The role of granivorous birds as agents of seed dispersal has been little explored and is poorly understood. We assessed the ability of three species of birds from a Central European agricultural landscape to disperse seeds of dry-fruited plants. We hypothesised that Grey Partridge Perdix perdix is a better seed disperser than either of two species of buntings—Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella and Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus—in terms of the number of intact seeds recovered from their droppings. Partridge droppings contained the highest number of intact seeds. Surprisingly, however, the number of intact seeds per 1 g of droppings was the highest in Reed Bunting, smaller in Grey Partridge and the smallest in Yellowhammer. Our findings suggest that the passage of intact seeds of dry-fruited plants through the digestive tract of seed-eating birds is most likely an effect of limited digestion, resulting from the intake of a large volume of seeds, a small part of which remains undigested. This effect could be magnified by the inclusion in the diet of some items of different digestibility (invertebrates or leaves). We suggest that non-standard dispersal of seeds with no adaptations to endozoochory by birds is a far more frequent and as yet under-appreciated phenomenon, which has potential ecological implications for the colonisation of new habitats/islands by plants. The ultimate elucidation of this process is extremely difficult and would require large sets of faeces to be examined. Effektivität von Endozoochorie bei drei körnerfressenden Vogelarten Die Rolle körnerfressender Vögel als Verbreiter von Pflanzensamen ist bislang nur wenig untersucht worden und wird dementsprechend auch noch wenig verstanden. Für drei Vogelarten einer landwirtschaftlich genutzten Region in Zentraleuropa untersuchten wir ihre Fähigkeit, die Samen von Trockenfrüchten zu verbreiten. Unsere Hypothese war, dass Rebhühner (Perdix perdix) wirksamere Samenverbreiter sind als die beiden Ammer-Arten Goldammer (Emerbiza citrinella) und Rohrammer (Emberiza schoeniclus); dies wurde aus der Anzahl noch intakter Samen im Kot der Vögel ermittelt. Zwar enthielt der Kot der Rebhühner die größte Anzahl intakter Samen, überraschenderweise war aber der Anteil intakter Samen pro Gramm Kot bei der Rohrammer am größten, beim Rebhuhn etwas kleiner und am kleinsten bei der Goldammer. Unsere Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass der Durchmarsch intakter Samen durch den Verdauungstrakt körnerfressender Vögel höchstwahrscheinlich an mangelhafter Verdauung liegt, hervorgerufen durch die Aufnahme großer Mengen an Samenkörnern, von denen dann ein bestimmter, kleiner Anteil unverdaut bleibt. Dieser Effekt könnte noch durch die Aufnahme anderer Nahrungsbestandteile, die unterschiedlich verdaut werden (Wirbellose, oder Blätter), vergrößert werden. Wir denken, dass die ungewöhnliche Verbreitung von Samen durch Vögel ohne Anpassung an Endozoochorie viel häufiger ist und bisher unterschätzt wurde und dass sie ein ökologisches Potential für die Pflanzen-Besiedlung neuer Gegenden/Inseln durch Vögel bietet. Eine endgültige Aufklärung dieses Prozesses wäre allerdings außerordentlich schwierig und würde große Mengen an zu prüfendem Kot erfordern.

The bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi L. Spreng.) is a source of herbal material—bearberry leaf (Uvae ursi folium), which is highly valued and sought by pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. For many years, leaves of this plant have been used in traditional medicine as a diuretic, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory agent for various diseases of the urogenital tract. The bearberry has also been proposed as a natural antioxidant additive due to the high contents of phenolic compounds in its leaves. The study was focused on characterization of the basic phytochemical composition and antioxidant activity of extracts derived from bearberry leaves collected from plants located at the southern border of the geographical range of the species in Europe. The investigated herbal material is characterized by a different chemical profile compared to the chemical profiles of bearberry found in other parts of the continent. Bearberry extracts from plants growing in two different habitat types—heathlands and pine forests showed a wide range of variation, especially in the concentration of hyperoside, corilagin, and methylartutin and the total flavonoid contents. In addition to arbutin, bearberry can be a valuable source of phenolic compounds, which are mainly responsible for the antioxidant properties of extracts. The high content of phenols and high values of antioxidant parameters indicate a high potential of bearberry leaves to be used as a powerful natural source of antioxidants in herbal preparations. Therefore, the A. uva-ursi populations can be a source of plant material for pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food industries.

The primary producers and processes of matter and energy flow, reflected by the soil enzyme activity, are the basics of all ecosystem functioning processes. This paper reviews the relationships between the plant diversity, the physicochemical substrate parameters, and the soil enzymatic activity in novel ecosystems of the urban–industrial landscape, where the factors driving soil enzyme activity are not fully understood and still need to be studied. The relationship between the biotic and abiotic factors in the development of novel ecosystems on de novo established habitats, e.g., sites of post-mineral excavation, are shaped in ways unknown from the natural and the semi-natural habitats. The main criteria of de novo established ecosystems are the vegetation patches of the non-analogous species composition created as a result of human impact. The non-analogous species assemblages are associated with different microorganism communities because the biomass and the biochemistry of soil organic matter influence the enzyme activity of soil substrates. Moreover, the soil enzyme activity is an indicator that can dynamically reflect the changes in the microbial community structure dependent on the best-adapted plant species, thanks to the particular traits and individual adaptive adjustments of all the plant species present. This way, soil enzyme activity reflects the sum and the interactions of the elements of the ecosystem structure, irrespective of the vegetation history and the habitat origin.