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Vibrations generated by road traffic are considered to be a form of physical environmental pollution. Nonetheless, the effect of this disturbance in natural habitats, and in particular on the aquatic stage of amphibians, received very little attention from the scientific community. This study aims to assess the direct effect of mechanical waves and the consequent water turbidity on the aquatic larval stage of Rana temporaria by exposing an experimental group to laboratory-induced vibrations and comparison with a non-exposed control group. Our results show that this kind of pollution had no significant effect on the development rate, the length of the larval period, and the mortality of the larvae. However, we identified a significant effect on the size of animals, both during the larval period, and at metamorphosis. This result raises concern about the long-term risks to the amphibian population exposed to this type of low-profile pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the major difficulties of frog farming is providing adequate food in the first few weeks after the metamorphosis. This is a critical time frame, with rapid growth and high mortality. The established feeder insect species used throughout this delicate stage (cricket and mealworm larvae, adult fruit flies) are suitable from a trophic perspective, but present challenges and difficulties that influence the production costs. The aim of this study is to assess the performance of an alternative feeder species - Alphitobius piceus - with a simpler production technology and a lower production cost. Two species of feeder insect were used: the conventionally used Acheta domestica larvae as control species, and Alphitobius piceus larvae as experimental species. As model anuran we used the European common frog, Rana temporaria. The experimental insect species was easily accepted and produced a strong feeding response in the post-metamophic frogs. There were no significant differences between the control and experimental groups in terms of body condition index and mortality, however survival was better in the experimental group. This similarity indicates a high potential of Alphitobius piceus as feeder species for the newly metamorphosed frogs and also a good economic opportunity for frog farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Natura 2000 site "Dealurile Clujului Est" is a vast area (approx. 18.000 ha), with valuable steppe-like and forest habitats still very well preserved. The importance of this site comes from the syntopic presence of 4 Maculinea taxons, an extremely rare situation in Europe, and from the fact that the mesophilic medows from this area have the highest plant diversity in the world. In this study we emphasize the effect of mowing and grazing on the butterfly diversity from the site. We used the transect method, walking 6 transects in mowed areas and 6 transects in grazed areas. We used similarity measures and unpaired t-test compare the two different land use types, regarding species number, number of individuals, species diversity and evenness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]