Dario Capizzi

Latium Region · Environment and Natural Systems

The genus Arvicola has a wide palearctic distribution and present two ecological forms – terrestrial and aquatic – characterizing the genus. In Europe two species are present: the most widespread, A. amphibius and A. italicus, endemic to Italy. The aim of the study was to describe the genetic structure and variability in A. italicus and the genetic...

To protect native wildlife, more than one hundred rodent eradications have been attempted in the Mediterranean islands by using anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs). Despite their high efficiency, resistance to ARs has been observed in many countries and it is mostly related to missense mutations (SNPs) in the VKORC1 gene. The presence of resistant ind...

The fast rate of replacement of natural areas by expanding cities is a key threat to wildlife worldwide. Many wild species occur in cities, yet little is known on the dynamics of urban wildlife assemblages due to species' extinction and colonization that may occur in response to the rapidly evolving conditions within urban areas. Namely, species' a...

BACKGROUND Rat eradication from islands is a very effective tool that can free entire ecosystems from the pressure of alien predators. In this study we present the case study of Ventotene (Ponziane Archipelago, central Italy), which to date is the island with by far the greatest number of human inhabitants ever freed from the negative implications...

Simple Summary Invasive species negatively affect native populations through predation, competition, and the potential introduction of health threats, such as parasites. Black rats (Rattus rattus) are among the worst invaders of islands, and a significant source of parasites infecting humans and other animals. This study conducted a screening for z...

Mice are among the most important pests worldwide due to their severe impact on urban areas, businesses, and animal husbandry, as well as on the risk of zoonoses transmission. It is also widely recognised that human commensal rodents can be extremely harmful to small islands biocenoses where control or eradication of invasive pest species is genera...

Late record of Red-breasted Flycatcher Ficedula parva on Ventotene Island (LT). On 5 and 6 December 2018, a juvenile Red-breasted Flycatcher was observed on Ventotene island (LT). The record is one of the few in December in Italy.

Human commensal rodents can be extremely harmful to small islands biocenoses. Eradication of invasive rodents is often one of the most direct methods to protect island biodiversity and most of them are carried out using anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs). These compounds act by inhibiting the vitamin K 2,3-epoxide reductase (VKORC) complex of the vit...

The European Union (EU) has recently adopted a regulation on invasive alien species that foresees the possibility of developing lists of species of National Concern. We developed a prioritisation process for alien mammals already established in Italy, but not yet included in the EU list (n = 6 species) and a systematic horizon-scanning procedure to...

Prioritising the management of invasive alien species (IAS) is of global importance and within Europe integral to the EU IAS regulation. To prioritise management effectively the risks posed by IAS need to be assessed, but so too does the feasibility of their management. While the risk of IAS to the EU has been assessed, the feasibility of managemen...

Biological invasions are a growing threat to biodiversity. The black rat, one of the worst pest in the world, is responsible for extensive population decline of many autochthonous and endemic species, particularly in island ecosystems. A number of rat eradication campaigns have been conducted, however, such endeavors do not always result in a compl...

Impacts of alien invasive species on island communities and ecosystems may be even more detrimental than on the mainland. Therefore, since the 1950s, hundreds of restoration projects have been implemented worldwide, with the aim of controlling or eradicating alien species from islands. To date, no review has been focused on eradication on Mediterra...

Checklists represent a basic tool for conservation and management of regional faunas. However, our knowledge on species composition in a territory changes over time due to species movements across borders, extinctions, introductions, as well as to new taxonomic evidence. We aimed to provide the most updated data on native and non-native species of...

Non-synonymous mutations in the gene encoding vitamin K epoxide reductase (VKORC1) are responsible for resistance to anticoagulant rodenticides in rodents. Detection of resistant individuals is crucial to implement effective management plans and guarantee the success of eradication campaigns. Resistant individuals of the house mouse Mus musculus ha...

Disturbance-sensitivity and habitat generalism are two important eco-behavioural traits of species. In this paper, we calculated these traits for a set of common mammal species using two proxies (HSrescaled for disturbance-sensitivity, and HH i , for habitat generalism) here obtained synthesizing the numbers and frequency of differently disturbed h...

Disturbance-sensitivity and habitat generalism are two important eco-behavioural traits of species. In this paper, we calculated these traits for a set of 21 common mammal species using two proxies (HS rescaled for disturbance-sensitivity, and HH i , for habitat generalism) here obtained synthesizing the numbers and frequency of differently disturb...

In: C.R. Veitch, M.N. Clout, A.R. Martin, J.C. Russell and C.J. West (eds.) (2019). Island invasives: scaling up to meet the challenge, pp. 231–235. Occasional Paper SSC no. 62. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. Montecristo and Pianosa islands, although approximately equal in surface area (c. 1,000 ha), differ greatly in substrate, human presence, vegetat...

In: C.R. Veitch, M.N. Clout, A.R. Martin, J.C. Russell and C.J. West (eds.) (2019). Island invasives: scaling up to meet the challenge, pp. 15–20. Occasional Paper SSC no. 62. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. Since 1999, the black rat (Rattus rattus) has been eradicated from 14 Italian islands, and eradication is ongoing on a further five islands. Most pr...

e Siberian chipmunk Eutamias sibiricus is native to north-eastern Asia, but alien populations, mostly composed by a low number of individuals, have been established in many western countries through the pet trade. Large native ranges, such as that of Siberian chipmunks, and number of introduction events may explain the establishment success of alie...

This book, which consists of 11 chapters, highlights the major impact of invasive alien plants and animals on human health. This includes not only direct effects through contact with the species via bites, wounds and disease, but also indirect effects caused by changes induced in ecosystems by invasive species, such as more water hyacinth increasin...

In the Norway rat, Rattus norvegicus, anticoagulant rodenticide resistance is mainly associated with mutations in the third exon of the Vitamin K epoxide reductase complex subunit 1 (VKORC1). Identification of the resistant wild populations is very important to improve the control practices and to limit the damages due to inadequate use of the anti...

The Savi’s pine vole, Microtus savii is an Italian species living in grasslands, both natural and anthropogenic (i.e. agroecosystems) where it is generally considered a pest because it may damage crops and orchards. As for most rodent pests, the extent of the damage might depend on population density and temporal food availability (e.g. Brown et al...

Savi’s pine vole, Microtus savii, is the most widespread Italian vole species, an important rodent pest in agriculture and yet one of the least studied species. One of the reasons for this gap in knowledge is that members of this species are quite difficult to capture with standard trapping procedures, being fossorial and rarely active aboveground....

We present the EU LIFE PonDerat project, which is aimed at restoring the natural ecosystems of the Pontine Archipelago, a group of islands located off the western coast of Italy. The spread of invasive species is a major environmental threat on these islands, which are rich in rare habitats and endemic species and are important sites for the conser...

Hemeroby is an indicator widely used in plant ecology to evaluate the level of disturbance of the optimal habitat of a species. Hemeroby can be scaled on a range of ten point scores, higher scores of hemeroby meaning higher level of disturbance. In this study we applied two indicators of sensitivity to disturbance based on the concept of hemeroby:...

Hemeroby is an indicator widely used in plant ecology to evaluate the level of disturbance of the optimal habitat of a species. Hemeroby can be scaled on a range of ten point scores, higher scores of hemeroby meaning higher level of disturbance. In this study we applied two indicators of sensitivity to disturbance based on the concept of hemeroby:...

The Norway rat, Rattus norvegicus, as well as other synanthropic rodent species, is an important pest and it is essential to find efficient strategies to control wild populations. The introduction of the anticoagulant compounds in the early 1950s produced a significant change for rodent control practices. However, after some years, first resistance...

We characterized eighteen water voles, Arvicola amphibius (s.l.), from five populations along the Italian peninsula by means of mtDNA cytochrome b (Cytb) sequences. The samples included aquatic voles and one fossorial population from northern Italy. The standard karyotype of four voles from one central Italian population was also analysed and was i...

Background: Savi's pine vole (Microtus savii) is a rodent species of the Cricetidae family, inhabiting southern European agro-ecosystems. It is considered the main cause of rodent-attributed damage in Italy. To achieve an effective management, detailed knowledge of this species is needed. However, the available information about this species is fr...

Fossorial Savi’s pine vole (Microtus savii) is the most widespread vole species of Italy that lives in open areas, orchards, forage and cereal crops. These characteristics make it an ideal model species in order to understand possible impacts of agricultural practices, including the use of plant protection products. However, data on population dyna...

The norway rat, Rattus norvegicus, as well as other synanthropic rodent species, is an important pest and it is essential to find efficient strategies to control wild populations. The introduction of the anticoagulant compounds in the early 1950s produced a significant change for rodent control practices. However, after some years, first resistance...

The norway rat, Rattus norvegicus, as well as other synanthropic rodent species, is an important pest and it is essential to find efficient strategies to control wild populations. The introduction of the anticoagulant compounds in the early 1950s produced a significant change for rodent control practices. However, after some years, first resistance...

The black rat (Rattus rattus) is thought to be the most widespread mammal on Mediterranean islands. In recent years, many field studies have documented its detrimental impact on native species, communities and ecosystems. In order to restore island ecosystems by eliminating the impacts of black rat, several projects have been planned and implemente...

A review of all the eradication projects involving Rattus rattus that have been carried out since 1999 on 14 Italian islands is presented. Data on different aspects related to the problem of rats on these islands are discussed, ranging from impact and benefit quantification, eradication methods and outcomes, to social problems such as lack of publi...

In a context of climate change, ecological and physiological adaptations of organisms are of central importance for determining the outcome of niche challenges (e.g., with potential competitors) and species persistence. Typically, long-term data on free-ranging populations are needed to investigate such phenomena. Here, long-term data on a free-ran...

The present work proposes a siting process for the detection of a suitable site for wave energy exploitation. The choice of a suitable site is based on the good agreement between energy availability, environmental sustainability, and equipped facilities to exploit wave energy. The case study in the northern Latium coast is explicative because in th...

We carried out an intensive sampling (point count method) on three common species of aerial forager birds (barn swallow Hirtmdo rustica, house martin Delichon urbicum, swift Apusapus) occurring in two remnant wetlands located along the Tyrrhenian coast (central Italy). Our aim was to define their seasonal patterns in abundance during the period whe...

Habitat loss and fragmentation are recognized as the main causes for the global biodiversity crisis. Most of the studies investigating the issue of habitat fragmentation in vertebrates are cross-sectional, whereas long-term studies are least available. We surveyed bird communities in 17 forest fragments (FF) and a single continuous forest stands (C...

We carried out an intensive sampling (point count method) on three common species of aerial forager birds (barn swallow Hirundo rustica, house martin delichon urbicum, swift apus apus) occurring in two remnant wetlands located along the Tyrrhenian coast (central Italy). Our aim was to define their seasonal patterns in abundance during the period w...

The black rat Rattus rattus is recognized as one of the world’s most harmful invasive species. It has spread across the globe by passive human transport and the dynamics of colonization have been investigated in several areas of the world. However, data for the Mediterranean basin are still lacking. We investigated the black rat colonization of the...

Small mammals ( Rodentia , Soricomorpha and Erinaceomorpha ) play a crucial ecological role for their distribution and importance in food chains, as well as for being considered environmental bioindicators . Thus, they represent excellent models for understanding the evolutionary processes of ecosystems, population dynamics under changing environme...

Sighting frequency of tortoises (Testudo hermanni), standardized by the number of person-hours of field effort, was studied between 1992 and 2013 at three different study areas in central Italy. Although the frequency of tortoise sightings fluctuated substantially across years and among study areas, there was a significant declining trend in all th...

We report the results of the first systematic assessment of global patterns and research priorities emerging in the field of rodent pest management. We carried out an extensive literature review targeted towards identifying the most relevant rodent pests, their impacts and the most common methods used to control them. We identified three disproport...

Ectothermic vertebrates depend on ambient temperatures for their activities. Thus, global warming is expected to influence several aspects of their ecology. Here, we use a >20 year (1990–2011) dataset on monthly numbers of roadkills in an area of central Italy in order to document whether the phenology of a Mediterranean population of Western whip...

Faunistic inventories of particular regions would provide essential datasets for conservation and resource management, but often data are not evenly distributed through the space and time as a consequence of an unequal sampling effort. Therefore, to accurately estimate species diversity it is necessary to minimize this potential confounding effect...

Molara is a small island belonging to the Marine protected Area Tavolara—Punta Coda Cavallo, in Sardinia. During 2006–2007, a bio-monitoring program reported a strong presence of the black rat, Rattus rattus, on Molara island. Rat predation has detrimentally affected the unique biodiversity of this island, thus, in 2008 an eradication campaign was...

The Red squirrel Sciurus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 is currently expanding its range in plains and hills of Central Italy, colonizing or re-colonizing areas where it was never or only irregularly recorded since the 1950s. Here we report some observations regarding this range expansion based on a relatively large data-set covering the period 1850-2011...

The Red squirrel Sciurus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 is currently expanding its range in plains and hills of Central Italy, colonizing or re-colonizing areas where it was never or only irregularly recorded since the 1950s. Here we report some observations regarding this range expansion based on a relatively large data-set covering the period 1850-2011...

In this short report, we provide evidences of a cumulative impact of two introduced and invasive rodent species, the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) and the coypu (Myocastor coypu), on three common waterbird in a Mediterranean remnant wetland. We used digital photocameras to evaluate the damage and predation rate on both natural and dummy nests. In s...

In this short report, we provide evidences of a cumulative impact of two introduced and invasive rodent species, the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) and the coypu (Myocastor coypu), on three common waterbird in a Mediterranean remnant wetland. We used digital photocameras to evaluate the damage and predation rate on both natural and dummy nests. In s...

The Tavolara archipelago (NE Sardinia, Italy), which possibly holds over 50 % of the world population of breeding Yelkouan Shearwaters Puffinus yelkouan, was infested by black rats Rattus rattus. An action plan was developed in order to decrease the impact of rats. In October 2008, rat eradication of Molara Island has been achieved by aerial distri...

A review of several long-term studies has recently suggested that snakes might be declining in large parts of the world. Additional data from other long-term studies are therefore urgently needed in order to assess the generalities of such suggested declines. Based on a 20-year study, we analyzed demographic data on adult dice snakes (Natrix tessel...

We evaluated the possible predation on eggs and the disturbance to water-bird nests by coypus by monitoring the breeding success of four bird species and a sample of dummy and natural nests by photo-cameras. The monitoring of waterbirds activity showed that 14.8% of Fulica atra and 9.5% of Gallinula chloropus nests failed, possibly as a consequence...

1. Habitat loss must be distinguished from habitat fragmentation so that appropriate conservation management can be applied. Few studies have evaluated the independent effects of habitat loss and habitat fragmentation on the distribution of vertebrates, and none has evaluated the independent effect of changes in structural connectivity. We carried...

Aim Habitat loss and fragmentation are amongst the greatest threats to biodiversity world-wide. However, there is still little evidence on the relative influence of these two distinct processes on biodiversity, and no study, to date, has investigated the independent contribution of structural connectivity in addition to habitat loss and fragmentati...

To prioritize conservation actions on Italian islands we used the case study of the eradication of the Black rat Rattus rattus to protect Cory’s shearwater Calonectris diomedea and Yelkouan shearwater Puffinus yelkouan. We evaluated for each island the effectiveness of rat eradication by means of two different indices, both based on the relative im...

Habitat loss and fragmentation are amongst the greatest threats to biodiversity world-wide. However, there is still little evidence on the relative influence of these two distinct processes on biodiversity, and no study, to date, has investigated the independent contribution of structural connectivity in addition to habitat loss and fragmentation....

Habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and habitat degradation are the greatest threats to mammals in Europe and the rest of the world. Despite the fact that extensive literature exists, no comprehensive review or synthesis is available to date and this may slow down scientific progress and hamper conservation efforts. The goal of this study is to und...

We review and update available information on the population size and distribution of Cory's Shearwater, Calonectris diomedea, and Yelkouan Shearwater, Puffinus yelkouan, in Italy. More than 90% of the population of these species rely on 64 islands, but the former breeds on twice as many islands as the latter. Some cases of local extinction were re...

Reproductive strategies, growth rates, survival, and their correlates with life-history traits are studied in the Savi's pine vole (Microtus savii) under both natural and laboratory conditions. 119 reproductive events were monitored, 50 out of which came from wild-born females and 69 came from captive-born females. Fertility rates were nearly ident...

In 2007 the Regional Parks Agency of Latium (ARP) lauched a regiona project (PASAL: Project for an Alien Species Atlas of Latium, carried out under the scientific supervision of ISPRA) aimed at preventing or mitigating the impacts of alien wildlife species to the biodiverstiy of Latium, Italy.

The food habits of two species of colubrid snakes (Hierophis viridiflavus and Zamenis longissimus) were studied in three areas in Mediterranean central Italy representing a gradient of natural habitat alteration from a natural mixed oak forest towards an entirely deforested, urban-agricultural habitat. Two diet descriptors were used: 1) total numbe...