Miscellanea Herpetologica Gabonica V & VI

We report the first observations of the orange morph and new locality records for Atherissquamigera (Viperidae) in Gabon, and new Gabonese locality records, ecological data orunpublished museum material for Pelusios castaneus and P. chapini (Pelomedusidae),Kinixys erosa (Testudinidae), Trionyx triunguis (Trionychidae), Crocodylus niloticus,Mecistops cataphractus and Osteolaemus tetraspis (Crocodylidae), Agama agama and A.lebretoni (Agamidae), Chamaeleo dilepis, C. oweni and Rhampholeon spectrum(Chamaeleonidae), Hemidactylus echinus and H. mabouia (Gekkonidae), Gerrhosaurusnigrolineatus (Gerrhosauridae), Trachylepis maculilabris and T. p. polytropis (Scincidae),Varanus ornatus (Varanidae), Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia, Dipsadoboa underwoodi,Hapsidophrys smaragdinus, Philothamnus carinatus and P. heterodermus, Rhamnophisaethiopissa, Thrasops flavigularis (Colubridae), Pseudohaje goldii (Elapidae), Aparallactusmodestus, Atractaspis boulengeri, Buhoma depressiceps, Hormonotus modestus,Psammophis cf. phillipsii (Lamprophiidae), Python sebae (Pythonidae), Indotyphlopsbraminus (Typhlopidae), Bitis nasicornis and Causus lichtensteinii (Viperidae). We add onespecies each to Estuaire, Haut-Ogooué and Ogooué-Ivindo provinces’ reptile lists. Twosnake species are added to Ivindo National Park, bringing the total number of reptile speciesrecorded from the park to 64, i.e., half of the species currently recorded from Gabon. Wedocument predation cases of Pycnonotus barbatus (Aves: Pycnonotidae) on Hemidactylusmabouia, Philothamnus heterodermus on Arthroleptis variabilis (Amphibia: Arthroleptidae),Hormonotus modestus on Hemidactylus mabouia, Psammophis cf. phillipsii onGerrhosaurus nigrolineatus, Causus lichtensteinii on Sclerophrys sp. (Amphibia:Bufonidae) and feeding of Varanus ornatus on spaghetti

Alpine forests are a suitable habitat for the Hazel Dormouse

The Hazel Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) is commonly considered a typical lowland species, occasionally observed at higher elevations in mountain habitats. This study began with preliminary investigations in the Gran Paradiso National Park in the Western Alps, where nests of Hazel Dormice were observed at around 2000 m a.s.l. In 2019, a mark-recapture project started in two valleys (Valsavarenche and Val di Rhêmes), positioning six grids with 40 nest boxes from 1000 m to 2000 m a.s.l. to investigate the ecology and adaptations of dormouse populations along the altitudinal gradient. In these years, nest boxes were checked irregularly, and the number of marked animals was low. The number of individuals captured in the highest grids at 2000 m increased from 1 to 8 in Valsavarenche and from 11 to 15 in Val di Rhêmes. These results seem to confirm a continuous presence of the species at the upper edge of the forest vegetation. The data from Valsavarenche suggest some significant population fluctuations, but the effect of nest boxes on population densities cannot be excluded

Distribution of Glirids in an Alpine national park

In this long-term study, we evaluated the distribution of three species of Glirids: Hazel Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius), Garden Dormouse (Eliomys quercinus) and Edible Dormouse (Glis glis) in the Gran Paradiso National Park (Western Italian Alps). The aim was to investigate the ecology, adaptation strategies, and distribution of these dormouse populations along an altitudinal gradient. Monitoring started in 2015 and is still ongoing. We used five different techniques (searching for nests, grids of nest boxes, transects of live traps, nesting tubes, and footprint tunnels), placed along an altitudinal gradient from 700 to 2300 m a.s.l. We found a total of 680 signs of the presence of Hazel Dormouse and 46 individuals, 275 signs and 142 individuals of the Garden Dormouse and 674 signs and 67 individuals of the Edible Dormouse. The three species selected different altitudinal gradients: Edible Dormouse from 800 to 1700 m, with a prevalence between 800-1100 m; Garden Dormouse from 1100 to 2000 m, with a prevalence between 1400-1700 m. The Hazel Dormouse was ubiquitous from 800 to 2032 m, without a clear altitudinal pattern. Edible Dormice were mainly found in deciduous and mixed forests, while Garden Dormice usually occurred in coniferous forests. The Hazel Dormouse seemed to be regularly distributed in all forest types up to the tree limit. These results, obtained from diverse methodologies, permitted comparison between the monitoring protocols, improved knowledge of habitat selection by Glirids in Alpine habitats, as well as providing novel insights within the context of climate change

Forest management affects individual and population parameters of the hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius

Several studies have shown that forest management (e.g. for timber production) affects mammal com-munities. Nevertheless, we still lack a detailed understanding on how different management practicesinfluence individuals and populations. The overarching goal of our work was to investigate the demo-graphic response of the hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) to forest management. We focusedon a set of key individual (survival and litter size) and population (abundance of individuals) parame-ters to test whether forest management affects dormice and which habitat variables are responsible forsuch effects. We surveyed a dormice population for 3 years in a continuous forest in central Italy includ-ing sites subjected to different management regimes: 5 coppiced stands (2 recently coppiced and 3 oldcoppice stands), 2 abandoned stands with regrowing forest and 3 high forest stands. We found a strongeffect of forest management on hazel dormice, acting mainly through the variation in food resources.Regrowing forests were the most suitable stands for dormice, whereas recent coppices were the mostunsuitable, with an ephemeral presence of a few individuals. Old coppices and high forest stands wereboth able to sustain local populations but at lower densities and with a higher mortality and/or emi-gration of younger and/or weaker individuals than the regrowing forest. Through our detailed analyseswe were able to uncover the demographic mechanism underlying the effects of forest management onhazel dormice populations; our findings strongly suggest that maintaining an heterogeneous successionalcomposition may be the most effective strategy for the conservation of this species.This study was funded by WWF “Biodiversamente” and “Brusarosco” grants to A.M. Further funding was provided by: Riserva Naturale Selva del Lamone, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, private fund