Reproductive payoffs of territoriality are snow-dependent in a mountain ungulate, the Alpine chamois

Female density and distribution are dependent on resource phenology and female availability strongly influences male mating behaviour and success. When a male adopts a ‘resource defence’ tactic, his reproductive success depends on the location and attractiveness of his territory. Environmental factors associated with territory quality are expected to influence mating success, for example, through territory features or male–male competition. In a protected population of a mountain-dwelling polygynous herbivore, the Alpine chamois Rupicapra r. rupicapra, we investigated the relationships among mating opportunities, some environmental variables (snow depth, topographic features and size of territories) and male intra-sexual competition for mating. We recorded the mating behaviour and territory size of 15 GPS-GSM radio-tagged territorial males, during five rutting seasons (early November to early December: N = 8 individuals in 2011, N = 9 in 2012, N = 8 in 2015, N = 11 in 2016, N = 7 in 2017; 80% of them were observed for more than one mating season) and related them to snow depth and topography of territories. In ruts with deep snow cover, territorial males had smaller territories and higher number of mating opportunities than in ruts with lower snow cover. Smaller territories showed the highest values of terrain roughness, in turn with little or no snow cover in the mating season, and were visited by a greater number of females, than larger territories. Number of wins was positively influenced by snow depth and negatively related to the frequency of aggressions. The frequency of male–male aggressive interactions was greater during ruts with deep snow cover and for males with territories at higher elevations; additionally, it was negatively related to interactions won. Thus, snow depth, which influences resource distribution and female movements, is confirmed as a strong determinant of male mating opportunities and mating behaviour

Hematology and serum biochemistry values of free-ranging Iberian wolves (Canis lupus) trapped by leg-hold snares

Hematology and serum biochemistry are important tools in assessing the health and physiological status of wildlife populations. Nevertheless, studies on free-ranging wolves (Canis lupus) are scarce, and no reference values are available neither for Iberian wolves nor for wolves captured with leghold snares. We report 37 hematology and serum biochemistry variables obtained from 26 free-ranging Iberian wolves captured with leg-hold snares between 2007 and 2014, including variables previously not reported in the literature. The values obtained are similar to the published reference intervals for Scandinavian wolves captured by darting from a helicopter, except for higher values for mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), red blood cell distribution width (RDW), leukocyte count, creatinine kinase (CK), ?-globulins, and total bilirubin (TBIL) and lower values for alkaline phosphatase (ALP). We propose that differences in leukocyte count, CK, and TBIL are related to the method of capture, while differences in RDW, MCHC, ALP, and ?-globulins could reflect physiological adaptations to environmental conditions, sampling, or pre-analytical artifacts. Lymphocyte count was lower and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio was significantly higher in older, reproductive females, while ALP and phosphorus were higher in juvenile wolves. For the first time, we describe hematology and serum biochemistry values of free-ranging Iberian wolves captured with leg-hold snares. The data reported here is the first published reference for wolves captured with similar methods and for monitoring Iberian wolves populations’ physiological and health status.We thank Nuria Fandos and Carla Ferreira, rangers from Xunta de Galicia and Parque Nacional de los Picos de Europa, and volunteers who helped during the trapping sessions. The wolves were captured under projects financed by Associacao de Conservacao do Habitat do Lobo Iberico (ACHLI) in Portugal and by Picos de Europa National Park, Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentacion y Medio Ambiente, and Xunta de Galicia in Spain. Sara Roque benefited from grant SFRH/BD/12291/2003 from Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia. Jose V. Lopez-Bao was supported by a postdoctoral contract from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. This is the paper no. 5 from the Iberian Wolf Research Team

Analyses of least cost paths for determining effects of habitat types on landscape permeability: wolves in Poland

Determining ecological corridors is crucial for conservation efforts in fragmented habitats. Commonly employed least cost path (LCP) analysis relies on the underlying cost matrix. By using Ecological Niche Factor Analysis, we minimized the problems connected with subjective cost assessment or the use of presence/absence data. We used data on the wolf presence/absence in Poland to identify LCPs connecting patches of suitable wolf habitat, factors that influence patch occupancy, and compare LCPs between different genetic subpopulations. We found that a lower proportion of cities and roads surrounds the most densely populated patches. Least cost paths between areas where little dispersal takes place (i.e., leading to unpopulated patches or between different genetic subpopulations) ran through a higher proportion of roads and human settlements. They also crossed larger maximal distances over deforested areas. We propose that, apart from supplying the basis for direct conservation efforts, LCPs can be used to determine what factors might facilitate or hinder dispersal by comparing different subsets of LCPs. The methods employed can be widely applicable to gain more in-depth information on potential dispersal barriers for large carnivores

Toward an Identification of Resources Influencing Habitat Use in a Multi-Specific Context

Interactions between animal behaviour and the environment are both shaping observed habitat use. Despite the importance of inter-specific interactions on the habitat use performed by individuals, most previous analyses have focused on case studies of single species. By focusing on two sympatric populations of large herbivores with contrasting body size, we went one step beyond by studying variation in home range size and identifying the factors involved in such variation, to define how habitat features such as resource heterogeneity, resource quality, and openness created by hurricane or forest managers, and constraints may influence habitat use at the individual level. We found a large variability among individual's home range size in both species, particularly in summer. Season appeared as the most important factor accounting for observed variation in home range size. Regarding habitat features, we found that (i) the proportion of area damaged by the hurricane was the only habitat component that inversely influenced roe deer home range size, (ii) this habitat type also influenced both diurnal and nocturnal red deer home range sizes, (iii) home range size of red deer during the day was inversely influenced by the biomass of their preferred plants, as were both diurnal and nocturnal core areas of the red deer home range, and (iv) we do not find any effect of resource heterogeneity on home range size in any case. Our results suggest that a particular habitat type (i.e. areas damaged by hurricane) can be used by individuals of sympatric species because it brings both protected and dietary resources. Thus, it is necessary to maintain the openness of these areas and to keep animal density quite low as observed in these hunted populations to limit competition between these sympatric populations of herbivores

Pubbliche amministrazioni e cittadini 2.0. Esplorando forme di partecipazione civica e relazionalità

"Il presente contributo si colloca all'interno degli studi che indagano le relazioni tra pubblica amministrazione (P.A.) e cittadini mediate da tecnologie digitali. Obiettivo è descrivere, attraverso un caso di studio, le caratteristiche della presenza delle amministrazioni comunali sui social network sites (SNS) e le relazioni che si sviluppano con i cittadini su queste piattaforme partecipative. Il caso di studio è relativo al Comune di Spello (PG), cittadina di 8900 abitanti, che dal 30 ottobre 2009 ha attivato un profilo ufficiale su Facebook allo scopo di “ridurre le distanze tra i cittadini e le istituzioni”. . La ricerca analizza i primi 200 post pubblicati dall'amministrazione e dai cittadini sulla bacheca del Comune nell'arco di 220 giorni. Sono descritte quantitativamente le diverse forme di presenza e di interazione (numero di iscritti, numero di post, autori dei post, presenza di apprezzamenti e commenti). Successivamente il corpus dei contenuti pubblicati è analizzato qualitativamente al fine di creare una tipologia delle interazioni e degli usi emergenti.