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The first case report of the Florida cooter (Pseudemys floridana) in Poland, along with an market analysis and comments on the online pet trade as a source of potential biological invasions
The threat posed by invasive alien turtle species to aquatic ecosystems in Poland increases annually. The spectrum of species recorded in the wild evolves and follows trends observed in the pet market. After the ban on the trade of slider turtles (Trachemys scripta), Pseudemys spp. dominated the market of pet turtles in Poland. Currently, released specimens are more and more frequently recorded in the wild, and the scale of their invasion may be similar or even higher than what is currently recorded for T. scripta. In 2025, the first report of a released Pseudemys floridana was recorded in Poznań, which is probably the first record of this species in Poland. The analysis of online offers of freshwater turtles present on the market shows that Pseudemys spp. represents almost 50% of all offers. Thus, a risk assessment for potential invasion should be evaluated, and probably the list of invasive species of concern for Poland should be reviewed, including Pseudemys spp.. However, no action against keeping it in private hands should be taken. The main preventive action should be a ban on the import of Pseudemys spp. to Poland.
Partial reinforcement increases resistance to extinction of operant task in the house mice Mus musculus trained with a clicker
Learning skills are very important in terms of animal chance of survival in nature. Results of training of kept animals and studies on their learning can enlarge our understanding of their skills. The clicker training is a popular form of training of many animal species, consisting of associating a neutral stimulus (a click) with a reward. In our paper we examined if the used reinforcement scheme has an influence on the extinction of learned behaviour. Forty female house mice Mus musculus were divided into 2 groups of 20 subjects towards which two separate rewarding schemes were used. For completing a learned activity, the mice from the A group received a reward after each click (continuous reinforcement), and the mice from the B group only after the second or the third click (partial reinforcement). Afterwards, at the extinction phase the mice were receiving none reinforcement. Our results showed that the mice which were given only partial reinforcement were more resistant to the extinction of learned behaviour, i. e. performed significantly more attempts to obtain a reward.
The effect of different medium-chain fatty acids, calcium butyrate, and salinomycin on performance, nutrient utilization and gastrointestinal tract of chicken of Polish Green-Legged Partridge hen
Abstract The present study aimed to determine the effect of diets supplemented by feed additives, on the growth performance and digestive tract functioning in chicken of Green-Legged Partridge hen (GLPH). Two types of diets were used. Both the “low-digestible” (LD) diet characterized by high level of crude fiber and lard, and the “high-digestible” (HD) diet characterized by low content of crude fiber and soybean oil were supplemented by different additives such as 0.34% DM (dry matter) salinomycin, 0.30% DM medium-chain triglycerides (MCT), 1.00% DM calcium butyrate (CB), or 0.85% DM medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA). The experiment was conducted on 960 one-day-old male chickens of GLPH, randomly divided into 10 treatment groups. One group consisted of 12 replications (each with 8 birds). Chickens fed HD diet presented significantly higher body weight gain (BWG) in 15–56 days and also 0–56 days of experiment and lower feed conversion ratio (FCR) during whole time (0–56 days) of experiment (P<0.05). Addition of CB and MCFA did not affect the differences in BWG (15–56; 0–56 days) and FCR (15–56 days) in comparison with the control diet. Significant interaction between the type of diet and additives (P<0.05) was observed for feed intake (FI) throughout the experiment. The highest FI was found on LD diet with CB. On LD diet, all additives resulted in significantly worse nitrogen retention, however, on HD diet, it was observed only for salinomycin. The additives had no impact on fat digestibility when chickens were fed HD diet. There was significant (P<0.05) lower-fat digestibility when LD diet with MCT, CB, and MCFA was used. The greatest value of nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy (AMEN) was found on HD diet (P<0.05). The addition of MCT, CB, and MCFA increased the percentage share of ileum, and MCT also significantly increased the percentage share of the liver. The lactic acid bacteria and C. perfringens counts were lower on HD diet (P<0.05). The addition of MCT and CB increased the count of lactic acid bacteria in caeca (P<0.05). Many interactions between experimental factors in this experiment showed that the efficacy of using different feed additives depends on the type of diet. The results suggest that MCFA may be the most beneficial feed additive for GLPH chicken as an alternative for antibiotic growth promoters (AGP).