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Introduction
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Publications
Publications (68)
Students spend 30% of their lives indoors, therefore a healthy indoor air quality (IAQ) is crucial for their well-being and academic performance in Higher Education Institutions (HEI). This review highlights the interventions for improving indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in HEI classrooms considering climate change, by discussing ventilation tec...
Purpose
This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of Colpodella sp. in domestic and wild animals in Cyprus. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to report the detection of Colpodella sp. in foxes (Cyprus red fox Vulpes vulpes indutus ), wild birds (Eurasian coot Fulica atra , duck Anas spp.) and goats ( Capra hircus ) worldwide.
Me...
Alistipes onderdonkii (A. onderdonkii) is a newly characterised species of bacteria that has been extensively studied in humans as a part of the normal gut microbiota; its role in gastrointestinal diseases and some types of cancer is under debate. In this study A. onderdonkii is detected in animal stools using PCR and sequencing of the PCR products...
Alistipes onderdonkii (A. onderdonkii) is a newly characterised species of bacteria that has been extensively studied in humans as a part of the normal gut microbiota; its role in gastrointestinal diseases and some types of cancer is under debate. In this study A. onderdonkii is detected in animal stools using PCR and sequencing of the PCR products...
Increased tourism pressure modifies animal behavior, including alterations in anti-predator responses and foraging activity. In areas with high tourist presence, animals may become accustomed to increased human activity and adjust the intensity of some defensive responses. An animal’s anti-predation ability is usually estimated by measuring its Ale...
Global environmental and social change are pushing wildfire activity and impact beyond known trajectories. Here, we conducted a targeted review to distill five wildfire challenges that we argue form opportunities for their governance (research aim 1). We exemplified our arguments by drawing from the case of Cyprus (research aim 2), a small island c...
Cryptosporidium is an intestinal zoonotic protozoan parasite that infects domesticated and wild animals. There are no reports on the prevalence and molecular characterisation of Cryptosporidium in the endemic Cyprus mouflon. The mouflon is strictly protected by national and international legislation. Its main distribution is Paphos State Forest and...
Competition within and between species affects community structure and is well documented in raptors. We investigated the spatial distribution of two sympatric raptors in Cyprus, the Bonelli’s Eagle (BE) and the Long-legged Buzzard (LLB). Both species are facultative tree/cliff nesters, with overlapping nesting and foraging areas. In 2021, the BE p...
Escape behavior is a common antipredator strategy among wild animals. Here, we investigated the effect of four factors on the vigilance behavior of the endemic Cyprus rock agama (Laudakia cypriaca). Flight initiation distance (FID, the minimum distance to which an observer can approach a lizard before it flees) was measured in relation to the type...
Migratory ducks are key dispersal agents for aquatic organisms, yet differences in their potential for short‐ and long‐distance dispersal are still poorly understood, particularly differences among aquatic invertebrate taxa.
Using seven species of aquatic invertebrates and a duck species known to feed on them in the wild (the northern shoveler) as...
We studied the breeding biology of the endemic Cyprus Coal Tit (Periparus ater cypriotes) using artificial nest boxes in a coniferous forest from March through May 2010 to 2018. In total, 202 breeding pairs utilized the nest boxes, with a mean number of 22.2 pairs per year. The highest number of nests was observed in 2017, with 38 occupied nest box...
The Long-legged Buzzard Buteo rufinus in Cyprus: three decades of presence and range expansion Nicolaos I. Kassinis, Iris Charalambidou Land-use and climate change result in substantial range shifts of avian species, with dramatic changes to global land cover projected for this century. The Long-legged Buzzard started nesting on Cyprus in the early...
Cryptosporidium is an important intestinal zoonotic pathogen that can infect various hosts and cause diarrheal disease. There are no reports on the prevalence and molecular characterization of Cryptosporidium in wild birds in Cyprus. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp. and genotypes in wild birds f...
Interspecific competition occurs when two sympatric species utilize the same limited supply of a basic resource, such as food; the degree of diet overlap is an essential metric for examining potential competition between the species. The Long-legged Buzzard (Buteo rufinus) is a relative newcomer to the island of Cyprus, where it is sympatric with t...
Background
Melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancer. It is the eighth most common cancer in males and the tenth in females in Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean with a high ultraviolet (UV) index. Cyprus is expected to be strongly affected by climate change and consequently, melanoma will likely become an increasing public health problem....
Cryptosporidium and Giardia are important intestinal zoonotic pathogens that can infect various hosts and cause diarrhoeal diseases. There are few reports of the epidemiological prevalence and molecular characterization of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in wild birds around Qinghai Lake and in the surrounding areas on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, Nort...
Cyprus is an important stopover area for the Red-footed Falcon, a raptor of global conservation concern. We surveyed the migrant population at Akrotiri Peninsula from
2009 to 2019. Birds were counted from September to November. Annual total was on
average 662 birds, ranging from 106 to 1331 birds. This exceeds 1% of the European
flyway population....
A new paleoclimate record from Cyprus gives valuable insights into climatic variations during Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 6-5 for the East Mediterranean region. Two stalagmites from Pentadactylos cave in the Kyrenia mountain range (800 m altitude) in Cyprus grew from 174.6 ± 0.7 to 112.2 ± 0.5 ka BP with major hiatuses at 163-142 and 132-128 ka. Du...
Invasive alien species (IAS) are known to be a major threat to biodiversity and ecosystem function and there is increasing evidence of their impacts on human health and economies globally. We undertook horizon scanning using expert-elicitation to predict arrivals of IAS that could have adverse human health or economic impacts on the island of Cypru...
The contribution of condensation-corrosion in the morphological evolution of caves in semi-arid regions: preliminary investigations in the Kyrenia Range, Cyprus
The condensation-corrosion process occurs when airflow cools at the contact with colder cave walls. Condensed water becomes aggressive for soluble rocks and corrodes the walls. This proces...
This paper is the first in a series describing the previously unstudied cave spiders from Cyprus. Two new species, Dysderocrateskibrisensissp. n. and Harpacteakalavachianasp. n. , are described. Detailed morphological descriptions and diagnostic characteristics are presented. This is the first report of the genus Dysderocrates Deeleman-Reinhold & D...
A complete list of bat records available from Northern Cyprus is presented, based on both limited literature and new records, resulting from a recent field survey conducted mainly in 2018. This review is complemented by distribution maps and summaries of the distributional status of particular species. From the northern part of the island of Cyprus...
Caves and karst are priceless resources including natural resources (water, soils, landscapes), natural and cultural heritages, specific biodiversity and ecosystemic values and services. But they are generally poorly understood. For that, it’s important to develop study and research strategies to promote the importance of caves and karst in sustain...
Despite being a dry country, historically, Cyprus had many wetlands, both freshwater and saline. However, pollution, mosquito management, increased use of water and drainage of wetland areas for agriculture and building, led to the loss of many of the original wetlands. On the other hand, persistent water shortages have led to the construction of m...
We present here the first island-wide assessment of the status and breeding population of the Spur-winged Lapwing Vanellus spinosus in Cyprus from July 2007 to June 2009. This survey was carried out at 27 wetland areas and more than 200 individuals were recorded at 10 wetlands during autumn passage while at least 50 over-wintered at five wetlands....
Long distance dispersal may have important consequences for gene flow and community structure. The dispersal of many plants depends on transport by vertebrate seed dispersers. The shapes of seed shadows produced by vertebrates depend both on movement patterns of the dispersers and on the dynamics and effects of passage through the disperser's gut (...
Breeding numbers of Audouin's Gulls were assessed during spring 2007 at Kasteletta and Zinaritou Islands, Kleidhes Islands, Cyprus. The colony on Kasteletta was small, holding six nests, and was abandoned early most probably because of the presence of a much larger Yellow-legged Gull colony on the same island. The colony on Zinaritou had 43 nests a...
The consequences of plastic responses of the avian digestive tract for the potential of birds to disperse other organisms remain largely uninvestigated.
To explore how a seasonal diet switch in Mallard ( Anas platyrhynchos L.) influences their potential to disperse plants and invertebrates, we recorded the retention time of markers, following expos...
The ingestion of seeds by vertebrates can affect the germinability and/or germination rate of seeds. It is, however, unclear if an earlier germination as a result of ingestion affects later plant performance. For sago pondweed, Potamogeton pectinatus, the effects of seed ingestion by ducks on both germinability and germination rate have been previo...
The foraging behavior of adult and recently fledged juvenile Squacco Herons (Ardeola ralloides) was studied during the breeding season at the Axios Delta, northern Greece. Adults were more efficient foragers than young birds and they had a 37% higher success per peck rate. The majority of adults captured some large prey items, while most juveniles...
Field collections during November of green-winged teal (Anas crecca), mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), and coot (Fulica atra) feces in Denmark, England, and France were used to examine the potential of waterbirds to disperse aquatic plant, algae,
and invertebrate species across Europe. A total of 216 fecal samples were collected, of which 28% containe...
Vertebrates are important seed dispersers for many plants, particularly those inhabiting naturally fragmented habitats such as lakes and wetlands. Such dispersal often takes place through the transport of ingested seeds (endozoochory).
Endozoochorous passage of seeds is likely to vary among both disperser and dispersed species. We hypothesized that...
This paper evaluates whether the recent expansion of Bythotrephes longimanus Leydig (Crustacea: Onychopoda) may be a result of endozoochorous avian dispersal. In three experiments, we investigated the survival of diapause eggs in newly produced and end-of-winter developmental stages after their passage through the digestive tract of four species of...
Statoblasts of Cristatella mucedo were fed to two duck species, pintail (Anas acuta) and shoveler (A. clypeata), to assess whether endozoochorous dispersal is responsible for the metapopulation structure of this bryozoan. Eight individuals (four per duck species) were force-fed 500 statoblasts each. The number of intact sta-toblasts retrieved from...
Vertebrates are important seed dispersers for many plants. In addition to transport of seeds, ingestion often affects the proportion or rate of seed germination. We present one of the first studies comparing the effects of different waterbird species on the seeds of a subcosmopolitan pondweed, Potamogeton pectinatus. We also present the first compa...
It is commonly assumed that waterbirds act as dispersal vectors of aquatic organisms. In this paper we review experimental work focusing on the endozoochorous transport of propagules by waterbirds with the aim to determine what aspects of this mechanism have been investigated. We discuss (i) the main issues addressed in propagule feeding experiment...
