Enrico Caprio

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Verified

Enrico verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• Natural Science
• Professor (Associate) at University of Turin

ABSTRACTCapsule: Restoration of grasslands on ski-pistes caused a recovery in the bird community, but not to the extent that it was equivalent to a natural Alpine grassland community.Aim: To test whether revegetation of ski-pistes in open habitat areas results in bird community recovery.Methods: The bird communities in two ski resorts in the Italia...

Many species have shown recent shifts in their distributions in response to climate change. Patterns in species occurrence or abundance along altitudinal gradients often serve as the basis for detecting such changes and assessing future sensitivity. Quantifying the distribution of species along altitudinal gradients acts as a fundamental basis for...

Abstract Farming systems and management regimes of vineyards may affect local biodiversity of plants and invertebrates. While most studies have focused on the overall biodiversity of vineyards, there has been little consideration of the response of different ecological guilds to vineyard management, or to how vineyard management affects communities...

There is a paucity of research on the wider landscape-level effects of ski-piste construction on alpine fauna. In this study, the response of alpine bird communities to the landscape changes induced by the construction of ski-pistes was investigated in the western Italian Alps. The aims were: (i) to test the hypothesis that ski-pistes have a detrim...

Tackling the current global biodiversity crisis requires large-scale spatially accurate biodiversity data to rapidly assess knowledge gaps and set conservation priorities. Obtaining such data is often challenging because surveying biodiversity across broad spatial scales requires massive logistical and economic efforts. Here, we provide high-resolu...

Tackling the current global biodiversity crisis requires spatially accurate biodiversity data to rapidly assess knowledge gaps and set conservation priorities. Obtaining accurate data across large spatial scales is often challenging, due to the massive logistical and economic requirements of large-scale surveys. Here, we provide high-resolution (0....

Urban afforestation is increasingly regarded as a key strategy for fostering biodiversity to restore and enhance the ecosystem services needed to counteract the effects of climate change in built-up areas. In Italy, several experimental afforestation projects have been launched as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), focusing o...

Choosing the most efficient sampling methods is the basis of surveys aimed at detecting and monitoring species for conservation purposes. In the context of the current biodiversity crisis, reported in many parts of the world, the need to identify new areas of occurrence due to anthropogenic changes (including changes due to global warming) and to f...

Our understanding of the spread of yeasts in natural ecosystems remains somewhat limited. The recent momentum of yeast ecology research has unveiled novel habitats and vectors that, alongside human activities, impact yeast communities in their natural environments. Yeasts, as non-airborne microorganisms, rely on animal vectors, predominantly insect...

Chrysidid wasps adopt different strategies to enter host nests whilst evading detection. However, the specific oviposition strategies of most species are still largely unknown, and it has only become evident in recent years that some brood parasitic species are actually endoparasitoids in intermediate hosts that serve as the prey of their final hos...

High mountain habitats are globally important for biodiversity. At least 12% of birds worldwide breed at or above the treeline, many of which are endemic species or species of conservation concern. However, due to the challenges of studying mountain birds in difficult-to-access habitats, little is known about their status and trends. This book prov...

Beetles are one of the most diverse and often highly specialized groups among saproxylic organisms and play a key role in forest dynamics. To develop conservation plans in forests threatened by human activities, such as construction sites, it is crucial to identify key parameters characterizing forest structure in turn influencing saproxylic beetle...

La presenza e la distribuzione degli uccelli nidificanti in Italia sono cambiate negli ultimi decenni in misura rilevante come conseguenza di modificazioni ambientali, spesso indotte dall’uomo, dei cambiamenti climatici e culturali intervenuti. È quanto emerge da questo nuovo Atlante, che arriva quasi quattro decenni dopo il primo, che aveva copert...

Citations remain a prime, yet controversial, measure of academic performance. Ideally, how often a paper is cited should solely depend on the quality of the science reported therein. However, non-scientific factors, including structural elements (e.g., length of abstract, number of references) or attributes of authors (e.g., prestige and gender), m...

Extrinsic and intrinsic factors may influence the activity budget of wild animals, resulting in a variation in the time spent in different activities among populations or individuals of the same species. In this study, we examined how extrinsic and intrinsic factors affect the behaviour of the alpine marmot (Marmota marmota), a hibernating social r...

Background Increasing temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns threaten the existence of many organisms. It is therefore informative to identify the functional traits that underlie differences in desiccation resistance to understand the response of different species to changes in water availability resulting from climate change. We used a...

Mountain ecosystems are subject to many pressures, including changes in land use, rising temperatures and increasing recreational activities. These factors may disrupt food webs, threatening the survival of organisms and, ultimately, ecosystem functioning. However, few studies focus on the trends of different groups joined by trophic links in alpin...

Information about bat migration routes across the Alps is generally scarce and there is no existing data available for the Italian part of the chain. Through acoustic surveys, we explored the possibility that even a region characterized by high Alpine mountains may be crossed by migrant bats. Data were recorded in August–September 2016 at two sites...

Aim Urban biodiversity, and its associated ecosystem services, is an important component of the quality of life of urban residents. The "luxury effect" posits a positive association between biodiversity and socioeconomic status in urban areas, and is thus reflective of environmental injustice, as the benefits associated with biodiversity are not eq...

Predictions derived from species distribution models (SDMs) are strongly influenced by the spatial scale at which species and environmental data (e.g. climate) are gathered. SDMs of mountain birds usually build on large-scale temperature estimates. However, the topographic complexity of mountain areas could create microclimatic refuges which may al...

The Internet and social media have profoundly changed the way the public receives and transmits news. The ability of the web to quickly disperse information both geographically and temporally allows social media to reach a much wider audience compared to traditional mass media. A powerful role is played by sharing, as millions of people routinely s...

Aim To assess how species traits modulate the responses of carabids to elevational gradients, and how consistent these relationships are across different Alpine regions. Location Italian Alps. Taxon Coleoptera, Carabidae (ground beetles). Methods Carabid communities were sampled using pitfall traps along elevational gradients (697–2,840 m) in 41...

Riparian habitats have gone through major structural changes, and related bird populations had to suffer the consequences or adapt to the newfound conditions. Here, we present the results of the analysis of on the river and quarry evolution, in relation to a long-term monitoring (1970-2016) of a Sand Martins population nesting along the River Po in...

Early Career Researchers (ECRs) represent the next generation of ornithologists. In order to maximise the potential of ECRs to science, it is important to understand their perceptions of the opportunities and constraints that they face. We undertook a pilot study based on a questionnaire survey to gauge attitudes of ECRs in ornithology towards the...

Sintesi dell'attività di inanellamento a scopo scientifico degli Uccelli svolta nel Parco Naturale del Lago di Candia - TO (ZPS e ZSC IT1110036) tra il 1998 ed il 2019.

The Alcotra LEMED-IBEX Project 2017 - 2020 aims to improve collaborations between Italian (Gran Paradiso National Park, Valle d'Aosta Autonomous Region, Management Unit of the Cottian Alps protected areas, Management Agency of the Maritime Alps protected areas) and French (Asters- CEN74, Vanoise National Park, Ecrins National Park, Mercantour Natio...

1. Species abundance, biomass, and identity are the main factors that influence ecosystem functioning. Previous studies have shown that community attributes and species identity help to maintain natural ecosystem functioning. 2. This study examined how species identity, biomass, and abundance in dung pats (i.e. density) of dung beetles affect multi...

The Luxury Effect hypothesizes a positive relationship between wealth and biodiversity within urban areas. Understanding how urban development, both in terms of socioeconomic status and the built environment, affects biodiversity can contribute to the sustainable development of cities, and may be especially important in the developing world where c...

Mountain habitats are threatened by several factors, including human activities at high elevation, although the negative impacts can sometimes be balanced by positive effects related to human presence. However, knowledge of such interactions is limited in alpine ecosystems. In the study reported here, we assessed the extent of behavioural responses...

We present he results of ringing activities carried on by ringers of GPSO (Gruppo Piemontese Studi Ornitologici) in Piedmont and Aosta Valley between 1974 and 2016. 74 ringers and even more collaborators have undertaken 41180 person-days of ringing activities over 43 years. This involved 1080 ringing stations distributed in all districts of the two...

We present he results of ringing activities carried on by ringers of GPSO (Gruppo Piemontese Studi Ornitologici) in Piedmont and Aosta Valley between 1974 and 2016. 74 ringers and even more collaborators have undertaken 41180 person-days of ringing activities over 43 years. This involved 1080 ringing stations distributed in all districts of the two...

Introduction: Human acceptance over the presence of predators is crucial for their conservation and is highly ruled by people’s perception of the risk they can involve. Even if predator attacks on humans are rare, they arouse a disproportionate media attention. The way the media covers predator attacks and the resonance that these reports have on t...

Stato della banca dati del 'Gruppo inanellatori piemontesi e valdostani' e presentazione della monografia 'L'attività di inanellamento a scopo scientifico in Piemonte e Valle d'Aosta: anni 1974-2016'.

Abstract Beech forests are important for biodiversity conservation in Europe and studies to identify sustainable forest management practices are therefore required. The ground beetle Carabus olympiae Sella, 1855, is a large steno-endemic endangered alpine species with very restricted ranges. Its known range is only delimited in two beech forests in...

Cattle farming is a major source of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Recent research suggests that GHG fluxes from dung pats could be affected by biotic interactions involving dung beetles. Whether and how these effects vary among beetle species and with assemblage composition is yet to be established. To examine the link between GHGs and different dung be...

The current intensification of agriculture is leading to growing concern about the sustainability of modern farming systems, since farmland biodiversity has severely declined. While several studies have shown that vineyard management systems (i.e. organic vs. conventional) are important factors determining biodiversity and influencing population tr...

Aim: Human-induced climate change requires conservation strategies incorporating its potential effects on species and communities. Key components of population persistence can be attributed to resistance (the capacity to remain unaffected) or resilience (capacity to absorb and recover) to climate change. In situ climatic refugia can act as resistan...

Abstract Vengono presentati i risultati di 30 anni di censimenti dell’avifauna acquatica nell’ambito del progetto IWC (International Waterbird Census) svolti in Piemonte e Valle d’Aosta dal gennaio 1979 al gennaio 2008. Tutte le specie vengono conteggiate durante i censimenti, comprese quelle di origine domestica o rapaci legati alle zone umide,...

In this report, we present selected records of the ornithological observations collected in 2015 by GPSO in the Piemonte and Valle d'Aosta regions. Among the most notable are: Cygnus columbianus, Microcarbo pygmeus, Elanus caeruleus, Aegypius monachus, Falco biarmicus, Panurus biarmicus, Phylloscopus inornatus, Anthus richardi, Carpodacus erythrinu...

In this report, we present selected records of the ornithological observations collected in 2014 by GPSO in the Piemonte and Valle d'Aosta regions. Among the most notable are: Gavia immer, Microcarbo pygmeus, Neophron percnopterus, Aegypius monachus, Haliaeetus albicilla, Phalaropus lobatus, Merops persicus, Falco biarmicus, Panurus biarmicus, Acro...

Maintaining multiple ecological functions (‘multifunctionality’) is crucial to sustain viable ecosystems. To date most studies on biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) have focused on single or few ecological functions and services. However, there is a critical need to evaluate how species and species assemblages affect multiple processes at the...

The Sand Martin Riparia riparia is a trans-Saharan migrant species, whose populations are declining throughout Europe. We present the results of a multiple year study on a breeding population of Sand Martins along the River Po in Northern Italy through ringing breeding birds at nesting colonies (2002–2014). There was a trend for the abundance of th...

http://www.gpso.it/news/tichodroma/tichodroma-vol-2-2016/ Ornithological report for the year 2013 in Piedmont and Aosta Valley (NW Italy). This is the 29° ornithological report of the GPSO, a series which, all together, spans over 30 years. Selected data concerning migrating, wintering and breeding birds, collected by GPSO, are given in systemati...

Sintesi delle attività condotte nella stazione di inanellamento a scopo scientifico del Colle Vaccera (Angrogna, Torino) nell'ambito del Progetto Alpi.

10th Conference of the European Ornithologists’ Union

Understanding of the role of body mass in structural-functional relationships is pressing, particularly because species losses often occur non-randomly with respect to body size. Our study examined the effects of dung beetle body mass on dung removal at two levels. First, we used the lab experiment to evaluate the efficiency of eight dung beetle sp...

In the Alps, the skiing industry holds a prominent role as a factor impacting the natural environment because of the large-­‐scale changes it causes. Since the beginning of the 1900s, ski tourism has greatly altered parts of the Alpine environment, where the only human activities were previously low-­‐ intensity agriculture and grazing. The most dr...

Climate change has resulted in upward elevational shifts in the distribution of animals and plants in many areas. The potential consequences of such changes for alpine bird communities were assessed by modelling data on breeding bird distributions along altitudinal gradients in the European Alps in relation to habitat, topography and temperature. M...

The factors influencing the selection of Black Grouse Tetrao tetrix winter roost sites and choice of roosting strategy (open-air roosts vs. snow burrows, or ‘igloos’) were assessed in the Alps, including the influence of winter diet, snow conditions and habitat at different scales. Of 337 roosts detected, 31 % were igloos and 69 % were open-air roo...

SUMMARY - Ornithological report for the year 2012 in Piedmont and Aosta Valley (NW Italy). This is the 28° ornithological report of the GPSO, a series which, all together, spans over 30 years. Selected data concerning migrating, wintering and breeding birds, collected by GPSO, are given in systematic order. The most prominent data include: Phoenico...

The focus of this chapter is on the effect of ski-pistes on birds and small mammals. We present the results of previous research carried out in the north-western Italian Alps both below and above the tree line. Data from other mountain areas are also incorporated. Ski-pistes below the tree line produce a negative edge effect: forest plots at their...

The Black Grouse Tetrao tetrix is primarily a lekking species, although in some populations solitary display is also common. We analysed data from a 25-year-long survey of an increasing Black Grouse population in the western Italian Alps in order to test whether the numbers of males adopting different tactics conformed to patterns expected, based o...

In this study we focused on deciduous managed forests in north-western Italy and investigated relationships between bird diversity and forest descriptors both at the habitat and landscape level through a seasonal, guild-based approach. Birds were censused by point counts in randomly selected plots of 50 m radius. Each census plot was described in h...

In June 2006 two pairs of Red-crested Pochard bred in SCI IT1170003 “Stagni di Belangero”, with 10 and 7 pulli respectively. In June 2007 other 3 pairs were found breeding in the same pond.

The bird Atlas of Asti (Piedmont, Italy) is the first project related to the study of birds in this municipality. The study area (151 km2) has been divided into 204 quadrants 1x1 km. Preliminary results obtained thanks to the collaboration of 15 observers, showed the presence of 156 species, and many new sightings for the area, both during the bree...

Climate and biodiversity. Monitoring experiences in Alpine Environment. Available at http://www.arpa.piemonte.gov.it/pubblicazioni-2/pubblicazioni-anno-2012/clima-e-biodiversita

This is the 27th of the GPSO ornithological reports that, all together, span over 20 years. Selected data concerning migrating, wintering and breeding birds, collected by GPSO, are given in systematic order. The most prominent data include: Cygnus columbianus, Phalacrocorax pygmeus, Aegypius monachus, Aquila pomarina, Vanellus gregarius, Calidris m...

Report of bird-ringing activity in Piemonte and Valle d’Aosta (NW Italy) for the year 2009. We present the 24th annual report of bird-ringing activity in Piemonte and Valle d’Aosta (NW Italy), reporting the data collected in the year 2009. In this year 36.389 birds of 150 species were ringed. The most ringed species was the Barn Swallow Hirundo rus...

Abstract In this study we focused on deciduous managed forests in northwest Italy and investigated relationships between bird diversity and forest descriptors both at the habitat and landscape level through a seasonal, guild-based approach. Birds were censused by point counts in randomly selected plots of 50 m radius. Each census plot was described...

Birds can serve as useful model organisms to investigate community level consequences of forestry practices. In this study we investigated the relationships between wintering bird communities and habitat and landscape characteristics of lowland managed forests in Northern Italy. This area is characterized by the spread of the black locust, an alien...

In this contribution, we considered bird species nesting in Mont Blanc Sites of Community Interest. The birds were monitored by means of the listening points technique, in points of 50 metres’ radius scattered in an altitude gradient. The bird community was expressed in terms of Species richness, Abundance and Shannon’s Diversity Index. 81 species...

Wildlife and management issues of galliformes and ungulates of the Mont Blanc Sites of Community Interest are analysed in this article. The populations of ungulates (chamois, roe deer, red deer and ibex) and gallinaceans (black grouse, rock partridge and ptarmigan) have been studied by means of spring censuses and the analysis of historical data. W...

Treeless mountainous areas at high altitudes have increased in value as wildlife habitat, but they are affected and increasingly threatened by ski-resort developments, in particular by the construction and enlargement of ski-pistes. To assess the extent of this threat, we compared bird diversity and community composition in circular plots centred o...

Forest management modified the original structure of most European forests, and in the most extreme cases, genuinely natural and semi-natural forests were turned into plantations through clear felling and replanting, often using non-native species. We compared the bird community structure of native oak woods of northern Italy with that of their ant...

Factors associated with management and logging practices are of particular interest in the perspective of biodiversity management. In this study we focused on overwintering birds of two close and contrasting forest habitats: a 60–120 years old oak forest and a secondary 10–20 years old wood that has lost most of its original vegetation because of c...