Mutualism is an understudied phenomenon across taxa, but is important to the persistence and structure of communities. The role of positive interactions in supporting threatened species is critically important given that freshwater fish are extremely vulnerable due to the combined effects of climate change and habitat degradation. To disentangle complex positive multi-species interactions, I applied both Eltonian and Hutchinsonian niche approaches to the reproductive mutualism of leuciscids known as nest association, a form of alloparental care characterized by an adult of one species guarding the offspring of another. I conducted this study with the leuciscid community of Toms Creek in which Bluehead Chub Nocomis leptocephalus is the primary nest builder and nest associate species include Rosyside Dace Clinostomus funduloides, Rosefin Shiner Lythrurus ardens, Mountain Redbelly Dace Chrosomus oreas, Crescent Shiner Luxilus cerasinus, White Shiner Luxilus albeolus, Central Stoneroller Campostoma anomalum, Creek Chub Semotilus atromaculatus, and Blacknose Dace Rhinycthys atratulus. I applied Hutchinsonian niche theory with respect to hydrology and water temperature to define the reproductive phenology of each species involved in the reproductive mutualism, then used Eltonian niche theory to define the role of each species in parental and alloparental care. My dual niche theory approach elucidates the reproductive requirements of each species and quantifies the contribution of nest associates to alloparental care, which historically have not been included in definitions of nest association. My results show that Blacknose Dace Rhinichthys atratulus and Creek Chub Semotilus atromaculatus are not true nest associates of Bluehead Chub Nocomis leptocephalus based on their reproductive phenology and observed nesting behaviors. In contrast to previous work on nest association, most associate species did contribute to parental care through nest defense and vigilance behaviors, and their specific behaviors were influenced by morphology. By clearly defining the reproductive niches of these species, this study lays the groundwork for future investigation of how various climate scenarios may impact multi-species reproductive mutualisms. / Master of Science / Positive interactions are understudied throughout ecology, but are important to the persistence and structure of communities. The role of positive interactions in supporting threatened species is critically important given that freshwater fish are at high risk of extinction due to the combined effects of climate change and habitat degradation. To understand the complex positive interactions in freshwater fish, I applied both niche theory approaches to a mutualistic reproductive interaction known as nest association, where an adult of one species builds a nest on which it guards the offspring of other species (formally: a type of alloparental care). I conducted this study with the leuciscid (commonly known as minnow) community of Toms Creek in which Bluehead Chub Nocomis leptocephalus is the primary nest builder and nest associate species include Rosyside Dace Clinostomus funduloides, Rosefin Shiner Lythrurus ardens, Mountain Redbelly Dace Chrosomus oreas, Crescent Shiner Luxilus cerasinus, White Shiner Luxilus albeolus, Central Stoneroller Campostoma anomalum, Creek Chub Semotilus atromaculatus, and Blacknose Dace Rhinycthys atratulus. For each species involved in the reproductive mutualism, I defined the seasonal timing of reproduction with respect to hydrology and water temperature, then defined their role in parental and alloparental care. My approach clarifies the reproductive requirements of each species and establishes the contributions of associate species to alloparental care, which historically have not been included in definitions of nest association. My results show that Blacknose Dace Rhinichthys atratulus and Creek Chub Semotilus atromaculatus are not true nest associates of Bluehead Chub Nocomis leptocephalus based on their reproductive requirements and observed nesting behaviors. In contrast to historic descriptions of nest association, most associate species did contribute to parental care through nest defense and vigilance behaviors, and their specific behaviors were influenced by their size and physical adaptations. By clearly defining the reproductive needs and roles of these species, this study lays the groundwork for future investigation of how various climate scenarios may impact positive relationships among species.

<p>Cilj rada je da se utvrde potrebe dece i mladih bez roditeljskog staranja za<br />primenom modela programa učenja socijalnih ve&scaron;tina u funkciji razvijanja njihove socijalne<br />kompetentnosti i boljeg socijalnog funkcionisanja. Ovako definisan op&scaron;ti cilj<br />operacionalizovan je kroz određene teorijske i empirijske celine rada.<br />U prvom poglavlju teorijskog dela izložen je koncept socijalne kompetentnosti kroz<br />opis razvoja ovog koncepta i prikaz integrativnog modela socijalne kompetentnosti koji<br />pretpostavlja sagledavanje socijalne kompetentnosti na vi&scaron;e nivoa. Rukovođeni ovim<br />modelom, detaljnije smo prikazali determinante i korelate socijalne kompetentnosti koji se<br />odnose, sa jedne strane, na različite pokazatelje socijalnog funkcionisanja, a sa druge, na<br />socijalne ve&scaron;tine. Po&scaron;to je model programa razvijanja socijalnih ve&scaron;tina potrebno prilagoditi<br />ciljnoj grupi korisnika, ali i kontekstu obuke, posebna teorijska celina odnosila se na bliži opis<br />i definisanje pojma deca i mladi bez roditeljskog staranja. Polazeći od ekolo&scaron;kog pristupa, u<br />ovom poglavlju prikazana su teorijska i empirijska saznanja o uzrocima i faktorima<br />porodičnih odnosa koji utiču na razvoj i socijalno funkcionisanje dece i mladih, kao i oblici<br />socijalne za&scaron;tite dece i mladih bez roditeljskog staranja. U poslednjem teorijskom poglavlju,<br />opisane su karakteristike institucionalne za&scaron;tite, odnosno kontekst u kojem žive i dalje se<br />razvijaju deca i mladi bez roditeljskog staranja. Dat je prikaz dosada&scaron;njih istraživanja o<br />socijalnim odnosima i funkcionisanju dece i mladih u institucijama. Na ovaj način, kroz tri<br />teorijska poglavlja, polazaći od integrativnog modela socijalne kompetentnosti sagledani su<br />različiti pokazatelji socijalne kompetentnosti, njihove determinante i korelati, te diskutovani<br />protektivni i rizični faktori razvijanja socijalne kompetentnosti dece i mladih bez roditeljskog<br />staranja u institucionalnom kontekstu.<br />U empirijskom delu rada prvo je sagledana socijalna kompetentnost dece i mladih bez<br />roditeljskog staranja preko pokazatelja njihovog socijalnog funkcionisanja, a zatim sa aspekta<br />razvijenosti socijalnih ve&scaron;tina. Na oba nivoa analize, posebno su sagledane razlike u odnosu<br />na intelektualni i porodični status dece. Za procenu različitih pokazatelja socijalnog<br />funkcionisanja dece i mladih kori&scaron;ćene su: Skala oblika problematičnog pona&scaron;anja (Gresham,<br />Elliott,1990), Skala snage i te&scaron;koće (Goodman, 1997) i Upitnik načina re&scaron;avanja konflikata<br />(Rahim, 1983a). Za ispitivanje razvijenosti socijalnih ve&scaron;tina dece i mladih primenjene su Ček<br />lista socijalnih ve&scaron;tina (Goldstein et al., 1998) i Skala socijalnih ve&scaron;tina (Gresham &amp;<br />Elliott,1990). Ukupan uzorak činilo je 416 dece i mladih uzrasta od 12 do 18 godina, od toga<br />v<br />210 bez roditeljskog staranja i 206 sa roditeljskim staranjem. Poduzorci u komparativnoj<br />grupi dece i mladih sa roditeljskim staranjem bili su ujednačeni sa poduzorcima dece i mladih<br />bez roditeljskog staranja u odnosu na intelektualni status, pol, uzrast, sredinu i &scaron;kolski uspeh.<br />Rezultati prve faze istraživanja su pokazali da deca i mladi bez roditeljskog staranja<br />imaju slabije razvijene socijalne ve&scaron;tine i lo&scaron;ije socijalno funkcioni&scaron;u od dece i mladih sa<br />roditeljskim staranjem. Potvrđeno je da roditeljsko staranje ima značajniji uticaj na socijalnu<br />kompetentnost dece i mladih nego intelektualni status. Druga faza istraživanja se odnosila na<br />utvrđivanje povezanosti pokazatelja socijalnog funkcionisanja i razvijenosti ispitivanih<br />socijalnih ve&scaron;tina u cilju koncipiranja modela programa razvijanja socijalne kompetentnosti<br />dece i mladih bez roditeljskog staranja. Pored toga, ispitana je i povezanost institucionalnih<br />varijabli, kao i karakteristike dece i mladih sa pokazateljima njihove socijalne kompetentnosti.<br />Nalazi o visokoj povezanosti socijalnih ve&scaron;tina sa pokazateljima socijalnog funkcionisanja,<br />kao i visoka povezanost određenih varijabli institucionalne za&scaron;tite i karakteristika dece i<br />mladih bez roditeljskog staranja sa njihovim socijalnim kompetencijama, potvdili su teorijski<br />koncept iz područja socijalne kompetentnosti.<br />U delu pedago&scaron;kih implikacija dat je model programa učenja socijalnih ve&scaron;tina koje<br />mogu doprineti razvijanju socijalne kompetentnosti i efikasnijem socijalnom funkcionisanju<br />dece i mladih bez roditeljskog staranja, kao i preporuke vezane za institucionalni kontekst<br />obuke. Takođe, ponuđeni model programa pruža mogućnost daljih istraživanja u ovoj oblasti<br />vezanih za evaluaciju efekata ovako koncipiranog programa i njegove realizacije u uslovima<br />institucionalne za&scaron;tite, kao i pitanja same kompetentnosti i edukacije kadra za primenu<br />programa.</p> / <p>The aim of the work is finding out the needs of children and young people<br />without parental care and the implication of a modular programme for learning social skills<br />with the function of development of their social competency and better social functioning.<br />Defined in this way, the general aim has become operative through certain theoretical and<br />empirical parts of the work.<br />The first chapter of the theoretical part deals with the concept of social competency<br />through the description of development of this concept and the view of Integrative model of<br />social competency which includes the insight of social competency in several levels. Guided<br />by this model, we presented the determinants and the correlates of social competency relating<br />to different signposts of social functioning on one side, and social skills on the other. Since<br />the model of development programme of social skills needs to be adjusted to the target group<br />of users, and also to the context of the training, a specific theoretical part related to the closer<br />description and definition of the term children and young people without parental care.<br />Starting from the ecological point ,this chapter shows the theoretical and empirical knowledge<br />of the causes and the factors of family relations which have impact on developement and<br />social functioning of children and young people without parental care. The last theoretical<br />chapter deals with the institutional protection, that is the context where children and young<br />people without parental care continue to live and develop .There has been given a review of<br />the recent research on social relations and functioning of children and young people in<br />institutions. In this way, through the three theoretical chapters, starting from the Integrative<br />model of social competency, different indicators of social competency have been considered,<br />their determinants and correlates, and there have been discussed the protective and risky<br />factors of social competency development with children and young people without parental<br />care in the institutional context.<br />In the empirical part of the work first social competency of children and young people<br />without parental care has been reviewed through the indicators of their social functioning and<br />then from the aspect of their social skills. Both levels of the analyses consider the differences<br />relating the intellectual and family status of children. For the evaluation of different indicators<br />of social functioning of children and young people we used: Scale of forms of problematic<br />behaviour (Gresham, Elliott,1990, Scale of strength and difficulty, (Goodman, 1997) and the<br />Questionnaire for ways of solving problems (Rahim, 1983). For the research of social skills of<br />vii<br />children and young people we have applied Check list of social skills (Goldstein &amp; Glick<br />1987) and Scale of social skills (Gresham &amp; Elliott,1990). The total sample consisted of 416<br />children and young people of the age 12 to 18 years, out of which 210 without parental care<br />and 206 with parental care. The subsamples in the comparative group of children and young<br />people with parental care were identical to the subsamples of children and young people<br />without parental care, considering the intellectual status, sex, age and school achievement.<br />The results of the first phase of research showed that children and young people<br />without parental care have less developed social skills and weaker social functioning than<br />children and young people with parental care. It has been confirmed that parental care has a<br />more significant impact on social competency of children and young people than intellectual<br />status. The second phase of research related to stating the connections between the indicators<br />of social functioning and development of the studied social skills with the aim of making a<br />concept for a model programme of social competency development of children and young<br />people without parental care. It has also been studied the connection among institutional<br />variables, as well as the characteristics of children and young people with indicators of their<br />social competency. The evidences of strong connections of social skills with indicators of<br />social functioning, as well as strong connection of certain variables of institutional care and<br />characteristics of children and young people without parental care with their social<br />competency, have confirmed the theoretical concept from the area of social competency.<br />In the part dealing with the pedagogical implications there has been given a model of a<br />programme for learning social skills which can contribute to the development of social<br />competency and a more efficient social functioning of children and young people without<br />parental care, as well as the references connected to the institutional context of the training.<br />The presented model of the programme also offers a possibility of further research in this<br />area, connected to the evaluation of effects of a programme concepted in such a way and its<br />realisation in the conditions of institutional protection, as well as the issues of the very<br />competency and education of people for implementing the programme.</p>

This diploma thesis The analysis of palying interactions of a child at toddler age in a nursery is divided into two parts - the theoretical part and the empirical part. The theoretical part is divided into four main chapters. The first chapter deals with the characteristics of a child at toddler age. The individual stages of child development are described here. The second chapter focuses on the child's play activities and the third characterises nursery care in the Czech Republic and abroad. The fourth chapter contains summary of the theoretical part. The survey presented in the empirical part of the thesis consists of an analysis of play interaction between two and three-year old children and their teacher in a nursery facility. The following actions of children were monitored: vocalisation, eye contact with other people and expression of emotions, motor activity, toy preference and mutual physical contact between the teacher and a child. Video records were analysed using applications V.I.P. (Video Interactive Procesor) and MS Excel. I compared not only the data of all children, but I also focused on a comparison between the boys and girls in terms of different gender. Key words: toddler, play interaction, nursery facility, nursery teacher, child development, parental care.

<p>This thesis examines risk management in breeding Siberian jays (<i>Perisoreus infaustus</i>), which is indigenous to the northern taiga. Parent behaviour and the nest are cryptic. A new nest is built each year. It is placed on spruce or pine branches close to the trunk and well insulated with lichens, feathers and reindeer hair.</p><p>Nest failure rate was the main factor driving annual variations in jay numbers. The probability for nesting attempts to be successful ranged annually between 0.08 and 0.70. Nest predation was rampant and a main cause of nest failure. Nest predators were mainly other corvids (primarily the Eurasian jay <i>Garrulus glandarius</i>). Habitat quality was the main factor determining the risk of predation. The risk for nest failure due to predation was higher in thinned forests with an open structure and with a high abundance of man-associated corvid species (jays, crows, raven). </p><p>Siberian jay parents show several strategic adjustments in life-history and behaviour to the risk of nest predation. Parents traded reduced feeding rates for a lower predation risk and allocated feeding to low risk situations. Chick provisioning imposes a cost by drawing the attention of visually hunting predators to the location of nests, and parents adjusted their daily routines and avoided exposure by allocating provisioning to times of low activity among nest predators. These strategic adjustments of feeding efforts were estimated to reduce the exposure to nest predators by 26 percent. Also, parents adjusted their reproductive efforts to the perceived presence of predators in a playback experiment. Siberian jays reduced their reproductive investment by laying a smaller clutch size when high risk of nest predation reduced the value of current reproduction, as predicted from life-history theory.</p>

<p>Evolution is fuelled by independent reproduction events. Yet, the offspring of at least three percent of all bird species postpone dispersal and forego independent reproduction. The Siberian jay, <i>Perisoreus infaustus, </i>is such a species where some<i> </i>offspring are philopatric and remain in their natal territory for up to three years, forming family groups. The main finding of this thesis is that nepotistic anti-predator behaviour displayed by parents provided philopatric offspring benefits, which could be an incentive to stay and forego independent reproduction. Predation, (hawks - 80 % and owls - 15% of deaths observed) is the main cause of mortality. Parents increased their vigilance nepotistically; they were more vigilant against surprise predator attacks, and gave alarm calls when attacked when feeding together with offspring. However, the two parents differed in their behaviour. Mothers gave calls only when together with their offspring, while males also warned unrelated immigrants. Sitting predators were approached and mobbed more intensely by parents in the presence of philopatric offspring. The vocalisation of Siberian jays provides information about predation risk. Specific calls are given for hawks and owls, and calls also varied with hawk behaviour. The nepotistic anti-predator behaviour of parents is a benefit, which the offspring can gain only “at home”, and such behaviour appears to promote offspring to forego dispersal and independent reproduction. This was confirmed in an experimental manipulation; philopatric offspring dispersed when fathers were removed and replaced by a despotic, immigrant stepfather. From a life-history perspective, parents have an incentive to protect their reproductive investment. Nepotistic anti-predator behaviour create a safe haven in the natal territory for philopatric offspring and provides direct fitness benefits. Without such direct fitness benefits offspring may disperse and wait for a breeding opening elsewhere. </p>

This thesis examines risk management in breeding Siberian jays (Perisoreus infaustus), which is indigenous to the northern taiga. Parent behaviour and the nest are cryptic. A new nest is built each year. It is placed on spruce or pine branches close to the trunk and well insulated with lichens, feathers and reindeer hair. Nest failure rate was the main factor driving annual variations in jay numbers. The probability for nesting attempts to be successful ranged annually between 0.08 and 0.70. Nest predation was rampant and a main cause of nest failure. Nest predators were mainly other corvids (primarily the Eurasian jay Garrulus glandarius). Habitat quality was the main factor determining the risk of predation. The risk for nest failure due to predation was higher in thinned forests with an open structure and with a high abundance of man-associated corvid species (jays, crows, raven). Siberian jay parents show several strategic adjustments in life-history and behaviour to the risk of nest predation. Parents traded reduced feeding rates for a lower predation risk and allocated feeding to low risk situations. Chick provisioning imposes a cost by drawing the attention of visually hunting predators to the location of nests, and parents adjusted their daily routines and avoided exposure by allocating provisioning to times of low activity among nest predators. These strategic adjustments of feeding efforts were estimated to reduce the exposure to nest predators by 26 percent. Also, parents adjusted their reproductive efforts to the perceived presence of predators in a playback experiment. Siberian jays reduced their reproductive investment by laying a smaller clutch size when high risk of nest predation reduced the value of current reproduction, as predicted from life-history theory.

Evolution is fuelled by independent reproduction events. Yet, the offspring of at least three percent of all bird species postpone dispersal and forego independent reproduction. The Siberian jay, Perisoreus infaustus, is such a species where some offspring are philopatric and remain in their natal territory for up to three years, forming family groups. The main finding of this thesis is that nepotistic anti-predator behaviour displayed by parents provided philopatric offspring benefits, which could be an incentive to stay and forego independent reproduction. Predation, (hawks - 80 % and owls - 15% of deaths observed) is the main cause of mortality. Parents increased their vigilance nepotistically; they were more vigilant against surprise predator attacks, and gave alarm calls when attacked when feeding together with offspring. However, the two parents differed in their behaviour. Mothers gave calls only when together with their offspring, while males also warned unrelated immigrants. Sitting predators were approached and mobbed more intensely by parents in the presence of philopatric offspring. The vocalisation of Siberian jays provides information about predation risk. Specific calls are given for hawks and owls, and calls also varied with hawk behaviour. The nepotistic anti-predator behaviour of parents is a benefit, which the offspring can gain only “at home”, and such behaviour appears to promote offspring to forego dispersal and independent reproduction. This was confirmed in an experimental manipulation; philopatric offspring dispersed when fathers were removed and replaced by a despotic, immigrant stepfather. From a life-history perspective, parents have an incentive to protect their reproductive investment. Nepotistic anti-predator behaviour create a safe haven in the natal territory for philopatric offspring and provides direct fitness benefits. Without such direct fitness benefits offspring may disperse and wait for a breeding opening elsewhere.

Behaviors can exhibit a wide degree of plasticity depending on the environmental context in which they are expressed. Despite this, repeatable differences have been found among and within individuals across a wide range of taxa. For my thesis, I investigated individual differences in foraging and parental care. In the first experiment, I assessed house sparrows (Passer domesticus) for domain-generality among neophobia, habituation and associative learning as they are all responses to novelty. While the results of the study find individual differences in each of these contexts the conclusion supported separate mechanisms for each response (domain-specificity). In the second experiment, I examined how the loudness of brood begging vocalizations influenced parent trip time, food load size brought to the nest and the amount of time spent in the box. The results of this study found individual differences in trip time and the time spent in the box with regard to the initial five seconds of begging loudness during a parent’s visit. Additionally, trip time was also influenced by the change in loudness within a visit. My findings reveal that individual variation may depend on the context in which individuals are measured.

Swedish child-care institutions - day nurseries, kindergartens - did not until the 1930s become a concern of the Government. In 1943 the Swedish Riksdag for the first time passed a bill that gave child-care institutions a Government subsidy. This thesis deals with the Government's and the parliamentary commissions' attitudes to child-care institutions. Which type of institution ought to receive a subsidy? And for what reasons? The main argument for child-care institutions has always been that they could stimulate a sound development, for the child's own good and for society's. From the 1930s and into the 1950s most participants in the child-care debate stated that the kindergarten or part-time institutions for the pre-school child from the age of three and upwards was the preferable type. Day nurseries for children, even infants, of families were both parents had to work might be necessary but were to be seen as an emergency solution. From the mid-60s the attitu-de changed. Step by step full-time day nurseries became the institutions that were given priority by the Government. This change in attitude presupposes that the notion of the child changed as well. But it did not change in a vacuum. Borrowing an explanatory model from sociologist Johan Asplund, the thesis treats the child as a "figure of thought", placed between a super-structural discourse on child-care and society's basic, material conditions. Important changes at the level of discourse have been the attitude to modern, industrial society, e.g. the necessity of learning to live and work in a society which is complex, highly specialized and in constant change, and the debate on women's emancipation. At the level of material conditions, the most conspicious change is that more and more women have entered the labour market. The changing notion of the child can be understood as the effect of an influence from discourse and base on the "figure of thought". At the same time, the "figure of thought" in-fluenced the discourse. Thus, a child-care system for the benefit of child and woman and labour market could be established, and harmony could be created, at least in the discourse.

The two main goals of my thesis were to further our understanding of how parental effort is related to life-history trade-offs and to see how parental investment is reflected in various potential measures of nestling quality. I looked at how fitness is maximized by examining (1) the trade-off between current and future reproduction, and (2) the trade-off between quantity and quality of offspring. To see how parents responded to energetic demands and whether each sex reacted in a similar way, I experimentally manipulated brood sizes and quantified provisioning rates. Both male and female parents with enlarged broods increased their feeding rates, but provisioning on a per nestling basis declined, so that parents fledged lighter nestlings with shorter wings. Although the incidence of mortality did not differ between control and enlarged broods, nestlings from enlarged broods were lighter than those from control broods with the same brood size, suggesting that clutch size may be individually optimized. I also looked at how nestlings responded to different levels of nutritional stress in the manipulated broods by quantifying size and body condition, plumage colouration, and the physiological measures of T-cell mediated immune responses, and corticosterone levels in nestling feathers as a long-term integrated measure of stress physiology. The size of melanin ornaments on feathers and the saturation and brightness of carotenoid colouration was associated with nestling mass in such a way that suggested that plumage characteristics reflect nestling quality. The immune function of nestlings was negatively related to brood size and nestlings in better body condition could mount greater immune responses to foreign antigens suggesting that immune responses are energetically costly. Corticosterone levels in the feathers were not related to nestling body condition and were unaffected by the experimental brood manipulation. The ii mass of male nestlings, which are the larger sex, was more compromised by brood size than female mass was. I also found sex-specific relationships between plumage characteristics and measures of physiological performance. These findings help to explain optimal clutch size and the classic trade-off between quality and quantity of offspring. They also offer new insights into the reliability of putative measures of quality in nestlings and relationships between physiological and morphological traits.