The model reclamation process of the studied fly ash deposits has been started in 2003 by formation of five different experimental surface layers containing fly ash and organic matter in various combinations. Then, grass mixture was sown on these surface layers. In 2015, selected properties of plant communities growing on different variants of surface layers applied in the reclamation process were assessed. It was assumed that the type of mineral and organic substrates used in the process and their quality were the main factors affecting the long term plant diversity present on different variants of restored surfaces. The aim of this analysis was the assessment of the effectiveness of ash waste reclamation (carried out on five different types of the surface layer) after 12 years since its initiation. The long term results of the reclamation process showed that the applied surface layers allowed for an effective reclamation of ashes since all variants of experimental surfaces were totally covered by dense vegetation. The predominance of plant species from ruderal and segetal habitats indicated that the soil of the experimental habitats was fertile with neutral and slightly alkaline pH, and texture of sandy loams. The experimental surface layers with a texture of sand of favourable C:N ratio, neutral or slightly alkaline did not limit the plant development. The use of organic waste markedly contributed to the floristic diversity of the spontaneously developed vegetation. Coniferous bark used in some experimental variants had a marked effect on their floristic distinctiveness due to the presence of species preferring habitats of lower pH values.

In mountain desert ecosystems, wetlands around saline and freshwater lakes allow various organisms to thrive and sometimes serve as the only source of drinking water for wild and domestic animals. We present results concerning diversity and structure of cyanobacterial inoculum from Eastern Pamir Mountains' benthic sediments, collected from small water bodies with contrasting salinity, temperature and other chemical parameters. We used morphological identification and molecular NGS techniques based on the amplification of the V3-V4 hypervariable region of 16S rRNA gene. Only a few cyanobacterial taxa have been identified in the preserved samples, while 27 taxa were successfully isolated and identified from the benthic sediments. Metagenomic analysis revealed that the cyanobacterial contribution to benthic bacterial communities was low. Representatives of the order Nostocales dominated in the samples, followed by Synechococcales, while contributions of Oscillatoriales and Chroococcales was much lower. The correlation matrix for the amplicon-based composition of samples clustered together samples of similar salinity and temperature. However, in hierarchical clustering of taxonomic structure of samples, communities with similar structures were not grouped by salinity or temperature. These results suggest that salinity and to some extent temperature, influence the composition of the inoculum, although the structure of the cyanobacterial communities is further shaped by other factors. Our study also demonstrated that the benthic inoculum for cyanobacterial communities contained potentially toxic taxa characteristic of both benthic and planktonic communities.

Energy flow is a central characteristic in all ecosystems, and it has attracted considerable scientific attention due to its significant effects on the stability of food webs. Lake ecosystems that undergo regime shifts (clear water phase, phytoplankton dominated changed into turbid water, macrophytes dominated or vice versa) are characterized by a series of transformation in trophic structure. Although previous studies have mainly focused on the causes and consequences of regime shifts in shallow lakes, studies about responses of energy flow changes to regime shifts is far from complete. In this paper, we estimated trophic position and benthivory (i.e. degree of benthivory) of seventeen fish species from seven shallow lakes. Our data show that the trophic position and benthivory of fish species in clear water phase are significantly higher than in turbid water. This finding might help spark some ideas for subtropical lake eutrophication treatment.

A loss of wetlands, one of the highly sensitive ecosystems, necessitates the monitoring and assessment of wildlife population trends for the continuity and sustainable management of species. The goal of our study was to evaluate temporal changes in wetland-associated bird composition by conducting monthly counts during December 2006 - November 2007 and March 2015 - February 2016 in Efteni Lake, Duzce, Turkey. This lake has been exposed to structural change including shoreline length, area and depth for the last 50 years. Wetland-associated bird richness decreased, and abundance increased during the decade, but this change was not significant except for two species with an increased population, ferruginous duck Aythya nyroca and great crested grebe Podiceps cristatus. Cluster analyses resulted in two groups: the breeding season from April to September, and the non-breeding season from October to March. The most numerous species were observed mostly during the non-breeding season. Some guilds, including diving carnivores, omnivores, shoreline omnivores and herbivores species were more prevalent during the non-breeding season. The insectivores had higher population densities during the breeding season. Thus, wetland-associated bird abundance during the non-breeding season was higher than during the breeding season, although species richness was the opposite. The planned restoration of habitats of Efteni Lake should have a positive impact on birds by creating more space available to them. Our result should help to better understand the impact of habitat changes on waterbird assemblages. Long-term monitoring of Efteni Lake will be useful for the wetland-associated avian community, and for other animal and plant communities.

According to basic ecological principle, species that share the same niche do not occupy the same environment for a long time, and sympatry of two or more such species provides an interesting field for the analysis of their trophic niche differentiation. To examine the potential differences in the dimensions of the trophic niche we studied the diet of three sympatric avian predators that prey on colonial Microtus rodents. The study area in central Poland is located in an agricultural landscape, composed of crop fields, as well as meadows and pastures located within a small river valley. The pellets of long-eared owl (Asio otus), barn owl (Tyto alba) and kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) were collected from the 750 m² study site including church building and its surrounding in the spring of 2016 and 2017. The analysis of pellets provided data on a total of 4128 vertebrate prey individuals (1914 from barn owl, 1749 from long-eared owl, and 465 from kestrel). The most important prey group of all three predators were small mammals (90%, 14 species) and the most frequently preyed species was Microtus arvalis (making up 72% of vertebrate prey of long-eared owl, 59% of kestrel and 53% of barn owl). Despite the general similarity in the diet composition, there were differences in the contribution of several prey species (e.g. Soricomorpha, M. arvalis, Mus musculus, Rattus norvegicus, and Apodemus spp.) and the diversity of the diet between the predators. We conclude that the trophic niches of the studied sympatric species differ in several dimensions, including diel activity, prey size and taxon-specific feeding preferences.

The current study was undertaken to determine long-term population trends (33 years) of ungulate species in the Waterberg National Park (WNP), Namibia, using aerial and waterhole counts of ungulates during the years 1980–2013.We tried to establish how rainfall influences the multi-species population dynamics. During this period sixteen ungulates species were recorded. Among these, eight have shown an increase in numbers during the years 1984–2013, six other decreased, and populations of two other species remained stable. Roan and sable antelope, kudu and warthog were fairly common (with 5–12% of all ungulates recorded). White rhino, black rhino, giraffe, and gemsbok were classified as uncommon (together 11.9%), whilst the remaining eight species were rare (together 1.9%). The eland population showed a weak positive relationship with the annual average rainfall between the years 1981–2013, whereas population sizes of kudu, sable, gemsbok and roan showed a weak negative relationship with the amount of rain. No relationship was detected in giraffe, buffalo and hartebeest populations. We conclude that, irrespective of water supplementation, ungulate densities are to a large extent controlled by rainfall.

The red deer (Cervus elaphus) and sika deer (C. nippon) are two important and endangered herbivores in northeast China. It is unclear whether potential dietary competition exists between them when they are sympatric in winter. We used micro-histological analysis of faecal samples to determine diet composition and dietary overlap of the red deer and sika deer in northeast China. We found that red deer had a more diverse diet than sika deer, and consumed more shrubs throughout the winter. Euonymus spp. was the most stable and principal food item for both red and sika deers in winter, while the proportions of the three other major food species (Acer spp., Abies spp. and Pinus spp.) were significantly different between the deer species as well as between different winter periods. The proportions of coniferous browse of sika deer increased significantly from early to late winter (20.9 vs 45.4%), while for red deer they remained stable (18.3 vs 23.7%). Crude protein in the red and sika deer's diet was over 7.5% of dry matter in whole winter. Red and sika deer take different strategies to meet their requirements for crude protein. Red deer consumed in winter consistently more shrubs to obtain crude protein and to minimize the intake of tannins, whereas sika deer increased coniferous browse consumption in late winter to meet the crude protein requirement regardless of higher intake of tannin. Our results indicate a high degree of dietary overlap between red and sika deers (range 0.88–0.95), and suggest its further increase in late winter.