My thesis deals with ecology and diet of the Long - eared Owl (Asio otus). The study area a wintering place is situated near the town of Kladno. 1) The hypothesis that a high snow cover has an influence on the Long-eared Owl diet has been confirmed. 3) The thesis deals with the determination methods of small vertebrate species in Long - eared Owl's diet. The work deals with postcranial skelet as well. There was compilled the method of the sex determination in Common vole (Microtus arvalis). The sex determination was based on the morphological differences of the pelvic bones. The results (sex ratio) had been statistically tested and as such found significant. 2) There were also analyzed the skeletal remnants of the pelvic bones in the pellets. The study of the pelvic bones was carry out in order to find expected seasonal changes in the sex ratio in a dominant prey Common vole (Microtus arvalis). That hypothesis was not confirmed. Keywords: Long-eared owl (Asio otus), diet, postcranial skeleton, pelvic bones

Le taxon du Pléistocène inférieur Paranthropus robustus, dont l'holotype est le spécimen TM 1517, a été défini en 1938 par le paléontologue R. Broom suite à la découverte d'éléments crâniens et postcrâniens sur le site de Kromdraai, Gauteng, en Afrique du Sud. Depuis, d'autres sites sud-africains ont contribué à l'extension de son hypodigme et fourni la preuve de sa contemporanéité à l'échelle macro-régionale avec des représentants des taxons Australopithecus et Homo. L'identification des hominines étant principalement basée sur l'analyse de la variation morphologique des éléments cranio-dentaires, un enjeu majeur dans l'étude des assemblages fossiles des sites sud-africains concerne donc l'identification et l'attribution taxinomique de restes isolés et/ou fragmentaires du squelette axial et appendiculaire non associés à des éléments cranio-dentaires. Il en résulte que plusieurs aspects fonctionnels et paléobiologiques du squelette postcrânien de P. robustus restent à préciser. Au moyen de la microtomographie à rayons X, de l'imagerie virtuelle et d'analyses quantitatives en deux-trois dimensions, nous avons entrepris un projet de recherche visant à explorer, extraire et les patrons d'organisation endostructurale de spécimens fossiles communément, ou préliminairement, attribués à P. robustus. Sur une base comparative, nous visons à (i) identifier quelques caractéristiques osseuses endostructurales propres à ce taxon, qui pourraient fournir un cadre de référence pour l'attribution de spécimens fossiles isolés; (ii) déconstruire l'environnement biomécanique ayant façonné l'arrangement de l'os cortical et trabéculaire au niveau des articulations du coude, de la hanche et du genou; (iii) évaluer le degré de variation et, dans la mesure du possible, les différences liées au sexe et à l'âge. L'échantillon étudié comprend quatre huméri distaux (TM 1517g, SK 24600, SKX 10924, SKX 34805), cinq fémurs proximaux (SK 82, SK 97, SK 3121, SKW 19, SWT1/LB-2), une patella (SKX 1084), des éléments additionnels échantillonnant l'assemblage TM 1517 (l'ulna proximale TM 1517e, la phalange distale d'hallux TM 1517k) et deux ilia (TM 1605, SK 50) provenant des sites de Kromdraai et Swartkrans. [...] / The Early Pleistocene taxon Paranthropus robustus, represented by the holotype TM 1517, was established in 1938 by the paleontologist R. Broom following the discovery of craniodental and postcranial remains at the cave site of Kromdraai, in Gauteng, South Africa. Since, other Southern African sites have contributed to the extension of its hypodigm, providing evidence for its chronological overlap in the macro-region with representatives of the taxa Australopithecus and Homo. As species identification in the hominin fossil record is commonly based on the comparative assessment of craniodental anatomy and morphological variation, the rarity in the hominin-bearing South African cave assemblages of unambiguously associated craniodental and postcranial remains usually complicates the task of identifying isolated and fragmentary elements from the axial and the appendicular skeleton. Consequently, different functionally- and paleobiologically-related aspects of the P. robustus postcranial skeleton remain poorly known. By means of techniques of high resolution X-ray micro-tomography and virtual imaging coupled with two-three-dimensional quantitative analyses, in this research project we explored, extracted and assessed the patterns of endostructural organisation in some fossil specimens commonly, or tentatively, attributed to P. robustus. On comparative ground, we aim at (i) identifying some endostructural bony features characteristic of this taxon, if any, thus tentatively providing a reference framework for the attribution of isolated fossil specimens; (ii) deconstructing the biomechanical (loading) environment having shaped the cortical and cancellous bone arrangement at the elbow, the hip, and the knee joints; (iii) assessing variation and, whenever possible, sex- and age-related differences. The investigated sample consists of four distal humeri (TM 1517g, SK 24600, SKX 10924, SKX 34805), five proximal femora (SK 82, SK 97, SK 3121, SKW 19, SWT1/LB-2), a patella (SKX 1084), some additional elements from the assemblage labelled TM 1517 (the proximal ulna TM 1517e, the distal hallucial phalanx TM 1517k), and two ilia (TM 1605, SK 50) from the sites of Kromdraai and Swartkrans. [...]

The non-metric postcranial traits characterize biological variability of human skeletal morphology. Special attention is beeing paid to changes in some muscular or ligaments' binding areas and to changes of the articulation facets which are considered to be possibly retaled to excessive physical stress, occuring through the lifetime. The osteological material belonging to the populations of the Corded Ware culture and the Bell Beaker culture in the area of Bohemia has been surveyed with respect to non-metric trait occurence. The origin of both of these culture bearers is still a discused issue. There is a hypothesis saying that bearers of both Late Eneotithic cultures might represent actually one population and the differency of cultural patterns were due only to life-style changes, not to large-area migration. With respect to the frequency of 94 postcranial non-metric traits both samples have been compared to each other on a basis of measure of divergence and mean measure of divergence. The samples of Late Eneolithic populations showed significant difference only in frequencies of two non- metric traits and along with the values of mean measure of divergence they seem to show rather homogeneity. Afterwards both samples were compared with a sample from Great Moravian burial site Mikulčice - Kostelisko and...