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The article focuses on the distribution and dwelling structure of Eurasian badger Meles meles in the Western Carpathians, South Poland. The study done by the authors was aimed at relating it to several environmental factors, their competition with other carnivores and human activity in the Western Carpathians. Among the most common permanent shelters seen by the authors include excavated dens, caves and rock crevices and burrows under buildings. They add that it mostly located in forests covered by dense bushes, specifically the southeastern or western slopes in foothills and south or east slopes in montane zones. They conclude that human presence significantly affect the shelter choices of Eurasian badgers.

Our understanding of animal adaptations to human pressure is limited by the focus on rare taxa, despite that common species are more significant in shaping structure, function and service provision of ecosystems. Thus better understanding of their ecology and behavioural adjustments is central for drafting conservation actions. In this study, we used radio-telemetry on 21 individuals (10 females, 11 males) to provide data on spatial ecology, habitat selection and use of roosts of one of the commonest species, the whiskered bat (Myotis mystacinus), inhabiting the Carpathian Mountains (southern Poland). We tested, whether this species prefers natural over human-modified landscapes to seek prey and roosts. Mean home range size of the whiskered bat in the Carpathian Mountains was 26.3 ha (SE ± 3.2, Local Convex Hull) and 110 ha (SE ± 22.1, Minimum Convex Polygon with all locations), and included between one and three patches, among which bats moved along linear environmental features, such as scrubby banks of streams or lines of trees. During foraging whiskered bats selected small woodlands within agricultural landscapes, avoided large mountain forests and open areas, and used built-up areas proportionally to their availability. Whiskered bats occupied roosts located mainly in buildings (>97%), at an average altitude of 547.9 m above sea level (SE ± 8.3). Roosts were used for 5.4 days, on average. Our study shows that whiskered bats adapted well to the mosaic of semi-natural and anthropogenic habitats. It highlights the importance of buildings serving as roosts and small woodlands used as foraging areas in human-dominated montane landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two maternal lineages of bank vole ( Myodes glareolus), the Eastern and the Carpathian, that had originated from different glacial refugia, came to a secondary contact in north-east Poland. We analysed a fragment of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) [cytochrome b (cyt b), 424 bp] from 1038 samples of the species to map the contact zone, estimate the mtDNA diversity of bank vole populations, and analyse if the distribution of the two lineages correlates with environmental variables. We found 89 haplotypes of mtDNA: 36 in the Carpathian lineage, 51 in the Eastern lineage and additionally 2 belonging in the Western lineage. The contact zone between lineages varied in width from 45 to 243 km. Nucleotide diversity and haplotype diversity of cyt b were notably higher in the Carpathian lineage than in the Eastern lineage. There was evidence of demographic and spatial expansion in the Eastern lineage. The spatial distribution of bank vole haplotypes belonging to the Carpathian lineage was positively correlated with the number of plant species associated with the Carpathian refugium and the mean temperature of July. The opposite (negative correlations with these two variables) was found for the Eastern lineage. These factors can be related to the different environmental conditions in which the two lineages survived and which affected the current mtDNA diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]