Significance Masting, or synchronous production of large seed crops, is widespread among plants. The predator satiation hypothesis states that masting evolved to overwhelm seed predators with an excess of food. Yet, this popular explanation faced few rigorous tests. We conducted a meta-analysis of studies that related the magnitude of seed production to the intensity of seed predation. Our results validate certain theoretical notions (e.g., that predator satiation is more effective at higher latitudes) but challenge others (e.g., that specialist and generalist consumers differ in the type of functional response to masting). We also found that masting is losing its ability to satiate consumers, probably because global warming affected masting patterns. This shift might considerably impair the reproduction of masting plants.

Significant gaps remain in understanding the response of plant reproduction to environmental change. This is partly because measuring reproduction in long-lived plants requires direct observation over many years and such datasets have rarely been made publicly available. Here we introduce MASTREE+, a data set that collates reproductive time-series data from across the globe and makes these data freely available to the community. MASTREE+ includes 73,828 georeferenced observations of annual reproduction (e.g. seed and fruit counts) in perennial plant populations worldwide.These observations consist of 5971 population-level time-series from 974 species in 66 countries. The mean and median time-series length is 12.4 and 10 years respectively, and the data set includes 1122 series that extend over at least two decades (≥20 years of observations). For a subset of well-studied species, MASTREE+ includes extensive replication of time-series across geographical and climatic gradients. Herewe describe the open-access data set, available as a.csv file, and we introduce an associated web-based app for data exploration. MASTREE+ will provide the basis for improved understanding of the response of long-lived plant reproduction to environmental change. Additionally, MASTREE+ will enable investigation of the ecology and evolution of reproductive strategies in perennial plants, and the role of plant reproduction as a driver of ecosystem dynamics.

The is insufficient knowledge of arthropod communities occurring in specific microhabitats. In this study, we characterize the arthropod assemblages inhabiting burrows of the common hamster (Cricetus cricetus L.) and factors that determine their diversity and abundance. We tested the following hypotheses: (1) arthropod assemblages are associated with a particular dominant vegetation occurring in the vicinity of burrows; (2) a correlation exists between fine-scale geographic distances among burrows and assemblage dissimilarity; and (3) the type of trap influences the sampling success of captured arthropods. We found 73 morphospecies belonging to 16 families in 109 burrows, most of which were in the families Staphylinidae (Coleoptera) and Parasitidae (Arachnida: Acari: Mesostigmata). The most abundant families were Staphylinidae, Cryptophagidae (Coleoptera), Parasitidae, and Macrochelidae (Mesostigmata) (78.89%). Among the identified species, we found Aleochara irmgardis (Staphylinidae) and Poecilochirus sexclavatus (Parasitidae) which had not yet been reported in Poland, and several other rare species. Meat-baited traps captured 64.34% more individuals, which were more diverse and species-rich than the non-baited control traps, but the former was more selective for saprophages, necrophages, and coprophages. The burrows located in areas overgrown by triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye) were inhabited by 69.86% of the identified arthropod species, and these also had the highest abundance (64.07%) in comparison with other habitats. However, differences in sample size biased our results toward and overestimate arthropods associated with this vegetation. This study underlines that the species composition detected in burrows was affected by the methods used and hamster preferences for a specific habitat rather than the geographic proximity of the burrows. More extensive sampling across multiple habitats will be necessary to confirm our findings.

Seeds produced by individual plants often vary substantially in size. Typically, larger seeds produce seedlings that have higher chances of establishment and survival relative to seedlings produced by smaller seeds. However, larger seeds are also preferred by granivores due to larger caloric content. While choosing the patch to forage, granivores might avoid the ones with smaller, less preferred seeds. We tested a novel hypothesis that the production of different size seeds by a plant may be a strategy to decrease predation by granivores. We conducted a 3-year seed removal experiment. We presented Quercus robur acorns in forests in three configurations: large acorns alone, medium acorns alone, and large acorns mixed with small ones. The impact of seed size on seed survival was inconsistent: in the first year of the study, survival probability for seeds in the mixed treatment was significantly higher than survival probability of large seeds alone, supporting our hypothesis. However, in the following years, results were non-significant, probably because of reduced granivore selectivity in poor seed crop years. Our study demonstrated that the impact of neighbourhood of different size seeds seed survival varied over time in Q. robur. This provides limited evidence that intraspecific variation in seed size could evolve to shift the interaction between trees and scatter hoarders away from predation and towards mutualism.

Celem opracowania jest analiza zabójstw w Polsce, ich uwarunkowań, zróżnicowania geograficznego i zmian w czasie. Wykorzystano informacje dotyczące liczby zgonów i liczby zabójstw pozyskane z roczników statystycznych. Dla poszczególnych województw oraz dla całego kraju obliczono współczynnik morderstw, a następnie wykreślono krzywe zmienności jego wartości w czasie. Stworzono kartogramy dla wartości współczynnika morderstw dla Polski według województw dla następujących wybranych lat: 2000, 2005, 2010 i 2014. Wykazano, że w Polsce umieralność utrzymuje się na względnie stałym poziomie około 3,5 mln zgonów rocznie. Zgony dominują w ośrodkach miejskich, przewyższając dane dla ośrodków wiejskich około trzykrotnie. W całym badanym okresie województwa: mazowieckie, śląskie i dolnośląskie wykazują najwyższe wartości współczynnika zabójstw, natomiast najniższe wartości są notowane dla województw: opolskiego i świętokrzyskiego. Województwa: zachodniopomorskie i pomorskie wykazują stały wysoki poziom analizowanego współczynnika, pozostałe zaś cechują stosunkowo niskie jego wartości.