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Společenstva vodních makrobezobratlých ovlivněna lidskými činnostmi
LET, Marek
Macroinvertebrates represent an essential part of aquatic environments contributing to various ecosystem services. Disregarding the importance of their habitats and stable and functionally diverse communities can cause hardly reversible losses. This Thesis aimed to reveal relationships between responses of aquatic macroinvertebrate communities and the consequences of human activities. The general negative relationship between the gradient of insecticide contamination and abundances of higher taxonomic units of the stream macroinvertebrates was observed (Chapter 2). The gradient of droughts correlated negatively to the abundances of mayflies (Ephemeroptera), stoneflies (Plecoptera) and caddisflies (Trichoptera) - hereinafter referred as "EPT" - and the most positively to the abundances of coleopteran adults, heteropterans, ostracods, and water lice. Disturbing synergic effects of droughts and agricultural runoff were assumed based on the comparisons between communities sampled in the control site and initially contaminated downstream sites. The practices in modern agricultural systems can be considered one of the greatest threats to aquatic macroinvertebrate fauna. Results summarised in Chapter 3 show decreasing richness of EPT taxa (however, not their abundances) along with the involvement of an increasing number of anthropogenic factors. Nevertheless, only the mayflies and especially stoneflies showed significant negative responses, whilst caddisflies generally exhibited resistance to the presumably strongest anthropogenic factors; namely to contamination by trace metals (cadmium, lead and zinc) and to subsequent loads of treated and "poorly treated" municipal wastewaters containing pesticides, pharmaceutical active compounds, sewage-derived organic matter, and undoubtedly other not identified kinds of pollutants. Despite the higher caddisfly abundance, there were detected signs of worsened health status in hydropsychids, limnephilids and rhyacophilids, particularly detected malformations and the presence of dead pupae in both types of contaminated environments. However, the environment polluted by wastewaters exhibited a significant relationship to a highly increased relative contribution of passive filter feeders and predators within the EPT community. Since wastewater treatment technologies have been enhanced in many countries and there is a lack of published evidence about their complex effect on aquatic ecosystems, future studies are required. Chapter 4 reveals the negative effect of non-native signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) on the native branchiodellid community. According to our results, the total replacement of the native noble crayfish (Astacus astacus) by signal crayfish can lead to the disappearance of two species Branchiobdella parasita and B. pentadonta. Potential differences between crayfish species in correlations between abundances of both branchiobdellids were observed in the locality with the sympatric occurrence of noble crayfish and signal crayfish; the abundance of bigger-sized B. parasita positively correlated to the abundance of B. pentadonta only in the signal crayfish, whilst this relationship may be negative in the big-sized noble crayfish densely infested by both species. Potential competition for space was assumed. The experiment in laboratory conditions revealed more intensive grooming in signal crayfish. The results demonstrate the loss of overlooked biodiversity associated with the invasive species introduction. Knowledge of how communities of aquatic invertebrates respond to anthropogenic changes in the environment can be useful, e.g., during the assessment of the implications of planned or currently active human interferences for cultural landscapes. This Thesis will provide useful information for laboratory studies, of which the interpretation is often limited as they are carried out in artificial environments.
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Příčiny degradace a možnosti obnovy vrchovištních rašelinišť Jizerských hor
Ryšavá, Nina
This final thesis – Causes of degradation and recovery options of bogs in Jizerske hory mountains is focused on botanical characteristics and phytosociological research in National nature reserve Rašeliniště Jizerky. Own botanical field work took place on Klugeho louka bog, that was partly drained in the past. In 2010 the water outflow in drainage channels was blocked with wooden dikes, so the groundwater level would rise and water regime would renew. According to expectations, the locality and it’s natural vegetation would spontaneously return. Vascular plant and bryophytes were monitored on permanent plots in summer 2018. Permanent study plots are situated across the locality to reflect different distances to drainage channels as well as dominant vegetation types. Control plots are placed in the pristine vegetation and serve for comparisons, as target vegetation for the revitalized part of the locality. Final thesis uses data from older fieldworks and monitoring researches made in locality and evaluates it’s condition after revitalization. The changes in vegetation are visible, but the target structu-re of species is still far away.
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