National Repository of Grey Literature 75 records found  previous11 - 20nextend  jump to record: Search took 0.01 seconds. 
A test of "object permanence" in Paridae and effect of neophobia and individual explorative strategies on success in solving object permanence tasks
Marhounová, Lucie ; Landová, Eva (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Object permanence (OP) is a cognitive ability that enables animals to mentally represent the existence of hidden objects even if they can not be perceived by senses. In humans, OP develops during six qualitative stages, in which the understanding of relationships between objects in space and time changes. Current research shows that primates, some carnivores and several species of birds also acquire various degrees of this ability depending on their social life and foraging strategies. Many studies of OP have focused on food-storing birds but yet only in the Corvidae family. Therefore we decided to test this ability in two species of the Paridae family, food-storing coal tit (Periparus ater, N=23) and non-storing great tit (Parus major, N=24) to find out which stage they can achieve and whether there is a difference between these species in relation to their caching ability. Our results suggest that food-storing coal tits search for completely hidden objects significantly better than great tits. Most of the great tits were not able to solve this task. However, the upper limit for both species is probably Stage 4 because coal tits probably solved OP tasks with more screens randomly or used alternative strategies rather than mental representation. Substantial interindividual variability in the...
Contribution of social dominance on performance in spatial cognitive tasks in pigeons
Janská, Iveta ; Landová, Eva (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Diploma thesis generally compares individual success pigeons in spatial tasks of varying complexity (in a role that requires abstraction of visual stimuli representing spatial relationships on the touch screen using two different strategies and spatial search task the middle plate of a series of plates with different variants of location) with hierarchical status of males and group females. Specifically thesis compares individual success pigeons in spatial tasks of varying complexity. The hardest task requires a certain level of abstraction of visual stimuli representing spatial relationships using experimentally induced two strategies: mapping strategy or specific symbol association with a position in space. The role tests on the touch screen with the help of operant conditionings. Difficulty in various stages of growing, the last stage role does manage only some individuals. Conversely easier task in real space with a bird tasked with finding the midpoint between objects in different variants locations within the arena. The difficulty of the task is not growing, and it can solve some individuals who have not learned operant conditioning if the previous job. Performance in cognitive tasks could be affected by the hierarchical status of the animal in the group. Pigeons position in the hierarchy has...
Optimization of litter size in rodents
Cingelová, Alexandra ; Dušek, Adam (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Optimization of litter size can be defined as adjustment of litter size according to actual environmental conditions or condition of mother to reach a compromise between the maximum number of offspring and their individual fitness. Rodents are an ideal taxon to study this topic because of their enormous interspecific variability in life strategies across the whole order. The variation in litter size among rodent species was influenced by countless ecological and social factors during their evolution. These include the geographical location of the breeding populations, various life and reproductive strategies such as r-/K-strategy, the presence of altricial or precocious offspring, various ways of life, the presence of water in the environment, predation rate, hibernation, and sociality. Litter size can be adjusted already before fertilization, for example by choosing a partner, by timing reproduction, condition, age and social status of the mother. Genetic factors affecting litter size are, for example, MHC glycoprotein polymorphism and t-haplotype. Reduction of the litter size may occur before insemination by influencing the ovulation rate, female reproductive hormone levels and exposure to the stressors, during implantation by selective abortion, and postpartum by infanticide, siblicide, and...
Acoustic communication and its variability in selected populations of ground squirrels of the genus Spermophilus
Schneiderová, Irena ; Vohralík, Vladimír (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee) ; Špinka, Marek (referee)
The thesis deals with vocalizations produced by Eurasian ground squirrels of the genus Spermophilus. It is mainly focused on inter-species and intra-species variability in acoustic structure of alarm calls which are emitted in presence of predators.The major part of the thesis deals with intra-species variability in acoustic structure of the alarm calls in five Eurasian ground squirrels, Spermophilus citellus, S. taurensis, S. xanthoprymnus, S. suslicus and S. fulvus. It has been confirmed that the alarm calls of these ground squirrels show a high level of species specificity. The thesis further describes another vocalizations produced by three Eurasian ground squirrel species, Spermophilus suslicus, S. citellus and S. fulvus, and shows that with the exception of the alarm calls, vocal repertoires of these three ground squirrels are remarkably similar. The last part of the thesis deals with individual distinctiveness of the alarm calls of three Eurasian ground squirrels, Spermophilus citellus, S. taurensis and S. xanthoprymnus. It has been shown that the alarm calls of these species have a significant potential to encode information about caller identity.
Factors affecting long-term memory of aposematic signals in avian predators
Skoumalová, Žaneta ; Exnerová, Alice (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
The ability to memorize and recognize edible prey from inedible prey is essential for an individuals survival. Many species use aposematic signals for their defense. These are most often represented by distinctive colors or contrast patterns. The aim of this study was to find out in which time the memory consolidation for aposematic pray is achieved and if color or pattern increase its memorability. The choosen model species was the Great tit (Parus major). The comparision was done between handreared naïve birds and wild-caught adults of different age and sex. During the discriminatory task of consolidation experiment, birds were simultaneously presented with palatable and unpalatable prey in the form of paper dummies of bugs, differing in color (red versus green). The birds were divided into three groups with a different interval (0, 1 or 3 hours) for consolidation. The results of consolidation test show that adult birds were more successfull in solving the task than juvenile birds. The only difference between the experimental groups was that the group with one-hour interval achieved better results than other groups. The effect of color of palatable and unpalatable prey on discrimination learning was also found only in adults. Memorability of warning signals was tested using paper bugs of...
Personality and cognition in great tit (Parus major)
Šimánková, Hana ; Exnerová, Alice (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Success of an individual in various cognitive tasks can be influenced by many factors. Among the significant ones, that were studied in relationship with cognitive abilities, are animal personality and age. Great tit personality types are evaluated from explorative behavior and reaction towards novel object. We recognize Fast explorers, which are more active but superficial explorers, and Slow explorers, which are cautious, slower but thorough. Fast individuals manipulate sooner with a new food and non food objects. Slow individuals return later to offered food after being disrupted and they have higher breath rate. Some studies have revealed that Fast and Slow personalities differed in their cognitive abilities, for example in spatial tasks, in associative learning, in discrimination tasks or memory tasks, but many of them focus on only one type of task. In order to test both personalities thoroughly we tried to select types of tasks that focused on various abilities - two diverse types of extractive tasks, positive and aversive discrimination task and avoidance learning with firebugs (Pyrrhocoris apterus) in young naïve birds. Birds were tested in three age categories: young naïve hand reared birds, one year olds and two years and older birds. Fast and Slow individuals differed in aversive...
Inter-individual differences in behaviour of laboratory rats
Rudolfová, Veronika ; Nekovářová, Tereza (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Number of studies report that even when experimental animals are subjected to the exact same conditions, they differ in their behaviour. If these differences were stable in time and across several experimental procedures, we could talk about personality. This diploma thesis studies inter-individual differences in behaviour of laboratory rats (Long Evans strain) in a series of experiments conducted in early ontogeny and in adult age. Apart from analysing inter-individual differences in behaviour and personality of experimental animals, this thesis has two main aims. The first aim is assessing stability of inter-individual differences in behaviour throughout ontogeny. The second aim is to explore possible link between inter-individual differences in behaviour and performance in cognitive tests. We confirmed the existence of inter-individual difference in behaviour in laboratory rats. In this thesis we were, however, not able to assess personality of experimental animals. The differences in behaviour were best described by behaviour in Open field test and Elevated plus maze test. Our results also show marked differences between successive trials of these experiments. We also report that performance in Active allothetic place avoidance is not linked to performance in Morris water maze, even though both...
Biology of non-commensal populations of house mouse (Mus musculus sensus lato) from the Near East
Slábová, Markéta ; Frynta, Daniel (advisor) ; Macholán, Miloš (referee) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Proceedingseditor: SlábováM. & Sýkorová,Z. (eds.) (2006): Proceedings of the InternationalPh.D. students'coďerence. Universityof SouthBohemia in ČeskéBudějovice,Facultyof Agriculture,ČeskéBudějovice,Czech Republic,2006. Sýkorová Z. & Slábová M. (eds.) (2007): Proceeding of the IntemationalPh.D. students'conference.Universityof SouthBohemia in ČeskéBudějovice,Facultyof Agriculture,ČeskéBudějovice,Czech Republic,2007. Grants: 2000-2005participantontheprojectGAAV IAA6141102 Licences: Licencefor experimentaltreatmentwithanimals(numberCZU 540102) allowedby CzechCentralCommissionfor Animď Welfare. Summary House mouse(Mus musculussensulato) is one of the most studied mammals, but the attentionis paid mostly to laboratory (strictly speakingdomesticated)'or coÍnmensalpopulations.But thereare also non-coÍnmensalpopulations,living in totally differentconditionsand undertotallydifferentselectivepressures,sotheknowledgeconceming conrmensalÁaboratorypopulations can not be generalized. The evolutionof commensalismdefinitelycausedlarge changesin house mouselife history,behaviour,morphologyandsocialorganization.The aim of this studywasto, at leastpartially,fill in thi. gupin knowledge abouthousemouse,reallyinterestingandwell adaptablespecies. 4 Thethesisfocuseson thenon-commensalpopulationsaf Mus musculus domesticusfrom the...
Between-year dynamics of carnivores and ungulates in the Czech landscape
Schnebergerová, Adriana ; Pyšek, Petr (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
It is important for the ecological management of wildlife populations in the Czech Republic to know the composition of species in individual habitats. This will allow predictions on the reactions of wildlife based on evolving changes that will occur sooner or later in these habitats due to human activity and natural change of our environment. Camera traps are a powerful tool of the 21st century with which we are able to observe wildlife without major interventions in their lives. With the right experimental design, camera traps allow us to find out details about wildlife life such as their distribution and habitat preferences, population structure, and their behavior. In this work, I used camera traps to determine the species composition of two groups; ungulates and carnivores in different habitats. This thesis analyzes the habitat preferences and hepls to find out to what extent the spatial patterns of occurrence on these two groups are in the monitored habitats over the course of a couple years. Data collection took place from June 2015 to May 2017 in the Central Bohemian Region northeast of Prague. Despite the fact that the area is densely populated and agriculturally exploited, I was able to capture four species of ungulates and nine species of carnivores on a total of 73 camera traps in this...

National Repository of Grey Literature : 75 records found   previous11 - 20nextend  jump to record:
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4 SEDLÁČEK, František
3 Sedláček, Filip
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