ecological and evolutionary consequences of changes in dispersal behaviours, especially in terms of population structuring and gene flow between urban and rural populations

Additive effects of ectoparasites over reproductive attempts in the long-lived alpine swift

1. Parasitism is a non-negligible cost of reproduction in wild organisms, and hosts are selected to partition resources optimally between current and future reproduction. While parents can compensate for the cost of parasitism by increasing their current reproductive investment, such change in resource allocation is expected to carry-over costs on future reproduction. 2. Life history theory predicts that because long-lived organisms have a high residual reproductive value, they should be more reluctant to increase parental effort in response to parasites. Also, when rearing successive infested broods, the cost of parasitism can cumulate over the years and hence be exacerbated by past infestations. 3. We tested these two predictions in the alpine swift Apus melba, a long-lived colonial bird that is infested intensely by the nest-based blood sucking louse-fly Crataerina melbae. For this purpose, we manipulated ectoparasite load over 3 consecutive years and measured reproductive parameters in successive breeding attempts of adults assigned randomly to 'parasitized' and 'deparasitized' treatments. 4. In current reproduction, fathers of experimentally parasitized broods produced a similar number of offspring as fathers from the deparasitized treatment, but the rearing period was prolonged by 4 days. Fathers that were assigned to the parasitized treatment in year x produced significantly fewer fledglings the following year x + 1 than those of the deparasitized treatment. The number of young produced by fathers in year x + 1 was correlated negatively with the number of days they cared for their brood in the previous year x. We also found a significant interaction between treatments performed over 2 successive years, with fathers of parasitized broods suffering a larger fitness loss if in the past they had already cared for a parasitized brood rather than for a deparasitized one. Similar effects of parasitism, although partly non-significant (0.05 < P-values > 0.10), were found in mothers. 5. Altogether, our results show that parasites can modify resource allocation between current and future reproduction in long-lived hosts, and that the cost of parasitism can cumulate over the years. It emphasizes the fact that effects of parasites can depend on past infestations and become apparent in future reproduction only

Sex- and age-dependent patterns of survival and breeding success in a long-lived endangered avian scavenger

In long-lived species, the age-, stage- and/or sex-dependent patterns of survival and reproduction determine the evolution of life history strategies, the shape of the reproductive value, and ultimately population dynamics. We evaluate the combined effects of age and sex in recruitment, breeder survival and breeding success of the globally endangered Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), using 31-years of exhaustive data on marked individuals in Spain. Mean age of first reproduction was 7-yrs for both sexes, but females showed an earlier median and a larger variance than males. We found an age-related improvement in breeding success at the population level responding to the selective appearance and disappearance of phenotypes of different quality but unrelated to within-individual aging effects. Old males (≥8 yrs) showed a higher survival than both young males (≤7 yrs) and females, these later in turn not showing aging effects. Evolutionary trade-offs between age of recruitment and fitness (probably related to costs of territory acquisition and defense) as well as human-related mortality may explain these findings. Sex- and age-related differences in foraging strategies and susceptibility to toxics could be behind the relatively low survival of females and young males, adding a new concern for the conservation of this endangered species

Female-biased mortality in experimentally parasitized Alpine Swift Apus melba nestlings

1. Sex-biased mortality in adult vertebrates is often attributed to lower immunocompetence and higher parasite susceptibility of males. Although sex-specific mortality has also been reported during growth, the importance of sex-specific immunocompetence and parasite susceptibility in explaining male-biased mortality remains ambiguous in growing individuals because of potentially confounding sources of mortality such as sexual dimorphism. 2. Here, we investigated sex-specific susceptibility to the blood-sucking louse fly Crataerina melbae and sex differences in cell-mediated immunity in a bird species that is sexually monomorphic both in size and plumage coloration at the nestling stage, the Alpine Swift, Apus melba. 3. For this purpose, we manipulated ectoparasite loads by adding or removing flies to randomly chosen nests in two years, and injected nestlings with mitogenic phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) in another year. 4. There were no significant differences between male and female offspring in immune response towards PHA, parasite load, and parasite-induced decrease in growth rate. Secondary sex ratios were however biased toward males in parasitized broods, and this was explained by a greater mortality of females in parasitized than deparasitized broods. 5. Our findings are in contrast to the widely accepted hypothesis that males suffer a greater cost of parasitism. We discuss alternative hypotheses accounting for female-specific mortality