Carabid beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) richness and functional traits in relation to differently managed grasslands in the Alps

<div><p>Summary</p><p>Species richness, composition, and functional traits of carabid beetle assemblages (Coleoptera: Carabidae) were studied in relation to different grassland management. Carabid beetles were sampled during the summers 2008 and 2009 by 165 traps located in 11 sites in the central-eastern Italian Alps. Using mixed effect models to account for potential spatial bias, we found that mown grasslands had significantly more species, a lower proportion of wingless species and a lower proportion of species with long larval development than grazed and natural grasslands. Within grazed and mown grasslands, neither cattle density nor number of cuts had any significant effect neither on species richness nor on any of the traits. The influence of grassland management can be summarised as follows: (1) grazing does not change community structure and functional traits compared to natural grasslands; (2) mowing negatively affects the carabid beetle assemblages; (3) the intensity of grazing and of cutting may not affect the structure of species assemblages of ground beetles. Our results support the hypothesis that agroecosystem practices in alpine grasslands influence carabid beetle communities. Specifically, the species with traits typical of undisturbed habitats (low dispersal abilities and long larval development) are more sensitive to perturbations (e.g. cutting). Our suggestion for agricultural and environmental planning and for conservation schemes is that the preservation of natural grasslands (e.g. forest gaps) and the implementation of grazing should be promoted during the planning of agroecosystem mosaics.</p></div

Correction: <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> Infection in Alpine Red Deer (<i>Cervus elaphus</i>): Its Spread and Effects on Fertility

<p>Correction: <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> Infection in Alpine Red Deer (<i>Cervus elaphus</i>): Its Spread and Effects on Fertility</p

Representation of the two sampling areas (black continuous line), 1 and 2; dotted line: limits of Stelvio National Park.

<p>Reprinted from the Stelvio National Park Information System under a CC BY license, with permission from Stelvio National Park, original copyright 2015 (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0138472#pone.0138472.s005" target="_blank">S1 Text</a>).</p

Effect of Kidney Fat Index (KFI) on foetal development (in days).

<p>Dots represent observed values (rhombus: 2–3 year-old females, circles: 4–6 year-old females; triangles: >7 year-old females) while lines represent the values predicted by the selected model (light grey line: area 1; black line: area 2).</p

Effect of serological titres on foetal development (in days).

<p>Dots represent observed values (rhombus: 2–3 year-old females, circles: 4–6 year-old females; triangles: >7 year-old females); lines represent the values predicted by the selected model (light grey line: area 1; black line: area 2).</p

Supplementary material from Parasite-mediated manipulation? <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> infection increases risk behaviour towards culling in red deer

Additional statistical analyse

Dataset from Parasite-mediated manipulation? <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> infection increases risk behaviour towards culling in red deer

Dataset used for analisys .cs

RScript from Parasite-mediated manipulation? <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i> infection increases risk behaviour towards culling in red deer

RScript used for analysi

Data_Sheet_1_Active surveillance of paratuberculosis in Alpine-dwelling red deer (Cervus elaphus).PDF

Paratuberculosis (Johne’s disease) is a globally widespread infectious disease affecting domestic and wild ruminants, caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). The bacterium is excreted in the feces and is characterized by high environmental resistance. The new Animal Health Law (Regulation EU 2016/429) on transmissible animal diseases, recently in force throughout the European Union, includes paratuberculosis within the diseases requiring surveillance in the EU, listing some domestic and wild Bovidae, Cervidae, and Camelidae as potential reservoirs. Taking advantage of a culling activity conducted in the Stelvio National Park (Italy), this study investigated MAP infection status of red deer (Cervus elaphus) between 2018 and 2022, and evaluated the probability of being MAP-positive with respect to individual and sampling-level variables. A total of 390 subjects were examined macroscopically and tested for MAP, using different diagnostic tools: IS900 qPCR, culture, histopathology, and serology. Twenty-three of them were found positive for MAP by at least one test, with an overall prevalence of 5.9% (95% CI 4.0–8.7), that, respectively, ranged from 12.4% in the first culling season to 2.0 and 2.1% in the 2019–2020 and 2021–2022 culling seasons. Quantitative PCR assay on ileocecal valve and mesenteric lymph nodes detected the highest number of MAP positive animals. The results of the study showed the increased probability of being MAP-positive with increasing age and that red deer with lower body mass values were more likely to be infected with MAP. Overall, the absence of signs of clinical paratuberculosis and gross lesions together with the low level of shedding witness early phases of the disease among the positive red deer and support an improvement of the paratuberculosis status of this population, as shown by the decreased prevalence of the disease over the years.</p