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The Evaluation of Reproduction in Bactrian Camels (Camelus bactrianus) and the Possibilities of Using Non-invasive Methods for Detection of Heat and Pregnancy
Fedorova, Tamara ; Lukešová, Daniela (advisor) ; Jiří, Jiří (referee)
Camels are important husbandry animals which are also often bred in zoological gardens. Unfortunately, camels in European zoos are not usually trained and pregnancy diagnosis in a half-tamed camel is very difficult. Moreover, information of the maternal behaviour of camels is limited. This thesis reviewed current knowledge on camel husbandry, reproduction and behaviour and aimed to 1) examine non-invasive methods of heat and pregnancy diagnosis from urine and saliva in camels kept in zoological gardens; 2) explore their maternal and suckling behaviour; 3) describe experiences with artificial rearing of camel calves. The research into non-invasive pregnancy diagnosis was carried out from 2010 to 2012. Urine from 14 camel females kept in four European zoological gardens was collected and tested using two chemical tests -- the Cuboni reaction and barium chloride test. The Cuboni reaction was significantly (p < 0.01) affected by the pregnancy status of female camels, and its accuracy increased significantly (p < 0.05) in the period leading up to parturition. The barium chloride test did not provide reliable results. Next, the saliva of five adult female camels was sampled for more than one year and concentrations of progesterone (P4) and oestradiol (E2) were measured. The concentrations of P4 (n = 312) and E2 (n = 310) were both significantly (p < 0.0001) affected by the pregnancy status of the animals. Maternal and suckling behaviour was observed from 2003 to 2009 in six zoological gardens, and the presented study includes partial data from this period. Allosuckling (i.e. when a female nurses a non-filial offspring) was described for the first time in camels and it represented 8.58% of all suckling bouts. The non-filial calves suckled more often in the lateral position and preferably joined the filial calf when suckling, so the results support the 'milk theft' hypothesis (stealing of milk) as a main cause of this behaviour. Finally, calf rearing in the Prague zoological garden was summarised and two camel calves were successfully artificially reared. This PhD thesis concluded that 1) the Cuboni reaction with urine and salivary P4 and E2 measurements are suitable methods for pregnancy diagnosis in half-tamed female camels; 2) allosuckling is relatively common in captive Bactrian camels; 3) the artificial rearing of camel calves with a calf milk replacer can be successful.
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Maternal behaviour in Giraffes (Giraffidae)
Gloneková, Markéta ; Baranyiová, Eva (advisor) ; Luděk, Luděk (referee)
Allomaternal care is one of the most interesting types of cooperation among females. Its most extreme form is allonursing, nursing of a non-filial young, which is still not completely understood, even though many hypotheses have been postulated. This type of cooperation among giraffes had not been expected for long time. This was based on the initial opinion that giraffes do not have social system and form only weak social bonds. However, my bachelor and master theses showed high occurrence of allonursing in captive giraffes.
The first aim (1) of this thesis was to test all possible hypotheses explaining allonursing in captive giraffes. However, a lot of the information needed to test them were missing, which resulted in the formulation of further aims. The second aim (2) was to test the hierarchy in captive giraffes. The third aim (3) was to describe the growth and weight of captive giraffes. The fourth aim (4) was to compare nursing patterns in the zoo and in the nature reserve Bandia, Senegal and the last aim (5) was to test the social bonds among giraffes in the nature reserve Bandia, Senegal.
(1) From 2007 to 2011, the nursing behaviour of 24 females and 37 calves was observed. Eighty-three percent of the females allonursed a nonfilial calf and 86.5% of calves allosuckled from a nonmaternal female. Allonursing in giraffes was explained by milk-theft from the point of view of the calves and possible reciprocity among females. (2) The agonistic interactions of 31 giraffes were recorded in four herds. A linear hierarchy was been found among giraffes and rank was significantly affected by age and time spent in the herd. (3) The weight data from 43 giraffes in Prague zoo were collected from 2009 to 2013 and provided the basic information about giraffe growth and weight. (4) I also observed the nursing behaviour of seven and four female-calf pairs in the fenced Bandia reserve, Senegal, and in Prague zoo, respectively, both for 22 days. The differences in nursing patterns were likely to reflect anti-predator behaviour, the population density of animals and the distribution of food resources. (5) Finally, I investigated the social preferences of 28 introduced giraffes in semi-captivity in the nature reserve Bandia, Senegal and provided the results supporting the existence of a fission fusion social system among giraffes with social preferences among adult females.
The overall results provide unique findings on allonursing in general as well as changing our perspective on giraffe social behaviour.
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Transformation of FINCA Programs into Micro-banks and Influence of the NGOs (Mexico, FIPS A.C. and Czechs´activities).
Drašarová, Martina ; Banout, Jan (advisor) ; Irena, Irena (referee)
Microfinance has been seen as a key tool for poverty reduction in developing countries. Target groups of microfinance are very poor people who have no access to any financial resources and need loans. Microcredits help the poor in running their small businesses or in a creation of its own job opportunities. The loans are often embezzlemented, are not financial sustainable in the long term, and are frequently critised. The question is if microfinance is real universal cure and which influence has on elimination poverty and social even economical effect. It also considers a perspective of model preferences focused on business (conditional high interests, possibility to contact intermediaters, gaining easier access into external financial sources) or a charity (more resistant to crisis thanks to using internal financial sources). In general, Latin America has excellent conditions for microfinance; the macro-economic growth which countries in Latin America had shown during the last decades set up advantageous conditions for well-known microfinance institutions and its development. Microfinance sector contributes by its profits to the common financial institutions which have already got a significant position in the market. In principle, Mexico struggles for better conditions for the poorest class of the population and due to this fact offers products of microcredits as the assistance to start-up small businesses. From the economic point of view, Mexico tries to be much more self-sufficient and sustainable. Microfinance institutions earn regularly an undisputed importance in the process of regional expansion, representing a crucial factor in the alleviation of poverty likewise insecurity for large segments of the inhabitants. The work is based on information from relevant sources that can easily identify the current status of microfinance. This thesis researches the microfinancial sector and the program FINCA (Foundation for International Community Assistance), including causing non-governmental organizations in Mexico. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the current situation of functioning microfinance sector in selected Mexican states as well as to identify impacts of microfinance activities in this country. It describes microfinance sector due to its lack of opportunities to gain microcredit. Credit distribution and its awareness about these services is passed. Administrative procedures are difficult and information shortage restricts credit accessibility. This leads more in usage informal sector, based on family members or groups. The paper demonstrates suggestions for improving and operating in this sector that might be involved in legal framework for microfinance in Mexico.
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Černý, David ; Malaťák, Jan (advisor) ; Mašek, Jiří (referee)
Organic wastes represent available replacement for crops grown specifically for biofuel production. However, the combustion of solid biofuels is often accompanied by technical problems. Biofuels made of organic wastes require the source of which do not contain hazardous substances that could be their combustion in simple combustion sources came into the atmosphere as emissions.
This thesis is focused on the assessment of technical and operational parameters of small combustion plants while burning biofuels and also of the measurement of emission concentrations of CO and NOX in the flue gas and its subsequent analysis. Samples were selected as solid fuel in the form of a lump, briquettes and pellets made from advanced materials. Incineration was realized in the fireplace with a grate furnace and automatic stove.
The bark briquettes could appears to be a suitable substitution for coal or wooden briquettes, and during combustion in grate emission concentrations of CO were achieved with a value of 560.8 +/- 98.9 mg.m-3,on the contrary NOX levels were relatively high
1 193.6 +/- 141.7 mg.m-3. In case of this work, when using the furnace the briquettes were made from compost , whose emission levels are higher: CO 1 487.8 +/- 418.8 mg.m-3, NOx levels were somewhat lower 330.8 +/- 26.3 mg.m-3 than the briquettes bark.
An experimental sample of sewage sludge, which has been modified by hydrothermal carbonisation, was burned on the grate furnace and the measured emission levels for CO
1 493.3 +/- 237.3 mg.m-3 and NOX levels 544.8 +/- 20.2 mg.m-3, positive because it was achieved the rated output of the combustion equipment and the heat of combustion of the sample is very low 12.61 MJ.kg-1.
The most efficient combustion of 80.8 +/- 2,7 % was achieved using automatic stove, during burning waste wood pellets certificate ENplus A1, the very low levels of emission and a very low emission levels for CO with a value of 117.5 +/- 14.4 mg.m-3 and values NOX
110.3 +/- 2.9 mg.m-3 were measured. Following experiments on this device were intended to increase the efficiency of a combustion plant by installing a hot-air heat exchanger and preheating combustion air. Method with preheating combustion air caused an increase in the emission concentration of CO.
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Ecological and evolution strategies of necrophagous beetles (Coleoptera)
Jakubec, Pavel ; Růžička, Jan (advisor) ; Petr, Petr (referee)
Necrophagous beetles (Coleoptera) are very interesting and diverse ecological group of species with an immense impact on a natural nutrient cycle. Their main food source and breeding ground are carrions of vertebrates, human remains included. This relationship is often used in various ways by forensic entomology, but its potential was not jet fully reached, because our knowledge of biology and ecology of these beetles is very much incomplete. In this thesis I would like to explore geographic distribution, ecological requirements and developmental biology of several Central European necrophagous beetles as an outcome of their ecological and evolution strategies. For that I raised three broad research questions. Which factors are determining the local abundance of carrion beetles (Coleoptera: Silphidae)? How the current geographical distribution of open-landscape carrion beetles looks like in the Czech Republic? How the temperature affects the development of Sciodrepoides watsoni (Spence, 1813)? We found out that soil type can have significant effect on abundance of carrion beetles. They showed preference for chernozem -- Nicrophorus antennatus (Reitter), N. germanicus (Linnaeus), N. interruptus (Stephens), N. sepultor (Charpentier), Silpha obscura obscura (Herbst), T. sinuatus (Fabricius) or for fluvisol as did N. humator (Gleditsch). These findings support our hypothesis that soil type could be an important factor determining the occurrence of necrophagous European carrion beetles. To collect novel data of the current geographical distribution of carrion beetles we used 420 baited pitfall traps at 84 localities, and we collected 71 234 specimens of 15 silphid species. Among them, three endangered carrion beetle species listed on the Czech Red List of Invertebrates, were found. Two are vulnerable thermophilic species of open landscapes, Nicrophorus antennatus (Reitter, 1884) (collected around Louny and Židlochovice) and Nicrophorus germanicus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Louny, Zábřeh and Židlochovice). The third is the near threatened species, Nicrophorus sepultor Charpentier, 1825 (collected around Louny, Kutná Hora, Zábřeh and Židlochovice), which also prefers open landscapes. We studied development of common Holarctic beetle Sciodrepoides watsoni under five constant temperature regimes in laboratory (15, 18, 21, 25 and 28°C). Parameters of thermal summation models and their standard errors were calculated for each developmental stage (egg, three larval instars and pupae). We also find a new character for larval instar determination (head width) and proposed novel approach for future studies of size-based characters in instar determination.
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Factors influencing seed germination, emergence and mortality in soil seed bank of Bromus sterilis L.
Žďárková, Veronika ; Soukup, Josef (advisor)
Bromus sterilis L. (barren brome) spreads rapidly in many European regions. In the Czech Republic, its importance has increased dramatically over the past 10 years. Barren brome is reported as a problem weed in winter crops such as winter wheat, winter barley and oil seed rape, in vineyards and in other cultivated places. Barren brome has been becoming troublesome weed of winter cereals mainly in reduced soil tillage systems. The factors, that are important for its spreading and adaptability under different environmental conditions, are dormancy and germination. Optimal timing for seed germination varies with respect to natural conditions and it is determining for plant development. These traits are adapted to different conditions and habitats; therefore the dormancy and germination response patterns to those conditions vary significantly. Recently there are not many information available on germination behaviour, therefore this study was focused on seeds of barren brome and its characteristics, which were collected in different regions of the Czech Republic. Seeds were investigated under different temperatures, light regimes and water stress in a wide range of conditions. The following characteristics of seeds were studied the dormancy, the dynamics of germination, the temperature optimum, the age of seeds and dynamics of emergence from different depths and persistence in the soil profile under field conditions. Dormancy and germination are influenced by external conditions. The dormancy of seeds barren brome is very short or missing. The germination is influenced by light; the seeds germinated better under darkness than under light regime. The primary dormancy of B. sterilis was short and the seeds needed only three weeks for after-ripening. The seeds of B. sterilis showed broad ecological valence to hydrothermal factors germinating in the wide range of 3 to 35 °C. The temperature optimum is 5-23°C. The germination was only slightly influenced in an environment with low water potential. Germination was limited under water stress only at lower temperatures under 10°C. The response to light at various temperatures showed that seeds germinated better in darkness in all temperatures regimes, than in alternating light regime, especially at lower temperatures. The emergence declined significantly with burial depth (under 40 mm). The seeds were not able to survive in the soil seed bank for a longer time and fall seeds lost viability after 1 year burial in soil profile. These results may be of value for development of predictive models and understanding period when weed control may be most feasible.
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Impact of rainwater management on mitigation of hydrological extremes
Pešková, Jitka ; Štibinger, Jakub (advisor) ; Miroslav, Miroslav (referee)
This dissertation deals with the impact of rainwater harvesting on mitigation of hydrological extremes. Due to the fact that it is a very broad topic that cannot be completely elaborated, the work targets selected aspects of this issue. The work is divided into two parts. The first part is divided into the following five chapters: The water in the landscape, Water regime, Hydrological extremes, Water regime adjustment and Legislation. These chapters summarize available worldwide knowledge about rainwater harvesting both in the landscape and in urbanized areas with a focus on mitigation of extreme hydrological phenomena (floods - drought), including legislative security of water management on national and EU level.
The second part of the thesis is compiled in the form of an annotated set of four scientific studies, whose results were presented in articles published in scientific journals. The first study targets the efficiency of torrent control (hydro-technical point of view and migration of water fauna). The second study focuses on the territory of the Morava River floodplains, where negative impacts of floods and droughts appear repetitively. The study solves the hydrological balance of the area using the WBCM-7 model. The third study focuses on computation method of the retention drainage capacity in the agricultural area drained by subsurface pipe drainage system. The last paper describes a new application of the Fourier series for detailed simulation of the runoff on a catchment in the dry periods. Within the thesis, these studies have been interconnected by explanatory comments.
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Methodology of design multidimensional databases in the farm environment
Vasilenko, Alexandr ; Klimešová, Dana (advisor) ; Toman, Prokop (referee)
This dissertation thesis is focused on bulk unsolicited messages which are present in
current time in all sectors of electronic communications. It is not only e-mail
communication, but also in online forums, discussion contributions, social networking
and more. Analyze spam messages is therefore an essential element in preventing
flooding user mailboxes.
Antispam countermeasures is a set of processes, software tools and methods. It is
necessary to harmonize all these components into one cooperating piece of service.
Administrators of email servers are trying to keep their servers optimally configured. The
problem is that spammers trying continuously these defense mechanisms and filter bypass
to enhance spam processes. Their work is very sophisticated and this fight does not yet
have a clear winner. After enhancement techniques either processes takes place after a
certain time to balance the advantages and disadvantages.
For these reasons it is necessary to have a tool which can be analyzed in depth junk
messages with dynamic data views. This tool can be Online Analytical Processing (OLAP
below), which is very suitable for this purpose.
Presented a method of data extraction and transformation and preparation for storage in
a warehouse DT-MEZ (Data Pump - metadata email messages). This method is part of
the methodology ASOLAP (Antispam - OLAP).
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Agricultural in terms of Sustainable Development of Agrarian Sector
Frýdlová, Monika ; Boháčková, Ivana (advisor) ; Smutka, Luboš (referee)
The sustainability discourse clearly gives priority to the so-called "three-pillar model", according to which sustainable development should equally try to reach ecological, economic, and social goals. An increasing variety of methods is being proposed to address the question of the measurement of sustainable development. The concept of sustainable development can be interpreted in many different ways, but at its core is an approach to development that looks to balance different, and often competing, needs against an awareness of the environmental, social and economic limitations we face as asociety. Submitting theses deal with measuring sustainable agriculture and introduces a practical methodology for evaluating the sustainability of agriculture system by means of composite indicators. This methodology was based on calculating seven sustainability indicators that cover the three components of the sustainability concept (economic, social and environmental). The methodological proposal implemented in theses allowed an integrated vision of agricultural sustainability and careful selection of sustainability indicators, carried out on the basis of reliability criteria and applicability. The evaluation of agricultural sustainability/production system sustainability using the methods suggested is a potentially useful tool for public decision-makers who are tasked with designing and implementing agricultural policy. The results demonstrated the usefulness of analyzing several sustainability indicators in conjunction, in order to obtain more robust results. Such information can help to improve current agricultural policies, such as income policy, agricultural structure policy and rural development policy, with the aim of improving the sustainability of the agricultural sector.
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Effect of water stress on gas exchange and fluorescence of selected species of tribe Panicoideae
Hrkotová, Kristýna ; Hnilička, František (advisor) ; Václav, Václav (referee)
Summary
The thesis studied the effect of water deficit on gas exchange in young plants sorghum and foxtail. These crops could replace maize cultivation in some areas, because their use is similar. Our country is currently facing shortage of rainfall. In 2015, this phenomenon was very noticeable. Therefore, it is appropriate to see how the plants of sorghum and foxtail respond to water deficit during their ontogenetic development. On the water deficit are very sensitive plants in the early stages of growth, and therefore the influence of water deficit was observed on young plants of sorghum and foxtail.
Plant genotypes 121, 304, Ruzrok Red and Plant foxtail were divided into four variants: KK (fully irrigated throughout the experiment) KS (14 days full of grout, 10 days water deficit, 4 days full dressing), SK (10 days water deficit, 18 days full of dressing), SS (10 days water deficit, four days filled with grout, water deficit 10 days, four days full of topping). The speed of exchange of gases were measured in the greenhouse device LCpro+ and chlorophyll fluorescence apparatus OS1 - FL. The rate of photosynthesis and transpiration and chlorophyll fluorescence were measured in the morning. The difference between the measured values of the rate of photosynthesis and transpiration value was calculated water use efficiency (WUE).
Most sensitive to water deficit responded genotype 121 which had a value of water use efficiency (WUE) 9.95 (10-3) and also had the genotype and the lowest value of chlorophyll fluorescence and 0.765. Resistant to water deficit seems foxtail plants, which had the lowest photosynthesis difference between control and stressed variant in the range of 14.59 mikromol CO2.m-2.s-1 (SS) to 15.38 mikromol CO2.m-2.s-1 (KK). At the same time it also foxtail lowest difference between chlorophyll fluorescence variant KK (0.814) and SS variant (0.781). From the perspective of transpiration as most resistant to water deficit appeared foxtail (0.08 mmol H2O.m-2.s-1 (SS) to 2.13 mmol H2O.m-2.s-1 (KS)). Conversely, the least resistant genotype was 121, which was in the control variant 1.17 mmol H2O.m-2.s-1 and stressed 1.50 mmol H2O.m-2.s-1.
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