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Sociální vztahy a synchronizace ve stádech přežvýkavců - vliv na pastevní chování
Šárová, Radka ; Špinka, Marek (advisor) ; Červený, Jaroslav (referee) ; Nekovářová, Tereza (referee)
This thesis addresses the relationships between beef cattle (Bos taurus) group behaviour on pasture, social dominance and individual characteristics such as body weight and age. The thesis is based on three studies performed in a herd of female beef cattle. In the first two studies, GPS collars were used as the main data-collection method, while the third study relied on an extensive dataset of cow dominance relationships. The first study focused on activity synchronization. We assessed whether cows similar to each other in body weight or in reproductive status were more synchronized and whether the timing of activity switches was determined by specific leading animals. We found that the body weight difference in a dyad of animals had a negative influence on their mutual synchronization. There were no leading animal initiating switches in activity. The second study focused on the role of dominant animals in group movements of the herd. There were positive correlations between dominance status of an individual and several measures of leadership during movements, namely the position of the animal at the front of the herd, more direct and shorter trajectories and higher alignment with nearest neighbours and with the whole herd. These results show that herd movements on pasture behaviour were...
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Gender differences in behavioral changes induced by latent toxoplasmosis
Lindová, Jitka ; Flegr, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Špinka, Marek (referee) ; Ditrich, Oleg (referee)
Summaryof resultsofpresentedresearch Toxoplasmagondiiis a protozoanparasiteinfectingabout30%ofour population.After a shortphaseof acuteinfection,the parasitosistums into the lifelong latents.tagewhich is usuallyconsideredasymptomatic.However,in thestudiesperformedby our researchteam, latenttoxoplasmosiswasťoundto havespecificeffectson personality,behavior,morphology andphysiotogy.Interestingly'in manyaspects,theseeffectswereclearlygender-dífferent. My thesis was motivatedby results of previous questionnairestudies which found toxoplasmosisto haveoppositeinfluenceon men's and women'spersonalitytraitswarmth, conscíentiousnessandvigilancemeasuredby Cattell's16PersonalityFactorQuestionnaire (Flegretď. L996,1999,2000'FlegrandHavlíček1999'FlegrandHrdý 1994).Bothinfected womenand men werealso foundto score lower in novelryseeking(Skallová et al. 2005' Flegretal.2003). The resultof lowernoveltyseekingwas confirmedby thefirst studyperformedwith my contribution(lt{ovotnáet al. 2005).Moreover,this studyshowedthat regardingnovelty seeking,similar changeswere observedin subjectsinťectedby cytomega|ovirus.This was interprétedasevidenceforthehypothesisthatbehavioral/personalityshifu inducedby latent toxoplasmosiscouldbenonspecificchanges,causedby mildchronicbraininfections.Lower novelty seeking is thought to be associated...
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Individual differences in maternal behavior (maternal style) of mammals
Leszkowová, Iva ; Špinka, Marek (advisor) ; Polák, Jakub (referee)
The expression "maternal style" in the wider sense serves to describe the interspecies interindividual and intraindividual, variability in the maternal care. In the narrow sense it is used only to designate permanent variability in the maternal behaviour among different mothers of the same species. The concept of the maternal style is based on a well-documented fact, that individual parts of maternal behaviour correlate with one another and this mutual bond enables to describe the varied repertoire of the mothers' behaviour by a few dimensions, such as e.g. protectiveness, restrictive, rejection and laissez-faire. Maternal style of primates was described in a wide range (e.g. Berman, 1990; Fairbanks, 1996). Up to today the existence of maternal style has been confirmed also with some rodents (guinea-pig: Albers, 1999; mouse: Benus a Rondigs, 1996), domestic animals (pig: e.g. Špinka et al., 2000; sheep: Dwyer a Lawrence, 2010; goat: O'Brien, 1984) and predators (dog: Wilsson, 1984). KEYWORDS : Maternal style, Maternal behavior, Individual differences, Parent-offspring conflict, Protectiveness, Rejection
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Mice and Rats: Space, Smell and Methods of Detection
Kaftanová, Barbora ; Frynta, Daniel (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee) ; Špinka, Marek (referee)
The coexistence of humans and rodents lasts from the beginnings of the history of agriculture. Many rodent populations accepted to synanthropic way of life and as commensals accompany human societies until today. In the first study we wanted to find out, how the evolution of non-commensal rodent species, a Cypriot mouse (Mus cypriacus), was influenced by people. This endemic island species evolved on the Cyprus Island without presence of any mammalian competitors or predators. In last 10.000 years humans arrived on the island, bringing several mammalian species, which affected the environment markedly. A black rat (Rattus rattus) is now dominant species there and presumably it is an important competitor for the Cypriot mouse. We supposed that the mice should avoid its odour. Nevertheless the rats odour was preferred by the mouse, probably as an odour of phylogenetically related species. On the contraty, the odour of domestic cat (species, which is also widespread on the island), was avoided. In conclusion, the long-term isolation from mammalian predators did not affect the antipredatory reactions of the Cypriot mouse. Our next study was focuse on changes in behavioural strategies of different populations of mice: the main question was how the commensal way of life affects their exploratory...
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Parent-offspring play behaviour in phylogenetic comparison
Letová, Eliška ; Špinka, Marek (advisor) ; Maruščáková, Iva Linda (referee)
The bachelor's thesis provides an overview of the current literature, which deals with the research of the play of parents with offspring in humans and selected species of mammals. The literature review briefly introduces the concept of play and summarizes opinions on motivation for playful behaviour. It presents the benefits of playful behaviour. It includes an overview of current research findings that compare the playful behaviour of fathers with offspring and mothers with offspring. The aim of the research is to compare the course of paternal and maternal play in humans and in biparental species. The research will be carried out using the transcription of a freely available video. Research data help answer the question of whether there are different differences in paternal and maternal play across species. Research data help answer the question of whether there are differences in paternal and maternal play across species of mammals. Keywords Play; Playful behaviour; Motivation for play; Parental play; Maternal play; Paternal play; Phylogenetic comparison
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Assortative mating in humans.
Štěrbová, Zuzana ; Weiss, Petr (advisor) ; Lindová, Jitka (referee) ; Špinka, Marek (referee)
Human mate choice is far from random. Assortative mating can be either positive (homogamy), when people prefer and choose partners with self-similar characteristics, or negative (heterogamy, complementarity), when people prefer self-dissimilar partners. Over one hundred years of research, it has been shown that people generally couple based on the principle of homogamy. This thesis seeks to address the following two goals. First, it critically reviews the current state of knowledge in positive assortative mating (in particular, empirical support, factors affecting homogamy, mechanisms of homogamy, relationship and genetic impact of homogamy, and methodological pitfalls of research). This section includes theoretical papers deal with further mechanisms of assortative mating (homogamy, imprinting-like effect, heterogamy, complementarity). Second, the thesis provides further test of assortative mating in 'ideal partners' (preferences) and actual partners, in the context of sex, sexual orientation (heterosexual and non-heterosexual), and population (Brazil and Czech Republic). Results of these studies show that the principle of homogamy is valid irrespective of sex and population. However, they find a stronger tendency for homogamy in actual partners among heterosexuals than in homosexuals, although...
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The role of commensalism on vertical activity in exploration tests: a comparison of 12 populations of the genus Acomys
Štolhoferová, Iveta ; Frynta, Daniel (advisor) ; Špinka, Marek (referee)
The objective of this work was to investigate whether there are differences between commensal and non-commensal populations of spiny mice (Acomys spp.). There is a good evidence that some populations of Acomys cahirinus have been commensal since the time of ancient Egypt, that is for at least 3,500 years. Therefore, it could be expected that some adaptation for a commensal way of life have evolved. To find out, I tested twelve populations of spiny mice in two types of open field test - a vertical test and a hole board test. In the vertical test, a wire mesh was added and offered to spiny mice to climb on. Since human settlements represent an environment with a new predation pressure as well as new hiding opportunities like those in heights above the ground, I hypothesized that commensal populations of A. cahirinus would (1) explore less on the ground and (2) prefer to spend more time on the wire mesh than the non-commensal populations. Results supported the first hypothesis as in both tests commensal spiny mice spent less time exploring on the ground than other populations. The second hypothesis, however, was not supported - all populations showed approximately equal interest in the wire mesh and commensal spiny mice did not spend more time on it compared to the others. Nevertheless, an overall...
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Phylogenetic roots and possible evolutionary functions of smile and laughter in humans
Kersch, Jakub ; Špinka, Marek (advisor) ; Štětovská, Iva (referee)
The bachelor thesis focuses on smile and laughter from the evolutionary point of view. The first chapter briefly describes van Hooff's concept that smile and laughter had different phylogenetic origins and consequently both these facial signals converged. On the contrary, the opposition concept assumes only a difference in intensity between both signals. The second chapter is devoted to the classification of smile (eventually laughter) into different types. The basic classification includes spontaneous and non- spontaneous types. The characteristics of these two kinds of smile (laughter) are described, including perception and functional differences. Further, the thesis includes a more detailed division into 18 species according to Ekman's concept. The third chapter focuses on a fetal smile shown during the prenatal period and a spontaneous (neonatal) smile associated with neonatal and infant age. Connection between smile and an adult-child interaction is also mentioned. The fourth chapter deals with the social dimension of the theme. The different social functions of smile and laughter and the importance of the social context for both of these signals are described here. A relationship between laughter and play is mentioned as well. The research project proposal deals with the spontaneous...
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The influence of physical, social environment and parental views on the quantity and composition of play behaviour in children.
Rzepecká, Michaela ; Špinka, Marek (advisor) ; Kučerová, Andrea (referee)
This bachelor thesis focuses on identifying the main external factors that influence the quantity and diversity of playful behavior of children. The thesis deals with active, outdoor, spontaneous, motional and interactive game, both in individual and social form, i.e. play between children and between children and adults. The work provides an overview of the physical, social and parental views on the children's play on the number of children's outdoor games. It is also possible to link the motivation of a child to a free outdoor game with selected external factors. Last but not least the work demonstrates the methods used to measure these three factors. The research proposal is derived from the findings in the first part of the thesis and seeks a comprehensive view of this issue. It focuses on verifying the impact of the immediate physical environment (forest, street, playground, etc.), the availability of these places, the social influence that includes siblings, friends and parents who normally play with the child and attitudes of parents (letting the child to play alone outside, the importance of free game in general) to motivate the child to a free outdoor game. This is going to be surveyed through a semi-structured interview.
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Interactional dominance
Pařízek, Pavel ; Špinka, Marek (advisor) ; Bahbouh, Radvan (referee)
The thesis describes a biosocial model of status stratification in face to face groups. The model is based on the belief that human status behavior is evolutionary extension of animal status behavior (especially primates). Each person of a group is equipped with a signaling mechanism that signals the status of domination or submision (or the status he ought to have). Status communication is among humans very subtle and primarily occurs at a nonverbal level. Status stratification often takes place automatically without the knowledge of the subjects. The biosocial model criticizes classical authors of social stratification, who explain the mechanism primarily at the cognitive level. In the practical part, the thesis attempts to use new methodology to verify the main assumption of an implicit stratification mechanism that is able to function without the involvement of cognition. The research works with a group of people with 6 probands. To indicate status in a group, playing cards were used. In each group, individuals were artificially assigned positions by playing cards. Subsequently, it was recorded how these artificial positions were reflected in the real position of member of the group. In the second part, the influence of personality trait on the position was measured. The main assumption could...
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