Wintering ecology and nomadic movement patterns of Short-eared Owls <i>Asio flammeus</i> on a subtropical island

<p><b>Capsule:</b> Short-eared Owls <i>Asio flammeus</i> showed a female-biased sex ratio in their southernmost wintering grounds in Oriental Asia. This is the first description of a nomadic movement pattern in this area.</p> <p><b>Aims:</b> To investigate the sex ratio, movement patterns, home range size and habitat preference of non-breeding Short-eared Owls in subtropical Taiwan.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> Eleven Short-eared Owls were radio tracked following trapping and transportation away from an airport as part of the management of bird-strike risk for aeroplanes.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> Our results indicated a female-skewed (75%) sex ratio for Short-eared Owls wintering in Taiwan. The owls demonstrated a nomadic behaviour by showing a repetitive pattern of high roosting site fidelity in the short term, followed by a long-distance movement to a different discrete area. Grasslands were commonly used as day-roosting sites but agricultural habitats were favoured at night.</p> <p><b>Conclusion:</b> Compared to on the breeding ground, the wintering owls exhibited a much larger home range size and exploit more dispersed patches of suitable habitats. These results revealed a notable conservation issue for the wintering owls, especially in the degraded and partially developed landscapes in subtropical countries.</p

M_fissipes_phyml

Phylogeny of mitochondrial COI lineages from 11 populations of Microhyla fissipes in Taiwan. This tree was constructed by using PhyML 3.0 with 1000 bootstrap replicates

alignment

DNA sequence alignment

Species tree files in this study

Species tree of Takydromus constructed by (A) mtDNA and 16 nuclear loci (B) mtDNA only (C) nuclear loci only using substitution rate prior. Divergence times are shown at the nodes with 95% highest posterior densities in brackets. Bayesian posterior probabilities are shown above the branche

Electronic supplementary material; A Cattle Egret Preying on a Takydromus sp.; A Cattle Egret Preying on a Takydromus sp. from Tail regeneration after autotomy increases survival: a case from a long-term monitored lizard population under avian predation

This file contains a 7-year monthly fluctuation of the four Avian predators and autotomy rates of the grass lizards, with details of model selection in survival estimation.; A cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) attacked and swallowed a Takydromus lizard. This bird corresponds to the major reason of adult mortality in the green-spotted grass lizard (Takydromus viridipunctatus) which inhabits open grasslands. Filmed by Miss Jen-Yu Kou.; Cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) is the major predator contributing to adult mortality for Takydromus lizards. Photographed by Dr. Chia-Yang Tsai, under the support of Chi Sing Eco-conservation Foundation

Correlations between individual heterozygosity and parasite load in <i>Takydromus viridipunctatus</i>.

<p>The parasite load (i.e., the number of the trombiculid mites <i>Leptotrombidium</i> sp. on each lizard) increased with decreasing standardized mean <i>d²</i> (A) and increasing HL (B) in male <i>T. viridipunctatus</i>. The parasite load did not change with the standardized mean <i>d²</i> (C) but decreased with increasing HL (D) in female <i>T. viridipunctatus</i>. Each circle denotes one individual.</p

Trade Union Recreations in Czechoslovakia in the 50s and 60s of the 20th Century

Title: Trade Union Recreations in Czechoslovakia in the 50s and 60s of the 20th Century Annotation: The thesis analyses organization, course, and other aspects of trade union "recreation", important and favorite way of holiday spending in former Czechoslovakia. It is a contribution to the research of a leisure time phenomenon. Based primarily on so far unexploited archival sources it observes development of leisure activities and recreation stays organized by the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement between 1948 and 1968. It focuses both on recreation of adults and young pioneers' summer camps. It deals with artistic representation of daily life at trade union recreations in movies and fiction literature, among others. Conclusions of the research are above all as follows: attempts at ideological indoctrination of people even during their leisure time, accentuated at the beginning of the period in view, grew weak gradually. Organized recreation stays became a desired way of a cheap holiday, namely in absence of other possibilities. A collectivist spirit belonged to main characteristics of this way, but it was not solely linked to the communist ideology. Key words: modern history - trade unions - trade union holiday ("recreation") - pioneers'summer camp

Maximum recapture interval (A) and monthly survival rate (B) of <i>Takydromus viridipunctatus</i> against parasite load.

<p>This estimation was derived from 1104 adults during the breeding seasons of 2008 and 2009. The maximum recapture interval (in month) decreased with increasing mean parasite load (the mean number of mites of each capture), where the size of shaded circles is in proportion to the sample size (A). The solid and dashed lines (B) denote estimated survival with the 95% confidence intervals, indicating that monthly survival rate decreased with increasing mean number of mites. The covariate plot is based on model 3 in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0056720#pone-0056720-t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a> and its maximum likelihood estimates, logit(φ) = 1.614±0.318 (SE)−0.032±0.007×(mean number of mites).</p

The <i>Takydromus</i> lizard and trombiculid mites.

<p>An adult male <i>Takydromus viridipunctatus</i> during the breeding season showing lateral green spots (A), and three different individuals with low (B), median (C) and high (D) infestation by trombiculid mites.</p

Correlations between individual heterozygosity and scalation asymmetry in <i>Takydromus viridipunctatus</i>.

<p>The scalation asymmetry increased with decreasing standardized mean <i>d²</i> (A) and increasing HL (B) in male <i>T. viridipunctatus</i>. The scalation asymmetry did not change with standardized mean <i>d²</i> (C) but increased with increasing HL (D) in female <i>T. viridipunctatus</i>. Each circle denotes one individual.</p