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Size and stability of territories in tropical birds
Charvátová, Barbora ; Hořák, David (advisor) ; Lučan, Radek (referee)
The size and the stability of avian territories are at first sight quite different in the tropics if compared to the temperate zone. Territories of tropical birds are relatively more stable in time and space. Their owners defend territories year-round, between years and the boundaries of territories remain unchanged. Tropical territories are also many times larger in size. These specific properties are conditioned by many interconnected factors. The size of the owner and food availability have a significant influence. The size of the territory increases with the size of the owner. And the owner reduces territory size with a higher food supply. It is food availability, which is closely related to the quality of the environment. Generally, the density of individuals is lower in lower quality areas. Thus, owners adapt their territories - increase size. This is especially interesting in the tropics, considering that there is much higher species richness and lower population density than in the temperate area. Differences in territory can also occur due to different altitudes - there are larger territories in tropical montane cloud forest. Also, the location in the area and potential barriers have influence, but rather in position than in a size. Studying these factors explains the differences in...
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An intensity of plumage bacterial load and resistence against bacteria-caused feather degradation in tropical birds of Afromontane areas of Cameroon
Kyptová, Markéta ; Javůrková, Veronika (advisor) ; Adamík, Peter (referee)
Microorganisms are considered to be a significant selective factor affecting bird's life strategies. The body cover, including feather, is occupied by a wide range of bacteria that are in their host in different interactions. Group of microorganisms degradate keratins of feather is still most studied and most species of birds have them in feather. This feather degrading bacteria can disrupt the wear and its function and thus cause great losses to its fitness. Therefore, it seems likely that these feathers degrading bacteria and microorganisms generally play a significant role in creating defence mechanisms against their negative effects. One of the most important defence mechanisms to protect feathers against the action of microorganisms is the deposition of melanin pigments. This diploma thesis deals with the analysis of the total bacterial load in feathers and its resistance against bacterial degradation in 47 species of birds trapped in afromontan areas of western Cameroon. The specific aim of the thesis was to determine differences in the total number of bacteria in plumage in species with different life strategies, especially feeding and reproductive strategies. At the same time, the phtilochronological analysis of the quality of the plumage was performed and in vitro experiments were tested...
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Seasonality of reproduction in tropical birds
Kačírek, Vojtěch ; Sedláček, Ondřej (advisor) ; Tomášek, Oldřich (referee)
The aim of of this paper is to summarize the knowledge of reproduction seasonality of tropical birds. Work includes characteristics of individual tropical environment and changes in abiotic conditions, focusing on the question, in what sense are tropics aseasonal and what is not. The work includes an overview of methodologies for collecting data during field research focused on monitoring reproduction in birds. The main part of this work is to compare the differences between biogeographic regions, regions and their stimuli, which most commonly lead to the creation of seasonal reproduction, followed by a comparison of individual functional groups of birds (food guilds). Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
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Altitudinal migrations in animals and their study methods
Zenklová, Tereza ; Sedláček, Ondřej (advisor) ; Klvaňa, Petr (referee)
Migration as a response to the seasonality of the environment is common in many animal taxa. Strong fluctuation of the climate is usually connected to regions in the temperate zone, quite common is in the tropical regions as well. Typically, it is even more pronounced in high altitudes. In such environment, many animals could migrate altitudinaly as a response to changes in the climatic conditions or food abundance. But determinants of altitudinal and long-distance latitudinal migrations could be different. The objective of this work is to determine factors influencing altitudinal migrations in diverse taxa (particularly in birds and bats) and in different biogeographical regions. I am trying to find some common features of migrating species, such as diet or temperature and rain tolerance. Especially tropical species are partial migrants, which means that only some individuals of the population migrate. I will discuss common features of such migrating infividuals. Study methods of altitudinal migration will be a part of this research as well. The work will be primarily concentrated on tropical regions.
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Carboniferous tropical ecosystems of euramerican province
Frojdová, Jana ; Opluštil, Stanislav (advisor) ; Sakala, Jakub (referee)
This thesis deals with the tropical terrestrial ecosystems of Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) time. It is especially focussed on description of the Carboniferous tropical forest and its components. Introductory parts of the thesis deal with the general characteristics of Carboniferous period, including fauna and flora, distributions of continents and how was the climate of this period. Second part follows the characteristics of particular components of the Carboniferous tropical forest, i.e. of individual plant groups and genera, and their ecological demands. Characterised are plants and their assemblages in tropical lowlands as well as in upland areas, rarely preserved in sedimentary record. In the next part I characterise the dynamics of the forest of Carboniferous tropics and discuss potential mechanisms which controlled the floristic changes including plant extinction. The role of climate changes, which had great influence on vegetation, is discussed as the possible main control. In the separate chapter I describe extinction of arborescent lycopsids. Key words: ecosystem, tropical forest, lowland, climate changes
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Poetics of Holan's collections The Triumph of Death, The Breezing and The Arch
Enderlová, Hana ; Binar, Vladimír (advisor) ; Wiendl, Jan (referee)
This thesis analyzes the first two poetry collections by Vladimir Holan - Triumf smrti (1930, revision 1936, 1948) and Vanutí (1932). At first, it focuses on identifying their rhythmic structure, its constants and the successive transformations. Particular attention is given to reprocessing of collection Triumf smrti - in the analysis of its three variants to see, how did the Holan's conception of poetic rhythm developed and its relationship to semantics of poetic text and its transformations. Part of exploration is to determine the function of poetic rhythm constants in individual collections, accompanied by an attempt to demonstrate that the relationship of rhythm, euphony and instrumentation of verse and their interaction belongs to the basic components of Holan's lyricism in this period. Furthermore, the work deals with the semantics of these Holan's collections, especially analysis of the basic features of his metaphor and metonymy, their mutual relationship, changes of the metaphors into metonymy and overgrowth in the context of poetic text into symbols. The purpose of the work is to show that the essence of poetic semantics in these collections lies in the specificity and uniqueness of their poetics, from which it is inevitably born, grows and shapes.
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Tropical Solar Freezer
Trčálková, Miroslava ; Suchánek,, Petr (referee) ; Nový, Alois (advisor) ; Donaťáková, Dagmar (advisor)
The aim of this study was to design a tropical solar freezer, which would be entirely self-sufficient. The requirement was to install solar freezer to developing countries with insufficient technical infrastructure. The construction of solar freezer is located near Lake Victoria, in a town called Kisumu, Kenya in Africa. The main idea was to create a simple look that matches the use of the building. My suggestion was to create two separate buildings. The first is a small object, serving as a gatehouse. The second object is a large U-shaped, in which there are all the necessary facilities for the operation of freezer and facilities for staff. The supporting system consists of cast-in-place reinforced concrete columns. Solar panels located on the roof of freezers protect the building from direct sunlight. Diagonal steel rods fitted on the east and west facades constitute a significant feature of the building.
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Power - plant
Studený, Jan ; Severa, Zdeněk (referee) ; Mléčka, Jan (advisor)
The "POWER - PLANT" deals with the rehabilitation of the former Central Power Conversion and Dale Schoeller (Nejedly I and III) in the village Libušín Mine. Will be newly designed for building the power plant technology with progressive fluidized bed boiler to biomass steam turbine with an output of 7 MW and absorption (trigeneration) unit producing heat, cooling and electricity, which also will function as a cooler primary circuits. The source of water for the power plant will not only former mining pit Nejedlý I which is currently flooded drinking water at about 12 ° C. This system uses high efficiency embedded fuel (biomass), which is ultimately required less. A greater proportion of electricity generated and part of the heat will be distributed to the public network. In most areas will be proposed publicly accessible greenhouses of steel-aluminum construction filled ETFE foil forming the heat insulating membrane filled with air. The reason is to create conditions for the cultivation of tropical and subtropical plants. Greenhouses will be connected to the absorption unit power (underground meanders through which water will circulate), the ventilation shaft mine and mine water - therefore it will be possible to manage the conditions of the internal environment of the building without the influence of the season and especially without mounting other technological devices. It will provide for cooperation with the absorption unit for cooling the primary circuit - therefore eliminating the need for cooling towers or fans. The project will build a detached departments of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Prague - Institute of progressive technologies and systems for energy and the Faculty of Agronomy and Natural Resources CULS. The reason is to allow students and scientists actively and in practice mainly participate in the operation and especially the development of the issue. The public in the area besides themselves open to the greenhouses indoor and outdoor thermal swimming. Part of the entrance hall is a bistro and foremost lecture hall. The aim is decentralized botanical-energy complex of buildings that produce electricity, heat, cooling, and biomass, and creating recreational, educational and research conditions.
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Diversity and ecology of arboreal ant communities in a tropical lowland forest
KLIMEŠ, Petr
The thesis focuses on the study of arboreal ant communities in a highly diverse tropical rainforest in Papua New Guinea. In the first study of its kind, whole patches of forest were sampled extensively for ants foraging and nesting in tree trunks and canopies. An extraordinary amount of material collected from 684 felled trees and 260 bait stations in plots of primary and secondary forest was used to study the mechanisms structuring the diversity and species coexistence of this ecologically important insect group at the local scale. The first chapter addresses the question "Why are ant communities more species rich in primary than in secondary forests?" and explores the main environmental traits that influence their diversity in tropical trees. The second chapter compares the community diversity and composition and nesting preferences of ant species between both forest types. The final third chapter introduces a novel method, involving large-scale manipulation of ant communities that could serve as a template for future studies focused on complex tropical food-webs of canopy arthropods and plants. In summary, the results of the thesis highlight the importance of primary vegetation in conserving the diversity of native ant communities and the relevance of nesting microhabitats and their turnover between trees, rather than tree taxonomic diversity, for sustaining the diverse arboreal fauna in tropical forests.
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