Iulian Gherghel

Case Western Reserve University | CWRU · Department of Biology

Aim To examine the combined effect of abiotic and biotic factors on species distributions in a marine environment. Specifically, we aim to account for the effects of trophic interactions at broad scales in ecological niche models (ENMs) of sea kraits (Laticauda: Reptilia) by including the potential distribution of food resources as predictor variab...

The environment shapes the evolution of secondary sexual traits by determining how their costs and benefits vary across the landscape. Given the thermal properties of dark coloration generally, temperature should crucially influence the costs, benefits and geographic diversification of many secondary sexual colour patterns. We tested this hypothesi...

Dispersal is an important, yet overlooked phenomenon when studying species’ distributions using ecological niche models (ENMs). Here, we use species’ dispersal limits to evaluate and refine ENM estimates only to the areas accessible to the species within the study region and, thereby, enhance the model interpretations. First, we ran multiple ENMs t...

Understanding the factors that shape species’ distributions is a key topic in biogeography. As climates change, species can either cope with these changes through evolution, plasticity or by shifting their ranges to track the optimal climatic conditions. Ecological niche modeling (ENM) is a widespread technique in biogeography that estimates the ni...

Aim The evolutionary interactions between western spadefoot toads (genus Spea ) represent a textbook example of character displacement, facilitated by dietary specialization of one Spea species on fairy shrimp (Anostraca) when all three co‐occur. The aim of this study is to understand the covariation between predator ( Spea ) and prey (Anostraca) r...

Background and Aim Colour polymorphic populations constitute excellent model systems for testing ecological and evolutionary hypotheses, as alternate colourations are associated with differences in various biological, behavioural and life‐history traits. Melanism is the most common and most obvious form of polymorphism. In reptiles in general (and...

Activity patterns in animals are often species-specific, and can be generally categorized as diurnal, crepuscular, or nocturnal. Understanding these patterns provides insight into ecological adaptations and behaviors. The common grass snake (Natrix natrix), one of the most common and widespread European snake species, is traditionally considered di...

Roads significantly impact natural landscapes, posing threats to wildlife, particularly amphibians and reptiles. Among these, snakes are often overlooked, despite their vulnerability to vehicular collisions. This study investigates the road mortality patterns for the Caspian whip snake (Dolichophis caspius), an animal frequently killed by road traf...

Amfibienii si reptilele sunt doua grupuri de animale vertebrate cunoscute sub denumirea colectiva de ,,herpetofauna” si care numara 46 de specii si subspecii in fauna Romaniei. Ca urmare a trasaturilor fizice (piele umeda la amfibieni, privirea fixa a serpilor etc.) si a modului de viata retras, aceste animale nu au cea mai buna reputatie in randul...

Animal colouration has a significant ecological role in defence, reproduction, and thermoregulation. In the case of melanism, it is a complex topic. Besides potential disadvantages such as higher risk of predation, melanistic ectotherms may have certain physiological advantages such as more efficient thermoregulation in colder climates and thus, re...

Bat species inhabit subterranean environments (e.g., caves and mines) in small areas with specific microclimatic conditions, during various periods of their life cycle. Bats can be negatively influenced by microclimatic changes within their roosts if optimal habitat patches become unavailable. Therefore, proper management solutions must be applied...

One of the most applied tools for documenting cultural variability and for tracing cultural trajectories within the environmental context is eco-cultural niche modeling and its associated methodology. The niche breadth characterization quantitatively evaluates the links between a given adaptive system and ecological constraints, which provides valu...

The Lindholm rock lizard, Darevskia lindholmi, is the only member of the genus Darevskia whose range is restricted solely to Europe, representing a local endemism found only in the Crimean Mountains. In our study, we investigated the cytochrome b gene (mtDNA) of 101 D. lindholmi sequences from 65 Crimean localities, representing its entire range. W...

Kukushkin et al. Phylogeography of Darevskia lindholmi_Supplementary Figs

Landscape heterogeneity and fragmentation are key challenges for biodiversity conservation. As Earth’s landscape is increasingly dominated by anthropogenic land use, it is clear that broad-scale systems of nature reserves connected by corridors are needed to enable the dispersal of flora and fauna. The European Union currently supports a continent-...

Due to their complexity, coral reefs are difficult to study especially when considering the role that the interplay between the terrestrial and marine environments has in shaping distribution of marine, terrestrial, and amphibious species. Many organisms live in remote areas of the ocean and inhabit both terrestrial and marine environments. Such am...

Understanding how climate and land cover currently shape species distributions and community structure is crucial to inform conservation decisions. Unfortunately, limited information is available for the relative importance of climatic and land use variables in determining the distribution of amphibians and reptiles. Here, we studied amphibian and...

The Caspian whip snake (Dolichophis caspius) occurs at its northwestern distribution range limit in Romania, where it is only present in the southern part of the country, but the overall range pattern is problematic and poorly understood. Here we compiled an updated distribution for the species in Romania, adding 29 new distribution records spread...

Background : During the last two decades a major increase in the proportion of severe fungal infections has been noted due to the excessive use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, catheters, and a growing number of immunocompromised patients. Objectives : This is the first investigation providing complete data regarding the phenotypic and genotypic prof...

The Balkan Peninsula constitutes a biodiversity hotspot with high levels of species richness and endemism. The complex geological history of the Balkans in conjunction with the climate evolution are hypothesized as the main drivers generating this biodiversity. We investigated the phylogeography, historical demography, and population structure of c...

In this paper we present the results of a herpetological faunistic study conducted in the Natura 2000 site ROSCI0033 Cheile Șugăului-Munticelu, situated at the western limit of Neamț County, in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains. Based on field surveys conducted during June-August 2015, we report the presence and map the local distribution of four sp...

We present the first record for the dice snake (Natrix tessellata) from northeastern Romania, based on a field survey conducted in July 2014. The origin of this apparently isolated population, as well as the apparent absence of the species from the Romanian bank of the Prut River are also discussed.

Knowledge regarding the ecology of species forms the baseline for our understanding regarding life on earth and the foundation for action plans, management activites and the conservation of rare and endangered species, but the same information is generally lacking for European colubrid species, while in Romania there is yet a systematic study to be...

Morphological and DNA data support that the East Mediterranean snake-eyed skink Ablepharus kitaibelii represents a species complex that includes four species A. kitaibelii, A. budaki, Α. chernovi, and A. rueppellii, highlighting the need of its taxonomic reevaluation. Here, we used Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood methods to estimate the phylogeneti...

The Aesculapian snake (Zamenis longissimus) is a widespread colubrid species, being present in much of central and southern Europe, with isolated populations occuring as far east as Iran. In Romania, the species is known from most of the country’s regions, although it has been reported from very few areas from the Moldova region (eastern and north–...

We present a first analysis of the ecology and potential distribution of Euscorpius carpathicus (Linnaeus, 1767), a scorpion species endemic to southern Romania, and report on the overwintering habitat selection of this species. Using field data, literature review, species distribution modelling, and habitat selection models, we document the broad...

The genus Laticauda (Reptilia: Elapidae), commonly known as sea kraits, comprises eight species of marine amphibious snakes distributed along the shores of the Western Pacific Ocean and the Eastern Indian Ocean. We review the information available on the geographic range of sea kraits and analyze their distribution patterns. Generally, we found tha...

Amphibians and reptiles are among the most threatened animal species in Europe. Because of their legal conservation status, amphibians and reptiles may act as umbrella and flagship species in certain areas. The Rarău-Giumalău Natura 2000 site (ROSCI 0212) is such an area that, despite its conservation status, is still exposed to human activities al...

The blotched snake (Elaphe sauromates) is one of the most elusive species of snakes in Romania and only a small number of individuals have ever been found, which is why morphological data are both scarce and over half a century old. The data gathered from the individuals captured during our field work confirmed the presence of sexual dimorphism (si...

The blotched snake (Elaphe sauromates) is one of the most elusive species of snakes in Romania, and only a small number of individuals have ever been found, which is why morphological data are both scarce and over half a century old. The data gathered from the individuals captured during our field work confirmed the presence of sexual dimorphism (s...

Vincetoxicum sensu lato is a tropical lineage comprising two clades that have reached high northern latitudes. Of the temperate clades, one is restricted to the Far East, the other one (Vincetoxicum s. str. Clade) extends into Europe, but their ranges overlap in Central China and Japan. Three species invasive in North America, V. hirundinaria, V. n...

The sand boa (Eryx jaculus) is the most elusive and rare reptile species in Romania, where it occurs at its north-westernmost range limit. The rarity of the species had herpetologists suspect it had gone extinct for almost three decades. The current manuscript adds a new locality for the species based on a dead individual found on the administrativ...

European vipers are typical capital breeders and most studies have revealed that females usually reproduce once every two or three years and that, in some cases, females reproduce once during their lifetime. This paper presents evidence, based on monitoring marked snakes in consecutive years, that several female adders (Vipera berus) from a montane...

Climate warming is one of the most important threats to biodiversity. Ectothermic organisms such as amphibians and reptiles are especially vulnerable as climatic conditions affect them directly. Ecological niche models (ENMs) are increasingly popular in ecological studies, but several drawbacks exist, including the limited ability to account for th...

Wall lizards of the genus Podarcis (Sauria, Lacertidae) comprises 20 currently recognized species in southern Europe, where they are the predominant reptile group. The taxonomy of Podarcis is complex and unstable. Based on DNA sequence data the species of Podarcis fall into four main groups that have substantial geographic coherence (Western Island...

In the recent history, climatic changes have taken place at a planetary scale and organisms needed to adapt to these changes. The last glaciation is one of most documented climatic events responsible for the current distribution of living organisms. In the last two decades, conservationists have intensively discussed how extant organisms, some of w...

The aim of this study was to provide an in-depth survey of feeding ecology and trophic interactions of two syntopic newt species (Triturus cristatus and Lissotriton vulgaris) inhabiting aquatic breeding habitats from the eastern Romanian Carpathian Mountains. We sampled 736 individuals from both species. The trophic spectrum was based mostly on Ass...

Worldwide, snakes are among the most threatened vertebrate groups. The Moldavian meadow viper (Vipera ursinii moldavica) is a critically endangered subspecies of Vipera ursinii, a species which is also endangered throughout its entire fragmented European range. V. u. moldavica has been previously recorded from several locations in Eastern Romania b...

Lissotriton montandoni is an endemic newt species found only in the Carpathian Mountains and lives in sympatry with Lissotriton vulgaris in many aquatic habitats from the entire range of the former species in the Carpathian and Sudetes Mountains or in the hilly areas from the Subcarpathians. These two species usually generate hybrids where their pa...

Beginning with 2003, the Administration of the "Vânători Neamţ" Natural Park has initiated a program for the reintroduction in the wilderness of the European bison, which will establish a wild population. Although the European bison prefers forest habitats, the literature provides several examples in which the species uses grasslands. Our study aim...

The present paper discusses preliminary data on population characteristics and ecology of the meadow viper Vipera ursinii in the Romanian Danube Delta. Using line transects and the Distance software, the size of the studied population was estimated at 321 (95% confidence interval: 166–618) individuals on a 62 ha area. The sex-ratio of the populatio...

Environmental factors, especially temperature, have a particularly strong influence on most aspects of the life history of ectothermic organism. Gestation time and post-reproductive survivability in female viviparous snakes from the temperate regions (typical capital breeders) has been shown to be strongly influenced by temperature. This and other...

Human activities cause habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation of reptile habitats and therefore one fifth of the European reptiles are threatened. Vipera ursinii is probably the most threatened snake in Europe. In Eastern Romania V. u. moldavica inhabits steppe and deltaic habitats in Moldavia and the Danube Delta, respectively. Although the h...

In Romania, the dice snake (Natrix tessellata) has been, until recently omitted from any specific studies and its national distribution and ecology is only known from accounts in numerous dispersed papers which discuss the general distribution of the herpetofauna in several regions. Here we aim to present an updated review of the histori-cal and cu...

Amphibians and reptiles are endangered at European level. The aim of the study is to present the detailed distribution of the herpetofauna of the area surrounding the village of Sfântu Gheorghe. We identified 7 amphibian and 6 reptile species of which only one is not legally protected. The main threats for the amphibians and reptiles are the habita...

Paedomorphosis is a widely distributed evolutionary change of salamanders and newts, where larval structures remain in adult animals due to hard conditions of the terrestrial environment (e.g. Semlitsch and Wilbur, 1989; Denoel et al., 2005a). This feature is considered to be both genetically and environmentally influenced in the choice to keep the...

During 2005-2008, field observations were made on the distribution and habitat occupation by Podarcis muralis in the middle Bistrita river basin. Prior to our study, this lizard was known from only 5 localities in Romanian Moldavia (Bicaz, Cheile Bicazului, Lacu Rosu, Gherman and Dodeni). Through the present paper the authors acknowledge the existe...

The sand boa (Eryx jaculus) is one of the least known and rarest reptile species in Europe. InRomania, the sand boa is the rarest reptile species with only four locality records being known; atCernavodă, Cărpiniş-Giuvegea, Cochirleni and Mahmudia (Kirițescu 1903; Fuhn & Vancea 1961; Zinke &Hielscher 1990). To estimate the predictors and the probabi...

The Carpathian Corner region (Buzău and Vrancea Counties) is one of the Romanian areas inwhich data on the herpetofauna is most scarce. The adder (Vipera berus), a widespread but threatenedRomanian snake species, has been previously recorded in the Carpathian Corner area around 50 yearsago but its presence in the area has not been recently reconfir...