Ramón C. Soriguer

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• Ph D.
• Researcher at Spanish National Research Council

In this study we have compiled the information from official databases about Iberian ibex, Capra pyrenaica, hunting yields, hunting trophies and hunting licenses in the Spanish regions where the species is present and hunted. Such quotas showed an increasing trend between 2005–2021 and, on average, during this period, ≈ 6400 animals were yearly har...

The common house mosquito Culex pipiens s.l., widely distributed in Europe, Africa, and North America has two recognized biotypes, Cx. pipiens biotype pipiens and Cx. pipiens biotype molestus, which hybridize. Despite their morphological similarities, these biotypes may exhibit ecological differences. This complex ecological mosaic may affect the i...

Background Sarcoptic mange is an emerging and neglected contagious skin disease caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei, affecting humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. Mange is the main disease and a major concern for the management and conservation of populations of Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica), a medium-sized mountain ungulate endemic to the Ib...

Most European rewilding initiatives are based on the recovery of large herbivores, particularly European bison Bison bonasus, aiming at restoring ecosystem processes and increase trophic complexity. The growing support for the release of bison as a wild species, and change its legal status, in Spain, as an ecological analogue of the extinct steppe...

Most European rewilding initiatives are based on the recovery of large herbivores, particularly European bison Bison bonasus, aiming at restoring ecosystem processes and increase trophic complexity. The growing support for the release of bison as a wild species, and change its legal status, in Spain, as an ecological analogue of the extinct steppe...

West Nile virus (WNV) is a flavivirus naturally circulating between mosquito vectors and birds, occasionally infecting horses and humans and causing epidemiologically relevant outbreaks. In Spain, the first big WNV outbreak was recorded in 2020, resulting in 77 people infected and 8 fatalities, most of them in southern Spain. Culex perexiguus was i...

Prescribed burns have recently become a widespread environmental management practice for biodiversity restoration to reduce fuel load, to provide forest fire suppression operational opportunities, to favor plant recruitment or to manage wild species. Prescribed fires were again applied in Doñana National Park (southern Spain) after decades of non-i...

Background Aedes albopictus is catalogued as one of the 100 most dangerous species worldwide. Native to Asia, the species has drastically increased its distribution range, reaching all continents except Antarctica. The presence of Ae. albopictus in Spain was first reported in 2004 in Cataluña (NE Spain), and it is spreading in the country. Methods...

ABSTRACT West Nile virus (WNV) is the most widely distributed mosquito-borne flavivirus in the world. This flavivirus can infect humans causing in some cases a fatal neurological disease and birds are the main reservoir hosts. WNV is endemic in Spain, and human cases have been reported since 2004. Although different studies analyse how climatic co...

Abstract A new regulation has led to the prohibition of recreational hunting on estates located within Spanish National Parks (NPs). Before the ban, eleven NPs in Spain had already reported negative ecological consequences associated with high densities of wild ungulates. The new situation that has occurred after the ban signifies that policies wi...

Home range and home range overlap can be used to describe use of space and movement of wildlife. During the last years, advancements in technology have greatly improved our understanding of animal movement, especially among large herbivores. Wild ungulate abundance and distribution have increased in temperate areas. Moreover, their diseases-includi...

Avian malaria parasites provide an important model for studying host-pathogen interactions, yet understanding their dynamics in vectors under natural conditions is limited. We investigated the effect of vector abundance, species richness and diversity, and habitat characteristics on avian Plasmodium prevalence and lineage richness in Culex pipiens...

Se ha estudiado el uso que hacen las liebres europeas Lepus europaeus de puntos de atracción colocados en sus áreas de campeo en el valle de Atez, Navarra, así como el patrón anual de deposición de excrementos en la zona. Los puntos de atracción consistieron en estacas de madera. Las densidades de excrementos en las parcelas marcadas con estacas fu...

The European Observatory of Wildlife (EOW, https://wildlifeobservatory.org/) is an EFSA-funded (European Food and Safety Authority) initiative run by the ENETWILD project (www.enetwild.com). The EOW aims to improve harmonizing wildlife monitoring methods throughout the Europe and provide the possibilities to estimate the density of wildlife across...

Iberian ibex (Caprapyrenaica) is an ecologically and economically relevant medium-sized emblematic mountain ungulate. Diseases participate in the population dynamics of the species as a regulating agent, but can also threaten the conservation and viability of vulnerable population units. Moreover, Iberian ibex can also be a carrier or even a reserv...

Introduction Sarcoptic mange, caused by Sarcoptes scabiei, is a disease with implications for wildlife conservation and management. Its severity depends on the host’s local skin immune response, which is largely unknown in Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica), a mountain ungulate dramatically affected by mange. In this species, the clinical outcome of sa...

recent outbreak in 2020 in Spain with 77 human cases and eight fatalities. However, the factors explaining the observed changes in the incidence of WNV in Europe are not completely understood. Longitudinal monitoring of WNV in wild animals across Europe is a useful approach to understand the eco-epidemiology of WNV in the wild and the risk of spill...

Long-term studies of community composition and relative abundance are key tools in wildlife management and biodiversity conservation. However, few studies of this kind are available for Mediterranean carnivores, especially in the Iberian Peninsula , a hotspot of mammal biodiversity in Europe. We used 15 years of carnivore monitoring data from the D...

The European Observatory of Wildlife (EOW) as part of the ENETWILD project, aims to improve the European capacity for monitoring wildlife populations, implementing international standards for data collection, providing guidance on wildlife density estimation, and finally, to promote collaborative, open data networks to develop wildlife monitorin...

The goal of this report is modelling the occurrence for carnivores at the European scale and to compare the output of occurrence with observed hunting yield (HY) density models for red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and badger (Meles meles). Random Forest function was used for modelling occurrence of species. Occurrences available from the past 30 years (1990...

The European population of Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata arquata) is a near-threatened wader subspecies that has undergone pronounced population declines over the past 30 years. To assess the demography and viability of its global population, we surveyed studies quantifying demographic rates (productivity and survival) and complemented this rev...

Emerging infectious diseases are one of the most important global health challenges because of their impact on human and animal health. The vector-borne West Nile virus (WNV) is transmitted between birds by mosquitos, but it can also infect humans and horses causing disease. The local circulation of WNV in Spain has been known for decades, and sinc...

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is a pesticide that was commonly used for decades worldwide. The use of DDT was banned decades ago in Europe due to its high toxicity and persistence in the environment, bioaccumulation in living organisms and biomagnification through food webs. However, monitoring using both invasive and non‐invasive methods h...

Living organisms are exposed to a wide range of substances - internal and external - which act like reactive oxygen species (ROS). Oxidative damage accurs when the balance between ROS and antioxidant defenses is altered. Urbanization and parasite infection are both important sources of ROS with different harmful effects on wildlife health, but the...

It is essential to provide tools to wildlife professionals and researchers in order to facilitate data collection on wildlife density estimation following standardized protocols in the field. This is relevant for efficient harmonized data management systems, from the field to final reporting. Our main objective was to facilitate the collection of i...

Multiple infections or co-exposure to pathogens should be considered systematically in wildlife to better understand the ecology and evolution of host-pathogen relationships, so as to better determine the potential use of multiple pathogens as indicators to guide health management. We describe the pattern of co-exposure to several pathogens (i.e. s...

The goal of this report is i) to model the occurrence and hunting yield (HY) density of wild ungulates not only for widely distributed species in Europe, but also for those ones which have a constrained distribution and ii) to compare the output of occurrence with observed HY. Random Forest function was used for modelling occurrence of species. We...

Reports of West Nile virus (WNV) associated disease in humans were scarce in Spain until summer 2020, when 77 cases were reported, eight fatal. Most cases occurred next to the Guadalquivir River in the Sevillian villages of Puebla del Río and Coria del Río. Detection of WNV disease in humans was preceded by a large increase in the abundance of Cule...

Sarcoptic mange affects mammal host species worldwide and, particularly, wild Caprinae throughout much of Eurasia. In the Iberian Peninsula, several outbreaks of sarcoptic mange in Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica) have been reported since the 1980s. Using data from a period of long-term monitoring and a seasonal autoregressive integrated moving avera...

Competition, predation, and diseases are key factors shaping animal communities. In recent decades, lagomorphs in Europe have been impacted by virus-borne diseases that have caused substantial declines in their populations and, subsequently, in many of their predators. We examined activity and habitat-use patterns of sympatric European rabbits (Ory...

Abstract This report presents the results of field activities in relation to the generation of reliable wild boar density values by camera trapping (CT) in 19 areas in Europe, mainly in East Europe. Random Encounter Model (REM) densities ranged from 0.35±0.24 to 15.25±2.41 (SE) individuals/km2. No statistical differences in density among bioregion...

The definition of the most relevant parameters that describe the wild boar (WB) population dynamics is essential to guide African swine fever (ASF) control policies. These parameters should be framed considering different contexts, such as geographic, ecological and management contexts, and gaps of data useful for the parameter definition should be...

Understanding factors that shape tick population genetic structure is important as they may be exploited in crafting strategies for vector control. Amblyomma tholloni, or “elephant tick” is a three-host tick whose adults preferentially parasitize African elephants. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of fragmentation of the host po...

In a previous report, ENETWILD proposed a generic model framework to predict habitat suitability and likely occurrence for wild ruminant species using opportunistic presence data (occurrence records for wild ungulate species from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility). In this report, for the first time, we develop models based on hunting yi...

Anthropogenic activities such as intensification of agriculture, animal husbandry and expansion of cities can negatively impact wildlife through its influence on the availability of high-quality food resources and pathogen transmission. The house sparrow (Passer domesticus), an urban exploiter, is undergoing a population decline. Nutritional constr...

The ENETWILD consortium (www.enetwild.com) aims at progressively defining the spatial interface between wild ungulates and livestock in Europe, which is essential to evaluate the risk for shared diseases. This is to provide preliminary risk maps of possible wild‐domestic interfaces at European scale using relatively similar sized regions by compili...

Contexto Probabilidad de detección Objetivo: identificar los factores que afectan a la probabilidad de detección y velocidad de disparo de las cámaras Fig. Diseño experimental Métodos 5 modelos Resultados & discusión CONCLUSIONES La probabilidad de detectar un individuo de una especie dada depende del modelo de cámara usado (no todas las cámaras de...

Camera trapping is a widely used tool in wildlife research and conservation, and a plethora of makes and models of camera traps have emerged. However, insufficient attention has been paid to testing their performance, particularly under field conditions. In this study, we have comparatively tested five of the most frequently used makes of camera tr...

The necropsy made to two adult individuals of red deer shot in Sierra Nevada National Park revealed infestation by second- and third-instar larvae of the oestrid Pharyngomyia picta (Meigen 1824). The animals were shot in Dehesa de las Hoyas, about 2000 m above sea level. This is the first record of this parasite in Sierra Nevada National Park. Furt...

La distribución de una especie depende de sus características básicas y sus necesidades que pueden ser muy diferentes dependiendo de factores bióticos y abióticos o la disponibilidad de recursos, o la presencia de potenciales competidores, depredadores o parásitos. De forma sistemática se describen a los caprinos en general y a la cabra montes en p...

In the previous ENETWILD model, the predicted patterns of wild boar abundance based on hunting yield data reached an acceptable reliability when the model was downscaled to higher spatial resolution. This new approach, based on the modelling of hunting yield densities instead of hunting yield counts and the assessment of spatial autocorrelation, wa...

The Dilution Effect Hypothesis (DEH) argues that greater biodiversity lowers the risk of disease and reduces the rates of pathogen transmission since more diverse communities harbour fewer competent hosts for any given pathogen, thereby reducing host exposure to the pathogen. DEH is expected to operate most intensely in vector-borne pathogens and w...

The uropygial gland of birds produces an oily secretion with different functions, mainly related to plumage protection. In addition, the volatile compounds of this secretion may act as chemical signals that provide information to conspecifics, but it is also possible that those compounds may further attract hematophagous insect vectors such as thos...

Urbanization is an important human-driven process that leads to biodiversity loss and alters the interactions between organisms, including disease transmission. Although urbanization affects both host and vector communities, the effects on vector-borne pathogens are still poorly understood. Here, we monitored variation in prevalence and richness of...

Mosquito host utilization is a key factor in the transmission of vector-borne pathogens given that it greatly influences host-vector contact rates. Blood-feeding patterns of mosquitoes are not random, as some mosquitoes feed on particular species and/or individuals more than expected by chance. Mosquitoes use a number of cues including visual, olfa...

Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors affect the capacity of mosquitoes for the transmission of vector-borne pathogens. Among them, mosquito microbiota may play a key role determining the development of pathogens in mosquitoes and the cost of infections. Here, we used a wild avian malaria-mosquito assemblage model to experimentally test the role of...

In order to define the spatial interface between wild boar and domestic pigs in Europe, the ENETWILD consortium (www.enetwild.com) described in a preliminary report the different sources of data for domestic pigs at European scale, and developed a preliminary risk map of possible spatial interaction between both groups. This model explored and asse...

According to the host manipulation hypothesis, parasites modify the hosts' phenotype to maximise their transmission success. Avian malaria parasites and related haemosporidians are vector-borne parasites infecting birds worldwide. Recent studies have reported a greater attraction of mosquitoes to infected birds, supporting the host manipulation hyp...

ENETWILD consortium has developed methodologies for modelling wild boar abundance distribution based on hunting yield (HY) data. Although the methodologies reached an acceptable reliability, when models were downscaled to higher spatial resolution the predictions of absolute numbers of hunted animals tended to overprediction. Some important issues...

We analysed the diversity of the cytochrome b gene in Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica) populations in the southern Iberian Peninsula by sequencing a fragment (987 bp) of this gene in 347 ibex from 10 population nuclei in Andalusia. We found 25 different haplotypes, which account for 64.10% of all haplotypes thus far described for the species (n = 39)...

Zoological gardens are home to a large number of vertebrate species and as such are suitable sites for both mosquito breeding and maintenance. They are excellent places for entomological studies of mosquito phenology, diversity, and blood-feeding patterns, as well as for xenomonitoring. During 2016, we sampled mosquitoes in Barcelona Zoo and used m...

Sarcoptic mange is a cosmopolitan disease affecting the skin of domestic and wild mammalian species and humans as well. In Eurasia, sarcoptidosis (also known as sarcoptic mange or scabies) affects mountain ungulates (Caprinae) among other wild hosts, and epizootic outbreaks induce variable mortality rates. This fact, coupled with the important ecol...

Vector‐borne diseases, especially those transmitted by mosquitoes, have severe impacts on public health and economy. West Nile virus (WNV) and avian malaria parasites of the genus Plasmodium, are mosquito‐borne pathogens that may produce severe disease and illness in humans and birds, respectively, and circulate in an endemic form in southern Europ...

this dataset provides long-term information on the presence of the Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica hispanica Schimper, 1848) in Sierra Nevada (SE Iberian Peninsula). Data on the abundance and demographic structure of the Iberian ibex population were compiled over the last three decades. Transects were laid out to record different variables such as th...

Animal tuberculosis (TB) is endemic in wild boar (Sus scrofa), red deer (Cervus elaphus), fallow deer (Dama dama) and cattle in south and central Spain. In order to clarify the processes that operate in the medium and long-term, we studied TB at the wildlife–livestock interface in Doñana National Park for 14 years (2006–2018) in relation to host de...

Recomendaciones para el manejo de la sarna sarcóptica en poblaciones silvestres de cabra montés En las últimas décadas, la sarna sarcóptica se ha convertido en la principal causa de los cambios demográficos en las poblaciones silvestres de cabra montés (Capra pyrenaica) de la península ibérica. Dada la importancia ecológica y económica de esta espe...

Parasites can manipulate their hosts to increase their transmission success. Avian malaria parasites (Plasmodium) are thought to alter the cues such as host odour, used by host-seeking mosquitoes. Bird odour is affected by secretions from the uropygial gland and may play a role in modulating vector-host interactions. We tested the hypothesis that m...

The ENETWILD consortium updated in August 2019 suitability maps of wild boar occurrence and relative abundance based on hunting statistics, providing predictions at 10x10 km. External validation of this relative abundance model and a new downscaling on a 2x2 km grid was addressed in the ENETWILD report in January 2020. In this report, we update and...

The use of soil moisture (SM) measurements from satellites has grown in recent years, fostering the development of new products at high resolution. This opens the possibility of using them for certain applications that were normally carried out using in situ data. We investigated this hypothesis through two main analyses using two high-resolution s...

Alien mosquito and vertebrate host species may create novel epidemiological scenarios for the transmission of pathogens naturally circulating in the invaded area. The exotic Monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) has established populations in Europe and is currently considered an invasive pest. Due to their high abundance in urban areas, Monk parakee...

Background: The dynamics of helminth infection in African elephant populations are poorly known. We examined the effects of age, sex, social structure and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) as primary drivers of infection patterns within and between elephant populations. Methods: Coprological methods were used to identify helminth...

The ENETWILD consortium provided in August 2019 a map at 10x10 km resolution for wild boar abundance based on hunting data. The availability of prediction maps at a spatial resolution comparable with the one of the home range of wild boar can be useful for further evaluation of risk of spread of African swine fever (ASF). Therefore, predictions of...

Factors such as the particular combination of parasite-mosquito species, their co- evolutionary history, and the host‟s parasite load greatly affect parasite transmission. However, the importance of these factors in the epidemiology of mosquito-borne parasites, such as avian malaria parasites, is largely unknown. Here, we assessed the competence of...

Molecular studies indicate that Phlebotomine sandflies (Diptera: Psychodidae) blood feed on many vertebrate species, of which only a few are proven parasite reservoirs. Investigating sandfly vector feeding preferences is therefore important and requires taking into account the availability and accessibility of host species. In terms of the latter,...

Although historical records indicate the presence of Ehrlichia and Babesia in African elephants, not much is known about their prevalence and diversity in elephants and their ticks, Amblyomma thollonii and Rhipicephalus humeralis. We amplified and sequenced the hypervariable V4 region of the 18S rRNA gene of Babesia and Theileria and the heat shock...

onocer la abundancia de una especie es el primer paso para valorar su estado de conservación y la gestión de sus poblaciones. El jabalí (Sus scrofa) ha recibido gran atención en los últimos años debido al aumento de sus poblaciones, incrementando los conflictos generados por su interacción con el ser humano. Sin embargo, conocer la abundancia de un...

Background: Avian malaria parasites are a highly diverse group that commonly infect birds and have deleterious effects on their hosts. Some parasite lineages are geographically widespread and infect many host species in many regions. Bird migration, natural dispersal, invasive species and human-mediated introductions into areas where competent ins...

Environment determines the distribution and prevalence of vector-borne pathogens due to its direct and indirect effects on the hosts, vectors, and pathogens. To investigate the relationship between Usutu virus occurrence and host biodiversity and to characterize the nidus of infection, we used field-based measures of host diversity and density (all...

Unfortunately, the original version of this article [1] contained an error. In the distribution map in Fig. 3, the presence of the mosquito Aedes vittatus was incorrectly indicated for Libya and Egypt.

Hunting statistics can be suitable to determine wild boar density estimates if a calibration with an accepted rigorous method is performed. Here, densities calculated from drive counts during collective drive hunting activities are compared against density values calculated by camera trapping using the random encounter method. For this purpose, we...

One of the main objectives of community ecology is identifying how co-occurring species use and share space and resources. Species of the same trophic level, such as large herbivores, are of fundamental interest in that context because competition for resources is likely. Segregation in space or on some axes of the ecological niche are processes al...

During last centuries the administrative boundaries and the level of protection of the Sierra Nevada mountain range (southern Spain) have drastically changed. On the other hand, methods used for ibex (Capra pyrenaica) monitoring in such space have also evolved. For the period XIXth century to first half XXth century, only data on ibex presence/abse...

Six documentary modes are recognised: poetic, expository, observational, participatory, reflexive and performative. Scientists untrained in filmmaking most often choose the expository mode since it possesses the same traits and conventions as used in most scientific narratives. Yet, this need not be the case given that a new generation of ‘scientis...

Mosquito feeding preferences determine host–vector contact rates and represent a key factor in the transmission of vector‐borne pathogens. The semiochemical compounds of which vertebrate odours are composed probably play a role in mosquito host choice. Birds spread secretions from uropygial gland over their feathers to protect their plumage, compri...

In October 2018 the ENETWILD consortium created suitability maps based on available data on wild boar occurrence at 10 km square resolution and initial version of abundance models based on hunting statistics at NUTS3 and NUTS2 resolution, that were statistically downscaled for MSs to 10x10 km grid squares. This report presents updated suitability m...

The epidemiological cycle of zoonotic phlebotomine‐borne Leishmania infantum is a complex system in which domestic animals and wildlife interact and participate in its maintenance and transmission. In this study, we combined entomological surveillance, xenomonitoring of L. infantum and identification of host feeding sources of engorged females to i...

Day range (DR), the distance travelled by an individual during the day, is an important metric in movement ecology that recently gained interest by its relevance for estimating population density through the random encounter model (REM). Traditionally, DR has been estimated using GPS technology and considering raw straight-line distances between co...

Knowledge about distribution and abundance of European wild mammals is essential for their conservation and management. ENETWILD consortium (www.enetwild.com) has been collecting presence and abundance data of wild boar, which will be completed with other wild mammals in the next years. Using the wild boar as a example, we develop a general framewo...

The Iberian ibex, Capra pyrenaica, is a highly valued big game species in the Iberian Peninsula. Despite many studies have focused on its biology and ecology, very few have addressed its exploitation through hunting, generally focusing on the temporal evolution of trophy size only. The main goal of our study is to estimate the annual collection quo...

Plasmodium transmission success depends upon the trade-off between the use of host resources to favour parasite reproduction and the negative effects on host health, which can be mediated by infection intensity. Despite its potential influence on parasite dynamics, the effects of infection intensity on both, birds and vectors, and on Plasmodium tra...

In 2007, the current outbreak of African swine fever (ASF), which severely affects wild boar populations and pigs, reached the Caucasus region. Since then, the virus has spread into eastern Europe and some places in central and western Europe (such as Belgium) through wild boar, domestic pigs, and human activities. The virus has raised serious conc...

Scientists have the tendency to communicate their scientific accounts using linearly structured narratives (Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion; IMRAD). Likewise, the linear narrative is dominant – due to force of habit – when scientists prepare films about their research. Yet, this does not necessarily have to be the case for the new gen...

Background: The transmission of mosquito-borne pathogens is strongly influenced by the contact rates between mosquitoes and susceptible hosts. The biting rates of mosquitoes depend on different factors including the mosquito species and host-related traits (i.e. odour, heat and behaviour). However, host characteristics potentially affecting intrasp...

Mosquitoes are the main vectors of pathogens affecting wild animals, livestock and humans. Here, we used molecular tools to assess the local circulation of filarial parasites in mosquitoes collected during 2013 from natural, rural and urban habitats from southern Spain. We screened parasites in 22,791 female mosquitoes of the genera Aedes, Culex an...