Alexandros A Karamanlidis

Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)

Mountain regions have long been important for maintaining populations and genetic diversity of wild species, especially those species that require large areas to sustain viable populations. We examined wolves (Canis lupus) in the Caucasus, Carpathian, and Dinaric–Balkan regions, expecting these persistent populations to contain high genetic diversi...

The Mediterranean monk seal Monachus monachus is one of the most endangered pinnipeds in the world, and is classified as “Endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Any additional knowledge about the species is invaluable to its effective conservation. In the present study, we deployed an autonomous underwater recorder i...

Biotic interactions are expected to influence species' responses to climate change, but they are usually not included when predicting future range shifts. We assessed the importance of biotic interactions to understand future consequences of climate and land use change for biodiversity using as a model system the brown bear (Ursus arctos) in Europe...

A rapid and extensive range expansion of the golden jackal has recently been documented in continental Europe, raising new policy and legal questions and creating an urgent need to understand the mechanisms underlying this distribution change. Because of human persecution, the jackal population in Greece went through a serious bottleneck and is the...

The Aegean Sea is one of the marine areas of our planet that has maintained its mystique throughout time. One of the species contributing to this mystique is the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus). The species has inhabited the waters of the Aegean since classical times, a fact that was well-known to ancient Greeks. Unfortunately, gradual,...

Disentangling the impact of Late Quaternary climate change from human activities can have crucial implications on the conservation of endangered species. We investigated the population genetics and demography of the Mediterranean monk seal ( Monachus monachus ), one of the world's most endangered marine mammals, through an unprecedented dataset enc...

Conservation actions for endangered species often require detailed data over large temporal and spatial scales, which are usually hard to obtain from traditional scientific surveys that operate at localized scales. In contrast to the terrestrial conservation world where citizen science has become nowadays a highly relevant and useful tool to overco...

Disentangling the impact of Late Quaternary climate change from human activities can have crucial implications on the conservation of endangered species. We investigated the population genetics and demography of the Mediterranean monk seal ( Monachus monachus ), one of the world's most endangered marine mammals, through an unprecedented dataset enc...

The Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) is classified by the IUCN as "endan-gered," with a global population estimated to number fewer than 800 individuals. Our understanding of the biology and health status of the species is still limited, rendering every medical case a challenge for conservationists and veterinary clinicians. Although stu...

Thelazia callipaeda (Spirurida, Thelaziidae) eyeworm, a zoonotic parasite transmitted by lachryphagus drosophilids, causes subclinical to clinical ocular disease in a wide range of animal species, including humans. In the past 20 years, the infection spread where the vector thrives, being endemic in many European countries. Recently, the infestatio...

Sharing space with large carnivores on a human-dominated continent like Europe results in multiple conflictful interactions with human interests, of which depredation on livestock is the most widespread. We conducted an analysis of the impact by all four European large carnivores on sheep farming in 10 European countries, during the period 2010-201...

Rewilding is gaining importance across Europe, as agricultural abandonment trajectories provide opportunities for large‐scale ecosystem restoration. However, its effective implementation is hitherto limited, in part due to a lack of monitoring of rewilding interventions and their interactions. Here, we provide a first assessment of rewilding progre...

Understanding animal behavior is essential for the conservation of endangered species. We document the case of a female brown bear (Ursus arctos) burying her 2 cubs-of-the-year, following their death in a car accident in May 2020 in the Prefecture of Kastoria, northern Greece. Both cubs were partially buried, half-covered with earth in an open fiel...

Understanding behavioral ontogeny is important for the successful conservation of endangered marine mammals. This is particularly the case for phocid seals, as during the early stages of their life they must acquire, largely independently, essential survival skills. We studied the maternal behavior and early behavioral ontogeny of the Mediterranean...

Understanding the habitat use and selection patterns of endangered species is essential in developing management measures that will protect critical habitat and mitigate human-wildlife conflicts. This understanding is particularly important in areas with high anthropogenic pressures. To understand the ecological role of various habitat types in the...

Despite increasing habitat fragmentation, large carnivore populations in parts of Europe have been recovering and expanding into human-dominated areas. Knowledge of animal dispersal patterns in such areas is important for their conservation, management, and coexistence with humans. We used genetic data based on 15 microsatellite markers from 312 in...

The Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) is a flagship species for marine conservation, but important aspects of its life history remain unknown. Concerns over imminent extinction motivated a nuclear DNA study of the species in its largest continuous subpopulation in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Despite recent evidence of partial subpopula...

Conflicts between humans and bears have occurred since prehistory. Through time, the catalogue of human–bear conflicts (HBC) has been changing depending on the values and needs of human societies and their interactions with bears. Even today, conflict situations vary among the eight species of bears and geographically across these species’ ranges....

Bears have fascinated people since ancient times. The relationship between bears and humans dates back thousands of years, during which time we have also competed with bears for shelter and food. In modern times, bears have come under pressure through encroachment on their habitats, climate change, and illegal trade in their body parts, including t...

Brown bears Ursus arctos were historically persecuted and almost eradicated from southern Europe in the twentieth century as a result of hunting and direct persecution. The effects of human-induced mortality were exacerbated by other threats, such as habitat loss and fragmentation, due to the expansion of human populations. As a result, nowadays th...

Sharks in the Mediterranean Sea are facing an elevated risk of extinction; several species are considered endangered and some have been reduced to such low population numbers that they are hard to detect through conventional monitoring methods. The recent emergence of new technologies, such as social media, makes it easier to collect and transmit i...

• Small‐scale fisheries may pose a serious threat to the conservation of marine mammals. At the same time various factors have led to the decline of small‐scale fisheries, often making them unsustainable. Current rates of biodiversity loss and the reduction of fish stocks and fisheries dictate a thorough understanding of fisheries‐related issues an...

The survival of large carnivores in a rapidly changing, human-modified world depends largely on their movements; therefore, understanding how movement patterns change within space and time and which factors affect them most is of paramount importance for their conservation. In a case study in Greece using Brown bears Ursus arctos, we evaluated the...

Climate and land use changes are the main drivers of biodiversity loss and species distribution dynamic. When exploring global-change effects on biodiversity it is usually explored the direct effects, while ignoring the indirect effects, such as biotic interactions. This may drive to erroneous predictions on how global change impacts biodiversity....

Brown bears are considered to be endangered in Greece. In 2000 we established the Hellenic Bear Register in order to understand the patterns of brown bear recovery in Greece. We analyzed genetic data from 350 individuals, tracking data from 22 bear-years, 66,500 locations of field evidence and 8,800 compensation claims. More specifically: we carrie...

The Aegean and Ionian Seas in Greece host currently the largest population of the endangered Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus). The species is the only pinniped of the Mediterranean Sea that uses marine caves (monk seal shelters) with specific morphological characteristics for resting and pupping. The existence of such marine caves is of...

With fewer than 700 individuals remaining (approx. 350 in Greece), the Mediterranean monk seal is classified as "Endangered" by the IUCN and rescue and rehabilitation of orphan pups has been identified as a conservation priority. The purpose of the present study is to present the rehabilitation program for Mediterranean monk seal pups in Greece and...

Once widespread throughout the Black and Mediterranean Seas and the coasts of north Africa, the Endangered Mediterranean monk seal Monachus monachus has disappeared throughout most of its original range. In Cyprus evidence suggests that the species became effectively extinct at the end of the 20th century. Following an increase of seal sightings ar...

Understanding the processes related to wildlife recoveries is not only essential in solving human – wildlife conflicts, but also for identifying priority conservation areas and in turn, for effective conservation planning. We used data from a citizen science program to study spatial aspects of the demographic and genetic recovery of brown bears in...

The increasing trend of large carnivore attacks on humans not only raises human safety concerns but may also undermine large carnivore conservation efforts. Although rare, attacks by brown bears Ursus arctos are also on the rise and, although several studies have addressed this issue at local scales, information is lacking on a worldwide scale. Her...

Mediterranean monk seals (MMS) are among the most endangered marine mammals on Earth. We screened mitochondrial variability (control region [CR1] and mitogenomes) of the species through a 180‐yr timeframe and extended by 20% (n = 205) the number of samples from a previous investigation, including historical specimens from 1833 to 1975. Although we...

Understanding population recoveries is important in shaping conservation strategies and actions. We used a rear-edge population of brown bears in Greece as a case study (2000-2015) for understanding the patterns of a large carnivore population recovery. We analyzed genetic data from 350 individuals, tracking data from 22 bear-years, 66,500 location...

The Marsican bear is a critically endangered subspecies of the brown bear in Italy. Taking advantage of its high ecological value and public visibility we set up a project in the Central Apennines, to promote bear conservation and rewilding in the area, with a special focus on important habitat corridors between the national and regional parks. Fro...

With an estimated < 50 adult individuals remaining, the Critically Endangered Balkan lynx Lynx lynx balcanicus is one of the rarest, most threatened and least-studied large carnivores. To identify priority conservation areas and actions for the subspecies, during 2006–2014 we conducted 1,374 questionnaire surveys throughout the potential range of t...

Understanding the processes related to wildlife recoveries is not only essential in solving human - wildlife conflicts, but also for identifying priority conservation areas and in turn, for effective conservation planning. We used data from a large citizen science program to study the spatial processes related to the demographic and genetic recover...

We present the results of a process to attempt to identify 100 questions that, if answered, would make a substantial difference to terrestrial and marine landscape restoration in Europe. Representatives from a wide range of European governmental and non-governmental conservation organisations, universities, independent ecolo-gists and land managers...

The mitigation of the conflicts associated to livestock predation and agriculture damage is pivotal for the conservation of large carnivores in Europe. Aiming to identify the management strategies that more efficiently mitigate these conflicts, we made a critical review of the current policies to manage damage made by brown bears, lynx, wolves and...

Understanding the mechanisms and patterns involved in population recoveries is challenging and important in shaping conservation strategies. We used a recovering rear-edge population of brown bears at their southernmost European range in Greece as a case study (2007-2010) to explore the recovery genetics at a species' distribution edge. We used 17...

Significance A small and relict population of brown bears lives in complete isolation in the Italian Apennine Mountains, providing a unique opportunity to study the impact of drift and selection on the genomes of a large endangered mammal and reconstruct the phenotypic consequences and the conservation implications of such evolutionary processes. T...

Noninvasively collected samples are a common source of DNA in wildlife genetic studies. Currently, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping using microfluidic arrays is emerging as an easy-to-use and cost-effective methodology. Here we assessed the performance of microfluidic SNP arrays in genotyping noninvasive samples from grey wolves, Eur...

Dirofilaria immitis (canine heartworm) is a filarial nematode found in the pulmonary circulation and the heart of susceptible hosts. It represents an important zoonotic vector-borne disease of domestic dogs and several wildlife species. Herein we report for the first time, the finding of Dirofilaria immitis worms in a brown bear killed in a vehicle...

The Mediterranean monk seal Monachus monachus is considered Endangered by the IUCN, and is the most endangered pinniped in the world. Increasing our knowledge of this species is crucial in order to further our understanding of its social behaviour, but also to develop new methods to monitor and protect it. In many species, acoustic communication pl...

The rehabilitation and release of orphan brown bears (Ursus arctos) to the wild is of increasing importance in the conservaiion and management of the species. In April 2011 two orphan male brown bears were found and rehabilitated for the first time at a dedicated Bear Rehabilitation Centre in Greece. In this case report we describe in detail the ve...

The Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) is one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world. The biggest sub-population of the species survives in Greece, where understanding the effects of pollution on the survival of the species has been identified as a national research and conservation priority. From 1990 to 2013 we collected tiss...

Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus thibetanus) are considered vulnerable throughout their range. In 2012 we conducted field surveys and questionnaires in the autonomous state of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan to document the presence of bears and to evaluate human - bear conflicts. We recorded bears mainly in the northern and eastern part of...

Gray wolf populations have been recovering recently across Europe, a fact that poses serious challenges to the management of the species. We investigate the population genetics of wolves at the south-eastern edge of their European range, in Greece, and identify conservation priorities for the species in the country. During population monitoring eff...

1. Wildlife damage to human property threatens human–wildlife coexistence. Conflicts arising from wildlife damage in intensively managed landscapes often undermine conservation efforts, making damage mitigation and compensation of special concern for wildlife conservation. However, the mechanisms underlying the occurrence of damage and claims at la...

Golden jackals have been expanding across Europe in recent decades. In the former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia they have been considered extinct since the 1960s. Using a questionnaire survey and a camera trap study we provide the first unequivocal evidence for the re-establishment of the species in the country. The questionnaire survey indi...

We present the results of a study on the activity patterns of a wolf in northwestern Greece (2011–2012). The home range of the wolf was 460.5 km2, while the core area was 88.9 km2 and included mainly areas with tree cover and agricultural areas. On three occasions the wolf unsuccessfully tried to cross a highway, highlighting the necessity to ident...