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Introduction
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February 2012 - November 2015
Publications
Publications (38)
In 2018-2022, many actions were undertaken in the framework of the LIFE Egyptian Vulture (EV) project to prevent the extinction of the small population of this vulture breeding on continental Italy, numbering 3-4 nesting pairs.
With the contribution of Carabinieri forestali (CUFAA) and StOrCal, surveillance was assured for more than 627 days to avo...
The identification of the onset of prenuptial migration is fundamental in defining the closing date of the hunting season in compliance with the EU Birds Directive. Here, we describe the process and country-by-country approach currently followed by the European Commission to define the onset of prenuptial migration for each huntable bird species an...
African swine fever is a devastating contagious viral disease of kept and wild porcine animals that will challenge the Veterinary Services involved in its eradication. Nowadays, ASF represents one of the biggest challenges for the pig sector at a global level. Following a number of simulated virus random introductions, the paper estimates the avera...
Effective management of wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations has to be based on precise estimates of local densities. The development of an effective and cost-efficient technique to cope with this need has always represented a challenge for wildlife managers and researchers. Drive counts, hunting bags, and Random Encounter Model (REM) are among the m...
The Birds Directive (2009/147/EC) states that migratory game birds are not hunted “during their return to their rearing grounds”. It follows that for each huntable species, Member States shall assess the 10-day period (TDP) in which the pre-nuptial migration starts. For birds wintering in Europe, the onset of northward movements cannot be easily de...
Background:
African Swine Fever (ASF) is a highly lethal viral disease caused by the African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV), the only virus of the Asfaviridae family, which affects different species of wild and domestic suids, and for which no vaccination or effective medical treatment is currently available. The virus can survive for long periods in th...
An increase of nocturnal activity of ungulate species may represent a compensatory opportunity for energy intake, when activity in daylight is hindered by some disturbance events (e.g. hunting or predation). Therefore, mostly-diurnal and crepus-cular species may be active in bright moonlight nights whereas others may shift their diurnal activity to...
Capsule: Golden Eagles in Sardinia are clustered across the main mountain ranges of the island, with a preference for undisturbed and homogeneous inland habitats.
Aims: To analyse habitat preferences of the Golden Eagle in Sardinia, Italy, at the landscape and home range spatial scales.
Methods: Landscape scale habitat preferences were analysed usi...
Over the past few years, research on remote monitoring of animal behaviour by means of accelerometers integrated in GPS collars considerably increased. Use of accelerometers allows for long-term fine-scale behavioural measurements, which are extremely useful to study activity patterns. As the values generated by accelerometers are strongly affected...
The presence of African swine fever (ASF) virus in wild pigs represents a challenge for any
Veterinary Service, as a multisectoral approach is essential for successful disease management.
The human contribution to disease spread is one of the most important factors to consider when
dealing with ASF in wild pigs.
We present an application of the random encounter model (REM) to estimate population density of a closed population of fallow deer (Dama dama). REM promises to be a powerful tool for providing density estimates for species which are not individually recognisable, but it still requires thorough testing to assess its limits and performance. In our st...
African swine fever (ASF) is one of the most severe diseases of pigs and has a drastic impact on pig industry. Wild boar populations play the role of ASF genotype II virus epidemiological reservoir. Disease surveillance in wild boar is carried out either by testing all the wild boar found sick or dead for virus detection (passive surveillance) or b...
African swine fever (ASF) is a contagious haemorrhagic fever that affects both domesticated and wild pigs. Since ASF reached Europe wild boar populations have been a reservoir for the virus. Collecting reliable data on infected individuals in wild populations is challenging, and this makes it difficult to deploy an effective eradication strategy. H...
Forest development is a complex phenomenon which, for the number of actors involved and the response time expressed by forests, is difficult to understand and explore. Forests in Italy, as in several areas of Europe, are experiencing intensive management and recently, an increasing impact by ungulates. The effects on forest development of these two...
Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) is the most abundant cervid in Europe and, as such, has a considerable impact over several human activities. Accurate roe deer population size estimates are useful to ensure their proper management. We tested 3 methods for estimating roe deer abundance (drive counts, pellet-group counts, and camera trapping) during tw...
We investigated the scavenging behavior of some vertebrate species inhabiting a mountainous area of Eastern Tuscany (Italy). Fieldwork was conducted by using camera traps from July 2010 to June 2013. The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) resulted to be the main scavenger species, followed by the wolf (Canis lupus), while the wild boar (Sus scrofa) resulted t...
The roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) is considered a special case of territorial ungulate. This study aimed to contribute to the knowledge of male roe deer territoriality by exploring its spatial use and activity patterns. We divided the territorial period (March–August) into three two-month sampling periods and found that the home range (HR) size of...
Temporal segregation is common amongst coexisting species, but rarely studied in multi-predator – multi-prey systems in Europe. The Romanian Carpathians provide a good opportunity for studying such mechanisms, as three apex predators and several wild ungulate species naturally co-occur. Our study aimed to assess diel activity overlap of i) wolf vs....
The study of habitat selection of a given species, in a different environmental context, represents a major step to enhance the knowledge of that species ecology. Although grey wolf (Canis lupus) and Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) ecology has been largely studied across Europe, to date, no systematic study has been done in Romania. This study, entirely...
Camera trapping requires extensive effort to gather meaningful data, especially for large carnivores. Understanding which factors affect capture rates can have a positive effect on the amount of information collected. In the present pilot study, as part of the WOLFLIFE project (LIFE13 NAT/RO/000205), we aimed to describe the effects of camera place...
The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is an ungulate of major management concern, often controlled only by indiscriminate, recreational hunting, which represents its main cause of death. Several studies have dealt with the effects of hunting on wild boar populations, pointing out controversial changes in spatial behavior and habitat use related to it. However...
Over the last few decades, wild ungulate populations have exhibited relevant geographic and demographic expansion in most European countries; roe deer is amongst the most widespread ungulate species. The increasing roe deer densities have led to strong impact on forest regeneration; the problem has been recently recognized in coppice woods, a silvi...
The impact of predation on prey populations has long been a focus of ecologists, but a firm understanding of the factors influencing prey selection, a key predictor of that impact, remains elusive. High levels of variability observed in prey selection may reflect true differences in the ecology of different communities but might also reflect a fail...
Contract for ungulate work, 2005.
(PDF)
Contract for wolf work, 2004.
(PDF)
Literature reviewed on European wolf diet (see Table S1).
(DOC)
Published studies of wolf diet in Europe surveyed for analysis of uncertainty and inter-annual variability in estimates of dietary composition and prey selection.
(DOC)
Contract for ungulate work, 2009.
(PDF)
Contract 1 for wolf work, 2001–03.
(PDF)
Repeated measure ANOVA of the effects of boar availability, season and their interaction on seasonal use of boar by wolves (relative to the wild ungulate community including boar and roe deer). Data were collected from 2000–2009 in the Alpe di Catenaia study site in Italy.
(DOC)
Contract for wolf work, 2000.
(PDF)
Contract 2 for wolf work, 2001–03.
(PDF)
The analysis of boar use in response to season (methods and results).
(DOC)
Contract for wolf work, 2005–07.
(PDF)
Contract for wolf work, 2008–09.
(PDF)
Contract for wolf work, 2009–2013.
(PDF)
Red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and wolf (Canis lupus) are two widespread opportunistic predators living in simpatry in many areas. Nonetheless, scarce information are available on their trophic interactions. We investigated food habits of these two carnivores in a mountain area in Italy and assessed the extent of their trophic niche overlap, focusing on t...