Biology subjects

Boratynski, Z.

Publications and source records attributed to Boratynski, Z..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

First confirmed record in Melilla of Gerbillus campestris Loche, 1867 (Muridae: Gerbillinae) for Spain

The fieldwork was carried out between December 2023 and June 2025, with the aim, among others, of confirming the possible presence of the North African Gerbil (Gerbillus campestris) in Melilla. To this end, 56 camera trap stations were installed, each equipped with a camera trap. Of the total number of camera trap stations installed, the presence of Gerbillus campestris was detected in six of them, representing a capture success rate of 10.71%. Following the detection of the species, a specimen was captured using cage traps. For identification purposes, samples of epithelial tissue from the ear and faeces were collected. These samples were sent to the Institute of Vertebrate Biology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic, for analysis. There, DNA was extracted from the samples using the Innu PREP DNA Mini Kit 2.0 (IST Innuscreen GmbH, Germany) according to the manufacturer's protocol. The results obtained confirm, for the first time through records of the species, the presence of Gerbillus campestris in Melilla and, therefore, in Spain and Europe.

zoology↗

bioRxiv2026

Resolution of multi-receiver trade-offs in wall lizard colouration

Animal colouration evolves under multiple, often conflicting, selective pressures. Conspicuous, non-aposematic colour-patterns that enhance conspecific communication may simultaneously increase detectability by predators. Such trade-offs can be resolved by optimising colour-patterns to match the perceptual abilities of different receivers. We tested whether dorsal colour-patterns of the Lusitanian wall lizard (Podarcis lusitanicus) are optimised for ecologically relevant receivers across relevant viewing distances, while accounting for the visual acuity of conspecifics and predators. Conspecifics and snakes detected chromatic information at shorter distances, whereas achromatic and luminance information were detected at longer distances. Birds showed a uniform decline in detectability across the colour-pattern components with increasing viewing distance. Larger males retained high chromatic detectability across all receivers despite the general distance-related decline, whereas females and smaller individuals exhibited less salient colour patterns, consistent with predator avoidance strategy. Our results show that lizards resolve the trade-off between conspecific communication and predator detection through distance-dependent colour-pattern perceptibility across receivers. This resolution breaks down in large males, for whom the benefits of salient chromatic patterns for intraspecific communication may outweigh increased detectability to predators.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Covariation between metabolic and radioactive dose rates in Chornobyl rodents

High metabolic rate may provide fitness benefits for individuals. But high metabolic rates incur energetic costs and the need to ingest more food, increasing the risks of ingesting harmful substances from the environment. How organisms respond to elevated levels of ionizing radiation is an important question in the light of increasing pollution from nuclear accidents and waste, as well as ever-increasing reliance on radiation in medical diagnostics and therapies. We investigated how limits to metabolic rate, and aerobic metabolic scope (ceiling of energetic activity above maintenance levels), of wild rodents inhabiting a gradient of radioactive contamination from the Chernobyl accident covary with the biological burden of radionuclides in their bodies. Our results demonstrate that high biological dose rate correlates with high self-maintenance and low aerobic capacity in adults. In contrast, in subadults high dose rate correlates with high aerobic capacity. Consequently, high dose rate correlates with low aerobic scope in adults, but with high aerobic scope in subadults. Despite the uncertainty of the causal mechanisms, whether the dose rate affects the metabolic rate, the reverse or the reciprocal feedback prevail, it can be hypothesized that metabolic down-regulation could contribute to protection against radioactive exposure. Yet, metabolic down-regulation might be constrained by developmental obligations. Understanding the physiological mechanisms affecting responses to radiation exposure is key for risk assessment of environmental contamination, radiotherapies, and space exploration, and may help to rectify discordant opinions concerning the effects of radiation on the ecology of organisms living in Chornobyl.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Performance and allocation can simultaneously shape behaviour in fire-disturbed populations of root vole

Metabolic physiology and animal personality are often considered linked to each other, shaping ecological and evolutionary strategies along a life-history continuum. The energy allocation model predicts a negative while the performance model predicts a positive correlation between the rate of metabolic processes and behaviours, such as activity level. The models might operate simultaneously but depending on the context one can predominate over the other, determining expression of alternative pro- and reactive behavioural strategies. Large-scale fires, such as the one that burnt wetlands of Biebrza National Park (NE Poland), degrade natural habitats, affect amount of food and shelters and modify predatory-prey interactions. Fires pose also direct threat to survival of local populations, such as the wetland specialist root vole (Microtus oeconomus). We hypothesized that fire disturbance, by changing environmental context and selective regimes, determines mechanisms linking physiology and behaviour. Positive relation found among most studies, predicted by the performance model, would revert to negative relation, predicted by the allocation model, affecting animals ecological strategy in disturbed habitat. We repeatedly measured maintenance and exercise metabolic rates and activity behaviour on voles from post-fire and unburnt populations. Repeatable maintenance metabolism and activity level were positively correlated, but more labile exercise metabolism did not explain behaviour. The correlations were not strongly affected by fire disturbance, but voles from post-fire habitat had higher maintenance but not maximum metabolism and moved shorter distances than individuals from unburnt area. The results suggest that performance model predominates, while habitat disturbance might reveal some allocation constraints on physiology-personality linkage. Summary statementContrasting allocation and performance models, for energetics-behaviour linkage, were tested in context of fire-disturbance. Positive (performance) correlation predominated but animals from burned habitat had elevated metabolism and suppressed exploration (allocation).

zoology↗