Rabah Zebsa

University 8 May 1945 Guelma

The rapid spread of the non-native species Harmonia axyridis in Algeria has the potential to harm local biodiversity, create new challenges for natural resources management, and impact economies. Through an investigation on social media and a citizen science platform, three new occurrences of this species have been discovered in different parts of...

In response to alerts from farmers in Bejaia region (central-north Algeria) about the decline of their fig trees, a survey was conducted between 2019 and 2021 in the main localities known for fig crops. Hypocryphalus scabricollis (Eichhoff) (Coleoptera, Curculionidae: Scolytinae) was identified as the causal agent of fig tree decline in the region....

In desert ecosystems, arthropods such as scorpions are understudied, and sufficient information is still lacking regarding their biodiversity. Specimen collection was carried out over 24 months (2016–2017). This study assessed the phenology, abundance, richness and diversity of scorpion species in arid ecosystems of the Sahara desert of Algeria (Gh...

Camel livestock is an ancestral activity in Algeria; however, climate change has forced camel herders to modify their breeding practices to make them more sustainable. This study summarized livestock production practices, milk qualities, and the potential of camel livestock to preserve production ability under global warming. To collect data relate...

Arbia goat is the most common indigenous breed of Northeastern Algeria, and it has an acceptable production capacity in that region. The gender, litter size, parity, year and month of kidding were used as source of variation of birth weight. A total of 474 kids, reared by nine smallholders under extensive breeding conditions,, were weighed immediat...

The core objective of the present study is to analyze the regionalization and spatio-temporal variations of drought over the watershed Constantinois-Seybouse-Mellegue (Northeast Algeria) during the years 2000 to 2020, based on the vegetation health index (VHI) derived from moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS). VHI depends on heat s...

Decreased ambient temperature and shorter reproductive seasons are the two main obstacles that ectotherms face at higher elevations. Studies have shown that some life history traits such as phenological windows of activity, duration, and fitness components vary as elevation increases. However, studies on the elevational gradient at the southern ran...

Assessing temporal changes of the distribution of threatened species is paramount for effective management. Threatened species are sensitive to environmental changes and can be extirpated rapidly due to climatic and anthropogenic effects. Here, we monitor the distribution of the locally critically endangered Urothemis edwardsii in northeastern Alge...

Species adjust their behavior and life-history to adapt to local environmental conditions. Species with a broad ecological niche often show signatures of local adaptations to different environment, particularly in extreme ones. Here, we investigate local adaptation in different populations of the North African Sahara frog (Pelophylax saharicus) liv...

Algeria ratified the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change which is committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through renewable energy promotion, expanding forest areas and improving water resources. However, the exploration and the exploitation of shale gas are authorized in Algeria. Here, we discuss the socioeconomic factors that have led Alg...

During the recent decades, adverse effects of unexpected contaminants, such as heavy metals on raw cow milk quality, have threatened human health. The objective of this study was to determine heavy metal levels in raw milk collected from autochthonous bovine breeds in the eastern region of Algeria. Eighty-eight pooled milk samples were analyzed usi...

Although odonates of Algeria have been studied for more than 170 years, some habitats such as highland streams have been largely overlooked. Here, we report the first record of Pyrrhosoma cf. nymphula in the Kabylia region in a stream running through an oak forest at 1 200 m a.s.l., Algeria. The locality is 400 km from the nearest known population...

Atmospheric conditions play an important role in structuring avian communities in space and time. Here we assess the role of weather conditions on the distribution and abundance of the enigmatic glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) in Northeast Algeria in both wintering grounds and in breeding areas in a survey spanning from 2011 to 2019. During the...

Recent range expansion of many species northward and upward in elevation suggests that the expanding species are able to cope with new biotic interactions in the leading edge. To test this hypothesis, we used a common garden experiment expanding the elevation range of an obligatorily univoltine dragonfly (Sympetrum striolatum) to investigate whethe...

In the Mediterranean, Urothemis edwardsii is one of the most threatened dragonfly species with a relict population restricted to the northeast of Algeria. Despite the recent subtle local expansion in the geographic distribution of the species during the past decade, studies on the life history of the species are still lacking. We carried out a stud...

The white-headed duck is a globally threatened species and its populations have become fragmented and undergone major decline in recent decades. Changes including long-term abundance (five times from 2005 to 2018) and diurnal activity budget (2010−2011 and 2017−2018) with respect to the effect of habitat features at Boussedra marsh (unprotected are...

Species adjust their behavior and life-history to adapt to local environmental conditions. Species with large ecological prevalence often show signatures of local adaptations to different environment, particularly in extreme ones. Here, we investigate local adaptation in different populations of the North African Sahara frog ( Pelophylax saharicus...

Ectotherms respond quickly to environmental change and thus are prone to show adaptive mechanisms across a gradient of environmental conditions. Frogs in particular have been widely used in experimental ecology to test life history theory and plasticity across gradients. However, little has been carried out on the North African Sahara frog (Pelophy...

Accelerated spread of the non-native species Harmonia axyridis in Algeria may pose problem to local biodiversity, and new challenges to natural resource management, and economies. Three new records of this species have been detected in different part of the country via an investigation on social media platforms and, in a citizen science database. O...

Capsule: Collective roosting behaviour of the Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis was influenced by the weather and the season. Aims: To document the roosting behaviour of the Cattle Egret and assess the relationship between weather conditions and four components of the roosting behaviour including the population size, duration of roost occupancy, the timin...

A new population of the endangered North African endemic damselfly Calopteryx exul Selys, 1853, is reported from Algeria. The species was found on the Bousselam river in Bejaia province, central North Algeria, in three different localities. Reproductive behaviour was observed. These new findings extend the known geographic range of the extant popul...

Theory predicts that within‐population differences in the pace‐of‐life can lead to cohort‐splitting and produce marked intraspecific variation in body size. While many studies showed that body size is positively correlated with fitness, many argue that selection for the larger body is counterbalanced by opposing physiological and ecological selecti...

The reproductive behaviour of the Atlanto-Mediterranean Erythromma lindenii Selys has been studied before in Europe, but not in North Africa where the climate is warmer. We investigated the reproductive behaviour in a natural population in Northeast Algeria. We found that the species is non-territorial with quasi-exclusive underwater oviposition. T...

In 2018 we rediscovered the regionally critically endangered Lindenia tetraphylla (Vander Linden, 1825) in the El Kala National Park, Northeast Algeria, after 170 years with no record. A total of ten individuals were observed in the Ramsar listed Lac Noir along with dense populations of the regionally threatened Urothemis edwardsii and Acisoma infl...

Emergence is a critical phase in the life cycle of odonates because then they are highly susceptible to predation and damage. Thus the ecological understanding of this phenomenon is crucial, particularly for the conservation and management of threatened species. We studied the emergence ecology of the regionally endangered damselfly (Coenagrion mer...

Samraoui (J Insect Conserv. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-017-9966-2, 2017) claims that he shows evidence that our conservation plan of Urothemis edwardsii has failed and that natural dispersal was the only cause of the recent rapid range expansion of the species in Northeast Algeria. Here, we show that his analysis is biased, many of his argument...

Understanding how culture may influence biodiversity is fundamental to ensure effective conservation, especially when the practice is local but the implications are global. Despite that, little effort has been devoted to documenting cases of culturally-related biodiversity loss. Here, we investigate the cultural domestication of the European goldfi...

The restoration of endangered relict populations is challenging in conservation biology because they require specific environmental conditions within an inhospitable regional climate. Urothemis edwardsii Selys is the most endangered dragonfly in the Mediterranean with only one known relict small population (Lac Bleu) left in Northeast Algeria. With...

Several odonate species are threatened in the Mediterranean basin and some of them show alarming decreasing trends. The distribution and population estimations provided by the IUCN are based on occasional field sampling or non-rigorous methodologies and could be erroneous and misleading. To obtain reliable estimations of the population size and dis...

Sympatric territorial species are subject to interference competition when they share the same resources. The interaction becomes stronger when the coexisting species share similar traits, which is often the case in congenerics. In this study, we investigated the body size, reproductive behaviour, and microhabitat use of two congeneric dragonflies,...

The study of the reproductive biology of House Martins Delichon urbica was carried out in the cities of Guelma and Hammam Debagh, Northeast Algeria during two years 2013 and 2014. Birds of this species produce two broods per year and per breeding pair. At both study sites, the egg-laying period lasted for almost four months. Egg weight and volume d...

From August 2007 until July 2012, totals of over 29,000 Greater Flamingoes were reported each year in all wetlands of western Algeria at the end of winter. During the same period, 17,000 to 19,500 individuals were counted during the breeding season. Among the seven wetlands in the region, the Chott Ech-Chergui (Saida El-Bayadh), the Grande Sebkha o...

The Algerian Cubtail (Gomphus lucasii Selys) (Odonata: Gomphidae) is a river-dwelling dragonfly and one of the least known gomphid in the Palearctic. A survey of the movement patterns and habitat requirements of adults was conducted in the largest currently known population, located in the Seybouse River (Northeast Algeria). Daily mark-release-resi...

Voltinism is an important life history trait that varies with the environment. In temperate zones, insect populations take a substantially longer time to reach the adult stage in the northern compared to the southern regions. In this study, emergence pattern and larval growth of the threatened zygopteran (Odonata)Coenagrion mercurialewere investiga...

Emergence and seasonal regulation of the dragonfly Onychogomphus costae Selys, 1885, were surveyed thoroughly during two consecutive years from two nearby stretches upstream the Seybouse River, northeastern Algeria. The emergence season started in mid-May and lasted 68 and 58 days showing a peak in late May and early June in 2011 and 2012, respecti...

Emergence of Gomphus lucasii Selys, 1849, an unstudied Maghreb endemic, was synchronised by overwintering in the final stadium in the Seybouse River in northeastern Algeria. Regular collections revealed that half of the annual population emerged during 10 days, showing a typical ‘spring species’ emergence pattern. Sex ratio was slightly male biased...

Coenagrion mercuriale is a threatened damselfly in most parts of its geographic distribution. It is listed as endangered in North Africa, where no data on its biology or ecology are available. This study aims to illustrate the reproductive behaviour and habitat preferences of adults in a population located in north-east Algeria, representing the so...

Knowledge of both phenology and habitat selection are important assets for conservation and management purposes. Generally, aquatic insect species have an optimal season and larval microhabitat in which their survival and reproductive success are high. In odonates, emergence is usually a seasonal-restricted process during which the insect has to fi...

A study on the reproductive biology and behaviour of the regional critically endangered Urothemis edwardsii Selys was conducted in the relict subpopulation of Lake Bleu (North-east Algeria) during the reproductive season of 2012. The reproductive behaviour was described from the pair formation to the end of oviposition. Copulation duration was 98.5...

Abstract Habitat heterogeneity has been shown to promote co-existence of closely related species. Based on this concept, a field study was conducted on the niche partitioning of three territorial congeneric species of skimmers (Anisoptera: Libellulidae) in Northeast Algeria during the breeding season of 2011. According to their size, there is a des...

The last instar exuviae of the critically endangered Urothemis edwardsii Sélys 1849 is described and illustrated based on exuviae collected from Lake Bleu, Numidia (Northeast Algeria). The species is readily distinguishable from other local libellulids by its large size, coloration pattern, and long dorsal spines. The presence of spiniform setae on...

Clutch size is an important fitness component often quantified artificially by inducing oviposition in libellulid females. Female behavior and egg production of the yellow-veined skimmer, Orthetrum nitidinerve, were studied in northeast Algeria during its reproductive season. Data on reproductive behavior and biology of this Mediterranean endemic s...

Considéré pendant longtemps comme hivernant en Algérie avec un effectif relativement réduit, le Flamant rose Phoenicopterus roseus s’est reproduit de manière régulière à la sebkha d’Ezzemoul, localisée dans les Hauts Plateaux du nord-est algérien, au cours des sept dernières années (2003-2009). Cette période a vu le Flamant rose tenter de nicher...