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Wuczyński A, Pieńczak A, Krogulec G. Rural reality contradicts the ethnographic literature-a nationwide survey on folk beliefs and people's affection for the stork in Poland. JOURNAL OF ETHNOBIOLOGY AND ETHNOMEDICINE 2024; 20:51. [PMID: 38745225 PMCID: PMC11094895 DOI: 10.1186/s13002-024-00689-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2024] [Accepted: 05/01/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Due to early synanthropization and ecological and behavioural features, the White Stork Ciconia ciconia became the most cherished of European birds. Rooted in human culture, the species has been well studied; nevertheless, knowledge of people's attitudes and stork-related folk beliefs remain descriptive. Here, we attempt to quantify these issues in the world's largest stronghold of the species, Poland, in the 1950s. METHODS The study is based on recently discovered, original nationwide survey data from the 1958 International White Stork Census. These materials were gathered to assess the population size, but they also included issues belonging to the humanities. We have worked them up in a quantitative manner, which has resulted in an original approach rarely found in ethnological studies. We aim to propose an original typology of stork-related beliefs, their spread and regional diversity in Poland and the relationship with stork abundance. RESULTS A sample of 2343 questionnaires revealed that affection towards storks was widespread (91.4% positive responses), more so in eastern Poland. The most frequent beliefs relate to respect for the stork (65%) and prophesies (24%), thereafter parental beliefs (7%) and stork biology (3%). Positive attitudes and the dissemination of beliefs increased with stork densities but were unrelated to the respondents' sex. Utilitarian beliefs outweighed those prioritized in ethnographic studies (e.g. the stork's human origins) or popular today (baby-bringing), and expressed the real concerns of country folk. CONCLUSIONS The discovery of long-lost data bordering on ethnology and nature conservation and their novel work-up highlights a realistic dimension of the human-nature relationship and provides a benchmark for further interdisciplinary research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrzej Wuczyński
- Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, A. Mickiewicza 33, 31-120, Kraków, Poland.
| | - Agnieszka Pieńczak
- Institute of Culture Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Silesia, Uniwersytecka 4, 40-007, Katowice, Poland
| | - Gabriela Krogulec
- Stowarzyszenie Rzeczniczki Przyrody (Nature's Advocates Association), Walecznych 7/11, 50-341, Wrocław, Poland
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Mikula P, Karg J, Jerzak L, Walasz K, Siekiera J, Czyż S, Mikicińska K, Pietkiewicz M, Sztwiertnia H, Wyka J, Tryjanowski P. Diet analysis and the assessment of plastic and other indigestible anthropogenic litter in the white stork pellets. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2024; 31:6922-6928. [PMID: 38157174 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-31710-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
Pollution by anthropogenic litter is a major threat to global ecosystems. Seabirds are frequently used as environmental monitors of litter ingestion, but similar research is rare for terrestrial birds. Here, we focused on pellet analysis from 117 nests of an iconic bird of the Western Palearctic, the white stork (Ciconia ciconia), breeding in southern and southwestern Poland in a farmland landscape, far away from large dumps and landfills. We found that most prey items in the diet of white storks were invertebrates (particularly from orders Coleoptera, Orthoptera, and Hymenoptera) but vertebrate prey comprised most of the biomass. Further analysis revealed that anthropogenic litter was found in 22.7% of pellets (34.2% of breeding pairs) with plastic (8.4%) and cigarette filters (6.9%) being most prevalent. This study represents the first assessment through pellet analysis of the ingestion of anthropogenic litter by live wild storks in Poland and also by a migratory population of white storks. Our study indicates a potentially significant transfer of plastic and other anthropogenic material through terrestrial food webs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Mikula
- TUM School of Life Sciences, Ecoclimatology, Technical University of Munich, 85354, Freising, Germany.
- Institute for Advanced Study, Technical University of Munich, 85748, Garching, Germany.
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 16500, Prague, Czech Republic.
| | - Jerzy Karg
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Zielona Góra, Prof. Z. Szafrana 1, 65516, Zielona Góra, Poland
| | - Leszek Jerzak
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Zielona Góra, Prof. Z. Szafrana 1, 65516, Zielona Góra, Poland
| | - Kazimierz Walasz
- Malopolska Ornithological Society, P.O. Box 22, 30309, Kraków, Poland
| | | | - Stanisław Czyż
- Malopolska Ornithological Society, P.O. Box 22, 30309, Kraków, Poland
| | | | | | - Hanna Sztwiertnia
- Institute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 71C, 60625, Poznań, Poland
| | - Jakub Wyka
- Malopolska Ornithological Society, P.O. Box 22, 30309, Kraków, Poland
| | - Piotr Tryjanowski
- Institute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 71C, 60625, Poznań, Poland
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Łopucki R, Kiersztyn A, Pitucha G, Kitowski I. Handling missing data in ecological studies: Ignoring gaps in the dataset can distort the inference. Ecol Modell 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2022.109964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Climate Change and the Spatiotemporal Variation in Survival of a Long-Distance Migrant (White Stork, Ciconia ciconia) across Western Europe. BIRDS 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/birds2040027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The spatial variation in the strength of climate change may lead to different impacts on migratory birds using different breeding areas across a region. We used a long-term data series of White Stork ring recoveries to study the temporal and spatial variation of annual survival rates of White Stork across western Europe between 1960 and 2009 in relation to climatic and environmental conditions at their breeding and wintering grounds. White Stork survival was estimated from the Cormack–Jolly–Seber (CJS) model using a cohort-based analysis. Our results support that climate change has caused a gradual decline in the survival performance of western European White Storks during the study period. Both the shape and the strength of the relationship between climate warming and survival differ among different life-stages of the individual development, with juvenile White Storks more strongly affected. The decline in survival is particularly marked for those storks breeding in southern Europe. The large-scale effect of climatic conditions identified in this widespread long-distance migrant species represents a highly likely scenario for other migratory birds in Europe.
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