Common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus l.1758) management in Serbia

The common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus L. 1758) is an allochtonous game species of great importance to the hunting sector in Serbia. Growing concerns over a decline in its population raise issues about the proper management and hunting of common pheasants. As this research tends to identify the importance of common pheasants to Serbian hunters, the present study is based on a mixed research model combining traditional analyses with social studies on Serbian hunters. The data utilized have been collected from the annual management plans of 272 hunting grounds across Serbia and the interviews with 377 hunters. The results obtained suggest that there are significant differences between the analyzed variables in the management plans examined, which indicates that the pheasant hunting management in Serbia is not harmonized. However, the social studies conducted identify the common pheasant as the most hunted and popular game species with Serbian hunters. Accordingly, the common pheasant hunting and management in Serbia has to be improved in order to meet the hunters' expectations and ensure their satisfaction

Analysis of the features of hunting grounds in Serbia

Covering almost the entire territory of Serbia, hunting grounds occupy a unique role not only in the country's hunting practices but also in game management and wildlife conservation. Therefore, it is useful to be acquainted with their characteristics in order to manage game in a sustainable manner. Nevertheless, there has not been a proper study on the condition of hunting grounds in Serbia since the country's transition process, which reshaped the hunting sector as a whole. The purpose of this research is to identify and analyze the features of hunting grounds in Serbia in order to establish a base for future scientific research and appropriate decision making. The research results were obtained on the basis of the data on 272 hunting grounds in Serbia, collated during the hunting year of 2012/2013 and compared with the last comprehensive hunting analysis at the national level in 2001. The analysis suggests that the regal hunting system is still predominant in Serbia. The quality of hunting grounds has been enhanced to a certain extent, although there are yet some challenges which pose a threat to sustainable management such as the oversized hunting areas, lack of employees and poor financial condition.Lovišta u Srbiji imaju jedinstvenu ulogu, pošto se prostiru preko skoro celokupne državne teritorije i služe na samo za lov, nego i za gazdovanje divljači i zaštitu divljih životinja. Zbog toga je korisno poznavati njihove osobine da bi se moglo gazdovati divljači na održiv način. Uprkos svojoj ulozi, od tranzicionih promena u Srbiji koje su preoblikovale i lovstvo, nije bilo odgovarajuće studije koja bi na nacionalnom nivou utvrdila stanje lovišta. Cilj ovog istraživanja je da analizira osobine lovišta u Srbiji i identifikuje njihove karakteristike radi uspostavljanja osnove za buduća naučna istraživanja i odgovarajuće donošenje odluka. Rezultati ovog istraživanja su dobijeni na osnovu podataka prikupljenih iz 272 lovišta u Srbiji za lovnu 2012/2013 godinu i upoređeni sa poslednjom sveobuhvatnom analizom lovstva na nacionalnom nivou iz 2001. godine. Analiza ukazuje da je u Srbiji i dalje dominantan regalni sistem gazdovanja. Kvalitet lovišta je donekle poboljšan, iako i dalje postoje izazovi koji ugrožavaju održivo gazdovanje, kao što su prevelike površine lovišta, nedovoljan broj zaposlenih i teška finansijska situacija

Wild boar management (Sus scrofa L.) in the Republic of Serbia

Wild Boar is an autochthonous big game species important for the domestic hunting sector. In the past decades this species is increasing in number across Europe, which influences the extent of crop damages and intensity of the human-wildlife conflict. In this study Wild Boar hunting management was analyzed both at the national and regional level. For that purpose data from management plans of 272 hunting grounds were used. Beside the management plans, this study includes a survey of 377 hunters. The results indicate that Wild Boar population abundance is increasing in the Republic of Serbia, partially because the planned and realized shooting are not harmonized. There are differences in hunting management between the regions of Vojvodina and Central Serbia. The survey has shown that among domestic hunters Wild Boar is a popular game species, especially due to the attractive way of hunting

MANAGEMENT AND INCOME OF THE ECONOMICALLY MOST IMPORTANT GAME SPECIES OF SERBIA

The most important hunting game species found in majority of established hunting grounds in the Republic of Serbia are roe deer, wild boar and hare. The objective of this paper is to determine abundance, shooting rate and income generated by managing mentioned game populations in Serbia. On the basis of data of the Republican Bureau of Statistics of Serbia the records on abundance and shooting rate in game species in the 2011-2021 period were collected. The value of shot animals has been determined both on the basis of market pricelist of the Hunting Association of Serbia for the 2021/22 hunting year and according to the structure of animals shot per certain game categories obtained in previous research. Shooting rate realized in relation to overall roe deer abundance in 2021 was 7.90% with the shooting value reaching 1,106,724 euros. Wild boar abundance index recorded population growth of even 33.53% in 2021 and percentage of population utilization accounted for 63.83% while value of shooting reached 834,509 euros being three times higher than the income of shooting established in 2011. Hare population abundance has recorded a drastic fall and this decreasing trend has been reflected also in a reduced shooting rate thus in 2021 the value of shooting rate of hare was 676,625 euros. The results of the analysis of abundance, shooting rate and trends regarding their values make a basis for indicating a direction of improvement and the measures to enhance the management of these game species populations

Assessing the origin, genetic structure and demographic history of the common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) in the introduced European range

The common pheasant, a game species widely introduced throughout the world, can be considered as an ideal model to study the efects of introduction events on local adaptations, biogeographic patterns, and genetic divergence processes. We aimed to assess the origin, spatial patterns of genetic variation, and demographic history of the introduced populations in the contact zone of Central and Southeast Europe, using mitochondrial DNA control region sequences and microsatellite loci. Both types of molecular markers indicated relatively low to moderate levels of genetic variation. The mtDNA analyses revealed that common pheasants across the study area are divided into two distinct clades: B (mongolicus group) and F (colchicus group). Analyses of the microsatellite data consistently suggested a diferentiation between Hungary and Serbia, with the pheasant population in Hungary being much more genetically homogeneous, while that of Serbia has much more genetic mixture and admixture. This cryptic diferentiation was not detected using a non-spatial Bayesian clustering model. The analyses also provided strong evidence for a recent population expansion. This fundamental information is essential for adequate and efective conservation management of populations of a game species of great economic and ecological importance in the studied geographical region.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The European Hare (Lepus europaeus) as a Biomonitor of Lead (Pb) and Cadmium (Cd) Occurrence in the Agro Biotope of Vojvodina, Serbia

The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of two heavy metals, lead and cadmium, in European hare liver samples, collected in agro biotope of northern Serbian province Vojvodina. Heavy metals such as lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) do not have any biological function in the animal body; however, they can be found due to the pollution in the environment. For the purpose of this study, in 196 samples from 17 different locations hare livers were analyzed for the occurrence of lead and cadmium. All samples were taken from hares harvested during the regular hunting season. The average value for lead in all analyzed samples was 884 µg/kg fresh weight (fw), with the range 59–3700 µg/kg fw. Only samples from two locations had the average concentration of lead which was within the permitted limit by the Serbian regulation. The average cadmium level in all samples was 243 µg/kg fw. The range of all samples was from 0 to 1414 µg/kg fw. Our research indicates that out of two investigated heavy metals, the occurrence of lead is more common and at a higher concentration in the agricultural development region of Vojvodina

Pan‐European phylogeography of the European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)

To provide the most comprehensive picture of species phylogeny and phylogeography of European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), we analyzed mtDNA control region (610 bp) of 1469 samples of roe deer from Central and Eastern Europe and included into the analyses additional 1541 mtDNA sequences from GenBank from other regions of the continent. We detected two mtDNA lineages of the species: European and Siberian (an introgression of C. pygargus mtDNA into C. capreolus). The Siberian lineage was most frequent in the eastern part of the continent and declined toward Central Europe. The European lineage contained three clades (Central, Eastern, and Western) composed of several haplogroups, many of which were separated in space. The Western clade appeared to have a discontinuous range from Portugal to Russia. Most of the haplogroups in the Central and the Eastern clades were under expansion during the Weichselian glacial period before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), while the expansion time of the Western clade overlapped with the Eemian interglacial. The high genetic diversity of extant roe deer is the result of their survival during the LGM probably in a large, contiguous range spanning from the Iberian Peninsula to the Caucasus Mts and in two northern refugia.202

Variability of seedlings of Douglas-fir provenances introduced from Canada

Introduction of Canadian provenances of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii Mir / Franco) in Serbia started with the first phase of testing their genetic potential by studying the effects of geographic characteristics of the locations from which the provenances originated (latitude, longitude and altitude) on the variability of the measured seedling properties. In the laboratory of the Institute for Forestry in Belgrade, germinability of Douglas-fir seeds was tested on the germination table ("Copenhagen table" or "Jakobson table") by the standards of ISTA. The analysis of variance and the regression and correlation analysis were applied in the study of the effects of geographic parameters of Canadian provenance locations on the variability of seedlings. The results show that there is a statistically significant effect of the provenance latitude on the length of seedlings. The effect of altitude is slightly smaller, while the longitude of the provenance location has the smallest effect on the studied property. The study of the variability of Douglas-fir provenances in their juvenile development, as seedlings, is essential for reliable planning and implementation of further tests within pilot projects on allochthonous sites in Serbia. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 43007: Studying climate change and its influence on the environment: impacts, adaptation and mitigation

Correlation between seedling length and Canadian Douglas-fir height

This paper presents the results of the studies of Douglas-fir seeds from Canada aimed at understanding and controlling the processes of the genetic growth potential of Douglas-fir in Serbia. The research was focused on the early stage of Douglas-fir growth, i.e. at the stage of seed germination in the laboratory. We tested the correlation between seed germination, seedling length and the height of plants in the nursery. The seeds from 13 Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) localities were obtained from Canada and compared under laboratory and nursery conditions. The seeds from different altitudes, latitudes and longitudes come from a part of the natural range of Douglas-fir in Canada. Before they are transferred and introduced, seed material must be tested with regard to the potential success of the selected tree species within the shortest possible time. This is necessary for the introduction of a tree species with a widespread natural range. Douglas-fir is a highly productive coniferous tree species with a broad geographical and ecological range. It has a wider natural range than other conifers and greater chances of successful adaptation to new ecosystems. Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance for regression, regression and correlation were used to analyse the data. A strong correlation was established between the height of four-year-old seedlings and seed characteristics (germination rate and seedling length)