Jacopo Cerri

Università degli Studi di Sassari | UNISS · Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria

During the project LIFE Under Griffon Wings (2014-2020) 37 farm feeding stations (FFS) were activated to mitigate the food shortage for Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus) (GF); the livestock reared in the 37 farms amounted to 2,897 cattle and 13,368 sheep/goats. Between 2017 and 2021 a total of 160 cattle and 421 goat/sheep were provisioned in the FFS...

Wind energy is developing on Mediterranean islands, where endangered populations of Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) occur. As griffons are subjected to collisions with wind turbines while foraging, it is necessary to understand which factors affect their movements, to minimize the potential impact of wind farms.We assessed habitat use by 37 griffons...

Second-generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (ARs) can be particularly critical for large carnivores, due to their widespread use and time-delayed impacts on their populations. While many studies explored the impacts of ARs on small and mesocarnivores, no study explored the extent to which they could contaminate large carnivores in anthropized land...

The gray wolf (Canis lupus) expanded its distribution in Europe over the last few decades. To better understand the extent to which wolves could re-occupy their historical range, it is important to test if anthropization can affect their fitness-related traits. After having accounted for ecologically relevant confounders, we assessed how anthropiza...

1. Although several studies have focused on the influence of moonlight on deer-vehicle collisions, findings have been inconsistent. This may be due to neglect of the effects of cloud cover, a major impediment to moon illumination and circannual variation in both deer and human activity. 2. We assessed how median cloud cover interacted with the ill...

Conservation translocations involving vultures rely either on soft or hard release strategies. To investigate whether these strategies affect home range stability and survival, we compared the spatial behavior and mortality of 38 Griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) released in Sardinia. Griffons were released after no acclimatization, or after 3 (short)...

Animal species living in highly seasonal environments developed different strategies to cope with the periodical drastic change of environmental conditions. Hibernating mammals survive the winter season by reducing their activity and metabolism, and by centring their activities during the favourable season. Thus, the demography of these species dep...

Although several studies have focused on the influence of moonlight over deer-vehicle collisions, findings have been inconsistent. This may be due to neglecting the effects of cloud cover, a major impediment to moon illumination, and circannual variation in both deer and human activity.We modeled how median cloud cover interacted with the illuminat...

Bertolino, S., Brown, D.E., Cerri, J., Koprowski, J.L. (2022). Eastern Cottontail Sylvilagus floridanus (J.A. Allen, 1890). In: Hackländer, K., Zachos, F.E. (eds) Handbook of the Mammals of Europe. Handbook of the Mammals of Europe. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65038-8_14-1

The Mediterranean basin is among those areas of the world most affected by the introduction of Non-Indigenous Species (NIS). NIS are a growing driver of change for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, but their management and presence evaluation within the decision-making process,is often constrained by the lack of spatially-explicit information, su...

Citizen Science (CS) has gained increased recognition over the last two decades. This turn is occurring in strong connection with the profound transformations that have affected science over the last few decades, leading towards a new social model of science characterised by greater openness to society regarding research content actors involved, re...

Invasive alien species could generate a multitude of impacts towards native species. The introduction and spread of Vespa velutina in Europe is raising concern for the conservation of insect’s biodiversity, including wasps due to predation, competition or a combination of these two mechanisms. Nevertheless, most evidence for negative effects on oth...

Over the last few decades, Oral Rabies Vaccinations (ORV) has eliminated sylvatic rabies from most of Central and Western Europe. Despite this success, they will probably be needed in the near future, due to the expansion of native and invasive reservoirs. It is unclear if they still work, at this time when many countries have an abundant wild boar...

The Asian yellow-legged hornet (Vespa velutina) has been invading Italy since 2013, and it was subjected to management programs to counter its spread and raise awareness about its impacts. We administered a questionnaire to a sample of 358 beekeepers in Italy, asking them about their sources of information on V. velutina and their perception of its...

Usutu virus (USUV) is a mosquito-borne virus belonging to the family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus. Natural transmission cycle of USUV involves mosquitoes and birds, so humans and other mammals are considered incidental hosts. In this study, USUV infection was diagnosed in all wild blackbirds, collected from July to September 2018 in a wildlife re...

English - The gray wolf (Canis lupus) expanded its distribution in Europe over the last few decades. To better understand the extent to which wolves could re-occupy their historical range, nowadays including anthropized landscapes, it is important to test if and how anthropization can affect fitness-related traits in this species. We modeled how an...

Usutu virus (USUV) is a mosquito-borne virus belonging to the family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus. Natural transmission cycle of USUV involves mosquitoes and birds, so humans and other mammals are considered incidental hosts. In this study, USUV infection was diagnosed in all wild blackbirds, collected from July to September 2018 in a wildlife re...

Blacklists of invasive alien species (IAS) are a popular tool for managing and preventing biological invasions. Moreover, blacklists also have the potential to make the general public more curious about biological invasions, usually by benefiting from media coverage and providing accessible examples of IAS. We have tested if the implementation of t...

Collisions with vehicles are a major cause of wildlife mortality. During the COVID‐19 pandemic, many countries enforced lockdowns that reduced vehicular traffic and consequently wildlife‐vehicle collisions. However, no study has yet explored how traffic‐related mortality declined across multiple species of wildlife, leaving doubts about the species...

Invasive mosquitoes are an emerging ecological and sanitary issue. Many factors have been suggested as drivers or barriers to their control, still no study quantified their influence over mosquito management by local authorities, nor their interplay with local economic conditions.We assessed how multiple environmental, sanitary, and socio-economic...

Plastics are extremely useful, but their mismanagement has affected the environment and our health. Rethinking the development and use of plastics is central to the circular economy paradigm, to provide less harmful options for the environment. Thus, more types of plastic packaging are available, but each reflects diverse circular economy strategie...

Over the last 40 years the gray wolf (Canis lupus) re-colonized its historical range in Italy increasing human-predator interactions. However, temporal and spatial trends in wolf mortality, including direct and indirect persecution, were never summarized. This study aims to fill this gap by focusing on the situation of Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna re...

Over the last 40 years the gray wolf (Canis lupus) re-colonized its historical range in Italy increasing human-predator interactions. However, temporal and spatial trends in wolf mortality, including direct and indirect persecution, were never summarized. This study aims to fill this gap by focusing on the situation of Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna re...

Collisions with vehicles are a major anthropogenic cause of mortality for wildlife, with conservation and evolutionary implications. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries worldwide enforced lockdowns which importantly reduced traffic, and therefore had unprecedented consequences for global wildlife populations. We modeled how the two lockdow...

Marine recreational fisheries are an integral part of Mediterranean and Black Sea coastal life and are commonly practiced throughout the region. However, despite their ubiquity and potential socio-economic contribution, recreational fisheries are a data-poor sector. Data collection programmes to monitor their impact are limited and can vary widely...

SARS-­CoV-­2, the virus that caused the COVID-­19 pandemic, is genomically similar to a SARS-­like beta-­ coronavirus found in Asian rhinolophid bats. This evolutionary relationship impressed the global media, which then em phasised bats as key actors in the spillover that resulted in the pandemic. In this study, we highlight changes in the traditi...

Further information on the Mincio Park and the “Valli del Mincio” Special Protection Area are reported. In the collection of photos inserted is possible to visualize both domestic and wild mammalian predators present in the study site, signs left by rabbits and red foxes (e.g., diggings, fox scats), predation events on rabbits by foxes, visitor-rab...

This document provides a reproducible example on how survey data were analysed. The study included the administration of questionnaires to visitors of the Mincio regional Park, either as paper-and-pencil or as online questionnaires

Complete questionnaire in English language

Where introduced, the European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus is considered among the most destructive and invasive species. To date, research focused mostly on populations of wild rabbit, whereas little is known on feral domestic rabbit populations. In this work, we reported the establishment of two self-sustaining populations of feral rabbits in It...

Compensation programs are an important tool for mitigating conflicts between farmers and large predators. However, they present significant weaknesses and faults. For years, the EU has been prioritizing programs for the prevention of damage caused by large carnivores, rather than compensation programs, introducing compulsory compensation for the pu...

In this work a mathematical model is built in order to validate on theoretical grounds field study results on a three-species system made of two prey, of which one is native and another one invasive, together with a native predator. Specifically, our results mathematically describe the negative effect on the native European hare after the introduct...

Conservationists measuring noncompliance with measures limiting the exploitation of natural resources often ask sensitive questions. However, respondents may distort their answers due to the risk of sanctions, taboos or social norms. Specialized Questioning Techniques (SQTs) can encourage honest answering through protecting re-spondent's privacy by...

Invasive species are a growing driver of change across terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems but spatially-explicit information is seldom available for supporting management actions and decision making. Here we conceived and tested a new participatory method to map the distribution of three invasive species (Callinectes sapidus, Procambarus clarkii an...

The Asian yellow-legged hornet (Vespa velutina) has been invading Italy since 2013, and it was subjected to management projects aimed at counteracting its spread and raising awareness about its impacts.In autumn 2019, we administered an on-line questionnaire to a convenience sample of 358 beekeepers in Italy. The questionnaire asked them about thei...

Alien species invasion could lead to the replacement of native species with similar ecological requirements. Vespa velutina is an invasive hornet recently established in Europe, that is raising concern due to the associated economic and ecological impacts toward managed and wild pollinators besides to the potential competition and replacement of na...

Socioeconomic changes characterizing the last 70 years changed human-wildlife relationships and diminished activities such as recreational hunting. However, little research has tested whether the same changes also increased other behaviors, such as volunteering for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that focus on protecting animals. We modeled t...

Aquatic Invasive species (AIS) are a growing driver of change across marine and freshwater ecosystems but spatially-explicit information is seldom available for supporting management actions and decision making. Here we conceived and tested a new participatory method to map the distribution of three invasive species (Callinectes sapidus, Procambaru...

Conservationists measuring noncompliance with rules about the exploitation of natural resources often need to ask sensitive questions. However, respondents can introduce bias through distorting their answers to direct questions, due to social norms and/or the risk of legal sanctions. Specialized Questioning Techniques (SQTs) are often a more suitab...

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...

The Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) is becoming widespread in Europe, where it can transmit some major arboviruses, including Chikungunya and Dengue. While surveillance initiatives are being implemented and harmonized between states, the spread of A.albopictus is outrunning them and cost-effective surveillance tools are needed. In this stud...

Blacklists of invasive alien species are a popular tool to manage and prevent biological invasions. Furthermore, by providing accessible examples of invasive alien species and by having a certain media resonance, they can in principle raise the awareness and make laypeople curious towards this topic. However, no study ever tested for this side-effe...

Biological invasions are a major driver of global change and the target of many public policies. However, we still do not know whether they attract the interest of laypeople. We modeled the temporal evolution of on-line searches about general terms regarding invasive alien species in Italy, on Wikipedia and Google. Wikipedia pages about biological...

The Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) has become invasive in Central and Northern Italy, where it affects prey-predator dynamics between native species. Although many different studies explored survival rates and the density of cottontails in North America, no information is available for its invasive range. Between December 2003 and Octob...

Artificial wildlife feeding might contribute to the successful establishment of some invasive alien species, like the Eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) in Europe and the UK. Reducing squirrel feeding at urban parks can be important to reduce squirrel populations while avoiding social conflicts. From April to October 2018, we conducted in...

Marine bioinvasions require integrating monitoring tools with other complementary strategies. In this study, we collected information about the invasive alien crab Callinectes sapidus in Italy, Croatia and Montenegro, by means of online questionnaires administered to recreational fishers (n = 797). Our records matched the current distribution of th...

Following coronavirus COVID-19 epidemic, global media and the Internet started mentioning bats as key actors in the spillover. This depiction often misinterprets scientific evidence about the relationship between bats and SARS-CoV-2, and may contribute to increase bat persecution worldwide if not accompanied by sufficiently clear explanations. More...

Following coronavirus COVID-19 epidemic, global media and the Internet started mentioning bats as key actors in the spillover. This depiction often misinterprets scientific evidence about the relationship between bats and SARS-CoV-2, and may contribute to increase bat persecution worldwide if not accompanied by sufficiently clear explanations. More...

Eradication of invasive alien species is a form of pest control linked to biodiversity conservation , which usually involves animal killing. Squirrels are prominent among invasive alien species in Italy, with four species introduced. Three of them are included within the list of alien species of European concern, and their eradication and control i...

Here, we investigate the recent spatio-temporal dynamics of the bluefish Pomatomus saltatrix, a warm water species, which is considered to have conquered the northern Mediterranean coasts due to climate warming. Capitalizing two independent surveys carried out through online questionnaires and vis-à-vis interviews, we accessed the ecological knowle...

Marine bioinvasions require integrating monitoring tools with other complementary strategies. In this study, we collected information about the invasive Callinectes sapidus in Italy, Croatia and Montenegro, by means of online questionnaires administered to recreational fishers (n = 797). Our records matched the current distribution of the species:...

In postmodern societies socioeconomic changes characterizing the last decades shifted value orientations and attitudes towards wildlife, diminishing consumptive uses of wildlife, such as recreational hunting or fishing. However, no study has tested yet whether the same forces of modernization also increased non-consumptive uses of wildlife. We adop...

The Eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) has become invasive in Central and Northern Italy, where it affects prey-predator dynamics between native species. Although many different studies explored survival rates and the density of cottontails in North America, no information is available for its invasive range. Between December 2003 and Octob...

Approaching large ungulates at protected areas is dangerous both for visitors and the animals. To promote the use of safe distances, conservationists need to be sure about which factors influence the acceptability of human- wildlife encounters. In summer 2018, we recruited a sample of 202 visitors at the Gran Paradiso National Park (Italy). They ev...

Climate change and biological invasions are rapidly reshuffling species distribution, restructuring the biological communities of many ecosystems worldwide. Tracking these transformations in the marine environment is crucial, but our understanding of climate change effects and invasive species dynamics is often hampered by the practical challenge o...

Purpose: Surveys measuring consumers' preferences for sustainable food might suffer from socially desirable responding. Social desirability stems in part from social norms about sustainable lifestyles, when respondents need approval from others and when privacy is not guaranteed during survey completion. While various studies showed this phenomenon...

Marine recreational fishers accumulate a vast amount of Local Ecological Knowledge (LEK) during their fishing activity that can be of paramount importance for monitoring how climate change affects the structure of biological communities. Here, we accessed the LEK of recreational anglers and recreational spearfishers to investigate the increase in t...