Farmland water bodies (FWBs) are marginal habitats in the agricultural landscape. However, regardless of their small size, they are refuges for natural vegetation and species-rich animal assemblages. They are especially important in areas where the intensification of agricultural activities reduces the ecological quality of the landscape. The study aimed to evaluate the effect of the habitat structure of the FWB buffer zone on macrophyte association diversity in the FWBs (n = 49). As many as 175 species of vascular plants, three stoneworts, and 40 (41–49 according to Chao2 estimator) plant associations were recognized, including 19 of high conservation priority. The occurrence of threatened associations (0–5 per FWB) was not correlated with the number of common (unthreatened) ones. The most important predictors of plant diversity (at the species level and the association level) were the connection of the FWB with a watercourse (positive effect), and the distance from the FWB to the nearest built-up areas (positive effect). The results suggest that even though the high percentage cover of perennial vegetation mitigates the effect of diffused pollutions of agricultural origin on FWB biota, its significance may become low when the distance from a built-up area to FWBs is small.

Soil nitrogen mineralization strongly affects N availability, thus impacting the primary productivity in ecosystems. The seasonal environmental changes affect soil mineralization in restored sandy grasslands such as a studied mobile dune (MD), a semi-fixed dune (SFD), a fixed dune (FD) and a grassland (G). During the growing season, we examined the association of soil N mineralization rate with vegetation characteristics, soil properties and climatic factors through the multivariate stepwise regression model. The vegetation cover, species diversity, above- and belowground biomass, soil carbon, nitrogen, soil water content (SWC), pH, electrical conductivity, very fine sand, clay and silt fractions increased during sandy grassland restoration. The NH₄⁺-N concentration in MD and SFD was higher than that in FD and G, while NO₃^--N and inorganic N concentration showed a reverse trend. The NH₄⁺N, NO₃^--N and inorganic N concentrations in MD, SFD and FD reached to the highest values in June, while in G they were highest in May. The net mineralization and nitrification rates increased with sandy grassland restoration; both of these rates were much greater in June than in other months at all sites. Regression analysis showed that the NO₃^--N concentration, SWC, pH of the soil and precipitation could explain 75% of the total variation in net nitrification rate, and the NO₃^--N concentration and precipitation could explain 59% of the total variation in the net mineralization rate. These results illustrate that the sandy grassland restoration can enhance the soil N availability, with soil N mineralization mainly determined by the changes of the NO₃^--N concentration and precipitation.

The wild apple tree Malus sieversii is a tertiary relict species and a key ancestor of the commonly cultivated apple trees today. In recent years, many M. sieversii individuals have died or have severe dead branches. Whether branch death would lead to the change in nutrient stoichiometry of M. sieversii remains unclear. In this study, the nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K) stoichiometric traits of M. sieversii individual trees with different proportion of dead branches divided into three classes (Class I [< 20%], Class II [40–60%], and Class III [> 80%]) during annual growth period, elemental scaling relations, and the possible influencing factors were systematically analysed. Leaf N, P, and K decreased during growing season, and N and P did not show significant differences among the three classes; however, the Class III wild apple trees had the lowest K contents in both photosynthetic and reproductive organs. Flowers had higher P and K contents than leaves, whereas fruits had low N content. The growth of M. sieversii was always limited by N due to low N:P ratio and N resorption efficiency. The scaling exponents of leaf N–P, N–K, or P–K among the three classes did not show any significant differences, revealing an inherent property of M. sieversii. Most soil variables showed weak correlations with leaf nutrient parameters (except for K). Precipitation and relative humidity, rather than temperature, showed significantly positive effects on leaf nutrients. These findings suggest that increasing water input and plant K content may be conducive to enhance the resistance and recovery ability of diseased wild apple trees.

In Central Europe Goodyera repens (L.) R. Br. is considered as species vulnerable to extinction, critically threatened, or even extinct, depending on the region. In recent years, this rare orchid clearly increases the number of sites within its natural range. The aim of the study is to present new data on the abundant occurrence of circum-boreal species in southern Poland (position of localities, the estimated number of specimens, habitat data) that indicate its ecological expansion. The localities of G. repens were described using the topogram method and then its distribution was shown using cartogram method. The study was conducted in the years 2010–2018 in the south-western part of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (S Poland) on the area of 337,5 km². During the study the species was found for the first time on eleven localities. The largest populations were observed in secondary pine forests. The results of this study against the background of published data suggest the ecological expansion of the species in Poland, which is facilitated by the availability of suitable habitats. The expansion of this cold-adapted species is interesting in the context of the global warming.

Noise generated by human activities has increased over the last decades as a result of human population growth, global transport and urbanization. The understanding of the effect of noise on different animal populations is mandatory to help making informed decisions in the field of natural resource management. While managers often focus on rare, charismatic species, it is important to examine the effects of noise on species that are common because abundant species have strong ecological impacts. This paper describes the influence of traffic noise on representatives of two orders of mammals: rodents and bats. I reviewed field and laboratory studies that inspected the influence of traffic noise on the following aspects of rodent and bat ecology: (1) activity and behaviour, (2) abundance and habitat use, and (3) foraging. Bats tended to be negatively affected by traffic noise, although certain species demonstrated a considerable degree of tolerance to this disturbance. The effects of traffic noise on rodents were more varied, but typically consisted of detrimental changes in vigilance-foraging trade-off. However, research on rodents appears biased towards social species which rely on alarm calls for protection.

Forest roads are the most important infrastructural facilities to exploit forests that are renewable natural resources. They are of great importance for all kinds of scientific and technical interventions to be made to the forest. Despite the benefits of forest roads, they have great potential to cause degradation and fragmentation of natural habitats. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of forest road technical features and intensity of use (traffic volume) on movements of mammals. From August 2017 to September 2017, a total of six forest roads and their surroundings were observed from fixed plots with wildlife camera traps. The study identified a total of twelve species of mammals. All together 589 individuals were counted from 461 wild animal images. Golden jackal, wild boar, and red fox are dominant species in the study area. The species composition of wild mammals was not strongly related to road characteristics. Drivers and wild animals use the same area but differ in time of use. It was also determined that wild animals adopted the road as a part of natural surroundings.

Field surveys of rare and elusive reptiles often encounter the problem of low detectability. Therefore, several techniques have been invented to improve detection probability and artificial cover objects (ACOs) are among the most commonly used in reptile studies. However, the methodological effectiveness of ACOs has been rarely evaluated and focused mostly on spatial aspects. The temporal dimension of the ACOs effectiveness remains still understudied, despite well-known seasonal variation in reptile activity patterns. Here, we examined seasonal and between-year variation in the fraction of occupied ACOs, as a proxy for detectability, in two elusive reptile species, the slow worm Anguis fragilis and smooth snake Coronella austriaca. We found that the use of ACOs was species-specific and showed high temporal variation. In the case of smooth snakes, monthly usage varied between years; specifically within-year variation of the proportion in occupied ACOs was most pronounced in 2015, but seems vanishing in consecutive years. This loss of of seasonal pattern occurs only in the last year of survey in the case of slow worm and monthly use of ACOs seem not to vary between years. Considerably low detectability of the studied species by the ACO method in some years may not necessarily indicate their low population density, but rather results from shifts in their diurnal activity and/or microhabitat use dependent on ambient temperatures. Increasing between-year variation in weather conditions may reduce repeatability of seasonal patterns of ACO usage, making we suggest additional detection techniques that could bee incorporated.