Bogumila Jedrzejewska

• University of Central Lancashire

We applied radio-telemetry on 21 individuals (10 females and 11 males) to provide data on the temporal activity patterns of the whiskered bat (Myotis mystacinus) in the Carpathian Mountains (southern Poland). We tested whether sex, season and weather conditions affect their activity patterns in July-September. On average, whiskered bats left day ro...

Although the European Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) is one of the most common and widespread ungulate species in Europe and inhabiting a variety of habitats, few studies have addressed its population structure at a large spatial scale using nuclear genetic data. The aims of our study were to: (i) investigate genetic diversity, level of admixture,...

Mountain regions have long been important for maintaining populations and genetic diversity of wild species, especially those species that require large areas to sustain viable populations. We examined wolves (Canis lupus) in the Caucasus, Carpathian, and Dinaric–Balkan regions, expecting these persistent populations to contain high genetic diversi...

Previous studies indicated that in some species phylogeographic patterns obtained in the analysis of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) markers can be different. Such mitonuclear discordance can have important evolutionary and ecological consequences. In the present study, we aimed to check whether there was any discordance between mtDNA and nuc...

The Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus) is distributed throughout the continental Asia. Nowadays in eastern Europe there have been detected individuals of C. capreolus with mtDNA of C. pygargus but the origin of this introgression is not clear as there have been not many data available concerning the phylogenetic pattern of the Siberian roe deer...

The European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) is one of the most numerous and widespread ungulate species in Europe, which has complicated the assessment of its genetic diversity on a range-wide scale. In this study, we present the mitochondrial DNA control region (mtDNA CR) genetic diversity and population structure of roe deer in Europe based on th...

Glacial and interglacial periods throughout the Pleistocene have been substantial drivers of change in species distributions. Earlier analyses suggested that modern grey wolves (Canis lupus) trace their origin to a single Late Pleistocene Beringian population that expanded east and westwards, starting ca. 25,000 years ago (ya). Here, we examined th...

Tree architectures reflect the main abiotic and biotic selection pressures determining tree growth and survival. Studies have shown that trees growing in herbivore‐dominated ecosystems, such as savannas, develop denser, more divaricate ‘cage’‐like architectures in response to chronic browsing pressure (also known as ‘brown world’ architectures). In...

There are several mechanisms that allow plants to temporarily escape from top-down control. One of them is trophic cascades triggered by top predators or pathogens. Another is satiation of consumers by mast seeding. These two mechanisms have traditionally been studied in separation. However , their combined action may have a greater effect on plant...

The present phylogeographic pattern of red deer in Eurasia is not only a result of the contraction of their distribution range into glacial refugia and postglacial expansion, but probably also an effect of replacement of some red deer s.l. mtDNA lineages by others during the last 50 000 years. To better recognize this process, we analysed 501 seque...

To provide the most comprehensive picture of species phylogeny and phylogeography of European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), we analysed mtDNA control region (610 bp) of 1469 samples of roe deer from Central and Eastern Europe and included into the analyses additional 1541 mtDNA sequences from GenBank from other regions of the continent. We detect...

Aim The aim of the study was to assess the effect of changes in population size and migration on variation in functional immunity genes in the previously bottlenecked population of the grey wolf, Canis lupus. Location Eastern/Central Europe: Poland, Czechia, Slovakia. Methods We genotyped 7 immunity genes: three MHC-DLA genes (dog leukocyte antig...

The wild boar Sus scrofa is one of the widely spread ungulate species in Europe, yet the origin and genetic structure of the population inhabiting Central and Eastern Europe are not well recognized. We analysed 101 newly obtained sequences of complete mtDNA genomes and 548 D-loop sequences of the species and combined them with previously published...

Aim: The Expansion-Contraction model has been used to explain the responses of species to climatic changes. During periods of unfavourable climatic conditions, species retreat to refugia from where they may later expand. This paper focuses on the palaeoecology of red deer over the past 54 ka across Europe and the Urals, to reveal patterns of change...

Our understanding of animal adaptations to human pressure is limited by the focus on rare taxa, despite that common species are more significant in shaping structure, function and service provision of ecosystems. Thus better understanding of their ecology and behavioural adjustments is central for drafting conservation actions. In this study, we us...

Polymorphism in innate immune genes in host populations can structure spatial variation in the prevalence of infectious diseases. In Europe, Borrelia afzelii is an important tick-borne pathogen of small mammals including the bank voles (Myodes glareolus). The Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) is an innate immune receptor that is important for detecting B...

We analysed a fragment (247 bp) of cytochrome b of mitochondrial DNA sequenced using 353 samples of yellow-necked mice Apodemus flavicollis trapped in seven forests and along three woodlot transects in north-eastern Poland. Our aims were to identify the phylogeographic pattern and mtDNA structure of the population and to evaluate the role of enviro...

Distribution and number of cyt b mtDNA haplotypes detected in samples collected in seven forests and three transects: ROM–Rominta Forest, BOR–Borki, PIS–Pisz, AUG–Augustów, BIAŁ –Białowieża, MIEL–Mielnik, TAK–Augustów-Knyszyn Transect, TKB–Knyszyn-Białowieża, TBM–Białowieża-Mielnik. The numbers of haplogroup of each of the haplotypes are in bracket...

Changes in Φ statistics for K = 2 to 9 subpopulations of yellow–necked mice in north-eastern Poland, on the basis of mtDNA and inferred from SAMOVA. ΦSC−proportion of the variance among local populations within groups. ΦST−proportion of the variance among local populations within the total population. ΦCT−proportion of the total variance explained...

Ecological characteristics of the studied forests and transects and abundance indices of yellow-necked mice. See Table 1 for abbreviations of regions and Fig 2 for their location. Percentage of land use categories based on Corine Landcover 2006 (CLC2006) data in 1-km buffer zone around each trapping site. Mean temperature collected based on four me...

Yellow–necked mouse cyt b mtDNA sequences available at NCBI GenBank used for comparison with material from this study. (DOCX)

The rarefaction curve presenting a dependence of number of detected haplotypes on a number of analysed samples. (PDF)

Number of samples successfully analysed per geographical region (mtDNA). Numbers of identified mtDNA haplotypes that belong to each defined mtDNA haplogroup. (DOCX)

The genetic structure of rodent populations may reflect their glacial and postglacial history. We studied the genetic structure of bank vole Myodes glareolus populations in north-eastern Poland, where two divergent mtDNA lineages met in the secondary contact zone. We investigated 441 specimens from 24 local populations using 10 microsatellite loci....

At the biogeographic scale, spatial variation in diets may reflect not only the ecological flexibility of carnivore feeding habits, but also evolutionary adaptations of different populations within a species. We described the large-scale pattern in brown bear Ursus arctos predation on ungulates, its selectivity for ungulate species, and its relativ...

The goal of this study, conducted in seven large woodlands and three areas with small woodlots in northeastern Poland in 2004–2008, was to infer genetic structure in yellow‐necked mouse Apodemus flavicollis population and to evaluate the roles of environmental and population ecology variables in shaping the spatial pattern of genetic variation usin...

Question Functional plant traits often express consistent changes along ecological gradients and, hence, are often used as indicators of environmental change (e.g. nutrient availability, temperature changes). Besides being driven by edaphic conditions, functional plant composition is filtered by herbivory, and traits responsive to nutrient availabi...

Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) has a wide distributional range in Europe and inhabits a broad range of habitats and environmental conditions. Thus, populations of roe deer show substantial variation in demographic parameters. We aimed to determine whether body mass and population density—which influence the reproductive potential of roe deer at a l...

Population dynamics of large herbivores are affected by density dependent and density independent processes. Changing population size causes variation in age- and sex-specific demographic parameters such as reproduction, survival and dispersal. With our study, based on meta-analyses of literature data, we aimed at (1) describing age-specific fertil...

Aim To compare predictions of the habitat suitability model (HSM) for wolves Canis lupus in Poland with actual wolf distribution in western Poland after 15 years of recolonization. Location Western Poland (WPL, ca. 136,000 km2), west of the 18°48′E meridian. Methods Data on wolf occurrence (8,057 records) were gathered in 2001–2016. Wolf presenc...

The survival of isolated small populations is threatened by both demographic and genetic factors. Large carnivores declined for centuries in most of Europe due to habitat changes, overhunting of their natural prey and direct persecution. However, the current rewilding trends are driving many carnivore populations to expand again, possibly reverting...

Distribution of the concatenated multifragment mtDNA haplotypes in wolves sampled all over the world. Country acronyms: IB = Iberian Peninsula; IT = Italy; HR = Croatia; SL = Slovenia; GR = Greece; BG = Bulgaria; PL = Poland; ES = Estonia; LA = Latvia; FI = Finland; UK = Ukraine; SW = Sweden; IR = Iran; OM = Oman; SA = Saudi Arabia; IS = Israel; IN...

ABC demographic scenarios and locations of the selected wolf populations. (PDF)

Delta K values [29] obtained in Structure analyses of dog and wolf samples assuming K values from 1 to 15. (PDF)

(A) NJ and (B) consensus ML mtDNA phylogenetic trees. Details of clade A are highlighted in the top -left figures. (PDF)

Phylogenetic tree of concatenated multi-fragment (control-region, ATP6, COIII and ND4) dog and wolf mtDNA haplotypes generated using a Bayesian procedure implemented in MrBayes [41]. A homologous concatenated sequence of Canis latrans (DQ480509) is used as an outgroup. Every node shows its posterior probability. Clade A, that includes the Italian w...

Model checking. Pre-evaluation of scenario-prior combinations; direct and logistic regression comparison methods of the estimated posterior probabilities among scenarios and fit of the selected best scenarios (Sc2 and Sc4) with the observed data. PCA I and II plotted using 10.000 data points. (PDF)

List of the wolf and dog samples analyzed in this study indicating: The country of origin, taxon, gender, mtDNA haplotypes at ATP6, COIII, ND4, CR and the concatenated multifragment sequences (MF). The individual Bayesian clustering assignments were computed using Structure with K = 3, assuming that genotypes could have ancestry in a dog cluster (q...

Haplotype composition. Detailed composition of the concatenated multifragment haplotypes. (PDF)

Results of Bayesian clustering analyses of dog and wolf samples obtained by Structure assuming K values from 1 to 15. Dog and wolf population samples are shown in the same sequence as in Fig 2: dogs (1), Italian wolves (2), Iberian wolves (3), Dinaric wolves (4), Balkanic wolves (5), Carpathian wolves (6), Baltic wolves (7). (PDF)

Prior (red) and posterior (green) density distributions of posterior probability for the selected ABC parameters from scenarios 2 and 4. (PDF)

Description of the genotyped autosomal (CFA) microsatellites (STR). (PDF)

List of mtDNA sequences downloaded from the GenBank. For every sample is shown: the accession number, country of origin of the sequenced sample (if available), taxon, dog breed (if available), and clade of memberships (BEAST analysis), and haplotypes at different genic regions. (PDF)

DIYABC prior distributions for demographic parameters and mutation rates. (PDF)

Model checking results for the best fitting scenario (SC2) based on 1,000 simulated datasets. (PDF)

(A) Description of laboratory methods with details on primers and PCR profiles for all the genotyped markers and (B) Details on MrBayes and BEAST models. (PDF)

S1 Appendix, S1-7 tables, S1-7 Figures

Game species in the cultural landscapes of Europe are exposed to several sources of anthropogenic pressure. Whilst hunting is part of coordinated wildlife management, poaching is difficult to quantify, and hence, relatively little is known about its impact on survival patterns of game species. We estimated survival and cause-specific mortality rate...

Plant biomass consumers (mammalian herbivory and fire) are increasingly seen as major drivers of ecosystem structure and function but the prevailing paradigm in temperate forest ecology is still that their dynamics are mainly bottom‐up resource‐controlled. Using conceptual advances from savanna ecology, particularly the demographic bottleneck model...

Reproductive performance of mammalian females depends on a broad set of extrinsic and intrinsic factors. One of the most important attributes for a female ungulate is body condition, which depends on food availability. Forage supply, in turn, is dependent on habitat quality, weather conditions, and animal density. The main objectives of our study,...

Gray wolf populations have been recovering recently across Europe, a fact that poses serious challenges to the management of the species. We investigate the population genetics of wolves at the south-eastern edge of their European range, in Greece, and identify conservation priorities for the species in the country. During population monitoring eff...

We assessed migration rates and gene flow amongst 16 local demes and six larger groups of moose identified by a previous microsatellite study across the entire European range of the species. The most important barrier to gene flow, the Baltic Sea along with the mountainous region in northern Fennoscandia, separates two genetically distinct moose su...

There is a growing evidence that members of animal groups synchronize their vigilance behavior to minimize predation risk. Because synchronized vigilance deviates from the classical vigilance models, which assume independent scanning, it is important to understand when and why it occurs. We explored vigilance behavior of wild boar (Sus scrofa) in a...

Two maternal lineages of bank vole (Myodes glareolus), the Eastern and the Carpathian, that had originated from different glacial refugia, came to a secondary contact in north-east Poland. We analysed a fragment of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) [cytochrome b (cyt b), 424 bp] from 1038 samples of the species to map the contact zone, estimate the mtDNA d...

To investigate genetic diversity and the population structure of the European moose (Alces alces), we analyzed 14 microsatellite loci for 694 samples collected across 16 localities. The highest genetic diversity was detected in Belarus and Russia and the lowest was found in Scandinavia. Two major genetic clusters existed, Scandinavian and continent...

Ecological and environmental heterogeneity can produce genetic differentiation in highly mobile species. Accordingly, local adaptation may be expected across comparatively short distances in the presence of marked environmental gradients. Within the European continent, wolves (Canis lupus) exhibit distinct north–south population differentiation. We...

Table S1. Correlation between environmental variables (detailed in Table 1). Table S2. Complete identification for single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci on the Illumina CanineHD BeadChip (170K SNPs) with information from the MAP‐file in PLINK. Table S3. Summary of major functional genes near single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci identifie...

This book brings together information about Europe's forests and how they have developed since the last Ice Age. The first part (Chapters 1-4) gives an overview of Europe's woods and forests in space and over time; the second part (Chapters 5-9) looks at how they have been managed; the third part (Chapters 10-15) deals with how plants and animals h...

Several mammal species have recolonized their historical ranges across Europe during the last decades. In No-vember 2012, a wolf-looking canid was found dead in Thy National Park (56° 56′ N, 8° 25′ E) in Jutland, Denmark. DNA from this individual and nine German wolves were genotyped using a genome-wide panel of 22,163 canine single nucleotide poly...

Vasa dynasty’s hunting manor in Białowieża Forest, mentioned in written sources, as well as the Vasa period in the history of the forest have not yet been subject of detailed study. Analysis of written documents and results of archaeological excavations carried out in 2004-2005 have evidenced that the Vasas’ hunting manor was erected in Białowieża...

We investigated contemporary and historical influences on the pattern of genetic diversity of European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). The study was conducted in northeastern Poland, a zone where vast areas of primeval forests are conserved and where the European roe deer was never driven to extinction. A total of 319 unique samples collected in th...

Individuals can increase inclusive fitness benefits through a complex network of social interactions directed towards kin. Preferential relationships with relatives lead to the emergence of kin structures in the social system. Cohesive social groups of related individuals and female philopatry of wild boar create conditions for cooperation through...

Aim Moose, Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758), survived the European Pleistocene glaciations in multiple southern refugia, in a northern refugium near the Carpathians and possibly in other locations. During the second millennium ad , moose were nearly extirpated in Europe and only recolonized their current range after World War II . The number and locati...

This study explains the difficulties with the enlargement of the Białowieża National Park in Poland through an ecosystem services perspective. We carried out a questionnaire survey among the local communities to investigate local use of ecosystem services and respondents' attitude towards the national park enlargement. The results indicate that loc...

The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is one of the most widely distributed mammals in Europe. Its demography was affected by various events in the past and today populations are increasing throughout Europe. We examined genetic diversity, structure and population dynamics of wild boar in Central and Eastern Europe. MtDNA control region (664 bp) was sequenced...

Aim Climate changes in the past had a deep impact on the evolutionary history of many species and left genetic signatures that are often still detectable today. We investigated the geographical pattern of mitochondrial DNA diversity in the European wild boar (Sus scrofa). Our final aims were to clarify the influence of present and past climatic co...

Anti-predator responses by ungulates can be based on habitat features or on the near-imminent threat of predators. In dense forest, cues that ungulates use to assess predation risk likely differ from half-open landscapes, as scent relative to sight is predicted to be more important. We studied, in the Białowieża Primeval Forest (Poland), whether pe...

Population densities of large herbivores are determined by the diverse effects of density-dependent and independent environmental factors. In this study, we used the official 1998–2003 inventory data on ungulate numbers from 462 forest districts and 23 national parks across Poland to determine the roles of various environmental factors in shaping c...

European wolves (Canis lupus) show population genetic structure in the absence of geographic barriers, and across relatively short distances for this highly mobile species. Additional information on the location of and divergence between population clusters is required, particularly because wolves are currently recolonizing parts of Europe. We eval...

Quantifying available plant biomass is a crucial step towards improving our understanding of herbivore ecology and trophic interactions. Thanks to the development of satellite-derived vegetation indices such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), ecologists have been provided with indirect estimates of primary production at various t...

Dispersal and gene flow in populations of highly mobile mammals, such as wolves, are often determined by the landscape structure and ecological connectivity. Previous studies on the genetic struc- ture of Polish wolves revealed three major subpopulations: Carpathian Mountains in southern Poland, Roztocze in the southeast, and the Lowland in northea...

Despite being one of the best preserved temperate forest of the European lowlands, the Bialowieza Primeval Forest (eastern Poland) has a long history of human use. We described the areal extent, and habitat features related to 18th-century charcoal and wood-tar production in this forest. Based on anthracological analysis of charcoal samples collect...

Phylogeographic studies of highly mobile large carnivores suggest that intra-specific genetic differentiation of modern species might be the consequence of the most recent Pleistocene glaciation. However, the relative influ-ence of biogeographical processes and subsequent human-induced population fragmentation requires a better under-standing. Pola...

Since the Middle Ages, the vast forests of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania served as the hunting areas of Lithuanian rulers. Grand Dukes frequently moved with their entourage between forest manors, supplying the court with venison. One of the fundamentals of the Lithuanian code of laws was the protection of big game and Grand Duke’s forests, which bec...

The aim of this work was to gather information about the origin and genetic characterization of the Central European Hucul horse based on 71 horses using 17 microsatellites and the D‐loop region of mtDNA. Their genetic relationship to the Polish Konik (N = 7), German (N = 4) and Hungarian wild Przewalski horses (N = 4) and 200 horse sequences from...

Cycling in Unison Many small mammals, especially voles, display semi-regular cycles of population boom and bust. Given the fundamental importance of small mammals as basal consumers and prey, such cycles can have cascading effects in trophic food webs. Cornulier et al. (p. 63 ) collated raw data from vole populations across Europe collected over th...

QuestionWhat changes in character and extent of land use have occurred during the last 200 yr in the Białowieża Primeval Forest (BPF)? Are the landscape transformations described from the multi-temporal analysis of historical maps coherent with vegetation changes expressed by the previous palynological analyses? LocationBiałowieża Primeval Forest,...

In natural environments, predation risk varies over time. The risk allocation hypothesis predicts that prey is expected to adjust key anti‐predator behaviours such as vigilance to temporal variation in risk. We tested the predictions of the risk allocation hypothesis in a natural environment where both a species‐rich natural predator community and...

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of sex and age of individuals, season, and human pressure (both human presence and habitat structure) on spatiotemporal behavior of wild boar (Sus scrofa). Specifically, we compared wild boar behavior under contrasting conditions of human pressure, within the primeval temperate forest of Białowieża (...

Food composition of the Eurasian badger Meles meles was studied in the mountain zone and foothills of theWestern Carpathians (Southern Poland). The diet, obtained by scat analysis, was compared with availability of earthworms, fruits, amphibians, rodents and ground nesting birds (capercaillie Tetrao urogallus and hazel grouse Bonasa bonasia) within...

We studied the genetic structure of a red deer (Cervus elaphus) population in 8 woodlands of northeastern Poland and 1 in western Belarus and compared it with the documented history of the population in the region. Red deer nearly went extinct in the region in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the mid-19th century, reintroductions began and continued...

We studied the location of Eurasian badger (Meles meles) setts in relation to various environmental factors, and attempted to assess the role of competition with other burrowing carnivores and the importance of human activity on their sett selection in the Western Carpathians (southern Poland). Excavated dens (53 %), caves and rock crevices (43 %),...

We studied the socio-spatial ecology of the Eurasian badger (Meles meles) along the altitudinal gradient (250-1257 m a.s.l.) of the Western Carpathians (Southern Poland), 2004-2009. Family groups were small (mean 2.3 individuals) and home-ranges large (mean 5.42 km2, MCP 100%), which gave a low population density (2.2 individuals/10 km2). Badgers f...

According to the new conservation paradigm, protected areas should contribute to the socioeconomic development of host communities, and the latter ought to be included in participatory decision making concerning these areas. However, the understanding of participation is ambiguous and there are at least three major approaches, which may have differ...