Towards biocultural realism: Connecting conservation with historical ecology and common sense. A European perspective.

In this perspective, we present and discuss four major causes of the worldwide nature conservation failure: 1) ideologies based on nature-culture dualism, 2) the bias prioritising forests in conservation, 3) the illusory objectiveness of selected biological indicators, and 4) the mismanagement of rural agricultural landscapes. All of these relate to ignorance of historical ecology and neglect of the role past plays in shaping landscapes and fostering biodiversity. These led to a false anthropology focussed on the broader human economy (including agriculture) as the absolute culprit of biodiversity loss.

Culturally modified trees or wasted timber: Different approaches to marked trees in Poland's Białowieża Forest.

Studies of past forest use traditions are crucial in both understanding the present state of the oldest European forests, and in guiding decisions on future forest conservation and management. Current management of Poland's Białowieża Forest (BF), one of the best-preserved forests of the European lowlands, is heavily influenced by anecdotal knowledge on forest history. Therefore, it is important to gain knowledge of the forest's past in order to answer questions about its historical administration, utilisation, and associated anthropogenic changes.

Host selection by the Louse Fly Crataerina pallida, an avian nest ectoparasite of the Common Swift Apus apus.

Preferences by parasites for particular hosts may have important implications for the functioning of host-parasite systems, however, this parasitic life-history trait remains little studied. No detrimental effect of Louse Fly Crataerina pallida parasitism has been found on Common Swift Apus apus nestling hosts. Host selection choices may be mediating the effect this parasite has and account for this apparent avirulence.

The common swift louse fly, Crataerina pallida: an ideal species for studying host-parasite interactions.

Little is known of the life-history of many parasitic species. This hinders a full understanding of host-parasitic interactions. The common swift louse fly, Crataerina pallida Latreille (Diptera: Hippoboscidae), an obligate haematophagous parasite of the Common Swift, Apus apus Linnaeus 1758, is one such species.

Temperature affects emergence of Crataerina pallida (Diptera: Hippoboscidae).

Despite knowledge of parasite biology being essential for host-parasite system functioning to be understood, the life histories of many parasites remain little studied. One example being the hippoboscid Crataerina pallida (Olivier in Latreille, 1812) (Diptera: Hippoboscidae), a nest ectoparasite of the common swift, Apus apus L. (Aves: Apodidae).

WITHDRAWN.

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