Pavol Prokop

Community uptake of knowledge about the environment, perception of the environment, and environmental awareness are of pivotal importance. Secondary school students represent an emerging young generation that will become actively involved in shaping the discourse of our societies, as they face major issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss. The aim of the study was to explore environmental awareness and attitudes in relation to environmental policies on the national and European level. The study was conducted on the secondary school students from the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic and differences between the two countries and gender were investigated. Based on a questionnaire, the acquired data suggest that secondary school students exhibit environmental awareness and display environmentally friendly behaviour, by which they aim to reduce their negative burden on the environment. The study group identified environmental pollution and climate change as the most relevant contributors to this global crisis, while excessive construction, biodiversity loss, and insufficient protection were identified to a lesser degree. The environment as a whole was perceived as endangered, among which soil was singularly the least pronounced environmental category. The results show a strong negative perception of national actions to protect the environment, and the secondary school students in the study supported the idea that countries should be doing more to protect the environment. The European Union’s ambitious plans to reach carbon neutrality in 2050 were also met with a degree of pessimism and uncertainty.

Biodiversity conservation is closely linked to human willingness to conserve individual species. However, fish, as the least visible group of vertebrates, are often overlooked, despite the fact that they constitute almost 60% of all known vertebrate species and are characterized by great morphological and color diversity. Our study aimed to identify phenotypic traits of freshwater fish that influence their attractiveness and, at the same time, the perceived need for their conservation. The research consisted of two parts: a touchscreen-based evaluation of 30 fish species followed by an online survey focusing on a selected subset of 15 species. The most attractive species were those with colorful coloration, unusual body shape and distinctive fins. Respondents also attributed a high conservation value to species with striking or unusual features. An interesting finding was that even less attractive species were able to arouse a willingness to protect them thanks to their unusual appearance, which evoked prehistoric signs and aroused a feeling of compassion. Only species with serpentine body shapes received the lowest rankings in both attractiveness and willingness to protect. Based on these findings, we recommend using attractive and atypical fish species as so-called flagship species, which can effectively support the protection and preservation of the biodiversity of freshwater ecosystems. The results also represent a starting point for the creation of educational programs that can shape positive public attitudes towards fish and their conservation.

Sexual conflict arises when male and female mating optima diverge. Males of certain harvestman species frequently harass females to gain additional matings, while females strongly resist mating attempts, which could be costly for them. We hypothesize that sexual conflict is attenuated in harvestman species where males offer nuptial gifts to females. Using Leiobunum limbatum Koch, 1861, a species where males possess an ancestral, sacculate penis and offer nuptial gifts to the female during copulation, we examined sexual receptivity and copulation frequency of females allowed to mate sequentially with two different males. Females copulated with males repeatedly, and their sexual receptivity was not impaired by mating order. Female physical condition positively correlated with copulation frequency, likely because of their heightened attractiveness to males. Unexpectedly, male size correlated negatively with copulation frequency, suggesting an advantage of being small in species with scramble competition. The intensity of sexual coercion in L. limbatum seems to be lower than in other species, particularly those lacking nuptial feeding.

Aim: A primary adaptive problem humans encountered ancestrally was identifying safe and edible foods. In nature, aposematic coloration often signals toxicity or unpalatability. Therefore, the present study investigated whether such colorations in marine animals triggers psychological food rejection mechanisms, specifically, disgust, perceived danger, anticipated distaste, and perceived moral inappropriateness.Method: A sample of 905 Iranian adults participated in an online 72-item survey. Participants viewed images of six aposematically colored and six cryptically colored sea animals. For each image, they rated how disgusting, dangerous, distasteful, and immoral the animal appeared to consume, alongside their overall unwillingness to eat it. Data were analyzed using mixed MANCOVAs, and for mediation analyses, Sobel tests were applied.Results: Aposematically colored animals were rated as significantly more disgusting and dangerous to consume, were anticipated to be more distasteful, and elicited a higher unwillingness to eat compared to cryptically colored animals. However, after controlling for covariates, coloration had no significant effect on moral attitudes. Furthermore, mediation analyses revealed that disgust, danger, and distaste significantly mediated the relationship between visual coloration and unwillingness to eat (a proxy for food rejection). Participants did not appear to identify poisonous animals.Conclusion: Our findings support the fact that humans may possess innate dispositions to reject aposematically colored animals as food, relying on visual cues of conspicuousness.

Introduction: Human females often use clothing as a strategy for self-promotion to enhance their physical attractiveness to potential mates. The conscious concealment or revelation of intimate body parts can be used to solicit attention; however, little empirical research exists on this topic. Methods: We investigated the factors influencing the decision to wear a bra using self-reports from Slovak women ( N = 409) in public and private settings. Furthermore, using visual stimuli, we examined how male ( N = 277) and female ( N = 158) raters perceived the attractiveness and faithfulness of women with and without a bra. Results: We found that being braless was significantly less frequent in public than in private settings. The decision was negatively associated with the fear of sexual harassment and positively associated with smaller, firmer breasts, but not with unrestricted sociosexuality. The braless state was consistently perceived by both men and women as more attractive, yet also as less faithful. Males with a stronger preference for large breasts found the braless state more attractive than those with a lower preference. Finally, male intentions to sexually harass females, as well as an unrestricted sociosexuality in male raters, were positively correlated with the perception of the braless state as a cue of infidelity. Discussion: Our results suggest that bra-wearing represents a strategic trade-off in self-promotion: while it may dampen sexual attractiveness, it simultaneously protects the wearer from being perceived as infidel.

Maintaining multiple intimate relationships entails some risks and complications beyond exclusive pair bonding (i.e., monogamy). Consensual non-monogamy (CNM; e.g., polyamory, swinging, or open relationships) allegedly reduces these risks and complications, but no one has tried to comprehensively document typical CNM risk management practices, nor analyzed the relationship outcomes of those who use these practices. We developed the Multiple Relationships Maintenance Scale (MRMS) to examine how engagement in common CNM practices predicts relationship quality among people with one or more partners. In Study 1, a community sample of people with CNM experience ( N = 429) nominated the best practices for maintaining CNM. Responses were combined with theory-derived practices to create the MRMS. In Study 2, we administered the MRMS in three international online surveys ( N = 4,290) to assess factor structure and construct validity. Factor analysis revealed nine practices: disclosure of one’s extra-pair attractions to a partner, open communication about jealousy, compersion, willingness to care for unrelated children, shared extra-pair sexual experiences, partner (non)hierarchy, sexual health maintenance, thoughtful resource distribution among partners, and reputation management. Data from one of the three surveys ( n = 871) showed that each practice had distinctive patterns of association with previous CNM experience, relationship and sexual satisfaction, partner investment and interdependence, and self-reported infidelity (i.e., how often extra-pair interactions feel to violate an existing relationship’s agreements). We discuss how the MRMS may be used to study how people in CNM relationships maintain multiple intimate relationships.

Introduction: Plant-pollinator interactions may have positive, negative, or neutral influences on pollination and reproductive success of co-occurring plants. Some plants are highly attractive for pollinators (magnet species) and their presence can be beneficial for neighboring plants in terms of increased pollinator availability. Methods: Combining field and laboratory data, we examined pollinator visitation and reproductive success in early blooming co-occurring native plants, two-leaf squill ( Scilla spp.) and snowdrop ( Galanthus nivalis L.). Results: The blue flowers of Scilla significantly outcompeted the abundant white flowers of G. nivalis for pollinator visits. These differences were further supported by the higher abundance of pollinators found on G. nivalis petals (detected using eDNA metabarcoding) in experimental plots where Scilla was removed compared to plots where Scilla and G. nivalis co-occurred. eDNA analysis showed that the presence of Scilla significantly reduced alpha diversity and taxonomic richness of the G. nivalis pollinator community. Furthermore, the plot with Scilla showed a significant shift in community composition, with G. nivalis dominantly visited by taxa such as Lepidoptera, which may provide different pollination services, while the scilla-free group showed a more balanced and diverse composition including key Hymenoptera and Diptera taxa. This superior attractiveness of Scilla , consistent across both field observations and controlled lab experiments, strongly supports its role as a magnet species. Flower fertility of G. nivalis from plots with Scilla present was significantly lower than from plots without Scilla . Discussion: Overall, it appears that early flowering plant communities face strong competition for pollinators, which are scarce due to low spring temperatures. Magnet species may more significantly influence pollinator activity “in their favor” and potentially threaten the reproductive success of other, co-occurring species.