The representation of affricates remains an unsettled issue in phonology. The main question is whether affricates should be treated as simple or complex segments. In the former view, affricates are ...stops specified for an additional feature, such as strident; in the latter, affricates are complex segments specified for +continuant and –continuant in an unordered fashion. Using the framework of Optimality Theory, this paper investigates similarity avoidance effects in Basque under the two competing theories of representation. The posited OCP effects involve the avoidance of strident and –continuant clusters. Importantly, the complex segment approach requires the use of two additional constraints militating against +continuant and +obstruent clusters. The analysis successfully accounts for the imperfective formation data as well as for other processes in Basque, such as simplification of stop clusters, stop+fricative coalescence and lenition of voiced obstruents. Additionally, the article discusses asymmetries in consonant mutations connected with the OCP effects. In particular, the preference of surface fricative+stop clusters over stop+fricative clusters is attributed to a high-ranked markedness constraint, NOAFFRICATECONTRAST. An important conclusion of the analysis is that the complex segment approach creates unnecessary complications, as the parallel framework allows to maintain satisfactory generalizations within the simple segment approach.
Several studies reported a high prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 among white-tailed deer in North America. Monitoring cervids in all regions to better understand SARS-CoV-2 infection and circulation in other ...deer populations has been urged. To evaluate deer exposure and/or infection to/by SARS-CoV-2 in Poland, we sampled 90 red deer shot by hunters in five hunting districts in north-eastern Poland. Serum and nasopharyngeal swabs were collected, and then an immunofluorescent assay (IFA) to detect anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was performed as well as real-time PCR with reverse transcription for direct virus detection. No positive samples were detected. There is no evidence of spillover of SARS-CoV-2 from the human to deer population in Poland.
Red and roe deer are the most numerous cervids in Europe, and they occur in sympatry in most regions. Roe deer were considered to be an inferior competitor in studies in which they co‐occurred with ...fallow deer or muntjac. Despite the remarkable overlap of their ranges, there are few studies on the competition between the red and roe deer. Since interspecific interactions among ungulates are often related to their mutual densities, the current study focused on the effects of high red deer density on the roe deer numbers and spatial distribution in the unhunted Słowiński National Park (SNP) in northern Poland and forest districts open to hunting bordering the park. Using fecal pellet group counts, it was found that in the forest districts (where red deer densities were 2–3 times lower than in the SNP), roe deer densities were significantly higher than in the park. The red‐to‐roe deer density ratio was 10.8 and 2.7, in the SNP and the surrounding forest districts, respectively. Moreover, in the SNP, the roe deer distribution was negatively affected by the red deer habitat use, while in the hunting areas, such an effect was not recorded. The negative influence of the red deer on the roe deer population in the park was most probably due to the red deer impact on food availability. The biomass of the plant groups forming the staple food of the roe deer (Rubus spp., forbs, dwarf shrubs) was significantly higher in the fenced plots than in the unfenced ones. Lack of hunting in the protected areas may benefit only some species in ungulate assemblages which, in turn, may contradict one of their objectives—to maintain viable and ecologically functional populations.
The manuscript describes (as one of the first examples) the negative impact of high red deer density on roe deer population. The impact is through resource competition. It is worth to mention that both species are, except for wild boar, the most numerous large herbivore species in Europe.
One of the most important ecosystem processes, especially in temperate and boreal forests, is herbivore browsing. In this study, we tested five hypotheses: (H1) oak tree density would positively ...affect their height; (H2) despite severe browsing pressure, the height of oaks would increase with the age after planting; (H3) oaks growing among the planted pines would be taller than those among the sown ones; (H4) the growth of single oak saplings or of oak nests would be positively affected by the height of the pines growing in the immediate neighbourhood of the oaks; and (H5) the oak height would be affected by the location within a nest and oaks growing in the central zone would be taller than the others. The study was conducted in the Piska Forest in the north-eastern part of Poland. We established three variants of experiment. In the first variant, oaks were planted individually. In the second and third variants, oaks were planted in small nests. The second and third variants differed in the spacing of the nests: 8 × 8 m and 6 × 6 m, respectively. The division into the sub-variants referred to type of pine regeneration. In the first sub-variant, Scots pine was planted. In the second, pine was sown. In general, oaks growing within nests were significantly taller than those planted individually in the Scots pine rows. Despite heavy browsing, oak height consistently increased during the course of the study. Oak height also depended on the type of pine regeneration, and the mean height of oaks surrounded by planted pines was significantly higher than that of oaks surrounded by sown pines (which, in average, was shorter). That was because the planted pines were taller than the sown ones. We found that Spearman’s correlation coefficients were positive and significant between pine and oak heights in variants 2 and 3. Growth of oaks did not depend on their location within a nest. The results of the regeneration method of oak (single vs nest and few vs many nests) are modified by browsing. The best method found in the heavy browsing circumstances was planting oaks in many nests within successful pine regeneration (providing the oaks with protection against the browsing). The pine will provide the most efficient protection if regenerated a few years before the oaks.
The diet of the golden jackal (Canis aureus) was studied in 2002 and 2003 in Park Britannia (ca. 4000 ha) in central Israel. The aim of the study was to understand the kinds of anthropogenic food ...that allow jackals to be present at a high density. The scats (396 in total) were classified by season: summer (June–September) or autumn (October–November) as well as by origin from either the southern or northern part of the study area, which experience different levels of human pressure. The main food category was ungulates (39.4% frequency of occurrence), 80% of which were domestic animals — which we assume were mostly consumed as carrion. Other common food types included fruit (31.3%), birds (30%), small mammals (23.5%) and invertebrates (21.2%), while garbage was found in only 9.1% of the scats. Biomass of the jackal diet was dominated by ungulates (67.3%), with domestic ungulates consumed mostly as carrion, comprising 84% of the total. Jackal diet did not differ by season or level of human pressure. However, there was remarkable micro-scale variability in food composition as the summer jackal diet differed significantly among the dens. Our results suggest that the high availability of domestic animal carcasses due to the local carrion disposal system may be responsible for the present jackal density in Israel.
The wild population of fallow deer in Central Europe has grown considerably over the last decade. However, information on feeding habits of this alien species in relation to the indigenous red deer ...or roe deer, in areas of their co-occurrence, is scarce. A prevailing view maintains that their food-niches are distinct, although direct comparative studies have not been carried out. Therefore, the aim of the research was to compare the diets of fallow, red, and roe deer feeding in the same habitat. Research was based on the rumen contents of 242 animals hunted in the autumn-winter season in the forests of Southern Poland. The analyses demonstrated that fallow deer are moderate grazers in such conditions and eat more graminoids in comparison to red or roe deer (36.4% vs. 16.1% or 5.5%, respectively). On the other hand, it feeds on less browse (17.2% vs. 41.4%) or dwarf shrubs (8.4% vs. 19.0%) than red deer, and on less bramble (10.9% vs. 34.6%) or forbs (4.0% vs. 7.6%) in comparison to roe deer (P=0.05). Although the diets of the three deer species differ in terms of the proportion of each food type in their diet, overlapping of their food-niches is high (52.6%).
The study examines the influence of Polish primitive horse grazing on vegetation in deciduous and coniferous old forest stands in north-east Poland. It was conducted in both forest sites in two ...complexes located in: (i) the fenced area of the Popielno Research Station of the Polish Academy of Sciences, with free-living Polish pony Polish primitive horse (Equus ferus caballus Linnaeus, 1758) in 130-year-old stands, and (ii) in the open 116-year-old managed (harvested) Maskulińskie Forest District, without horses. In both areas the stands are inhabited by free-living red and roe deer. The impact of forest animals on ground cover layer as well as on understory shrub layer and undergrowth was compared. Very significant differences in the structure of the understory and undergrowth (above 0.5 m) layer vegetation communities between both areas and type of stands were found. The results suggest that the presence of the Polish horse substantially changed the species composition and increased the species diversity of the ground layer and shrub layer both in the coniferous forest and deciduous forest habitats. The height of the shrub layer trees was lower by 30% in the area with the Polish horse. The level of biodiversity of forest plants was dependent on the presence of the Polish horse, which in the past was one of the natural inhabitants of forests in the area of research.
Classic Optimality Theory treats phonological computation as a one-step parallel evaluation of output candidates. Such an approach does not handle well phonological opacity, in which the context of ...phonological processes is obscured on the surface. This article shows two examples of phonological opacity: Tiberian Hebrew Spirantization and Polish o-Raising. While these mappings are impossible to account for in classic OT, they are readily analyzed using the framework of Derivational OT.
The representation of affricates remains an unsettled issue in phonology. The main question is whether affricates should be treated as simple or complex segments. In the former view, affricates are ...stops specified for an additional feature, such as strident; in the latter, affricates are complex segments specified for +continuant and -continuant in an unordered fashion. Using the framework of Optimality Theory, this paper investigates similarity avoidance effects in Basque under the two competing theories of representation. The posited OCP effects involve the avoidance of strident and -continuant clusters. Importantly, the complex segment approach requires the use of two additional constraints militating against +continuant and +obstruent clusters. The analysis successfully accounts for the imperfective formation data as weii as for other processes in Basque, such as simplification of stop clusters, stop+fricative coalescence and ienition of voiced obstruents. Additionally, the article discusses asymmetries in consonant mutations connected with the OCP effects. In particular, the preference of surface fricative+stop clusters over stop+fricative clusters is attributed to a high-ranked markedness constraint, NoAFFRiCATECONTRAST. An important conclusion of the analysis is that the complex segment approach creates unnecessary complications, as the parallel framework allows to maintain satisfactory generalizations within the simple segment approach.
Context
Landscape fragmentation carries the risk of habitat loss for many animal species. This may include wild boars, which are one of the main culprits of conflicts with humans, while isolated ...patches of forest (forest islands) scattered in the agricultural landscape may affect its ecology and the pressure on the crops.
Objectives
This study aimed to understand the importance of small forest islands located in a human-dominated agricultural landscape in the ecology of wild boar. It explores what features, both of the interior and exterior of the islands, influence their use.
Methods
The study area covered approximately 220,000 ha of northern Poland, where wild boar use of 200 islands distributed across the agricultural landscape was investigated. For this purpose, the method of counting pellet groups was applied on transects of a total length of 51.6 km. In order to compare the use of islands with compact forest complexes, 84 km of transects were made in the latter, divided into developmental stages and forest type.
Results
Among the features of the interior of the islands, increasing cover conditions and the main species of trees (pine, spruce and alder) had a positive influence on the wild boar use. The utilization also depended on the presence of human settlements, other islands, and the type of agricultural crop around the island. When comparing island use to compact forest complexes, islands were used more often than forest regeneration sites and mature stands, but less often than pre-thickets. For the 25% most frequently used by wild boar, islands were more attractive than virtually all stand development stages in compact forest complexes.
Conclusions
Due to the cover conditions provided, the occurrence of islands in the agricultural space enables wild boars to use areas more distant from compact forest complexes. This may cause the spread of damage caused by wild boars in the fields, but on the other hand it may reduce the pressure on agricultural areas in the immediate vicinity of compact forest complexes. Intensification of hunting pressure in the vicinity of islands with specific characteristics e.g. good cover conditions, considerable distance from human settlements) will increase the effectiveness of wild boar population control in the agricultural landscape and will have a limiting effect on the damage caused by this species in the fields.
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