Bird song can teach us much about animal behaviour and evolution. This study presents a type of song variation that has yet to be extensively studied. The Monotonous Lark Mirafra passerina is a nomadic lark with an iconic, simple and repetitive song. It has been noted to have a large song variation between irruptions, but limited variation in the same irruption, a behaviour previously, to my knowledge, unknown in the avian world. This study aims to describe the song and analyse the variation within and between irruptions, and try to explain the underlying mechanisms behind the variation. This article studies the song by analysing song material spanning 30 years with 140 samples, most from South Africa. The whole song and the syllables were measured. A custom edit distance and Euclidean distance were used to quantify song differences. Principal component analysis was performed on both syllable measurements and the whole song. The results showed a larger song variation between irruptions compared to within irruptions. It also showed that the song varies greatly between irruptions; however, a general pattern of how the song is structured was found. In addition, some indications of song retention between years were noticed. This study describes a unique example of avian behaviour that can broaden our knowledge of animal communication and its evolution and development.

60% of primates in the world are threatened with extinction, while 75% have declining populations. The biggest threats to primates are the result of human activity. In this study, I have been looking at the primate Spix’s Saddleback tamarin (Leontocebus fuscicollis) and tried to estimate the home range size of four different study groups, while also trying to assess if there are differences in the type of trees in the areas where the tamarins are present compared to where they are absent. I have also compared the behaviour of the four different study groups. The data was collected in the Tambopata nature reserve in the Madre de Dios region in Peru during the summer of 2022, with the help and support from the research organisation Fauna Forever. To complement the observations, previously collected data from 2019-2021 was also used. The tamarins were followed using a group follow method, and the behaviour was noted every 10 minutes using an instantaneous scan sampling method. The tree composition data was gathered from previously created tree plots, made by the Fauna Forever staff. I found that the home range sizes of the four study groups varied between 2.6 ha and 17.9 ha. The data from the tree plots showed no statistically significant difference in where the tamarins chose to live. There was also no statistically significant difference between the four study groups in behaviour, except for how high up in the trees they groups spent their time. There was a lack of good data in this study, due to time- and material constraints, but overall the home ranges were of close to similar size as earlier studies, and the behaviour of the tamarins was in general also consistent with earlier studies. More research would be needed to answer the further questions that arose during this study concerning the ecological constraints of the tamarins home range.

No description available.

Naturreservatet Hållö, i Sotenäs kommun har bibehållit en rik hävdgynnad flora, med bland annat mandelblomma, darrgräs och rödklint, trots flera decennier utan utmarksbete eller annan hävd. Kan den rika förekomsten av mohare Lepus timidus sylvaticus, som dokumenterats på Hållö i äldre litteratur, haft en gynnsam inverkan på de hävdgynnade arterna och den biologiska mångfald som dokumenterats på ön i tidigare kärlväxtinventeringar? Att få förståelse för vår svenska mohares roll i naturliga betesmarker kan hjälpa förvaltare att bättre och mer effektivt arbeta med naturvårdsinsatser i skyddade områden. Att kartlägga hararnas roll i skärgårdens ekologi är viktigt ur bevarandesynpunkt, då moharen är på stark tillbakagång på fastlandet på grund av konkurrens från fältharen Lepus europaeus och av hybridisering med denna. Ökad kunskap om hararnas betespåverkan kan motivera att fler öar kan fungera som refuger för att säkra artens fortlevnad i Sverige. För att studera moharens betespåverkan gjordes dels inventeringar av förekomsten av hävdgynnade växter samt en mätning av tillväxten av vegetationen. Tillväxten studerades med hjälp av provrutor där betet förhindrades genom att ytan stängslades in och jämfördes med tillväxten i ostängslade kontrollytor. En uppskattning av antal moharar gjordes genom linjeinventering med avståndsanalys. Resultaten visar att många av de hävdgynnade arterna som tidigare funnits på Hållö inte återfinns idag och att flera karaktäristiska igenväxningsarter som älggräs, brännässla och knylhavre förekommer rikligt. Vidare kan konstateras att den historiskt täta populationen av mohare på 150–250 individer idag är reducerad till en population på omkring 20 harar, och att årets föryngring verkar ha uteblivit. Att introducera moharar från en annan population till beståndet på Hållö skulle sannolikt gynna både moharar och vegetationen på ön. / The aim of this study is to find out if the Heath Hare Lepus timidus sylvaticus have had a positive effect on the culturally favored flora on the island of Hållö, on the Swedish west coast. Even though the island has been unmanaged and un grazed by livestock for decades, there are records of typical meadow plants like Briza media, Centaurea jacea and Saxifraga granulata as far into the 20th century as 1990. Could the abundant presence of the Heath Hare Lepus timidus sylvaticus, as documented in older literature, have had a beneficial impact on the indicator species and biological diversity recorded at Hållö in previous vascular plant inventories? A better understanding of the role of the Swedish heath hare and its role in natural grazing areas can assist managers in working more effectively and efficiently with conservation efforts in protected areas. The heath hare is experiencing a significant decline on the mainland due to competition from the European hare Lepus europaeus due to hybridization and competition. Using isolated islands as refuges to secure the species’ survival in Sweden might be a valid solution. In order to study the impacts of grazing by the heath hare, three field studies were conducted. Inventories were conducted to assess the occurrence of plants favored by grazing. The vegetation growth was then examined using sample plots where grazing was prevented by fencing the area, and the results were compared with the growth in unfenced control areas. To estimate the number of heath hares on Hållö, an inventory by distance sampling was made. The findings of this study indicate that many of the indicator species that were previously present on Hållö are not found today, and several characteristic species associated with overgrowth, such as Filipendula ulmaria, Urtica dioica, and Arrhenatherum elatius, are abundant. Furthermore, it can be observed that the historically dense population of mountain hares, numbering 150–250 individuals, has now been reduced to a population of around 20 individuals, and this year's reproduction appears to have been unsuccessful. An introduction of heath hare from another island population into the Hållö polulation would probably benefit both the heath hares as well as the local flora.

Över 1 miljon arter riskerar att dö ut i världen enligt WWF (2022) och inom Sveriges gränser klassas 2249 arter som hotade enligt den svenska rödlistan (2020). Om alla arterna försvinner leder det till stora konsekvenser både för människan och andra arter i världen som idag inte är hotade. För att kunna vända den här negativa trenden är det viktigt att arterna och hotet mot dem uppmärksammas. Genom att skapa information om arterna ökas folks medvetenhet om problemet vilket i sin tur kan leda till större stöd för att lösa problemet. Informationen måste också kännas intressant och relevant för att folk ska uppmärksamma informationen. Syftet med det här arbetet har därför blivit att undersöka hur informativa bilder föreställande djur kan skapas på ett sätt som väcker målgruppens intresse och ökar deras empati till de hotade arterna. Arbetet undersöker också hur känslosamma bilder behåller sin trovärdighet och informativa förmåga riktat till en vuxen målgrupp. Med stöd i teorier som visuell retorik och färg samt användning av metoder som informationsinsamling via enkät och utprovning av bildmaterialet kunde jag komma fram till ett resultat. Arbetet gestaltades som en informationsgrafik och handlade om hotade djur i Sverige. Resultatet av arbetet indikerade på att för att kunna skapa empati till djur i bilder så är det till en fördel om de illustrerade djuren har någon likhet till oss människor, i utseende eller beteende. Att använda sig av djurfamiljer och djurungar i bilderna gör det lättare för målgruppen att relatera till djuren och skapa empati för dem. Speciellt empatisk blir det om djuren upplevs vara i en hotfull situation. Bildernas färger, ljussättning och bakgrunder kan också påverka hur mycket empati man känner till djuren. För att behålla en trovärdighet i materialet bör bildmanéret sträva efter realism och text som presenteras tillsammans med bildmaterialet kan både stärka trovärdigheten och empatin till innehållet. Slutligen så kan bilder tolkas väldigt olika av människor vilket gör det viktigt att involvera målgruppen i designprocessen för att slutresultatet ska kunna kännas empatisk och trovärdigt för en stor del av målgruppen. / More than 1 million species are at risk of extinction in the world according to WWF (2022), within Sweden's borders 2249 species are classified as endangered according to the Swedish Red List (2020). If all species disappear, it will lead to major consequences for both humans and other species in the world that are not endangered today. An important part of being able to reverse this negative trend is that the endangered species and their threats are paid attention to. More information about the species can increase people's awareness of the problem, which in turn can lead to greater support for solving the problem. Information that are spread about the species must also feel interesting and relevant for people to care. That’s why this study focus on how informative images depicting animals can be created in a way that peaks the main demographics interest and increase their empathy for the endangered species. The work also examines how emotional images can maintain their credibility and informative ability to an adult demographic. The visual work in this project is made as a infographic about endangered swedish animals.  With the support of theories from visual rhetoric and color as well as the use of methods such as surveys and interviews with the main demographic, I was able to arrive at a conclusion.  The result showed that in order to create empathy for animals in pictures, it is an advantage if the animals used have any similarities to us humans, in appearance or behavior. Using animal families and young animals in the pictures makes it easier for the target group to relate and create empathy for the animals. The empathy is increased if the animals are exposed to unnatural threats. By also exaggerating the situation the animal is in, with the use of color, lighting and backgrounds, the emphatic feeling can be increased. To maintain a credibility in the material, the illustrations should strive towards realism and text presented together with the can increase the credibility but also the empathy of the images. Finally, images can be interpreted very differently by each human individual, which means that having close contact with people from your main demographic during the design process is very important to be able to make illustrations that they will feel empathic towards.

The advantages with breeding purebred dogs are that offspring will be more predictable when it comes to morphology, possible diseases, and mentality. This enables breeding more healthy animals since it makes it possible to track the health history, but it is also resulting in a higher inbreeding, extreme breeding standards and thus sicker animals. Labradoodle and Goldendoodle are two new mix-breeds, bred to be the ultimate companion dog with a good mentality and health. In this literature review their physical and mental health is compared with their parent breeds, Labrador, or Golden retriever, and Poodle. The breed-specific health problem that is seen with the parent breeds is also seen in labradoodle and goldendoodle. Hybrid vigour is not present in doodles. Mix-breeds live longer lives, but they also seem to be less stable with higher fear and aggression / Fördelarna med att avla renrasiga hundar är att människan enklare kan förutspå utseende, eventuella hälsoproblem och avkommans mentalitet. Detta ger en möjlighet till friskare hundar eftersom man kan spåra hundens hälsohistoria, men det leder också till en högre inavelsgrad, extrema rasstandarder och på så vis risk för sjukare hundar. Labradoodle och goldendoodle är två nya blandraser, designerraser, avlade för att bli den ultimata sällskapshunden med en god hälsa och mentalitet. Här jämförs deras fysiska och mentala hälsa med deras föräldraraser, labrador eller golden retriever, och pudel, i en litteraturstudie. De rasbundna sjukdomarna man ser hos föräldraraserna ses också hos labradoodle och goldendoodle. Heterosiseffekten kan inte ses hos doodles. Blandraser lever generellt längre liv, men de verkar också vara mindre stabila med högre rädsla och aggressivitet.

Ammomanes cinctura (Bar-tailed Lark) is a lark species with a wide distribution in the Palearctic. One of its subspecies, A. c. arenicolor, has a wide range across northern Africa, within which it shows very minor morphological variation but deep divergence in the mitochondrial cytochrome b locus between two geographically widely separated populations. There are two additional allopatric subspecies, A. c. cinctura (Cape Verde Islands) and A. c. zarudnyi (Iran to Pakistan), which differ slightly more in morphology. The genomic population structure, evolutionary history, and taxonomic status of the different populations within this species remain unclear. I applied an integrative approach, using genomic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), mtDNA and morphological data, to investigate the evolutionary divergence within Ammomanes cinctura. I acquired whole-genome sequence data from twelve individuals from Morocco (n=2), Saudi Arabia (n=7), and Iran (n=3), and performed phylogenetic and population structure analyses. Mitochondrial genomes were assembled and cytochrome b was extracted for phylogeny. Biometric measurements and quantified plumage analysis were conducted on museum specimens of all three subspecies. According to the mitochondrial data, the samples from Saudi Arabia and Iran form a clade that is deeply diverged (5.94 Mya, 95%HPD 3.15–8.95 Mya) from a clade comprising the samples from Morocco and Cape Verde Islands. In contrast, the nuclear SNPs recovered a very shallow divergence (0.095 Mya, 95%HPD 0.04-0.16 Mya) and weak population structure between the samples from Morocco vs. Saudi Arabia–Iran. Morphological results indicated that zarudnyi is slightly differentiated from the other two subspecies, with a larger body size, and the three subspecies are slightly divergent in plumage. The close similarity between Moroccan and Saudi Arabian birds in morphology was also confirmed, in conflict with the molecular data – highlighting the problem with trinomials in this case. The results suggest that the deep divergence in mitochondrial DNA is due to a complex evolutionary history.

Animal domestication, the process where animals become adapted to living in proximity to humans, is associated with the alteration of multiple traits, including decreased fearfulness and stress response. With an estimated population of 50 billion, the domesticated chicken is the most populous avian species in the world. Hundreds of chicken breeds have been developed for meat and egg production, hobby or research purposes. Multidirectional selection and the relaxation of natural selection in captivity have created immense phenotypic diversity amongst domesticates in a relatively short evolutionary time. The extensive phenotypic diversity, existence of the wild ancestor, and feasibility of intercrossing various breeds makes the chicken a suitable model animal for deciphering genetic determinants of complex traits such as stress response. We used chicken domestication as a model to gain insights about the mechanisms that regulate stress response in an avian species. We studied behavioural and physiological stress response in the ancestral Red Junglefowl and one of its domesticated progenies, White Leghorn. An advanced intercross between the aforementioned breeds was later used to map genetic loci underlying modification of stress response. The general pattern of the stress response in chickens was comparable with that reported in mammals, however we identified distinctive differences in the stress modulatory pathways in chickens. We showed that changes in the expression levels of several stress modulatory genes in the brain, the pituitary and the adrenal glands underlie the observed modified stress response in domesticated chickens. Using quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping, several QTL underlying stress induced corticosterone, aldosterone and baseline dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) levels were detected. As a next step, we combined QTL mapping with gene expression (eQTL) mapping and narrowed two QTL down to the putative causal genes, SERPINA10 and PDE1C. Both of these genes were differentially expressed in the adrenal glands of White Leghorn and the Red Junglefowl, had overlapping eQTL with hormonal QTL, and their expression levels in the adrenal glands were correlated with plasma levels of corticosterone and al-dosterone. These two genes thus serve as strong candidates for further functional investigation concerning modification of the stress response during domestication. This dissertation increase the knowledge about genetics and physiology of the stress response in an avian species and its modification during domestication. Our findings expand the basic knowledge about the stress response in chicken, which can potentially be used to improve welfare through appropriate genetic selection.

Humans affect ecosystems by changing species compositions, landscape and climate. This thesis aims to increase our understanding of anthropogenic effects on mesopredator abundance due to changes in apex predator status, landscape and climate. I show that in Eurasia the abundance of a mesopredator, the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), is limited top-down by the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) and bottom-up by winter severity. However, where lynx has been eradicated, fox abundance is instead related to bottom-factors such as cropland (paper I, II). Fox abundance was highest when croplands constituted 25% of the landscape (paper II). I also project red fox abundance in Sweden over the past 200 years and in future scenarios in relation to lynx density, land use and climate change. The projected fox abundance was highest in 1920, when lynx was eradicated and the proportion of cropland was 22%. In 2010, when lynx had recolonised, the projected fox abundance was lower than in 1920, but higher than in 1830. Future scenarios indicated that lynx abundance must increase in respond to climate change to keep fox at the same density as today. The results suggest a mesopredator release when lynx was eradicated, boosted by land use and climate change, and that changes in bottom-up factors can modify the relative strength of top-down factors (paper IV). From 1846-1922, lynx, wolverine (Gulo gulo) and grey wolf (Canis lupus) declined in Scandinavia due to persecution; however I show that the change in wolverine abundance was positively related to the changes in lynx and wolf abundance. This indicates that wolverine is subsidized by carrions from lynx and wolf kills rather than limited top-down by them (paper III). This thesis illustrates how mesopredator abundance is determined by a combination of top-down and bottom-up processes, and how anthropogenic impacts not only can change the structures of predator guilds, but also may modify top-down processes through changes in bottom-up factors. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Submitted. Paper 3: Submitted. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p><p> </p>

Genom en kombinerad linjetaxering och revirkartering av nyanlagd våtmark i Stjärnarpsdalen utanför Halmstad under april-juni 2018 har jag undersökt artsammansättning, antal individer och par samt häckningskriteria hos fågelarter på plats. En jämförelse har gjorts med fem andra våtmarker i Halland i fråga om artsammansättning och häckninggskriteria för att undersöka om ålder eller storlek hos våtmarker har en effekt på dessa. Efter flertalet besök i Stjärnarp observerades totalt 55 arter varav 31 nyttjade våtmarken för antingen häckning, födosök eller rastade. Totalt 19 arter visade tecken på häckning inom våtmarkens gränser, varav endast fem arter slutligen fick ut avkomma. Hos samtliga undersökta våtmarker varierade antal arter mer under 2018, när de var av olika ålder, jämfört med när de alla var ungefär ett år gamla. Jag fann inga signifikanta korrelationer, beroenden eller skillnader mellan undersökta variabler, med undantag för signifikant korrelation och beroende mellan antal möjliga häckningar och area hos våtmarker. Enligt flera källor kan våtmarkers egenskaper och utformning ha stor betydelse för fåglars förekomst, t ex våtmarkens storlek, ålder, vattendjup, skötsel, placering, närvaro av fisk och mycket mer. I denna studie har Stjärnarp visats hysa arter som bl a häckar, och flera dessa arter indikerar på egenskaper som tidig succession, näringsrikt vatten, öppna strandängar och mer. Beroende på vad för fåglar och annan biologisk mångfald man vill gynna här i framtiden är planering och kontinuerligt uppföljningsarbete viktigt för att se om och hur fågelfaunan förändras samt vad det kan bero på. / By doing a transect inventory combined with territory mapping at a recently constructed wetland in the area of Stjärnarp outside of Halmstad, during April-June in 2018, I have investigated species composition, species abundance and reproductive criteria shown by the bird species in the area. A comparison was made with five other wetlands in the county of Halland in matter of species composition and reproductive criteria to overlook if the age or area of the wetlands have an impact. After several visits in Stjärnarp, a total of 55 species of birds were recorded, of which 31 species were using the wetland area for reproduction, foraging or resting. Among all examined wetlands species richness varied more during 2018, when of different ages, compared to when they were about one year old. Overall analysis wasn’t significant for correlations, regressions or differences between the investigated variables of this study, though there were a significant correlation and regression between the amount of possibly reproductive species and the area of wetlands. According to others, characteristics of wetlands can have great impact on the presence of birds, e.g. size and age of wetlands, water depth, maintenance, location, presence of fish and more. According to this study, several reproductive species in particular have indicated attributes in Stjärnarp, e.g. early succession, nutrient rich waters, open meadows and more. Depending on what species or other biodiversity people which to benefit in the future, planning and continuous studies are needed here to find out if and how bird communities change with time, and to what causes. / LIFE - Goodstream