Anthony Caravaggi

University of South Wales · Forensic and Biological Sciences

Invasive species are the main threat to island biodiversity; seabirds are particularly vulnerable and are one of the most threatened groups of birds. Gough Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the South Atlantic Ocean, is an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area, and one of the most important seabird colonies globally. Invasive House Mice Mus mus...

Endogenous circadian and seasonal activity patterns are adapted to facilitate effective utilisation of environmental resources. Activity patterns are shaped by physiological constraints, evolutionary history, circadian and seasonal changes and may be influenced by other factors, including ecological competition and interspecific interactions. Remot...

Capsule: Our findings regarding Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus territory site selection and breeding success in Ireland offer an opportunity for the development of initiatives and conservation actions aimed at enhancing the suitability of upland areas for breeding Hen Harriers and ensuring the long-term persistence of the species. Aims: To investigate...

Understanding how animals move and use space within an environment is vital for the development and implementation of effective management actions. Within airfield environments, animal movement can present a substantial risk to aircraft, resulting in wildlife‐aircraft collisions (strikes) if animals enter into the manoeuvring areas of the airfield,...

Monitoring suitable habitat for breeding bird species and the collation of available data are crucial in facilitating the remit of Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to assess the condition of bird assemblage features of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). In this article, we offer a retrospective evaluation of breeding bird assemblage feature...

Although variation in effect sizes and predicted values among studies of similar phenomena is inevitable, such variation far exceeds what might be produced by sampling error alone. One possible explanation for variation among results is differences among researchers in the decisions they make regarding statistical analyses. A growing array of studi...

The degradation of the Cerrado ecoregion constitutes one of the greatest threats to mammals in Brazil. Effective conservation requires the identification of impacted species, particularly in unprotected areas. We report the species richness and composition of medium- and large-sized mammals in a Cerrado fragment in the state of Goiás, between July...

Airfield environments can be attractive to a broad range of wildlife, including mammals, and rates of wildlife-aircraft collisions are generally increasing, globally. It is important, therefore, that the components of an airfield that may be attractive to wildlife and the effectiveness of current mammal-exclusion and strike miti-gation measures, ar...

Roads have considerable ecological effects that threaten the survival of some species, including many terrestrial carnivores. The western polecat is a small-medium sized mustelid native to Asia and Europe, including Britain where its historical stronghold is in Wales. Polecats are frequently killed on roads and road casualties represent the most co...

Abstract Reported strike events between wildlife and aircraft are hazardous to aircraft and airfield operations and are increasing globally. To develop effective mitigation strategies, the relative hazard a species poses to aircraft, as well as information relating to its life history, are key to the development of effective mitigation strategies i...

Capsule Habitat composition plays a key role in determining the winter diet of the Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus, which varies across the winter season and between years. Aims To determine the winter diet of the Hen Harrier and examine temporal and spatial variations in diet composition. Methods A total of 1117 Hen Harrier pellets were collected fro...

Tarsus length, minimum or maximum, is a commonly recorded metric used in a variety of ornithological studies. The nature of the relationships between minimum and maximum tarsus lengths and the accuracy with which one can be derived from the other is unknown. We explored the strength of the relationships between tarsus measurements across six specie...

1. De Araujo et al. (Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13516) described the development and application of a wire foot snare trap for the capture of jaguars Panthera onca and cougars Puma concolor. Snares are a commonly used and effective means of studying large carnivores. However, the article presented insu...

Collisions between wildlife and aircraft are a serious and growing threat to aviation safety. Understanding the frequency of these collisions, the identity of species involved, and the potential damage that can be inflicted on to aircraft aid mitigation efforts by airfield managers. A record of all animal carcasses recovered from Dublin Internation...

The Newport Wetlands National Nature Reserve holds Wales’ only breeding colony of Pied Avocets Recurvirostra avosetta. However, colony productivity is consistently low due to predation of eggs and chicks by both avian and mammalian predators. Here we describe predator activity, mobbing activity and predation events during the 2019 breeding season u...

The state of Paraiba is one of those with the most degraded Caatinga that presents the large gap of knowledge concerning the mammal fauna. Mammals are among the taxa most affected by this. In this sense, we evaluated non-volant mammals' richness and composition between March 2013 and February 2020 in a Caatinga fragment (121 ha). We used active sea...

Academic conferences play an important role in the scientific community by providing an opportunity for researchers to discuss their work and to network. However, drawbacks of traditional face‐to‐face (F2F) conferences, such as the ostensible exclusion of non‐scientists, the substantial environmental footprint, and the large costs in terms of both...

Carnivores typically exhibit cryptic behavior, which makes it difficult to study the ecology of species in this group. Camera trap bycatch can be a valuable source of important opportunistic records. In this short communication, we present rare records of carnivores in southern Brazil. The first record was of a tayra (Mustelidae) with anomalous col...

Anthropogenic land-use change, such as commercial afforestation, is a significant driver of shifts in ecological communities and species abundance. In this study, the consequences of afforestation of upland habitats for two distinct animal groups, birds and small mammals, were examined by comparing open moorland, early pre-thicket conifer forests (...

The number of reported collisions (i.e. strikes) between aircraft and wildlife is increasing globally, with consequences for personnel and passenger safety as well as for industry economics. These are important considerations for airport operators that are obliged to mitigate wildlife hazards at airfields. Incidents involving mammals account for ap...

Melanism in the Brazilian pam-pas cat and range extension in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil The biogeographical and natural history of the Leopardus colocola braccatus (Carnivora, Felidae), known as Brazilian pampas cat, including its coat colouration are poorly understood. Here we report new records of melanism in the Brazilian pampas cat, obtained f...

Investigating the range and population dynamics of introduced species provides insight into species behavior, habitat preferences, and potential of becoming established. Here, we show the current population status of the red‐necked wallaby (Notamacropus rufogriseus) in Britain based on records from an eleven‐year period (2008–2018). Records were ob...

Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus and Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus are open-country birds of prey with overlapping distributions. Although both species face similar conservation threats across their ranges, work to date has largely been undertaken at a national scale with few attempts to collate and assess factors relevant to their conservation at an int...

Camera traps (CTs) are an increasingly popular method of studying animal behavior. However, the impact of cameras on detected individuals—such as from mechanical noise, odor, and emitted light—has received relatively little attention. These impacts are particularly important in behavioral studies in conservation that seek to ascribe changes in beha...

Capsule: Patterns in the frequency and co-occurrence of anthropogenic pressures associated with suitable breeding habitat for Hen Harriers Circus cyaneus demonstrates the need for specific, focussed management and policy options aimed at mitigating impacts on this threatened population. Aims: To describe anthropogenic pressures and threats in the...

Myxomatosis is a highly contagious, frequently fatal viral disease affecting both wild and domesticated European rabbits across many areas of the world. Here we used electronic health records (EHRs) collected from pet rabbits attending a sentinel voluntary network of 191 veterinary practices across Great Britain (GB) between March 2014 and June 201...

Science (E-letter) https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6438/eaav5570/tab-e-letters Rewilding needs to clarify the role of management of invasive species Matt W. Hayward, Associate Professor of Conservation Biology, University of Newcastle, Australia Other Contributors: David S. Jachowski, Professor of Conservation, Clemson University Craig...

Rewilding is emerging as a major issue in conservation. However, there are currently a dozen definitions of rewilding that include Pleistocene rewilding, island rewilding, trophic rewilding, functional rewilding and passive rewilding, and these remain fuzzy, lack clarity and, hence, hinder scientific discourse. Based on current definitions, it is u...

The formulation and provision of appropriate diets for zoo animals is important in ensuring the continued health of populations. Inappropriate diets can lead to a number of nutritional deficiencies and increase the risk of disease and obesity. Ruffed lemurs (Varecia spp.) are the most intensely frugivorous of extant lemur species. Captive animals a...

Peer review of research articles is a core part of our scholarly communication system. In spite of its importance, the status and purpose of peer review is often contested. What is its role in our modern digital research and communications infrastructure? Does it perform to the high standards with which it is generally regarded? Studies of peer rev...

Introduced non-native mammals can have negative impacts on native biota and it is important that their ecologies are quantified so that potential impacts can be understood. Red-necked wallabies (Notamacropus rufogriseus (Desmarest, 1817)) became established on the Isle of Man (IOM), an island with UNESCO Biosphere status, following their escape fro...

Management of wildlife is often a contentious issue in which stakeholders are increasingly influential. The European hare (Lepus europaeus) is a non-native invasive species, now established in Northern Ireland. The European hare impacts the endemic Irish hare (L. timidus hibernicus), a priority species of conservation concern, via competition and h...

Peer review of research articles is a core part of our scholarly communication system. In spite of its importance, the status and purpose of peer review is often contested. What is its role in our modern digital research and communications infrastructure? Does it perform to the high standards with which it is generally regarded? Studies of peer rev...

An understanding of animal behaviour is important if conservation initiatives are to be effective. However, quantifying the behaviour of wild animals presents significant challenges. Remote-sensing camera traps are becoming increasingly popular survey instruments that have been used to non-invasively study a variety of animal behaviours, yielding k...

remBoot is an implementation of the Random Encounter Model (REM) developed by Rowcliffe et al. (2008). The REM is based on Brownian motion and allows the estimation of animal densities for a given survey area. The REM is particularly useful in that species do not need to be marked or exhibit individual markings for estimates to be calculated. This...

Niche conservatism is the tendency of related species to retain ancestral tolerances after geographic separation. We used Ecological Niche Modelling and Principal Components Analysis of bioclimatic and habitat variables to describe the extent of the species niche, and degrees of bioclimatic-habitat niche conservatism within the mountain hare (L. ti...

Camera traps are used to estimate densities or abundances using capture-recap- ture and, more recently, random encounter models (REMs). We deploy REMs to describe an invasive-native species replacement process, and to demonstrate their wider application beyond abundance estimation. The Irish hare Lepus timidus hibernicus is a high priority endemic...

The European hare (Lepus europaeus) has declined throughout its native range but invaded numerous regions where it has negatively impacted native wildlife. In southern Sweden, it replaces the native mountain hare (L. timidus) through competition and hybridisation. We investigated temporal change in the invasive range of the European hare in Ireland...