Stanisław Bury’s research while affiliated with Jagiellonian University and other places

Background Legless lizards, the slow worms of the genus Anguis, are forming secondary contact zones within their Europe-wide distribution. Methods We examined 35 populations of A. fragilis and A. colchica to identify the level of morphological and genetic divergence in Poland. We applied a conventional study approach using metric, meristic, and categorial (coloration) features for a phenotype analysis, and two standard molecular markers, a mitochondrial (NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase chain 2; ND2 ) and a nuclear (V(D)J recombination-activating protein 1; RAG1 ) one. Results We found clear differences between A. fragilis and A. colchica in molecular markers and phenotype—in meristic features, e.g., ear opening, number of scales rows around the body, and higher than so far known diversity in ND2 and RAG1 haplotypes. The presence of five hybrids was detected in three populations in the Polish part of the European contact zone. In all hybrids, homozygous alleles of RAG1 were detected, which suggests a back-crossing within the genus. Conclusions The ability to produce fertile offspring by A. fragilis x A. colchica hybrids shows inefficient mechanisms of reproductive isolation of the two legless lizards. The hybrids were indistinguishable from parental species in head proportions (principal components and discriminant analyses) but more resembling A. colchica in meristic traits.

Gniewosz plamisty (Coronella austriaca) jest jednym z najrzadszych gatunków gadów występujących w Polsce. Stan rozpoznania jego populacji w kraju uległ znacznej poprawie w ostatnich latach, jednak wciąż wymaga dalszych badań. Jednym z lepiej zbadanych i regularnie monitorowanych stanowisk gniewosza jest krakowski Zakrzówek. W okresie 2010-2024 sześciokrotnie prowadzono badania monitoringowe populacji gniewosza plamistego na Zakrzówku, które miały na celu ocenę liczebności oraz struktury płci populacji, w kontekście perspektyw jej zachowania i ochrony. Liczba osobników stwierdzanych w każdym z sześciu lat badań waha się pomiędzy 10 a 18 (średnio 14), bez wyraźnych trendów spadkowych lub wzrostowych. Struktura płci w żadnym z sześciu lat badań nie odbiegała istotnie od stosunku 1:1. Obserwacje osobników juwenilnych były sporadyczne i nie przekraczały dwóch osobników rocznie, co może wynikać z niskiej wykrywalności lub wysokiej śmiertelności młodych. Należy mieć na uwadze, że pomimo względnie stabilnego statusu populacji liczebność gniewosza na Zakrzówku może zacząć spadać w kolejnych latach w wyniku niedawnych niekorzystnych zmian w siedlisku związanych z przekształceniem kolejnych fragmentów Zakrzówka. Monitoring gniewosza na Zakrzówku powinien być kontynuowany, a także rozszerzony o wybrane stanowiska w Tyńcu, dla których regularne badania nie są prowadzone.

Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, the causative agent of ophidiomycosis, poses a potential threat to wild snakes worldwide. This study aimed to retrospectively investigate the prevalence of O. ophidiicola in archived snake moults collected from the San River Valley in the Bieszczady Mountains, Poland, from 2010 to 2012. Using qPCR for O. ophidiicola detection and conventional PCR for clade characterisation, we analysed 58 moults and one road-killed specimen of Zamenis longissimus and Natrix natrix. A novel combination of primers (ITS2L) was used to simultaneously confirm SYBR Green-based qPCR results and perform genotyping. O. ophidiicola has been detected from two Z. longissimus and one N. natrix specimens. The identified clade (I-B) is consistent with those found in wild snakes of eastern Europe and San River Valley, indicating that O. ophidiicola has been present in this region for at least a decade. This study underscores the value of historical samples in understanding the long-term presence of pathogens and highlights the potential role of environmental reservoirs in the persistence of O. ophidiicola. Our findings are crucial for informing conservation strategies for the endangered Aesculapian snake populations in Poland, emphasising the need for ongoing monitoring and habitat management to mitigate the potential impact of ophidiomycosis.

Salmonellosis associated with reptiles is a well‐researched topic, particularly in China and the United States, but it occurs less frequently in Europe. The growth of the human population and changes in the environment could potentially increase the interaction between humans and free‐living reptiles, which are an unidentified source of Salmonella species. In this study, we sought to explore this issue by comparing the microbiota of free‐living European grass snakes, scientifically known as Natrix natrix, with that of captive banded water snakes, or Nerodia fasciata. We were able to isolate 27 strains of Salmonella species from cloacal swabs of 59 N. natrix and 3 strains from 10 N. fasciata. Our findings revealed that free‐living snakes can carry strains of Salmonella species that are resistant to normal human serum (NHS). In contrast, all the Salmonella species strains isolated from N. fasciata were sensitive to the action of the NHS, further supporting our findings. We identified two serovars from N. natrix: Salmonella enterica subspecies diarizonae and S. enterica subspecies houtenae. Additionally, we identified three different virulotypes (VT) with invA, sipB, prgH, orgA, tolC, iroN, sitC, sifA, sopB, spiA, cdtB and msgA genes, and β‐galactosidase synthesised by 23 serovars. The identification of Salmonella species in terms of their VT is a relatively unknown aspect of their pathology. This can be specific to the serovar and pathovar and could be a result of adaptation to a new host or environment.

Infectious diseases are influenced by interactions between host and pathogen, and the number of infected hosts is rarely homogenous across the landscape. Areas with elevated pathogen prevalence can maintain a high force of infection and may indicate areas with disease impacts on host populations. However, isolating the ecological processes that result in increases in infection prevalence and intensity remains a challenge. Here we elucidate the contribution of pathogen clade and host species in disease hotspots caused by Ophidiomyces ophidiicola, the pathogen responsible for snake fungal disease, in 21 species of snakes infected with multiple pathogen strains across 10 countries in Europe. We found isolated areas of disease hotspots in a landscape where infections were otherwise low. O. ophidiicola clade had important effects on transmission, and areas with multiple pathogen clades had higher host infection prevalence. Snake species further influenced infection, with most positive detections coming from species within the Natrix genus. Our results suggest that both host and pathogen identity are essential components contributing to increased pathogen prevalence.

Sexual dimorphism in the size and shape of the body and head is the result of manifold selective pressures acting on organisms. In snakes, sexual size dimorphism is common and has been well-studied. However, intersexual differences in relative head size and shape have attracted far less attention. Similarly, the allometric properties of head shape and size in snakes are poorly known. Here, we analyse sexual dimorphism in two viperid species: European adder Vipera berus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Steppe viper Vipera renardi (Christoph, 1861). We measured body length, tail length and several head characteristics: head length, head width, head height, pileus length, interorbital distance and internarial distance. Our findings were that males and females of both species did not differ in body length (SVL), but that males tended to have significantly longer tails; there were also significant differences in head characteristics-males tended to have higher heads, and larger internarial and interorbital distances. The head dimensions displayed negative allometry when compared against SVL but when scaled against head length, dimensions like head height and head width exhibited positive allometry. We argue that these differences may be related to sexual selection and that the wider heads may also serve as antipredatory signal.

Small erythrocytes might be beneficial for blood rheology, as they contribute less to blood viscosity than large erythrocytes. We predicted that rheological disadvantages of larger erythrocytes could be alleviated by relatively smaller nucleus size in larger cells allowing higher flexibility and by more elongated shape. Across squamate reptiles, we found that species with larger erythrocytes tend to have smaller ratio of nucleus size to cell size (N : C ratio), but that larger erythrocytes tend to be rounder, not more elongated. Nevertheless, we document that in fact nucleus area changes with erythrocyte area more or less linearly, which is also true for the relationship between cell length and cell width. These linear relationships suggest that nucleus size and cell size, and cell width and cell length, might be constrained to largely proportional mutual changes. The shifts in widely used N : C ratio and elongation ratio (cell length/cell width) with cell size might be misleading, as they do not reflect adaptive or maladaptive changes of erythrocytes, but rather mathematically trivial scaling of the ratios of two variables with a linear relationship with non-zero intercepts. We warn that ratio scaling without analyses of underlying patterns of evolutionary changes can lead to misinterpretation of evolutionary processes.

The blue-spotted phenotype in a slow worm can be considered as an alternative colour morph or a secondary sexual characteristic. This phenotype is known to entail an elevated predation risk; thus, its continuous presence in a population must be balanced by additional and positive fitness consequences. In this study, we show that blue-spotted males are characterised by a greater snout-vent length (SVL) than typical specimens. Importantly, the SVL of blue-spotted males reaches the magnitude of the average female size. This indicates that the presence of blue spots may involve a correlated positive effect on growth and body size. The greater body size of the blue-spotted males could enhance their survival and mating success, and thus facilitate the continued presence of a high fraction of this morph within the population. In addition, we found that the blue-spotted phenotype is more common in the eastern than the western slow worm, and the proposed fitness consequences of the blue-spotted phenotype might enhance its tendency to spread in the eastern Anguis lineage.

Despite amphibian decline is one of the best studied symptom of biodiversity reduction, quantitative data on the phenomenon are scarce, which applies mostly to terrestrial habitats. Herein we present data on an abundance and a biomass of amphibians i Niepołomice Forest (Southern Poland) over 50 years. The study showed clear decline in both abundance and a biomass and changes in species composition as well. Moreover, we found that the amount of deadwood debris has a positive effect on frogs, and should be concerned as important element of amphibian conservation i woodlands. Other factors including ground water drainage, pollution and habitat fragmentation presumably affecting local populations, are discussed.