Luís Miguel Rosalino

Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon · Department of Animal Biology

Patterns of detectability and occupation of the jaguar (Panthera onca) vary throughout its distribution, being determined primarily by vegetation cover, prey availability, and anthropogenic factors. However, there is still a large knowledge gap regarding what determines jaguar occupancy, especially in the Amazon. This knowledge gap is even more pro...

Humans have been altering the Mediterranean landscapes for millennia. To diminish the probability of encounters with domestic animals, humans and their activities, many species adjust their behavior to become more nocturnal. Even habitat-generalist species, such as red fox and stone marten that are somehow tolerant to environmental changes, might b...

For centuries, wolf depredation on livestock has triggered human–wildlife conflicts throughout Europe. Free-ranging dogs, however, are increasingly abundant and may also act as predators of livestock herds. This calls for combined efforts aimed at identifying the causes of depredation events and optimizing the procedures towards predators’ identifi...

Context Analyze the multiple dimensions of biodiversity under a local and landscape lens in natural habitats, such as Amazonian savannas, is fundamental for the conservation of species and ecosystems. Objectives We aim to explore how landscape forest cover and patch-level variables affect the patterns of species abundance, functional traits, and t...

European wolf populations are currently exposed to distinct sources of anthropogenic disturbance and mortality that can cause dispersal limitations and lead to isolation. The identification of factors that act as complete or partial barriers to movement, dispersal, or gene flow contribute to foster connectivity between populations. We reviewed the...

The use of pre-harvest fire in sugarcane fields surprisingly results in an increase in the abundance of Neotropical Sigmodontinae rodents, which might carry hantavirus. By contrast, fire suspension induces a decline in rodents in the first 5 years. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of sugarcane harvest regimes on hantavirus prevalence...

Eucalyptus plantations, the second most economically important exotic tree in Europe, cover circa 1,5 million hectares on this continent. However, little is known about their effect on the ecological patterns of widely distributed and increasing populations of wild ungulates. This lack of knowledge jeopardizes our ability to correctly manage these...

Context: Identifying how species richness (or diversity) changes with different proportions of natural and anthropized environments in the landscape is important for landscape management for conservation. Objectives: Here we propose a new method to assess biodiversity changes in landscapes with varying proportions of habitat types. Methods: Our m...

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with ca. 26% of all species being included in the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associated to habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mammals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change and prey depletion for marine mammals. Mammals play a key role in...

The replacement of natural areas with forestry plantations is a worldwide expanding process with direct consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem functionality. In the Mediterranean region, Eucalyptus spp. plantations are widespread, forming monospecific landscapes that in Portugal dominate most of its forested areas. The reduction in the availab...

Forestry plantations have increased considerably over recent decades to fulfil human demand for wood, pulp and paper. Eucalyptus globulus Labill is one of the most abundant plantation species, particularly in Europe, where its largest presence is in Portugal. Furthermore, plantations in Mediterranean areas, such as Portugal, frequently suffer from...

A data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in Portugal

Hybridisation between domestic and wild taxa can pose severe threats to wildlife conservation, and human induced hybridisation, often linked to species' introductions and habitat degradation, may promote reproductive opportunities between species for which natural interbreeding would be highly unlikely. Using a biome specific approach, we examine t...

Humans have negatively impacted most ecosystems on Earth, altering how species use habitats and resources available to them, but also their circadian rhythms. Among many factors affecting animal activity patterns, conversion of native habitat into production forests and hunting are critical, and their impacts may be exacerbated by seasonal weather...

Staphylococcus aureus is a human pathobiont (i.e., a commensal microorganism that is potentially pathogenic under certain conditions), a nosocomial pathogen and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in humans. S. aureus is also a commensal and pathogen of companion animals and livestock. The dissemination of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) S. au...

Biodiversity conservation traditionally necessitates setting aside land, which frequently impacts local communities. Although progress has been made on how to optimize this process, conflict frequently emerges when conservation and community goals are at odds. Improving communication and community inclusiveness in decision‐making processes is stron...

Raccoons are American carnivores, considered invasive across several countries worldwide, especially in Europe. In the Iberian Peninsula, previous studies on raccoons documented several breeding populations in Spain a decade ago and only two confirmed records from isolated individuals in Portugal. Given the need for updating its Iberian distributio...

Management of free-ranging wildlife may include the capture of animals, with the implication that the capture process is optimized, both logistically and economically and in a way that avoids animal suffering, injury or accidental mortality. Studies targeting the optimization of trapping techniques are scarce, especially when focusing on large Euro...

Sumário dos resultados principais de um estudo realizado em Cabo Delgado, em 2019, que envolveu a recolha de informação junto de 210 agregados familiares, 14 chefes comunitários e 26 outros atores com atividades no parque. Objetivos do Estudo • Compreender se existe uma associação entre a vulnerabilidade das comunidades e uma maior exposição a i...

Human–wildlife interactions (HWIs) occur in many rural African communities, with potential impacts on livelihood vulnerability. High livelihood vulnerability may force communities to employ strategies that increase the risk of negative HWIs, yet the extent to which HWIs drive or are driven by vulnerability is unclear. We hypothesized that more vuln...

Carnivores social organization varies widely, from strongly social to solitary predators. European badgers are facultative social carnivores that also shows a geographical variation in social structure. These patterns derive mainly from central/west European regions, with an under-representation of Mediterranean populations that face different cons...

South Africa’s decentralized approach to conservation entails that wildlife outside formally protected areas inhabit complex multi-use landscapes, where private wildlife business (ecotourism and/or hunting) co-exist in a human-dominated landscape matrix. Under decentralized conservation, wildlife is perceived to benefit from increased amount of ava...

Annually millions of animals are killed as a result of human-wildlife impacts. Each year the NGO Associação Mata Ciliar (NGOMC), in Southeastern Brazil, receives and rehabilitates thousands of animals. We evaluated how natural and anthropogenic characteristics affect the risk of different types of human-wildlife impacts for mammals that arrive at t...

Population density data on depleted and endangered wildlife species are essential to assure their effective management and, ultimately, conservation. The European wildcat is an elusive and threatened species inhabiting the Iberian Peninsula, with fragmented populations and living in low densities. We fitted spatial capture–recapture models on camer...

The diet of free-ranging bears is an important dimension regarding their ecology, affecting their behavior, population structure, and relation with humans. In Croatia, there has been no recent study on the natural food habits of brown bears (Ursus arctos) or the influence of artificial feeding sites on their diet. During 2017, we collected 53 brown...

The growing needs for agricultural expansion and intensification will likely continue to reduce and fragment the terrestrial habitats fundamental to mammalian carnivores. Recent research identified benefits of agroecosystems to carnivores recognizing their multifunctionality, mostly for common species. However, the variability of carnivore ecology...

Abstract The physiological significance of biometric body condition indices (bBCI) is poorly understood. We hypothesized that bBCI are composite metrics of nutritional physiology, physical fitness and health. To test this hypothesis, we first compared the performance of eight bBCI, using 434 Southern European carnivores from six species as a model...

Frugivores and zoocoric trees represent an important proportion of tropical rainforest biodiversity. As niche differences favor species coexistence, we aimed to evaluate morphological and temporal niche segregation mechanisms among zoochoric trees and canopy frugivores in a tropical rainforest in the northeastern extreme of the Brazilian Amazon. We...

Aim The world's forested area has been declining, especially in developing countries. In contrast, forest plantations are increasing, particularly exotic Eucalyptus plantations, which cover nowadays over 20 million ha worldwide. This global landscape change affects native communities, especially those at higher trophic levels that are affected by b...

Species identification of non-invasively collected samples using molecular genetics tools has become an important tool in ecological research. For decades, scat-based ecological studies were almost exclusively rooted in morphological identification of scats, within local context, in the field. However, this approach raised a controversial debate, d...

Public attitudes are vital for the successful implementation of management strategies and conservation programs. However, contradictory interests among different stakeholders can create important setbacks, creating barriers to achieve conservation goals. The endangered Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus) occupies now only 20% of its historical dist...

The Egyptian mongoose is a carnivore mammal species that in the last decades experienced a tremendous expansion in Iberia, particularly in Portugal, mainly due to its remarkable ecological plasticity in response to land-use changes. However, this species may have a disruptive role on native communities in areas where it has recently arrived due to...

The maned wolf, the largest canid in South America, was originally distributed in areas with open natural vegetation in the Cerrado biome, Chaco and Pampas regions. The dynamics of its distribution are, however, in flux, with populations declining at the southern limit of its distribution, and areas of apparent range expansion in Brazil. Although t...

Wild mammals are susceptible to infection by Leishmania parasites. Although canine leishmaniasis is widely distributed in mainland Portugal, the sylvatic cycle of the parasite remains poorly understood. In this study, the occurrence of L. infantumin wild carnivores from Portugal was assessed by molecular screening of 132 hunted or accidentally road...

Wild mammals are susceptible to infection by Leishmania parasites. Although canine leishmaniasis is widely distributed in mainland Portugal, the sylvatic cycle of the parasite remains poorly understood. In this study, the occurrence of L. infantum in wild carnivores from Portugal was assessed by molecular screening of 132 hunted or accidentally roa...

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is the etiological agent of Johne's disease or paratuberculosis, a chronic infection affecting domestic ruminants worldwide. Despite sporadic reports of MAP occurrence in non-ruminants, information on the risk factors predisposing for infection is still scarce and evidence of transmission paths link...

Agriculture and pastureland for cattle grazing are common land uses in Mediterranean landscapes. These activities significantly alter the habitat conditions, affecting the body conditions of wild communities, especially those with low vagility, such as small mammals. We aimed to evaluate how cattle grazing and the habitat composition affected the b...

Human–bear conflicts resulting from livestock depredation and crop use are a common threat to the brown bear Ursus arctos throughout its range. Understanding these conflicts requires the recording and categorization of incidents, assessment of their geographical distribution and frequency, and documentation of the financial costs and the presence o...

Habitat loss, due to landscape changes induced by human activities, is considered one of the main drivers of biodiversity decline. Thus, understanding how these changes affect top trophic-level species is essential to develop effective conservation strategy measures to overcome this problem. Mesocarnivores, as higher trophic-level species with cruc...

La distribución de especies se ve afectada en todo el mundo por los cambios inducidos por el hombre a escalas de tiempo reducidas, particularmente asociadas con los cambios en el uso del suelo. A partir de estas consideraciones y con la información obtenida en el I Sondeo Ibérico de Tejoneras, se procedió a identificar los principales usos del suel...

Mediterranean European landscapes have been shaped by human activities for centuries, particularly by livestock and farming. Traditionally managed montado landscapes have been recognized as having a crucial role in biodiversity conservation, providing habitat complexity and thus, ecological conditions for a variety of species. Biodiversity associat...

Apresentação da minha proposta de tese de mestrado.

The European badger has a wide distribution range, having been the target of many studies regarding e.g. distribution, abundance, population dynamics, ecology and morphological traits. In a recent study, a correlation was established between badgers body size and latitude with the biggest badgers being those from populations within the core of the...

The maned wolf, the largest canid in South America, was originally distributed in areas with open natural vegetation in the Cerrado biome, Chaco and Pampas regions. The dynamics of its distribution are however in flux, with populations declining at the southern limit of its distribution, and areas of apparent range expansion in Brazil. Although the...

While we recognize the need for feral pig control to assure native species conservation, by reducing competition, predation and reducing human-wildlife conficts, we are hesitant to support sport hunting as part of feral pig control until a more careful consideration has been made of (i) the potential efectiveness of this and other control options u...

Biodiversity is recognizably affected by land conversion for agriculture. However, the assessment of impacts on wildlife often lacks information on populations structure and individuals' condition, allowing only a limited view of the problem. Individual body condition/health can influence animal's reproductive success or survival. Eucalyptus globul...

Domestic or free-ranging dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) can have deleterious effects on wildlife, acting as predators or competitors to native species. These impacts can be highly important in fragmented pristine habitats or well-preserved areas located in human dominated landscapes and where biodiversity values are usually high, such as those in so...

Human-Induced Rapid Environmental Change (HIREC), particularly climate change and habitat conversion, affects species distributions worldwide. Here, we aimed to (i) assess the factors that determine range patterns of European badger (Meles meles) at the southwestern edge of their distribution and (ii) forecast the possible impacts of future climate...

Information regarding species’ status at a regional scale is instrumental for effective conservation planning. Some regions of southwestern Europe, such as Portugal, albeit included in the Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot, lack a detailed assessment of the distribution patterns of several taxonomic groups, such as carnivores. Moreover, informatio...

Updated Iberian distributions of the carnivore species occurring (currently or historically) in Portugal. Dots represent UTM 10x10-km cells with confirmed (black) or unconfirmed (dark red) presence records in Portugal compiled in this study (see Methods for further details), together with presence records in Spain (light blue) from the latest mamma...

Scientific literature on mammalian terrestrial carnivores in Portugal from 1789 until November 2015 (n = 755 studies). Note: Relevant studies were identified using several search engines, including Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com), ISI Web of Knowledge / Web of Science (WoS, www.wokinfo.com), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO,...

Classification of Portuguese Municipalities for each carnivore species according to two possible categories for historical presence records (after 2000): No records (0) and with records (1). (XLSX)

Classification of each UTM 10x10-km cell for each species into the three possible categories according to current presence records (after 2000): No records (0), Confirmed (C) and Unconfirmed (U) presence. (XLSX)

European badgers (Meles meles) are considered central-place foragers, whose spatial ecology is predominantly determined by sett location. Many studies have assessed the factors determining sett site selection throughout this species’ range, but these have often been geographically limited and have primarily identified locally dependent factors. To...

As conservation agents, biologists play a central role in nature preservation as information-gatherers, promoters of environmental education, lobbyists, and members of societies. Consequently, it is important to understand what factors determine their attitudes towards conservation. We aimed to assess which taxa and recovery measures students from...