In the last few years there has been a significant decrease in the of number of wild birds across the Europe. It is mostly concerns synantropic species and species related to agricultural landscapes. The main cause of this decrease could be the changes in agriculture and also changes in the character of village surroundings and therefore the connection to a decrease of livestock. In this thesis a comparison of the differences in the bird community in winter months has been made, focusing on a sparrow in the Czech-Polish borderlands. There have been found differences between the agriculture development and development of rural settlements in each of these countries especially in the second part of the 20th.century. At the end of my thesis there are the comparison results of my thesis and the research, that was carried out in the summer months of 2014. The main research was done between December 2015 and January 2016 along the CzechPolish border. 16 villages were chosen and in each village there were 2 research areas the the dimensions of 100 x 100 meters. The total study consists of 64 research areas in different types of environments. The data collection was done twice in each area. The results show that in the Czech republic there occurred more birds and also birds species. It has been demonstrated, that poultry farming has a major impact on sparrow numbers. Out of the six surveyed habitats the one with the most birds was found to be found in the middle of a village with a factory farm and the most bird species were found on the outskirts.

From the point of view of the Czech Republic in the last 80 years we can specify two periods, which had a significant impact on the general character and development in agriculture. The first period can be traced to the 50s of the last century, in which the concentration of agricultural production headed towards to factory farming. The second one began at the beginning of the 90s. At that time a sharp downtown of animal production occurred and the sooner concentrated production began, after the regaining by previous owners, to erode into what it is today private agriculture. This thesis aims tocontribute to a confirmation of rejection of the hypothesis that the above described changes have a negative impact on the selected avian species. These species are represented by significantsynanthropic birds: house sparrow (which is a crucial representative in this thesis), tree sparrow and collared dove. Thirty municipalities were chosen to emphasize the differences in quantity of these species, half of them located on each side of the border with the Czech Republic and Austria. The comparison of quantities of bird populations took place in the surroundings of the cities Znojmo and Retz.In this thesis the Republic of Austria acts as a country which has not been burdened by a substantial economic development and which has applied the continuous market economy since the end of the Second World War. In the individual squares the numbers of the representatives of the studied species and the environmental characteristics were recorded during the winter period. The significant differences in the numbers of birds at selected locations were demonstrated using a multifactor ANOVA STATISTICA 12. Moreover, the impact of selected environmental variables on the abundance of observed species was also analysed. It was found that the selected species depend on an inclusion into the individual states as well as on a classification into various biotope types. Finally, the dependence on the area of trees and bushes, the proportion of new buildings and the presence of poultry in the square were also observed. The most numerous species in the Republic of Austria was the house sparrow, the most abundant species in the Czech Republic was the collared dove. A slight increase in the occurrence of the collared dove was recorded in both states. Tree sparrow as a species occurred in relatively large numbers, but only locally. It was found that the populationsof the above mentioned species were generally more numerous in the Austrian municipalities. An interesting fact is that most of the observed individuals in the Czech Republic occurred in village built-up areas rather than in agricultural premises, as it was initially estimated.

The thesis analyses the quantity of eleven species of synanthropic birds. These species include House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus), Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto), European Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris), European Serin (Serinus serinus), Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros), European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis), Common Linnet (Cardielis cannabinal), White Wagtail (Motacilla alba), Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), and Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris). The thesis focuses especially on House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), whose quantity has been decreasing in Czech Republic. The collection of data took place in 2012, 2014 and 2015, from April to June. The census was taken by ten people by means of a modified quick mapping method. The census took place in 180 villages located in eight regions of the Czech Republic. Only villages with population bellow 2000 were included. Two types of counting areas were set in these villages. The counting areas were squares of 100 x 100 metres. There were 229 areas of the first type, placed in ordinary built-up areas. Areas of the second type were set on grounds of factory farms, there were 151 of them. The main aim of the thesis was to find out whether the presence of a factory farm affects quantity of the studied bird species, and to determine which additional environmental factors affect the quantity. The analysed factors included the type of the biotope (a built-up area or a farm factory), location of the census, distance from the village edge, distance from the farm factory, proportion of built-up areas, and proportion of green vegetation. It was further investigated whether the quantity in built-up areas is affected by the presence of poultry, and whether the quantity in farm factories is affected by the functionality (or non-functionality) of the farm factory. It was proved that the overall quantity of all species was significantly affected by the type of biotope, proportion of built-up area and of green vegetation, and the location of the census. The quantity of House Sparrow was affected by the same factors, though the influence of the type of biotope was not proved. The average quantities from built-up areas and from the grounds of the farm factories did not differ significantly in the case of House Sparrow. The quantity of European Tree Sparrow, however, was significantly higher on the grounds of factory farms than in built-up areas. The influence of the presence of poultry in built-up areas on the overall quantity of all species also proved to be significant. The functionality of farm factories significantly influenced the quantity of all species on the grounds of the factory farms. This influence proved to be the most significant in case of House Sparrow and White Wagtail. In both cases, much higher quantity was detected on the grounds of functional farm factories than non-functional ones.

Feeding ecology of breeding House sparrows was studied in a rural settlement in the Czech Republic. Area of home range and feeding habitat selection in relation to farming practices and vegetation management in the study area was examined.

Aim of this study was to assess distribution and abundance of common synanthropic species of birds (House sparrow, Tree sparrow, Eurasian collared dove and Blackbird) in area of the city České Budějovice in the Czech Republic in autumn and winter. Habitat preferences of these species were analysed. Study also determined influence of the certain characteristics of urban vegetation on their occupation by both species of sparrows.

Anti-predator behaviour, sexual selection and reproductive success in the House Sparrow Passer domesticus Alena Klvaňová Summary of the thesis Individual components of parental care are disproportionally distributed among the parents in the House Sparrow. While the female broods the nestlings more often and feeds them more frequently, the male defends the nest more intensely. In an experimental study the parents did not adjust their nest defence intensity to behaviour of their partners, nor to brood parameters. Only males tended to defend the sooner broods more intensely, which is in concordance with the "brood value hypothesis". Male contribution to nestling feeding affected their body mass. Male nest defence intensity increased with the size of their melanin ornament. Thus, we assume that the ornament could signal male investment in this component of parental care, while it does not correlate with feeding frequency and time spent by incubation. This output is probably caused by pleiotropic effect of genes regulating melanogenesis, affecting e. g. testosterone plasma level, which is associated with increased agression and lower intensity of other components of parental care as nestling provisioning or incubation. We have also aked the question whether the anti-predator strategy in House Sparrow is stable...