Nicolaos Kassinis

• Master of Science Range & Wildlife Management
• GAME & FAUNA SERVICE, CYPRUS

The study of insular populations was key in the development of evolutionary theory. The successful colonisation of an island depends on the geographic context, and specific characteristics of the organism and the island, but also on stochastic processes. As a result, apparently identical islands may harbour populations with contrasting histories. H...

The combined actions of climatic variations and landscape barriers shape the history of natural populations. When organisms follow their shifting niches, obstacles in the landscape can lead to the splitting of populations, on which evolution will then act independently. When two such populations are reunited, secondary contact occurs in a broad ran...

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...

The Cyprus mouflon (Ovis gmelini ophion) is a subspecies of wild sheep, endemic to Cyprus and strictly protected by national and international legislation. In the present study, 107 Cyprus mouflon faecal samples were collected from locations within the species geographical range and examined by standard parasitological methods, i.e. flotation, sedi...

The Cypriot mouflon (Ovis orientalis ophion), a once almost extirpated species of wild sheep, is under strict surveillance because it can be threatened by likely transmission of pathogenic bacteria, such as Anaplasma spp., Rickettsia spp., and Coxiella burnetii, primarily from domestic ungulates. We collected 77 blood samples from Cypriot mouflons...

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...

Human-induced direct mortality affects huge numbers of birds each year, threatening hundreds of species worldwide. Tracking technologies can be an important tool to investigate temporal and spatial patterns of bird mortality as well as their drivers. We compiled 1704 mortality records from tracking studies across the African-Eurasian flyway for 45...

The diet of the endemic Cyprus scops owl ( Otus cyprius ) was studied for the first time during the breeding season 2021 in 7 nesting sites from 6 sampling locations using the pellet analysis (n = 65 pellets). Insects, mostly Orthoptera and Coleoptera, comprised the bulk of the owl diet (87% abundance, 31% biomass), whereas small mammals and reptil...

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...

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...

Simple Summary Human activities often affect the access and supply of water to wildlife, e.g., via water pumping, spring diversion, dam construction, and fencing. For this reason, wildlife managers have been provisioning surface water to wildlife in arid/semi-arid ecosystems for decades, typically via the construction of artificial water points. In...

Biodiversity monitoring plays an essential role in tracking changes in ecosystems, species distributions and abundances across the globe. Data collected through both structured and unstructured biodiversity recording can inform conservation measures designed to reduce, prevent, and reverse declines in valued biodiversity of many types. However, giv...

Vultures are among the most threatened avian taxa in the world. When vultures aggregate in large numbers to feed, poisoned carcasses can extirpate entire populations at once. In the light of shrinking numbers worldwide, restocking and reintroduction projects, where wild or captive-bred vultures are released back into nature, constitute a crucial ma...

The mouflon (Ovis gmelini ophion) is the largest wild terrestrial mammal of Cyprus. Regarded as the local flagship species, its population range is limited to the mountainous Paphos Forest and adjacent areas including part of Troodos National Forest Park (> 700 Km2). This species, protected by both national and international legislation, is classif...

Biodiversity monitoring plays an essential role in tracking changes in ecosystems, species distributions and abundances across the globe. Data collected through both structured and unstructured biodiversity recording can inform conservation measures designed to reduce, prevent, and reverse declines in valued biodiversity of many types. However, res...

The mouflon (Ovis gmelini ophion) is the largest wild terrestrial mammal of Cyprus. Regarded as the local flagship species, its population range is limited to the mountainous Paphos Forest and adjacent areas including parts of the Troodos National Forest Park (> 700 Km²). This species, protected by both national and international legislation, is cl...

The diet of the Red-footed Falcon (Falco vespertinus) was studied at Akrotiri Peninsula, Cyprus, in October 2008, during the autumn migration. Based on 180 pellets collected that represented 3,066 prey items, the diet consisted exclusively of invertebrates, nearly all preys were insects. Winged ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) formed 94% of the di...

The study of insular populations was key in the development of evolutionary theory. The successful colonisation of an island depends on the geographic context, and specific characteristics of the organism and the island, but also on stochastic processes. As a result, apparently identical islands may harbour populations with contrasting histories. H...

The combined actions of climatic variations and landscape barriers shape the history of natural populations. When organisms follow their shifting niches, obstacles in the landscape can lead to the splitting of populations, on which evolution will then act independently. When two such populations are reunited, secondary contact occurs in a broad ran...

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....

We developed a framework to compare the similarities and differences in nature conservation between two highly biodiverse Mediterranean islands; Cyprus and Crete. We relied on a) literature review for the factors which have shaped the state of conservation affairs on the islands (e.g. institutional context) and b) the use of indicators to capture c...

The global breeding population of Eleonora’s Falcon (Falco eleonorae) is distributed from the Canary Islands in the west, across the Mediterranean Sea, to Cyprus in the east. The remoteness of nesting colonies, which are predominantly located on sea cliffs and islets, renders breeding success estimation a challenging task, requiring a composite app...

The global breeding population of Eleonora's falcon is distributed from the Canary Islands in the west, across the Mediterranean Sea, to Cyprus in the east. The remoteness of nesting colonies, which are predominantly located on sea cliffs and islets, renders breeding success estimation a challenging task, requiring a composite approach to assess ea...

The islands of Sardinia, Crete, and Cyprus are hosting the last native insular griion populations in the Mediterranean basin. eir states have been evaluated from "vulnerable" to "critically endangered". e sequence analysis of molecular markers, particularly the mtDNA D-loop region, provides useful information in studying the evolution of closely re...

Invasive alien species (IAS) are one of the major drivers of change that can negatively affect biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services and human health; islands are particularly vulnerable to biological invasions. Horizon scanning can lead to prioritisation of IAS to inform decision-making and action; its scale and scope can vary depending o...

Background The barn owl, a nocturnal raptor with cosmopolitan distribution, shows a great adaptability to different environments. Regarding prey, the barn owl is a rather selective species, but if changes in the abundance of the selected prey occur, it becomes an opportunistic predator and easily incorporates other prey in its diet, using a wide ra...

Cyprus is an important area for birds, hosting over 400 species. To protect the island’s rich avifauna effectively, it is important that the population status and trends in bird populations are monitored. The Game and Fauna Service has been conducting a series of bird surveys annually, for more than a decade, covering a range of habitats. In this r...

A special vulture edition of the German bird magazine "Der Falke" has been published (in German) in November 2016. This edition was produced in collaboration with the Vulture Conservation Foundation, and includes contributions from many European vulture experts. This report summarizes the Griffon vulture conservation status and efforts in Cyprus wi...

The mouflon population of Cyprus (Ovis orientalis ophion) comprises historically preserved feral descendants of sheep domesticated during the Neolithic. We determined genetic identity of this taxon in order to elucidate its systematic placement and enforce its protection. We used 12 loci of microsatellite DNA to infer genetic relationships between...

The release of exotic genotypes into the wild can lead to the extinction of local demes through the hybridization among distinct gene pools. This may occur between wild specimens and their domesticated relatives. Escaped pets represent a well-known pathway for the introduction of allochtonous resources, and island environments require major attenti...

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....

In two surveys conducted from March 1999 to March 2001 and from January 2004 to December 2006, a total of 3,950 ticks (belonging to ten different species) were collected from seven domestic and wild animals (goat, sheep, cattle, dog, fox, hare, and mouflon) from different localities throughout Cyprus. In order to establish their infection rate with...

Introduction: Nutritional myodegeneration (white muscle disease, WMD) results from selenium (Se) and/or vitamin E deficiency and affects a wide range of species. The Cyprus mouflon or agrino (Ovis orientalis ophion) is a wild sheep species endemic and unique to Cyprus. Materials and Methods: A 5-days-old mouflon lamb was found dead in the Platania...

A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://ec.europa.eu). Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities

Knowledge of the flight behavior of northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) is necessary for planning the layout of escape cover and other cover types, yet little relevant information is available We analyzed 300 flights of bobwhites in southern Texas during June 1992-May 1993. The average flight lasted 5.1 ± 0.21 sec (SE), attained a maximum heig...

Introduction: The Cyprus mouflon or agrino (Ovis orientalis ophion) is a wild sheep species endemic and unique to Cyprus. Materials and Methods: A 3-year-old male agrino was found dead in the Paphos forest. Gross and histopathological, and molecular analyses were performed. Results: The animal was cachectic and had a 3-cm³ swelling on the right max...