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Fascioloides magna is a parasite of high veterinary importance due to its pathogenicity for wild and domestic ruminants. The aim of our study was to describe the presence of trematode infection in the red deer population in the Lower Silesian Wilderness, one of the established fascioloidosis foci in Central Europe, and to assess the overall prevalence of F. magna in the studied area. In order to achieve this, a coprological study of different cervid species was performed.

Movements of moose are caused by variations in resource availability such as food, shelter and the energetic cost of foraging. These variables are important in forest and population management. Therefore, the main objective of the present study was to estimate the influence of forest site types on the distribution of the non hunted moose population in February and March 2020 in the Augustów Forest, a 1102.0 km2 forest complex in north-eastern Poland. In the study area, 20 sampling plots were distributed over a total area of 91.4 km2, where six teams, each consisting of 30 people, observed moose to estimate population numbers. The average population density was 1.22 ± 0.19 moose per km2 and ranged from 0.21 to 3.40 animals/km2. The total population number estimated this way amounted to 1344 animals. Non-linear regression demonstrated a positive relationship between the percentage of hygric-wet forest site types in the sampling plot area and the moose population distribution (r = 0.735, n = 20, p = 0.0096). In winter, these habitats are a critical refuge for moose. For this reason, tree harvesting and hunting in hygric-wet forest site types should be limited during this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human-induced changes in the natural environment impact upon a wide variety of genetic processes at all levels of population structure. Insight into these processes is now achieved by analyses of genetic diversity allowing the past and present condition of populations to be assessed and compared. Given its severe fragmentation and small size, the population of the Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus in Poland can be regarded as especially prone to gene-pool alteration. Moreover, this is a region of Europe in which different genetic lineages of the Capercaillie may be present, ensuring that certain conservation decisions may be even more difficult than they otherwise would be. Bearing the above in mind, we decided to study polymorphism of the mitochondrial DNA Control Region (mtDNA CR) in remnant and extinct populations of the Capercaillie in Poland. The extinct population was represented by samples from birds hunted in the Lower Silesian Forest (SW Poland) between 1951-1962. We compared sequences obtained with data from the large, continuous population present in Russia and Scandinavia. Analysing 331 bp of mtDNA CR for 168 individuals, we identified 24 haplotypes, among which only 6 had not been reported previously in the species according to GenBank. Our data confirmed a previous suggestion regarding the genetic structure of the species in Poland, i.e. that birds from Augustów Forest (NE Poland) are related to Russian and Scandinavian populations, constituting a part of the lowland group within the boreal lineage. The Carpathian population is in turn confirmed as an independent genetic group within the boreal lineage, while specimens from the Solska Forest (SE Poland) prove to be highly differentiated from birds in other Polish populations; most likely because they derive from - or have been connected via gene flow with - birds present in the Balkans. Further genetic analysis is necessary to resolve this evolutionary relationship between Capercaillies from south-eastern Poland and those of the Balkans. Where practice is concerned, the overall advice is that three Conservation Units are to be recognised in Poland. In addition to those, the extinct population from the Lower Silesian Forest has been deemed part of the lowland group within the boreal lineage, albeit a distinctive one, given the possibility of gene exchange with Carpathian birds. We further suggest that some aspect of this extinct population's genetic diversity reflects an uncontrolled process of reintroduction taking place in the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: There was an unchecked increase in wild boar population and in the damaged crops in Poland in 2010, and the amount of compensation reached €12.4 million. The objective of the present study was to establish the factors affecting boar-related damage and to verify the effectiveness of protective strips used again wild boar pressure upon fields. RESULTS: Damage was positively correlated with the wild boar population density, the farmland-forest ecotone index, the proportion of deciduous stands, the Simpson index for dominant tree species and the age class of forest stands. The relationship between level of damage and feeding strips was not significant. Stepwise regression explains 55.6% of the variability of a given feature affected by the wild boar density, the forest-field ecotone index and the Simpson index for the age structure of the forest. During 5 years, the compensation for damage caused by boar amounted to €34.2 million, whereas the revenue from carcasses sold amounted to €9.5 million. CONCLUSIONS: Protective strips do not reduce the damage to crops, and so the offer of high-protein food on these strips, which increases reproduction rates among wild boar, should be discontinued. Reduction in the level of damage can only be achieved by a radical reduction in numbers of wild boar. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the paper "Distribution and Number of Black Grouse, Tetrao Tetrix in Southwestern Poland and the Potential Impact of Predators Upon Nesting Success of the Species" presented at the Fourth International Black Grouse Conference in Vienna, Austria, in September 2007. This paper investigates the distribution and number of black grouse in coniferous lowland forest. It discusses the application of time-space analysis in the investigation. It shows increasing black grouse population in eight hunting districts within a forest area.