Factores que afectan a la variabilidad interanual en las bolsas de caza de conejo y perdiz: análisis de 20 años en un coto del Sureste Ibérico

Máster en Investigación Básica y Aplicada en Recursos Cinegéticos.Los estudios en ecología basados en largas series temporales son de gran utilidad por la información que proporcionan, sobre todo en especies como el conejo (Oryctolagus cuniculus) y la perdiz roja (Alectoris rufa), especies que en las últimas décadas presentan un declive poblacional. A partir de las bolsas de caza registradas en un coto de Alicante durante los últimos 20 años, exploramos los modelos que mejor explican las variaciones interanuales en las bolsas de caza en las modalidades de reclamo, descaste y periodo hábil de caza general mediante GzLM, utilizando variables explicativas asociadas al esfuerzo de caza, climáticas e índices de abundancia. Según los modelos resultantes, la perdiz capturada en el reclamo está positivamente asociada al número de jornadas, al número de cazadores por jornada, a las capturas por cazador durante la primera jornada y a la precipitación otoñal; la perdiz capturada durante el periodo general de caza aumenta con el número de jornadas, las capturas medias por cazador la primera jornada y la precipitación primaveral; el número de conejos cazados en descaste es función del número de cazadores por jornada, el número de jornadas, y la interacción positiva entre estas dos variables, aumenta con las capturas medias por cazador la primera jornada, la precipitación primaveral y las capturas registradas en el otoño anterior, pero es menor cuanto mayor es las bolsa del descaste anterior; y el número de conejos capturados en el periodo general de caza está relacionado positivamente con las capturas medias por cazador la primera jornada, las capturas en descaste, el número de cazadores por jornada y el número de jornadas, siendo la interacción entre estas dos últimas negativa; así mismo, la precipitación otoñal y el conejo abatido el año anterior están negativamente asociados con los conejos capturados en este periodo. Discutimos que, para una correcta gestión cinegética, debe regularse el esfuerzo de caza en función de la abundancia (para lo que deberían realizarse estimas fiables), regular el esfuerzo considerando simultáneamente el número de jornadas, de cazadores por día y los cupos, y considerarse las capturas anteriores, al menos en el caso del conejo, para lo que es necesario tener buenos registros de la actividad cinegética.Peer Reviewe

Evaluation of ecosystem services and conflicts associated with native and exotic wild ungulates

El funcionamiento de los ecosistemas incluye todos aquellos ciclos de materia y energía, así como la interacción entre los organismos. El funcionamiento natural ha sido alterado por las actividades humanas, especialmente la biodiversidad, provocando la modificación de las interacciones entre las distintas especies. Actualmente, la comunidad científica ha reconocido una crisis de biodiversidad por causas antropogénicas asociada a la extinción de especies o la introducción de especies exóticas. Esta pérdida de biodiversidad puede desembocar en efectos negativos sobre el bienestar humano, ya que dicho bienestar está asociado con los ecosistemas y sus componentes (las sociedades obtienen beneficios de los ecosistemas). Todos aquellos beneficios que los humanos obtienen de los ecosistemas son servicios ecosistémicos, como por ejemplo alimentos, herramientas, el mantenimiento de hábitats o incluso aspectos culturales relacionados. Uno de los grupos taxonómicos más relacionado con los humanos es el de los ungulados. Sin embargo, las relaciones entre los humanos y los ungulados silvestres dependen del contexto. En los países en vías de desarrollo las poblaciones de ungulados silvestres están en descenso, mientras que en los países desarrollados sus poblaciones están creciendo tanto en abundancia como en distribución. Este proceso, denominado “rewilding” en inglés y que podríamos traducir como reconstrucción de los ecosistemas, ha favorecido la aparición de interacciones negativas entre los humanos y los ungulados silvestres, como por ejemplo los daños a la agricultura y a la silvicultura. Para evitar o mitigar estos conflictos se emplean distintas herramientas de gestión como el vallado o los aportes suplementarios. Por lo tanto, la investigación sobre los ungulados y su relación con las personas debe abordarse desde una perspectiva socio-ecológica. Esta tesis se centra en las relaciones entre las personas y los ungulados silvestres, tanto en las interacciones positivas como negativas, y las herramientas de gestión empleadas para la mitigación de los conflictos. Concretamente esta tesis pretende evaluar: i) el estado del arte de la investigación sobre las interacciones humanoungulados (Capítulo 1); ii) los beneficios y perjuicios que proveen los ungulados silvestres para dos agentes implicados: la comunidad científica y los pastores (Capítulo 2); iii) el solapamiento de nicho entre la cabra montesa (Capra pyrenaica), especie nativa, y el arrui (Ammotragus lervia), especie exótica en la península ibérica, como ejemplo de un conflicto de conservación (Capítulo 3); iv) los efectos de los aportes suplementarios como herramienta de gestión sobre la especie objeto de la gestión (el arrui), otras especies no objetivo y las alteraciones en las propiedades edáficas (Capítulos 4 y 5). En el Capítulo 6 discutimos los resultados obtenidos en los capítulos anteriores. Para establecer el estado del arte con respecto a las interacciones que se dan entre los humanos y los ungulados silvestres, revisamos las publicaciones científicas sobre este tema. Este capítulo mostró que los artículos científicos abordan los estudios, principalmente, desde la perspectiva de los conflictos, teniendo en poca consideración los servicios ecosistémicos. En general, la mayoría de las publicaciones tienen en consideración a agentes implicados, siendo los principales actores sociales relacionados con los ungulados silvestres los gestores ambientales y los cazadores. Además, las herramientas de gestión empleadas para la mitigación de los conflictos no suelen ser evaluadas, aun siendo recomendadas algunas de ellas como el control letal y el uso de barreras y elementos disuasorios. En el Capítulo 2 abordamos las interacciones entre humanos y ungulados silvestres desde la perspectiva del nuevo término “Contribuciones de la Naturaleza para las Personas” (NCP por sus siglas en inglés) de dos de los agentes implicados menos considerados en las publicaciones científicas, es decir, los propios investigadores y los pastores. En este trabajo examinamos y comparamos las prioridades científicas a partir de los estudios publicados y las percepciones de los pastores respecto a los NCP proporcionados por los ungulados silvestres. Revisamos artículos científicos sobre los NCP proporcionados por los ungulados en España y realizamos entrevistas en profundidad a pastores en sistemas ganaderos extensivos donde los ungulados domésticos coexisten con los silvestres. Después comparamos si las prioridades científicas coinciden con lo percibido por los pastores. Ambos agentes implicados destacaron más los NCP negativos que los positivos, aunque éstos no coincidían en importancia. Respecto a los NCP negativos, los pastores no mencionaron la alteración del suelo, los daños a la silvicultura, a la salud humana, las colisiones de tráfico y los conflictos entre colectivos humanos. Consideraron como principales aspectos negativos de los ungulados los daños a la vegetación, la competencia por el pasto, los daños a otros animales de interés económico, los daños agrícolas y la transmisión de enfermedades. Por otro lado, mientras que en las publicaciones la caza deportiva adquiría gran importancia como NCP positivo, los pastores ni siquiera la tuvieron en cuenta, siendo para éstos agentes implicados la regulación de otros organismos el beneficio más importante. Estos resultados pueden tener dos implicaciones. Un mayor énfasis en los NCP negativos puede reforzar la idea de que los ungulados pueden suponer una amenaza para las personas en lugar de contribuir positivamente al bienestar social. El hecho de que las investigaciones no coincidan con los intereses de los pastores puede afectar a la tolerancia social hacia estas especies ya que los daños experimentados o percibidos no son evaluados. Nuestros resultados muestran la relevancia que supone considerar el conocimiento local, en este caso de los pastores, que es uno de los aspectos destacados por el enfoque que hemos tomado, es decir, desde los NCP. Con respecto al Capítulo 3, evaluamos la competencia potencial entre la cabra montés nativa y el arrui exótico estableciendo el solapamiento del nicho en condiciones de coexistencia en la península ibérica. Para ello comparamos el nicho trófico midiendo el contenido de isótopos estables de δ15N y δ13C en pelo, así como el nicho ambiental a partir de modelos de nicho basados en datos de presencia a escala fina. Después evaluamos si ambas especies coocurren espacialmente, o existe segregación espacial como mecanismo de facilitación de coexistencia. Nuestros resultados apuntaron a que ambas especies comparten un nicho trófico y un nicho ambiental similares. Encontramos una asociación espacial negativa entre la cabra montesa y el arrui. Por tanto, las especies son ecológicamente similares y es posible que la segregación espacial detectada favorezca la coexistencia entre ambas en las sierras mediterráneas que cohabitan. Para conocer los efectos de los aportes suplementarios para evitar daños agrícolas, en el Capítulo 4 evaluamos sus efectos en el comportamiento espacial del arrui, así como el uso de los comederos por parte de especies no objetivo de esos aportes. Para ello marcamos nueve arruis con collares GPS/GSM para establecer sus áreas de campeo sin aportes y con aportes, y lo mismo para el número de visitas a los comederos. Después comparamos ese área de campeo estimada y el número de visitas entre periodos para comprobar si hubo variaciones debidas a los aportes. Además, monitoreamos con cámaras de fototrampeo ocho los comederos para identificar que otras especies podían estar haciendo uso de los comederos. Obtuvimos que las áreas de campeo cambiaron para algunos individuos marcados, aunque no todos acudieron a los comederos durante los aportes. El número de visitas a los comederos se incrementó durante los aportes suplementarios. Identificamos a quince especies no objetivo que acudían a los comederos, especialmente el jabalí. Los arruis y los jabalíes mostraron una segregación temporal en cuanto al uso de los comederos. Nuestros resultados sugieren que la efectividad de los aportes suplementarios es limitada en cuanto al comportamiento espacial del arrui, por lo que la reducción de daños agrícolas es limitada. Continuando con los aportes suplementarios como herramienta de gestión evaluada, en el Capítulo 5, evaluamos los efectos de esta herramienta sobre el suelo de un área montañosa de clima mediterráneo. Evaluamos este aspecto porque las propiedades fisicoquímicas y biológicas del suelo pueden verse alteradas debido a la concentración de la fauna silvestre donde se deposita la comida suplementaria. Para ello tomamos muestras de suelo de tres comederos y comparamos las características del suelo entre tres áreas: suelo de los comederos, suelo de alrededor de los comederos, y un suelo de referencia no alterado por los comederos. Nuestros resultados sugirieron que las propiedades físicas del suelo no se veían afectadas en los comederos. Sin embargo, la conductividad eléctrica, la concentración de nutrientes, la actividad microbiana y las comunidades microbianas en los comederos sí se alteraron debido a los aportes y la concentración de fauna, siendo los efectos alrededor de los comederos más débiles. La dinámica edáfica pudo verse modificada debido a estas alteraciones detectadas y contribuir al cambio global. Finalmente, en el Capítulo 6 discutimos los resultados obtenidos en los capítulos previos, abordando también las limitaciones de cada uno, las implicaciones para la conservación de la biodiversidad y las perspectivas futuras sobre la relación entre los ungulados silvestres y los humanosEcosystem functioning includes all cycling materials and energy, the interactions among organisms and the abiotic system. This functioning has been modified due to human activities, especially the biodiversity, which has provoked alterations of interactions among species. Currently the scientific community has recognized a biodiversity crisis because of human activities, which could affect negatively to human wellbeing by means of losing ecosystems and its components. All those benefits that people obtain from ecosystems are ecosystem services (ES), as for example food, tools, maintenance of habitats or even cultural aspects. Historically, our species has been linked to many species and among them ungulates deserve a chapter of their own. Ungulates are animal species closely related with human societies. Relations between humans and wild ungulates vary depending of the context. In developing countries ungulate populations are declining whereas in developed countries they are increasing in abundance and distribution. This rewilding process has contributed to the rise negative interactions between humans and between wild ungulates, as for example agriculture or silviculture damage. To avoid or mitigate these conflicts people use different management tools such as fencing or supplementary feeding. So, research about ungulates and their relations with people should be done from a social-ecological perspective. This thesis focuses on the human-ungulate relations, both positive and negative interactions, and the evaluation of management tools employed to mitigate those negative impacts. Specifically this thesis aims to assess: i) the state of the art of research in human-ungulates relations (Chapter 1); ii) the services and disservices provided by wild ungulates for two stakeholders: scientists and shepherds (Chapter 2); the niche overlap and potential competition between the native Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica) and the exotic aoudad (Ammotragus lervia) as a paradigm of conservation conflict (Chapter 3); the effects of supplementary feeding effects on the target species (aoudad), other non-target species and soil properties (Chapters 4 and 5). Finally, in Chapter 6, the results of previous chapters are discussed. First (Chapter 1), we reviewed scientific publications to establish the state of the art about human-ungulate relations. We showed that most scientific publications approach this relations from the perspective of conflicts, being the ES less considered in that studies. Also, most of the publications included environmental managers and hunters as the main social actors regarding human-ungulate relations. Moreover, management tools employed to mitigate ungulate damages to human interests rarely were evaluated, and lethal control and the use of barriers were the main strategies recommended to mitigate or avoid damages. In Chapter 2, we approached to the human-ungulate interactions from the perspective of researchers and shepherds and the framework of ecosystem services based on the categories of beneficial nature’s contributions to people (NCP; Díaz et al., 2018) . We examined and compared scientific research and shepherds’ perceptions regarding the provision of NCP by wild ungulates. We reviewed scientific articles of NCP provided by ungulates in Spain and conducted questionnaires regarding NCP to shepherds in farming systems of Spain where domestic and wild ungulates cohabit. Then, we compared whether the scientific priorities match with those perceived by shepherds. Both stakeholders highlighted more detrimental than beneficial NCP, there were some mismatches between scientific priorities and shepherds’ perceptions. Regarding detrimental NCP, soil alteration, damage to silviculture, human safety, traffic collision and human-human conflicts were frequently studied but not mentioned by shepherds. In contrast, shepherds mainly considered vegetation damage, grazing competence, damage to animals with economic interests, crop damage and disease transmission to livestock as important detrimental NCP. Concerning beneficial NCP, whilst hunting was prominent in the publications, shepherds did not conceived it as an important beneficial contribution and considered the regulation of other organisms as an important benefit. These results can have twofold implications. The emphasis on detrimental NCP can reinforce the idea that ungulates can threaten humans rather than contribute to societies’ wellbeing. The fact that research does not address the interests of shepherds can affect the social tolerance towards ungulates as the damages experienced or perceived by shepherds are not studied. Our results show the relevance of considering local knowledge systems of shepherds, something highlighted by the NCP approach. Regarding Chapter 3, we evaluated the potential competition between the native Iberian ibex and the exotic aoudad measuring the niche overlap under cohabit conditions in the Iberian Peninsula. To do that, we compared the trophic niche by using the content of stable isotopes δ15N and δ13C in the hair, and the environmental niche by modelling habitat based on fine-scale presence records. Then we assessed both species’ co-occurrence to test for spatial segregation. Our results indicated that both species shared a similar trophic niche, showed a similar distribution of suitable areas and that their environmental niches were similar. Moreover, negative spatial association was found between the aoudad and Iberian ibex. So, both species are ecologically similar and suggest that spatial segregation might have favoured their co-existence in semiarid Mediterranean mountains where they cohabit. In order to clarify the effect of diversionary feeding (i.e. specific use of supplementary feeding to avoid crop damage), in Chapter 4 we evaluated its effect in the spatial behaviour of the aoudad. Also, we assessed the use of the diversionary feeding stations (DFS) by non-target species. Nine aoudads were tracked with GPS/GSM collars to establish their home ranges and the visits to the DFS. We compared the home ranges and the number of GPS locations in the DFS before and meanwhile food was available at them. Moreover, eight DFS were monitored with camera traps to identify which other species used the DFS. We found that home ranges varied for some individuals and that not all the tracked animals used the DFS. The number of locations in the DFS increased when food was available. Furthermore, other fifteen non-target species of birds and mammals used DFS, especially the wild boar. Aoudads and wild boars segregated temporally in their use of the DFS. These results suggest that diversionary feeding had little effect on the spatial behaviour of the aoudad and benefited other conflictive species. Continuing with the diversionary feeding as a management tool, we evaluated the effect of this tool on semiarid Mediterranean mountain soils, because physicochemical and biological soil properties can be altered due to the concentration of wildlife in areas where food is deposited (Chapter 5). We collected soil samples from three DFS and compared soil characteristics from three areas: feeding stations (FS), contour area (C; surrounding the feeding stations) and a reference soil (RS; not influenced by feeding stations). Our results suggested no effects on soil physical properties. However, we found that diversionary feeding altered electrical conductivity, nutrient concentration, microbial activity and microbial communities at FS, but effects were weaker in the C. Soil functionality could change due to these alterations of soil dynamics. Finally, Chapter 6 discusses the results presented in this thesis, the limitations of each chapter and the biodiversity conservation implications and future perspectives about wild ungulates and human relations

The underestimated role of carrion in vertebrates' diet studies

Aim: Despite the increasing scientific evidence on the importance of carrion in the ecology and evolution of many vertebrates, scavenging is still barely considered in diet studies. Here, we draw attention to how scientific literature has underestimated the role of vertebrates as scavengers, identifying the ecological traits that characterize those species whose role as scavengers could have gone especially unnoticed. Location: Global. Time Period: 1938–2022. Major Taxa Studied: Terrestrial vertebrate scavengers. Methods: We analysed and compared (a) the largest database available on scavenging patterns by carrion-consuming vertebrates, (b) 908 diet studies about 156 scavenger species and (c) one of the most complete databases on bird and mammal diets (Elton Traits database). For each of these 156 species, we calculated their scavenging degree (i.e. proportion of carcases where the species is detected consuming carrion) as a proxy for carrion consumption, and related their ecological traits with the probability of being identified as scavengers in diet studies and in the Elton Traits database. Results: More than half of the species identified as scavengers at monitored carcasses were not assigned carrion as food source in their diet studies nor in the Elton Traits database. Using a subset of study sites, we found a direct relationship between a species' scavenging degree and its rate of carrion biomass removal. In addition, scavenger species, which were classified as non-predators and mammals had a lower probability of being identified as scavengers in diet studies and in the Elton Traits database, respectively. Main Conclusions: Our results clearly indicate an underestimation of the role of scavenging in vertebrate food webs. Given that detritus recycling is fundamental to ecosystem functioning, we encourage further recognition and investigation of the role of carrion as a food resource for vertebrates, especially for non-predator species and mammals with higher scavenging degree.JM was supported by a Basque Government predoctoral grant (PRE_2018_2_0112), ZMR, LNA and EA by contracts co-funded by the Generalitat Valenciana and the European Social Fund (ESF) (APOSTD/2019/016, ACIF/2019/056 and APOSTD/2021/028 respectively). MM, JMPG and ESG were funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, by ‘European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR’, ERDF ‘A way of making Europe’ and by ESF ‘Investing in your future’ (grant numbers RYC-2015-19231, IJC-2019-038968, TED2021-130890B-C21, PID2021-128952NB-I00 and RYC-2019-027216-I). ESG was also partially funded by the HORIZONMSCA-2021-SE-0 action number: 101086387, ‘REMARKABLE’ project. ZMR and DRG were also funded by the Junta de Andalucía (POSTDOC_21_00353 and PREDOC_00262). RPR was co-funded by the ESF and Plan Propio I+D+i UCLM

The value of transhumance for biodiversity conservation: Vulture foraging in relation to livestock movements

Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature.In recent decades, intensive techniques of livestock raising have flourished, which has largely replaced traditional farming practices such as transhumance. These changes may have affected scavengers’ behaviour and ecology, as extensive livestock is a key source of carrion. This study evaluates the spatial responses of avian scavengers to the seasonal movements of transhumant herds in south-eastern Spain. We surveyed the abundance of avian scavengers and ungulates, and analysed the factors affecting the space use by 30 GPS-tracked griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus). Griffons’ foraging activity increased in the pasturelands occupied by transhumant herds, which implied greater vulture abundance at the landscape level during the livestock season. In contrast, facultative scavengers were more abundant without transhumant livestock herds, and the abundance of wild ungulates did not change in relation to livestock presence. We conclude that fostering transhumance and other traditional farming systems, to the detriment of farming intensification, could favour vulture conservation.CRUE-CSICSpringer Natur

Polymerizable Materials for Diffractive Optical Elements Recording

The technologies based on holographic and photonic techniques related to the optical storage and optical processing of information are rapidly evolving. One of the key points of this evolution are the new recording materials able to perform under the most specific situations and applications. In this sense, the importance of the photopolymers is growing spectacularly. This is mainly due to their versatility in terms of composition and design together with other interesting properties such as self-processing capabilities. In this chapter, we introduce the diffractive optical elements (DOE) generation in these materials and some of the most important parameters involved in this process. The deep knowledge of the material is essential to model its behavior during and after the recording process and we present different techniques to characterize the recording materials. We also present a 3D theoretical diffusion model able to reproduce and predict the experimental behavior of the recording process of any kind of DOE onto the photopolymers. The theoretical results will be supported by experimental analysis using a hybrid optical-digital setup, which includes a liquid crystal on silicon display. Besides this analysis, we study a method to improve the conservation and characteristics of these materials, an index-matching system

Holographic Data Storage Using Parallel-Aligned Liquid Crystal on Silicon Displays

The parallel-aligned liquid crystal on silicon (PA-LCoS) microdisplay has become a widely used device for the photonics community. It is a very versatile tool that can perform several tasks which transforms it into a key element in many different photonics applications. Since our group is interested in holography, in this chapter, we want to use these displays as the data entry point for a holographic data storage system (HDSS). Due to the novelty of this kind of device, we have done an intense work characterizing it. These efforts are reflected in this chapter where the reader will find two different characterization methods that will enable to predict the performance of the device in a specific application. Additionally, we present how a phase-only device can be used as a data pager using different modulation schemes and combined with a photopolymer as the holographic recording material

Vertebrate populations' trends across the Iberian Peninsula

Resumen del trabajo presentado a: 2nd Meeting of the Iberian Ecological Society (SIBECOL); XXI conference of the Iberian Association of Limnology (AIL) and 21st National Congress of Ecology of the Portuguese Ecological Society (SPECO), celebrados en Aveiro (Portugal) del 3 al 8 de julio de 2022.Understanding and identifying the impacts of multiple stressors on natural populations has become a key objective for post-2020 biodiversity conservation. Of particular concern are the impacts of stressors at the local scale, which are not necessarily reflected in current global conservation assessments. As a hotspot of biodiversity, the Iberian Peninsula is an area of special interest for conservation, but it is currently facing myriad environmental problems. Yet, a synthesis of the impacts of multiple stressors on the Iberian faunal populations is glaringly missing. To contribute to this challenge, we join our efforts in an Early Career Researchers project funded by SIBECOL, which aims to synthesise current knowledge on population trends of Iberian marine, terrestrial and freshwater vertebrates, and, eventually, to identify the most common stressors for Iberian fauna populations, and their differences between major taxonomic groups and ecosystems. Here, we will present the results of the first phase of this project, whose objective was to describe the trends of Iberian vertebrate populations and identify knowledge gaps related to taxonomic groups and ecosystems. To that aim, we conducted an extensive literature review, with more than 5,000 scientific manuscripts and grey literature screened. From this initial review, and after applying data quality controls, we obtained > 1,000 population time series of Iberian vertebrates across marine, terrestrial, and freshwater ecosystems. Once we compiled this database, we analysed the population trends using a two-step modelling process: (i) first, we applied state-space models to derive the population trend of each population time series; and (ii) second, we used multilevel Bayesian models to determine the factors influencing these population trends. Overall, we found that Iberian vertebrate populations display a disparity in trends, with both declines and increases, with fishes (both marine and freshwater) being the taxa showing clear signs of decline. Additionally, we identified important gaps in monitoring data across the Iberian Peninsula, with amphibians and reptiles severely underrepresented in our dataset, despite being among the most threatened taxonomic groups. These gaps may limit our understanding of the impacts of stressors at local scales and eventually bias current conservation assessments. Overall, our approach will bridge the significant gap in our knowledge between the global and local scale conservation status of wild Iberian populations and help focus future conservation policies.Peer reviewe

Update of model for wild boar abundance based on hunting yield and first models based on occurrence for wild ruminants at European scale

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, was only applied with simulated data and with data from two regions at hunting ground level, the smallest spatial resolution. In this report, (1) we evaluate whether this approach can correct the overpredictions for high-resolution predicted patterns when raw data are present at a different spatial resolution (i.e. the European region). For this purpose, hunting yield densities were incorporated as response variable (one model per bioregion) and predictions reliability at 10x10km and 2x2km spatial resolution were assessed. Internal validations and comparisons with the previous two-step model carried out at European scale were addressed, as well as an evaluation with external data at the same scale at country level. The model presented certain overprediction (much less than the previous model) of the total hunting bags reported per country, although a good correlation in terms of values and linearity between observed and predicted values was achieved. Secondly (2), a generic model framework to predict habitat suitability and likely occurrence for wildlife species using opportunistic presence data was proposed (occurrence records for wild ungulate species from the past 20 years exclusively from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility extracted on 9/12/2020). Across all wild ungulate species (elk (Alces alces), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), red deer (Cervus elaphus), dam deer (Dama dama), muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi), wild boar (Sus scrofa)) the model framework performs well. For those species where area under the curve is below 0.7 we note lower accuracy in predicting absences, which requires further investigation to understand the root cause; whether a result of underlying assumptions regarding the testing data or due to the model performance itself.EFSA-Q-2020-00678Peer reviewe

Update of model for wild ruminantabundance based on occurrence and first models based on hunting yieldat European scale

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 yield data (HY) for the most widely distributed wild ruminant species in Europe: roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and red deer (Cervus elaphus). We also update models based on occurrence (roe deer, red deer, fallow deer (Dama dama), European moose (Alces alces) and muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi), evaluate the performance of both approaches, and compare outputs. As for HY models, we could not conduct one model per bioregion as there are not enough data for modelling in some bioregions, and therefore, we calibrated a unique model, including eco-geographical variables as predictors. The calibration plots for HY models showed a good predictive performance for red deer in the Eastern bioregion and roe deer at Eastern and Western. The abundance distribution pattern of red deer HY was widely scattered over all Europe, as expected for a widely distributed species which shows high ecological plasticity, and roe deer presented the highest abundance in Atlantic and Eastern Europe, progressively decreasing towards Northern Mediterranean bioregions. Overall, calibration plot did not perform well in the Northern region, which could be due to the low availability of data for both species in this bioregion. As for occurrence data models, performances using our revised approach for most species showed similarly moderate predictive accuracy. To sum, HY model projections showed good patterns where good quality data was provided, while worst predictions are found in neighbouring countries/bioregions. Two approximations to be explored for next models are: (i) modelling HY per bioregion providing more flexibility to the models, even if data projection is done at lower resolution scales, and (ii), modelling HY by accounting the fact that certain countries provide most data, to avoid that these areas overinform the model. As for occurrence data model, next steps for data acquisition and occurrence data modelling are: (i) review target group definitions for each species, (ii) revise definitions of “true” absence for model testing for better parity with fitting, and (iii) either replace principal component analysis with variance inflation factor analysis to remove co-correlates and model calibration for variable selection or develop post-model analysis to recover environmental dependencies.EFSA-Q-2020-00679Peer reviewe

Wild boar ecology: a review of wild boar ecological and demographic parameters by bioregion all over Europe

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 identified. This information would allow better harmonized monitoring of WB populations and higher impact of ASF management actions, as well as better parametrizing population dynamics and epidemiological models, which is key to develop more efficient cost-benefit strategies. This report presents a comprehensive compilation and description of parameters of WB population dynamics, including general drivers, population demography, mortality, reproduction, and spatial behaviour. Beyond the collection of current available data, we provided an open data model to allow academics and wildlife professionals to continuously update new and otherwise hardly accessible data, e.g. those from grey literature which is often not publicly available or only in local languages. This data model, conceived as an open resource and collaborative approach, will be incorporated in the European Observatory of Wildlife (EOW) platform, and include all drivers and population parameters that should be specified in studies on wild boar, and wildlife in general, ecology and epidemiology at the most suitable spatio-temporal resolution. This harmonized approach should be extended to other taxa in the future as an essential tool to improve European capacities to monitor, to produce risk assessment and to manage wildlife under an international perspective.EFSA-Q-2022-00047Peer reviewe