Jakub Z Kosicki

• PhD (dr hab.)
• Professor (Associate) at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

Understanding the growth rate of nestlings is essential for explaining developmental strategies and is particularly important for birds of prey. Given that they have lower reproduction rates than other species, the growth rate could be one of the critical factors determining parental fitness and influencing the individual's condition. Despite varia...

The recent article by Jhala et al. (1) contributes significantly to the ongoing debate on restoring India's tiger (Panthera tigris) populations. The authors highlight the successes in conserving this species, emphasizing the crucial role of protected areas and socioeconomic and political stability in maintaining and expanding tiger populations. How...

Citizen Science (CS) is currently widely used to collect data to assess large geographical areas and is advantageous in that the observations are random and independent, which collectively offer a database that is eclectic and free of professional biases. We availed of such a BioGIS database of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and evaluated the s...

Herein are all of the 16 papers published in the proceedings of the 5th International Shrike Symposium, held in July 2023 in Portugal. It is exactly 30 years since the International Shrike Working Group was established at the 1st International Shrike Symposium that was help at Archbold Biological Station, Florida, in January 1993. We are sad to los...

Israel’s nationwide multiyear campaigns, particularly in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, involved deforestation and the development of natural areas for agriculture and human settlement, and resulted in the local extirpation of several animal species. However, reforestation began in the 1940s and promoted the resurgence of extirpated popula...

Background: The paper presents the results of studies on the distribution of the parasitic quill mite species Bubophilus aluconis (Acariformes: Syringophilidae) in the feather quills of the Western Palaearctic owls of the genus Strix, that is, tawny owl S. aluco, collected in Poland and Sweden, the Ural owl S. uralensis, from Poland, Sweden, and Fi...

This study examines the phenological shifts of Common Swifts' (Apus apus) arrival dates in Givatayim, central Israel, from 2015 to 2023. Utilizing data from closed-circuit television (CCTV ) camera footage in urban nest boxes, we observed a significant advancement of 16 days in the species' arrival from 2015 - 2023 . Our methodological framework in...

Simple Summary We studied the survival of young Indian leopard cubs in the Jhalana Reserve Forest, India, during their first two years of life. Using data from trail cameras collected over four years (2018–2021), we calculated survival rates with a statistical method to identify when cubs are most at risk. All adults and cubs included in this study...

From a behavioral adaptation perspective, lateralization in gregarious species likely evolved to maintain cohesiveness among individuals, particularly in behaviors related to social life that require higher levels of cognitive capabilities. Thus, we hypothesized that motor coordination (lateralization) would be observed at the population level rath...

Simple Summary This study investigates the complex interactions between quill mites of the family Syringophilidae and starlings. We identified five species of quill mites infesting 24 species of starlings, uncovering intricate host–parasite dynamics across the Palaearctic, Afrotropical, Oriental, and Oceanian zoogeographical regions. A detailed sta...

We investigated the cub’s survival in a wild Indian Leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) population in the Jhalana Forest Reserve, India. The research focuses on the survival analysis of leopard cubs during their first two years of life and determining the critical period of the reproductive cycle that influences survival. Survival functions were estima...

Tourism pressure on the Red Sea ecosystem have posed significant threats to numerous endemic species, including the Ghost Crab Ocypode saratan, which is exclusively found along a small stretch of beach in the Eilat/Aqaba Red Sea Gulf. Due to the limited understanding of their ecology, we investigated how tourism impacts the behavior of this species...

Breeding success of birds depends on survival during two critical stages of the reproductive period: First, egg laying and incubation, and then nestling and fledgling. This essential element of avian life history mirrors an evolutionary adaptation of parents to existing environmental conditions. The main factors that determine nest survival involve...

In this paper we provide integrative description (morphological and genetic) of the new eutardigrade species Mesobiotus mandalori sp. nov. from central Poland, found during research on the vertical distribution of Tardigrada in the Czerniejewskie Forests. Mesobiotus mandalori sp. nov. belongs to the harmsworthi group, but it differs from the member...

The striped hyena is one of the most secretive and enigmatic mammal species. Despite some success in describing their distribution and analyzing population trends, further understanding of the factors affecting reproductive success is needed. Therefore, we present the first analysis of the reproductive success of this species in the wild. We measur...

Appropriate growth of a nestling determines its subsequent reproductive ability. Numerous studies the influence of various factors on the growth rate; only a few deal with nocturnal species. Furthermore, no analyses have been carried out for this species group to show how the three parameters of the growth function, i.e., the expected final size, t...

In Israel, Long-eared Owls (Asio otus) were considered primarily a wintering species with documented sporadic breeding. However, by the turn of the last century, it became an increasingly numerous breeding species in the north and central parts of the country. Based on the analysis of population trends conducted in the Judea region, we found that t...

Humans increase the limited number of daylight hours available to them by using artificial light at night (ALAN) to improve their ability to continue functioning under light conditions. Several studies found that ALAN has multiple impacts on wildlife, and even humans. We examined whether the prey of striped hyenas (Hyaena hyaena), a commensal of hu...

Nest site availability plays an important role in the ecology of the birds inhabiting intensive agricultural landscapes. The removal of trees and snags due to logging is one of the main threats and the cause of the observed decline in many birds living in an agricultural landscape. When nests are lost, nesting passerines typically rebuild them for...

Staphylococci are a natural component of the skin microbiota of many organisms, including humans and birds. As opportunistic pathogens, they can cause a variety of infections in humans. The close contact between domestic pigeons and their owners provide an opportunity for exchange of skin-associated bacteria. In this study, 41 healthy racing pigeon...

The striped hyena is an enigmatic species that is little studied. It is mainly found in semiarid and arid regions and is described as elusive, cryptic, nocturnal, and solitary. The global distribution is disjunct, and the species suffers from human persecution. However, specific communities consider them to be commensals. Owing to their scavenging...

The striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) is considered “Near Threatened” globally and “Vulnerable” in the Middle East. In Israel, the species has experienced extreme population fluctuations owing to poisoning campaigns during the British Mandate (1918–1948) which were also further exacerbated by the Israeli authorities in the mid-twentieth century. We col...

The ability to change colors or appearance to blend into the background habitat is essential to ensure an individual’s survival. This is especially challenging in a heterogeneous habitat such as the intertidal zone of a seashore, which is the primary habitat of crabs. The Red Sea Ghost Crab (RSGC) is endemic to the Red Sea, and in Israel, it is fou...

We studied and found that the populations of two gastropod species in the inter-tidal zone of the Red Sea at Eilat demonstrate a predominantly dextral chirality of their shells. We identified lateralization sinistral/dextral shell torsion for 675 live Tenguella granulata (left = 114, 16.9%; right = 561, 83.1%) and 405 Clanculus pharaonius (left = 1...

The family Syringophilidae (Acari: Prostigmata) includes obligatory ectoparasites, which occupy feather quills from various parts of avian plumage, where they feed and reproduce. Our study was concerned with the global fauna of syringophilid mites associated with Psittaciformes, as well as host-parasite specificity and evolution. We assumed that th...

The ability to change colors or appearance to blend into the background habitat is essential to ensure an individual’s survival. This is especially challenging in a heterogeneous habitat such as the intertidal zone of a seashore, which is the basic habitat of crabs. The Red Sea Ghost Crab (RSGC) is endemic to the Red Sea and in Israel is found only...

We studied and found that the populations of two gastropod species in the inter-tidal zone of the Red Sea at Eilat demonstrate a predominantly dextral chirality of their shells. We identified lateralization sinistral/dextral shell torsion for 675 live Tenguella granulata (left = 114, 16.9%; right = 561, 83.1%) and 405 Clanculus pharaonius (left = 1...

Those requesting reprint please access till 6 Jan 2023 at the publishers for free https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1g5qV_anFkLDhj. Anthropogenic structures and installations in wild areas are known to directly and indirectly affect wildlife populations, especially apex predators such as Eagle Owls (Bubo bubo). To understand the situation at the nati...

Background: Faunistic study in this area of Czerniejewskie Forests was the first stage of a larger project "Micro- and macrofactors affecting vertical distribution of Tardigrada in temperate forest", which aims to identify the mechanisms which determine the vertical distribution of tardigrades inhabiting epiphytic mosses growing on trees. Which was...

Background: Tardigrades show significant resistance to a number of environmental stressors, including exposure to the space vacuum. But even though, studies on the influence of hypomagnetic conditions or even geomagnetic field in general, on tardigrades were rare, until recently. We present the current state of knowledge on the influence of hypomag...

For many species, the artificial raising of orphaned nestlings is a time and cost-prohibitive task, usually accompanied by low survivability. The introduction of orphaned nestlings to other natural nests was found to be a successful technique wherein fostered nestling(s) developed better in the wild and imprinting on humans is avoided. To date, the...

The earth’s geomagnetic field (GMF) is known to influence the behaviour of a wide range of species, but remains one of the most enigmatic of animal senses. Animals are known to utilize the GMF for a wide range of survival capabilities such as navigation and orienteering, migration, territoriality, homing, etc. Despite a lot of study in this regard...

Co-occurence of related congeners is one of the most complicated ecological phenomena. Although such species are characterised by niche conservatism, which should exclude their stable co-existence, a communities often consist of sister species. Thus, there must be some ecological mechanism that separates them spatially or temporally. This study adv...

Simple Summary We studied the diet and breeding success of Eagle Owls (Bubo bubo) at 14 nests in the Judea region, Israel. A total of 9461 prey items were identified and although mammals and birds dominated, there were also reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates. The gradient of diversity of mammalian prey decreased from west to east; and avian pr...

Recent studies have shown that the endemic Cyprus Scops Owl (Otus cyprius) is monotypic and can be separated from Eurasian Scops Owl (O. scops) and other Otus species, by mtDNA, plumage, and vocalizations. Due to its uncertain population status, and evidence that it is hunted, we decided to initiate a nest box program in and adjacent to the Paphos...

Variations in the cross-sectional properties of long bones are used to reconstruct the activity of human groups and differences in their respective habitual behaviors. Knowledge of what factors influence bone structure in Homo sapiens and Neandertals is still insufficient thus, this study investigated which biological and environmental variables in...

International tourism and nature-recreation accounts for ca. > 10% of the international trade and has influenced urban planning, political thought, and land-use. Eilat, Israel, is just such a city of tourism-dependent development. We investigated whether beach tourism affected the ecology of the endemic Red Sea Ghost Crab (Ocypode saratan; RSGC). W...

Water availability is one of the most important factors for terrestrial life. Terrestrial habitats may periodically become dry, which can be overcome by an organism's capability to undergo anhydrobiosis. In animals, this phenomenon has been reported for invertebrates, with tardigrades being the best-known. However, different tardigrade species appe...

Display, wherein males attempt to maximize fitness by attracting sexually mature females to mate, is known to drive speciation by Sexual Selection. We researched the Red Sea Ghost Crab (Ocypode saratan; RSGC), in which males build display pyramids to attract females. The study was conducted at the beach in Eilat, Israel. At each session, we measure...

We studied the quill mite fauna of the family Syringophilidae, associated with bee-eaters. We examined 273 bird specimens belonging to nine closely related species of the genus Merops, representing two phylogenetic sister clades of a monophyletic group. Our examination reveals the presence of two species of the genus Peristerophila, as follows: (1)...

Bats are particularly susceptible to environmental changes because of their low reproductive rate, longevity, and high metabolic rates, which lead to relatively high food requirements. Thus, bat populations take a relatively long time to recover from increased mortality rates, and monitoring schemes should cover long time periods. In this work, we...

Ecological interactions between native species are often disturbed by invasive species. However, to understand their impact on wild native animal populations on a country scale it is necessary to develop a predictive model. Therefore, I followed the species density distribution modelling approach to explore how feral domestic cats (Felis catus) alo...

The quill mites belonging to the family Syringophilidae (Acari: Prostigmata: Cheyletoidea) are obligate ectoparasites of birds. They inhabit different types of the quills, where they spend their whole life cycle. In this paper, we conducted a global study of syringophilid mites associated with columbiform birds. We examined 772 pigeon and dove indi...

Earth is one of the inner planets of the Solar System, but – unlike the others – it has an oxidising atmosphere, relatively stable temperature, and a constant geomagnetic field (GMF). The GMF does not only protect life on Earth against the solar wind and cosmic rays, but it also shields the atmosphere itself, thus creating relatively stable environ...

Behavioral handedness is known to enhance an individual's handling 33 capabilities. However, the ecological advantages in brachyuran crustaceans remain 34 unclear despite Ocypode species having been studied extensively. Thus, in this 35 study, we analyzed the laterality of the endemic Red Sea Ghost Crab on one beach 36 in Eilat, Israel. We successf...

Simple Summary Nest boxes are considered a valid conservation tool in order to sustain wild populations of birds. The Cyprus Scops Owl was recently defined as a new species. However, the extant information on the species is sporadic and the population level is not confirmed. In order to evaluate the ability of the species to use nest boxes, and to...

Figure S1. Nest box photograph provided to Cyprus Scops Owl Otus cyprius in Paphos Forest (Cy-prus) showing exact dimensions. Citation: Iezekiel, S.; Yosef, R.; Themistokleus, C.; Bakaloudis, D.E.; Vlachos, C.G.; Antoniou, A.; Iezekiel, E.; Papakosta, M.A.; Kosicki, J.Z. Endemic Cyprus Scops Owl Otus cyprius Readily Breeds in Artificial Nest Boxes....

Anhydrobiosis can be described as an adaptation to lack of water that enables some organisms, including tardigrades, to survive extreme conditions, even some that do not exist on Earth. The cellular mechanisms underlying anhydrobiosis are still not completely explained including the putative contribution of mitochondrial proteins. Since mitochondri...

The mite family Syringophilidae (Acariformes: Prostigmata) includes permanent parasites of birds exclusively, occupying their quill feathers where they reproduce and feed on living tissue fluids, piercing the quill-wall with their long and stiletiform chelicerae. The Boreal Owl, Aegolius funereus (L.) (Strigiformes: Strigidae) is parasitised by the...

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is currently recognised as an important environmental disturbance that influences habitats, fitness and behaviour of numerous organisms. However, its effect on bird community distribution on a large spatial scale still remains unclear. Therefore, I decided to use a predictive approach to test an assumption that arti...

Anhydrobiosis can be described as an adaptation to lack of water that enables some organisms, including tardigrades, to survive extreme conditions, even some that do not exist on Earth. The cellular mechanisms underlying anhydrobiosis are still not completely explained including the putative contribution of mitochondrial proteins. Since mitochondri...

Bats are particularly susceptible to environmental changes because of their low reproductive rate, longevity, and high metabolic rates, which lead to relatively high food requirements. Thus, bat populations take a relatively long time to recover from increased mortality rates, and monitoring schemes should cover long time periods. In this work we a...

The open space is a hostile environment for all lifeforms not only due to vacuum, high radiation, low atmospheric pressure, and extremely low temperature, but also the absence of the geomagnetic field. The geomagnetic field protects Earth mainly from corpuscular radiation, that is, solar wind and cosmic radiation, but above all it influences organi...

Hoatzin, a unique species endemic to Neotropics, has puzzled avian systematists since it was described 244 years ago. Despite its enigmatic origin and unparalleled life cycle, behavior, and mode of life, its parasites only occasionally were investigated. In this study, a new species Calamicoptes hoazinus n. sp. (Laminosioptidae: Fainocoptinae) was...

The fauna of the quill mite genus Peristerophila Kethley, 1970 (Acariformes: Prostigmata: Syringophilidae) associated with pigeons and doves (Aves: Columbiformes) is reviewed. In our study, we examined 109 species of columbiform hosts of which 28 species belonging to nine genera were infested by Peristerophila mites. In the analyzed mite material,...

Predator–prey dynamics of large felids and their ecology in the tropics have largely been studied in natural systems where wild ungulates constitute the majority of the prey base. However, in tropical countries where communities are primarily agrarian, the high density of domestic animals in human-dominated landscapes can be a potential prey source...

Anhydrobiosis can be described as an adaptation to lack of water. This adaptation provides some organisms including tardigrades with a set of capabilities allowing them to survive extreme conditions that even do not exist on Earth. However, the underlying cellular mechanisms are still not explained. Available data assumes important contribution of...

Numerous studies conducted on plants and animals confirmed that hypomagnetic conditions have significant influence on the metabolism of living organisms. Although many studies dealt with a variety of aspects related mainly to the influence of hypomagnetic conditions on human health. However, very few studies considerate the influence of hypomagneti...

Species distribution modelling (SDM) is a family of statistical methods where species occurrence/density/richness are combined with environmental predictors to create predictive spatial models of species distribution. However, it often turns out that due to complex multi-level interactions between predictors and the response function, different typ...

27 Sibling competition leading to physiological stress and in consequences to allostatic load is 28 driven by asymmetrical development and limited resources. To verify these predictions, we 29 studied broods of Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni, from a nest-box population in Armenio, 30 Central Greece. For each nestling which breeds in nest-boxes, we n...

A lot of animals detect and then align their body axis with respect to the Earth's magnetic field lines (MF). This behavior was also presented for territory marking dogs. We collected data on directional preferences of dogs under different MF conditions and analyzed the data using circular statistics. Dogs excreted with the body aligned along the...

In recent years several animal species have been shown to detect the Earth’s magnetic field and to use it for a wide range of purposes. These include navigation and orientation. Existence of magnetoreception in dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) was suspected because of the homing abilities of many individuals of this species We collected data on direct...

Animals living close to human settlements more often experience disturbance, but also reduced predation risk. Because an escape response is costly, behavioural adjustments of animals in terms of increased tolerance of humans occurs and is often reported in the literature. However, most such studies have been conducted in and around long-existing ci...

Recent studies have proved that the endemic Cyprius Scops Owl (CSO) on the island of Cyprus can be differentiated from the nominate and other species and sub-species, on the basis of mtDNA, plumage and vocalizations. However, it remains unknown as to whether the species is sedentary, partially or completely migratory. Also, in face of the uncertain...

Artificial Light At Night (ALAN) is one of the most important anthropogenic environmental components that affects biodiversity worldwide. Despite extensive knowledge on ALAN, being a measure of human activity that directly impacts numerous aspects of animal behaviour, such as orientation and distribution, little is known about its effects on densit...

Abstract. Post-fledging behaviour and mortality between the place of birth and wintering sites can be crucial to populations of raptors. We studied this phenomenon during the autumn migration of immature Red Kite Milvus milvus using telemetry data on the population breeding in western Poland. In total 34 immatures from 17 nests were ringed and GPS–...

Although gradual deterioration of life functions with age is not a fundamental rule, it is pervasive among living organisms, regardless of their mode of reproduction and the number of constituent cells. However, deterioration can be temporarily arrested or slowed down due to the process of anhydrobiosis. Two modes of anhydrobiosis can be distinguis...

Urban and rural habitats provide different conditions to wintering birds mainly due to different access to bird feeders. Returning to the food sources, even under the stress related to trapping, could play an important role in the energetic budget of wintering birds. We studied the duration of period between the first and the second capture of the...

Monitoring studies in Strzaliny, one of the greatest hibernacula in Poland, comprised 31 annual bat censuses (1989–2019). The abundance peaked in 2002 for Myotis myotis , 2009 for Myotis nattereri and 2008 for the whole assemblage. Comparison of the maximum abundance in the monitoring period with that from 1980 to 1982 showed an almost fourfold inc...

Recent climate warming is thought to affect the migratory behavior and geographical range shifts of Pipistrellus nathusii . This bat of the European temperate woodland zone is known to migrate up to 1900 km between its breeding and wintering areas where it uses overground roosts for hibernation. New wintering areas of the species have been recorded...

The Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus is a well known brood parasite bird species whose density is presumed to be correlated with taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic bird species richness. However, due to the complex interplay between environmental estimates and co-evolutionary processes, the power of this relationship is still debatable. Various at...

Due to the complexity of factors that influence species density on a large geographical scale, the effectiveness of the species distribution model (SDM) is still debatable. That is why the buffer zone (the area within 100 m from the outside edge of the patch), the core, i.e. (patches excluding the 100 m buffer zone from the patch’s edge) and patch...

In this paper, samples of mosses and lichens collected from Bory Tucholskie National Park, Zaborski Landscape Park, and their surroundings (Pomerania Province, northern Poland) were studied for water bears (Tardigrada). In total, 38 tardigrade taxa were identified and six of them (Hypsibius cf. allisoni, Hyp. scabropygus, Macrobiotus sottilei, Miln...

Assortative mating is a tendency to mate with phenotypically similar individuals as a consequence of either selection acting on mate preferences or individual constraints resulting from temporal and spatial segregation. The aim of this study was to examine the patterns of assortative mating in a plumage-monomorphic bird species, the black-headed gu...

Earth's geomagnetic field has undergone critical changes in the past. Studies on the influence of the magnetic field on Earth’s organisms are crucial for the understanding of evolution of life on Earth and astrobiological considerations. Numerous studies conducted both on plants and animals confirmed the significant influence of the geomagnetic fie...

Detailed information about number of death specimen in each petri dishes. (XLSX)

Species Distribution Modelling (SDM) is a group of statistical tools that describe species distribution in environmental gradients in order to create their predictive distribution. However, due to the complexity of factors that influence the occurrence or density of species these methods’ effectiveness is still debatable. That is why we decided to...

The implementation of agri-environment schemes (AES) in Poland began in 2004, yet the effects of their implementation were not systematically monitored until 2010. Using monitoring data collected in 2011 from two regions of Poland, the foothills and the lowlands, we examined the impact of environmental variables and the AES on 1) the number of spec...

Studies on the influence of magnetic field on Earth’s organisms are important, in terms of knowledge of the history of life on Earth. But more than that, these studies could be important in the context of contemporary astrobiology research. Many astrobiologists, considering the possibility of the spread of terrestrial organisms to other celestial b...

Water bears (Tardigrada) are known as one of the most extremophile animals in the world. They inhabit environments from the deepest parts of the oceans up to the highest mountains. One of the most extreme and still poorly studied habitats which tardigrades inhabit are cryoconite holes. We analysed the relation between area, depth, elevation and tar...

The hooded crow Corvus cornix is a west Palaearctic, solitary nesting, monogamous corvid. In the breeding season, populations are characterized by a social organization wherein breeding pairs are territorial and nonbreeding individuals, called floaters, live in flocks. During a study of the breeding ecology of the hooded crow, conducted in a protec...

The timing of bird migration has shifted in response to climate change. However, few studies have linked the potential consequences of any phenological shift on individual fitness. About 3,500 male and 2,500 female arrival dates to their nests along with 3,000 breeding attempts for the Slovakian population of White Storks were studied between 1977...

Species distribution models should identify ecological requirements of species and predict their spatial density. However, data from remote sensing sources are often used alone as predictors in modelling distributions. Such data will only produce accurate models if features that are distinguishable by remote sensing are a good match to the environm...

1) During the Arctic summer, little auks (Alle alle) deposit considerable amounts of guano on land. Ecosystems subsidised in nutrients are known to hold greater biodiversity and to produce grander biomass of plants and animals compared with areas where seabirds do not nest. (2) The aim of this study was to look into the relationship between guano f...

While numerous ancient human DNA datasets from across Europe have been published till date, modern-day Poland in particular, remains uninvestigated. Besides application in the reconstruction of continent-wide human history, data from this region would also contribute towards our understanding of the history of the Slavs, whose origin is hypothesize...

Evaluating wetland bird species richness on a national scale can be extremely hard as it is prohibitively expensive, expert knowledge of bird species determination is indispensable, and wet areas tend to be difficult to study. For these reasons we tested the usefulness of the Hooded Crow, a bird easy to detect, as a surrogate for wetland bird speci...