Alessio Mortelliti

• PhD Animal Biology
• Associate Professor at University of Maine

Hatchery supplementation is frequently employed during the conservation and recovery of imperilled salmon populations. At the smolt stage, hatchery rearing practices often produce individuals that are larger than wild conspecifics. Under this ‘bigger is better’ strategy, it is assumed that larger fish are less susceptible to predation during migrat...

Circadian rhythms are a mechanism by which species adapt to environmental variability and fundamental to understanding species behavior. However, we lack data and a standardized framework to accurately assess and compare temporal activity for species during rapid ecological change. Through a global network representing 38 countries, we leveraged 8....

The landscape of fear framework posits that prey animals trade off between resource gain and safety when selecting habitat. Strategies for balancing this tradeoff vary among individuals, however, with personality acting as a potentially important factor driving differences. Animals are faced with real predation risk, perceived predation risk, and c...

Motivation: SNAPSHOT USA is an annual, multicontributor camera trap survey of mammals across the United States. The growing SNAPSHOT USA dataset is intended for tracking the spatial and temporal responses of mammal populations to changes in land use, land cover and climate. These data will be useful for exploring the drivers of spatial and temporal...

Motivation: SNAPSHOT USA is an annual, multicontributor camera trap survey of mammals across the United States. The growing SNAPSHOT USA dataset is intended for tracking the spatial and temporal responses of mammal populations to changes in land use, land cover and climate. These data will be useful for exploring the drivers of spatial and temporal...

The Togean Islands babirusa ( Babyrousa togeanensis ) is an Endangered wild pig species endemic to the Togean Archipelago, Indonesia. Despite its conservation status, our knowledge of the species is limited, which hampers conservation efforts. We here report the results of an island-wide camera trapping study, assessing the species’ demographic sta...

Forest management is an important component of global change as more than half of the world's forests are managed for human use. Although the effect of forest management on taxonomic diversity is well‐studied, we do not fully understand its impact on functional diversity. Understanding this is important to better predict how ecosystem processes wil...

Monitoring is a critical step in evaluating the efficacy of conservation measures, and having an effective monitoring protocol can serve as a warning system for population decline. We performed a power analysis to develop a camera trap-based monitoring protocol to detect occupancy changes of the endangered Togean Islands babirusa (Babyrousa togeane...

In rapidly changing environments, the combined effects of climate change and forest stand changes—such as growth or regeneration—are altering the availability of resources, particularly in systems with pulsed resources like seed-masting. These environmental shifts can have cascading impacts on animal populations, ultimately reshaping ecosystem stru...

The cost-effectiveness of different attractants during camera trapping surveys has been seldom evaluated. To contribute in filling this knowledge gap we (1) compare the effectiveness of a suite of attractants in detecting widely distributed mammals in Europe and (2) evaluate the cost-effectiveness of these attractants, by calculating the costs asso...

Aim The assembly of species into communities and ecoregions is the result of interacting factors that affect plant and animal distribution and abundance at biogeographic scales. Here, we empirically derive ecoregions for mammals to test whether human disturbance has become more important than climate and habitat resources in structuring communities...

Monitoring is a critical step in evaluating the efficacy of conservation measures, and having an effective monitoring protocol can serve as a warning system for population decline. We performed a power analysis to develop a camera trap-based monitoring protocol to detect occupancy changes of the endangered Togean Islands babirusa ( Babyrousa togean...

Rodents play a key role in forest regeneration by dispersing seeds and interspecific differences in seed preferences could have important consequences for forest growth. The White-footed Mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) and Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus gracilis) are 2 closely related species that can exploit Red Oak (Quercus rubra) acorns but may...

SNAPSHOT USA is a multicontributor, long‐term camera trap survey designed to survey mammals across the United States. Participants are recruited through community networks and directly through a website application (https://www.snapshot-usa.org/). The growing Snapshot dataset is useful, for example, for tracking wildlife population responses to lan...

Small mammals such as mice and voles play a fundamental role in the ecosystem service of seed dispersal by caching seeds in small hoards that germinate under beneficial conditions. Pilferage is a critical step in this process in which animals steal seeds from other individuals' caches. Pilferers often recache stolen seeds, which are often pilfered...

The social system of animals involves a complex interplay between physiology, natural history, and the environment. Long relied upon discrete categorizations of “social” and “solitary” inhibit our capacity to understand species and their interactions with the world around them. Here, we use a globally distributed camera trapping dataset to test the...

Conserving large mammals on small islands poses a great challenge, given their high resource demand within the limited space available. The endangered Togean Islands babirusa (Babyrousa togeanensis) is one of these species, with a distribution range limited to four small islands in the Togean Archipelago, Indonesia. Despite being listed as endanger...

Despite numerous studies examining the fitness consequences of animal personalities, predictions concerning the relationship between personality and survival are not consistent with empirical observations. Theory predicts that individuals who are risky (i.e. bold, active and aggressive) should have higher rates of mortality; however, empirical evid...

Disease ecologists commonly use abiotic factors (e.g. temperature and moisture) or measures of biodiversity (e.g. species richness) to predict Lyme disease transmission patterns, but variance in infection probability among individuals within a population is poorly understood. Most studies assume intraspecific consistency, but recent evidence sugges...

Investigating species responses to trophic interactions and abiotic factors is crucial to better understanding their ecology and creating effective management strategies. In carnivore communities, smaller species are often regulated by larger ones via top‐down interference competition. Smaller subordinate carnivores can also be regulated by bottom‐...

Diadromous fish populations have incurred precipitous declines across the globe. Among many stressors, these species are threatened by anthropogenic barriers that impede movement, alter riverine habitat, and augment predator communities. In this study, we used acoustic transmitters (n = 220) with predation and temperature sensors to characterize At...

Conserving large mammals on small islands poses a great challenge, given their high resource demand within the limited space available. The endangered Togean Islands babirusa ( Babyrousa togeanensis ) is one of these species, with a distribution range limited to four small islands in the Togean Archipelago, Indonesia. Despite being listed as endang...

The long‐term effects of intensive forest harvest on sensitive demographic stages of the American black bear ( Ursus americanus ) have been often overlooked. Much of Maine, USA, is covered in forests that are hospitable to bears and commercial timber harvest. To investigate the potential effects of differing intensities of disturbance on black bear...

Small mammals are key scatter hoarders in forest ecosystems, acting as both seed predators and dispersers. The outcome of their interactions (i.e., predation vs. dispersal) is determined by a series of decisions made by small mammals, such as the choice of seed, whether the seed is immediately consumed or cached, and where it is cached. These decis...

The negative impact of habitat fragmentation due to human activities may be different in different species that co-exist in the same area, with consequences on the development of environmental protection plans. Here we aim at understanding the effects produced by different natural and anthropic landscape features on gene flow patterns in two sympat...

Management agencies need statistically robust, cost-effective monitoring programs to effectively conserve and manage wildlife. However, this requires pilot studies to assess the monitoring protocol's ability to detect meaningful changes in the state variable of interest. This is more challenging for elusive mammals due to low detection rates and th...

Animal behavior plays a critical role in the delivery of ecosystem services, yet the study of animal behavior and ecosystem services rarely intersect. The study of behavior-mediated ecosystem services should be prioritized, focusing on the conditions that allow these critical behaviors to persist and adapt to global change.

Weasels are small mustelid carnivores that play an important role as predators of small mammals in a wide array of ecosystems. However, their response to land use, such as forest harvest for timber products, is seldom the subject of focused research and management projects. Both the American ermine, also known as the short-tailed weasel (Mustela ri...

Pulsed resource environments are known for their marked variations in resource availability over space and time. Animals living in such environments usually increase reproduction after resources become available. Some small mammal populations, however, may use environmental cues that precede large crops of seeds (e.g. pollen, flowers, unripe seeds)...

Managing wildlife populations in the face of global change requires regular data on the abundance and distribution of wild animals, but acquiring these over appropriate spatial scales in a sustainable way has proven challenging. Here we present the data from Snapshot USA 2020, a second annual national mammal survey of the USA. This project involved...

Significance Mutualisms are foundational components of ecosystems and give rise to essential services such as seed dispersal and pollination. Ecologists believe that nearly every species is involved in one or more mutualisms, but it is unknown how consistent behavioral differences among individuals, or personalities, may influence an individual’s r...

Human land use is a driving force of habitat loss and modification globally, with consequences for wildlife species. The American marten (Martes americana) and fisher (Pekania pennanti) are forest‐dependent carnivores native to North America. Both species suffered population declines due to loss of forested habitat and overharvest for furs, and con...

Developing cost-effective monitoring protocols is a priority for wildlife conservation agencies worldwide. In particular, developing protocols that cover a wide range of species is highly desirable. Here we applied the ‘umbrella species’ concept to the context of ecological monitoring; specifically testing the hypothesis that protocols developed fo...

Conservationists rarely consider the roles individuals, with their own unique behavior, physiology, and genome, play in shaping ecosystem processes and consequently ecosystem services, but this is changing. An ongoing surge in research on animal personalities (that is, behavioral differences among individuals that are consistent over time and acros...

Ecologists commonly assess ecological patterns at the population level, focusing on the average response of all individuals within a population, but to predict how populations will respond to land‐use change we must understand how changes to habitat differentially affect individuals within a population. For example, forest management is a widesprea...

Millions of dams impair watershed connectivity across the globe and have severely affected migratory fish populations. Fishways offer upstream passage opportunities, but artificial selection may be imposed by these structures. Using juvenile American eel Anguilla rostrata as a model species, we consider whether individual differences in behaviour (...

With the accelerating pace of global change, it is imperative that we obtain rapid inventories of the status and distribution of wildlife for ecological inferences and conservation planning. To address this challenge, we launched the SNAPSHOT USA project, a collaborative survey of terrestrial wildlife populations using camera traps across the Unite...

Scatter‐hoarding small mammals act as both seed predators and seed dispersers in forest ecosystems. Their choices regarding consuming or caching seeds must balance the risk of predation with the energy rewards gained from immediate or delayed consumption of seeds. Several factors influence their interaction with seeds, including the individual's pe...

Understanding factors affecting the functional diversity of ecological communities is an important goal for ecologists and conservationists. Previous work has largely been conducted at the community level; however, recent studies have highlighted the critical importance of considering intraspecific functional diversity (i.e. the functional diversit...

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Camera traps are a cost-effective tool for large-scale and long-term population monitoring of mammals. Either bait or lure is often used to attract animals in front of a camera; however, the relative efficiency of these two attractants, or their combination, is not well understood. Our objective was to determine the optimal attractant setup for max...

In recent years, consistent individual differences in behavior, or personalities, have been a topic of increasing interest as researchers strive to understand and predict the responses of individuals and populations to anthropogenic changes. Behavioral studies in wild populations often require that animals are live trapped before behavioral observa...

Small mammals play a critical role in forest ecosystems as both seed predators and dispersers; they have been shown to affect tree species composition within forests and may significantly reduce recruitment rates of certain tree species, many of which are commercially valuable. Thus, understanding small mammal seed preference is essential for both...

In recent years individual differences in the behavior of animals, or personalities, have been shown to influence the response of individuals to changing environments and have important ecological implications. As researchers strive to understand and predict the responses of individuals and populations to anthropogenic changes, personality studies...

Climate change is resulting in shifts in species’ ranges as species inhabit new climatically suitable areas. A key factor affecting range‐shifts is the interaction with predators. Small mammals, being primary seed predators and dispersers in forest ecosystems, may play a major role in determining which plant species will successfully expand and the...

Motion triggered camera traps are an increasingly popular tool for wildlife research and can be used to survey for multiple species simultaneously. As with all survey techniques, it is crucial to conduct camera trapping research following study designs that include adequate spatial and temporal replication, and sufficient probability of detecting s...

Many plants rely on animals for seed dispersal, but are all individuals equally effective at dispersing seeds? If not, then the loss of certain individual dispersers from populations could have cascade effects on ecosystems. Despite the importance of seed dispersal for forest ecosystems, variation among individual dispersers and whether land‐use ch...

Species’ movements affect their response to environmental change but movement knowledge is often highly uncertain. We now have well‐established methods to integrate movement knowledge into conservation practice but still lack a framework to deal with uncertainty in movement knowledge for environmental decisions. We provide a framework that distingu...

• The Indonesian island of Sulawesi is widely considered a mammal conservation hotspot, mainly due to the high number of threatened endemic species with limited geographical ranges that are found there, and also due to the biogeographical importance of Sulawesi as the largest island in the Wallacea region. • To date, there has been no comprehensive...

Habitat fragmentation related to human activities modifies the distribution and the demographic trajectory of a species, often leading to genetic erosion and increased extinction risks. Understanding the impact of fragmentation on different species that co-exist in the same area becomes extremely important. Here we estimated the impact produced by...

Behavioural tendencies vary consistently among individuals and this variation is known as personality. Previous studies have found that personality traits measured through standardized behavioural tests predict trappability (i.e. ‘trap happy’ versus ‘trap shy’). However, the nature of this relationship is unclear since it has been explored only wit...

The dispersal process is crucial in determining the fate of populations over time, but habitat fragmentation limits or prevents it. Landscape genetic is an effective tool to assess the degree to which dispersal still occurs in fragmented landscapes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the landscape determinants of genetic differentiation i...

Habitat fragmentation hinders the dispersal process, which, in turn, causes changes to the genetic variability of populations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of fragmentation on the genetic population features of the hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius), a small rodent living in forest habitats, using seven microsatellite lo...

Robust identification of species and significant evolutionary units (ESUs) is essential to implement appropriate conservation strategies for endangered species. However, definitions of species or ESUs are numerous and sometimes controversial, which might lead to biased conclusions, with serious consequences for the management of endangered species....

The abundance of tree seeds is a key parameter affecting the abundance and fluctuations of rodent populations. Nevertheless, despite extensive research on the relationships between seeds and rodent populations, we have an inadequate understanding of the demographic mechanisms by which seed abundance influences population density and population grow...

Colonization and extinction events play a major role in influencing long-term population dynamics, particularly in fragmented landscapes. Nevertheless, empirical knowledge on which factors drive these processes is still lacking for many mammals, likely due to difficulties in conducting long- term large-scale field studies. To determine which landscape...

The hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius has a wide distribution in Europe. Within its range the species can be relatively common, but in parts of its northern range (e.g. UK, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark) populations are declining. The hazel dormouse is listed in the Annex IV of the EU Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC and, therefore, this species...

Several studies have shown that small mammal communities are influenced by silvicultural activities, possibly because these affect the quality of wildlife habitats. Previous research mainly focused on community parameters and abundance of target species, however the most robust way to study the impacts of forestry on wildlife is to follow a demogra...

Tackling the global threat of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity requires knowledge of how species move within agricultural landscapes. However, the specific mechanisms influencing dispersal within such landscapes remain poorly understood. The objective of our study was to assess how matrix type (improved pasture, native pasture or crop) and str...

Many key questions remain unresolved about how biodiversity responds to temporal increases in native vegetation cover resulting from extensive restoration efforts. We quantified occupancy and colonization probability of old growth, regrowth and planted woodland patches by arboreal marsupials within Australian agricultural landscapes subject to wood...

Several studies have shown that small mammal communities are influenced by silvicultural activities possibly because these affect the quality of wildlife habitats. Previous research mainly focused on community parameters and abundance of target species, however the most robust approach to study the impacts of forestry is to follow a demographic-res...

Setting operational targets for the protection of species is crucial for identifying conservation priorities and for monitoring conservation actions’ effectiveness. The use of quantitative targets for global species conservation has grown in the past ten years as a response to the commitment of reducing extinction rates established by the Conventio...

Livestock grazing is the most widespread land use on Earth and can have negative effects on biodiversity. Yet, many of the mechanisms by which grazing leads to changes in biodiversity remain unresolved. One reason is that conventional grazing studies often target broad treatments rather than specific parameters of grazing (e.g., intensity, duration...

Context Theory predicts that habitat loss and fragmentation may have drastic consequences on species’ interactions. To date, however, little empirical evidence exists on the strength of interspecific competition in shaping animal communities in fragmented landscapes. Objectives Our aim was to measure the degree of ongoing competitive interference b...

Aim To provide, through a large‐scale long‐term field study, an empirical evaluation of the extent to which revegetated patches act as refuges for woodland bird species in the face of enhanced abundance of a native despotic species in a highly fragmented landscape. Location South‐west slopes, New South Wales, Australia. Methods Birds were surveye...

Approaches to prioritize conservation actions are gaining popularity. However, limited empirical evidence exists on which species might benefit most from threat mitigation and on what combination of threats, if mitigated simultaneously, would result in the best outcomes for biodiversity. We devised a way to prioritize threat mitigation at a regiona...

In recent decades the European populations of wild boar have grown substantially, as has the impact of this species, owing above all to its rooting activity. Our aim was to investigate the relationships between vascular plant understorey and wild boar rooting intensity. The questions we addressed are: does rooting intensity influence understorey sp...

Recent phylogenetic studies and taxonomic reviews have led to nearly complete resolution of the phylogenetic divisions within the old world rats and mice (Muridae, Murinae). The Micromys division and Pithecheir division are two notable exceptions where groupings of species into these divisions based on morphology and arboreal lifestyle have not bee...

We quantified changes in forest-dependent mammal populations when the habitat in which they live remains intact but the surrounding matrix is converted from open grazed land to closed pine plantation forest. This situation is increasingly common as plantations are often established on formerly cultivated or grazed land.

Context The identification of habitat structures with biologically meaningful links to habitat quality has enabled an increased understanding of wildlife distributions in fragmented landscapes. However, knowledge is lacking of where these structures occur in the landscape. Objectives For a broad-scale agricultural landscape, we investigated how the...

Vegetation heterogeneity is an inherent feature of most ecosystems, characterises the structure of habitat, and is considered an important driver of species distribution patterns. However, quantifying fine-scale heterogeneity of vegetation cover can be time consuming, and therefore it is seldom measured. Here, we determine if heterogeneity is worth...

The identification of the wood mouse Apodemus sylvaticus and the yellow-necked mouse Apodemus flavicollis in the field has challenged many generations of field mammalogists, particularly in northern Spain and continental Italy. These two species present highly similar morphologic and morphometric characteristics especially when they are sympatric....

Substantial advances have been made in our understanding of the movement of species, including processes such as dispersal and migration. This knowledge has the potential to improve decisions about biodiversity policy and management, but it can be difficult for decision makers to readily access and integrate the growing body of movement science. Th...

Parasite-mediated selection may contribute to the maintenance of genetic variation at host immune genes over long time scales. To date, the best evidence for the long-term maintenance of immunogenetic variation in natural populations comes from studies on the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes, whereas evidence for such processes from oth...

Conversion of agricultural land to forest plantations is a major driver of global change. Studies on the impact of forest plantations on biodiversity in plantations and in the surrounding native vegetation have been inconclusive. Consequently, it is not known how to best manage the extensive areas of the planet currently covered by plantations. We...

AimTo quantify changes over a 15-year period in bird functional diversity within woodland patches where woodland patches remained unchanged, but the surrounding landscape context has been altered by exotic plantation establishment.LocationSouth-eastern Australia.Methods Using statistical modelling and principal coordinate analysis, we explored how...

The conversion of agricultural land to forest plantations is a major driver of global land-use change, and considering that large portions of the planet are covered by forest plantations, understanding their impact on biodiversity is a research priority. The aim of our study was to quantify the long-term response of two lizard species to the transf...

Spatial population synchrony is defined as the coincidental changes of population density or other demographic parameters over time. Synchrony between local populations is believed to be widespread in nature because it has been found across a range of ecological guilds and across large spatial scales. However, a detailed understanding is still lack...

Several studies have shown that forest management (e.g. for timber production) affects mammal communities. Nevertheless, we still lack a detailed understanding on how different management practices influence individuals and populations. The overarching goal of our work was to investigate the demographic response of the hazel dormouse (Muscardinus a...

Wild boar (Sus scrofa) rooting activities may affect several taxonomic groups. In hardwood forests, wild boar’s diet is predominantly represented by plants of the ground layer. We here report a study conducted in two Mediterranean lowland forests in central Italy (the State Reserve of Castelporziano and the Circeo National Park). The aim of our stu...

Patch size, isolation and quality are key factors influencing species persistence in fragmented landscapes. However, we still lack a detailed understanding of how these variables exert their effects on populations inhabiting fragmented landscapes. At which ecological scale do they have an effect (e.g., individuals versus populations) and, on which...

Conversion of natural and agricultural areas to conifer plantations is an important element of global change. Despite their widespread distribution and global importance, it is still unclear whether conifer plantations hinder or enhance movement by biota. Population connectivity is difficult to quantify without detailed studies such as those using...

The management of wild boar (Sus scrofa) is an issue of increasing global conservation concern. Statistically robust monitoring protocols, allowing the detection of biologically relevant changes in biodiversity indices due to wild boar activities, are crucial tools for the management of wild boar populations. The goal of our study was to present a...

Seed selection by forest rodents is based on several factors such as seed palatability, manipulation time and caloric content. The final result of this decision-making process has critical consequences on seed predation and dispersal, and thus on tree demography. Previous studies on seed selection have mainly focused on non-hibernating terrestrial...

Habitat loss and fragmentation are among the main causes of worldwide biodiversity loss. As a consequence of these processes portions of suitable habitat for a species are surrounded by a usually unsuitable matrix. The resulting spatial heterogeneity leads to formation of spatially structured populations, composed of interacting subpopulations loca...

Several studies have examined the diet of the yellow-necked mouse Apodemus flavicollis, the wood mouse A. sylvaticus and the bank vole Myodes glareolus; however, little is known about how food selection varies across seasons We investigated the food selection and possible trophic niche overlaps of small mammals during a year (from autumn 2012 to su...

Ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) have been detected in a range of small mammals, particularly rodents, and are associated not only with different social behaviours, e.g. sexual behaviour and aggression, but also with non-social behaviour in several species of mammals, including echolocation and as a by-product of respiration. Rodents in the Gliridae...