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- Biology, ecology and eco-ethology of terrestrial vertebrates; Animal biodiversity analysis, biogeography and conserva... moreBiology, ecology and eco-ethology of terrestrial vertebrates; Animal biodiversity analysis, biogeography and conservation biology; Human dimension in wildlife management; Ethology and ecology of solitary wasps.edit
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Research Interests: Biology, Ecology, Invasive Species, Biological invasions, Biological Sciences, and 12 moreEnvironmental Sciences, Body Condition, Radio tracking, Introduced species, Red Pine, Alien, Alien species, Interspecific competition, Removal, Intraspecific Competition, Sciurus Vulgaris, and Niche Differentiation
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Animals cope with environmental perturbations through the stress response, a set of behavioural and physiological responses aimed to maintain and/or return to homeostasis and enhance fitness. Vertebrate neuroendocrine axis activation in... more
Animals cope with environmental perturbations through the stress response, a set of behavioural and physiological responses aimed to maintain and/or return to homeostasis and enhance fitness. Vertebrate neuroendocrine axis activation in response to environmental stressors can result in the secretion of glucocorticoids (GCs), whose acute increases may be adaptive, while chronic elevation may be detrimental. Invasive grey squirrels ( Sciurus carolinensis ) act as a stressor eliciting elevation of GCs in native red squirrels ( Sciurus vulgaris ). Here we used 6-year data of variation in faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) concentrations following invasion by grey squirrels in three red squirrel populations, to identify if red squirrels showed physiological habituation to this stressor. The decrease in FGMs over time was more pronounced shortly after invasion and at high densities of grey squirrels while it decreased less strongly and was no longer influenced by the invader density as time since invasion elapsed. At the individual level, FGMs also decreased more markedly as each red squirrel experienced prolonged contact with the invader. Our study provides compelling new data suggesting that native species in the wild can habituate to prolonged contact with invasive species, showing that they may avoid the potentially harmful effects of chronic elevations in GCs.
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Clara Tattoni1, Damiano G. Preatoni1, Peter WW Lurz2, Steven P. Rushton2, Guido Tosi3, Sandro Bertolino3, Adriano Martinoli1,* & Lucas A. Wauters1 1Dipartimento Ambiente-Salute-Sicurezza, Universita` degli Studi... more
Clara Tattoni1, Damiano G. Preatoni1, Peter WW Lurz2, Steven P. Rushton2, Guido Tosi3, Sandro Bertolino3, Adriano Martinoli1,* & Lucas A. Wauters1 1Dipartimento Ambiente-Salute-Sicurezza, Universita` degli Studi dell'Insubria, Varese, Via JH Dunant ...
Research Interests: Biology, Invasive Species, Biological invasions, Biological Sciences, Environmental Sciences, and 15 morePopulation, Range Expansion, Public Participation, Invasive Alien Species, Biological, Population Size, Red Squirrel, Public awareness, Interspecific competition, North American, Grey Squirrel, Geographic Information System, Geographic Information Systems, Population dynamic, and North Italy
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Free-living animals cope with environmental stressors through physiological and behavioural responses. According to the unidimensional model, these responses are integrated within a coping style: proactive individuals (bold,... more
Free-living animals cope with environmental stressors through physiological and behavioural responses. According to the unidimensional model, these responses are integrated within a coping style: proactive individuals (bold, active-explorative and social) have a lower hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity than reactive ones (shy, less active-explorative, less social). These associations may change when individuals are exposed to human-induced rapid environmental change (HIREC), such as the introduction of invasive alien species (IAS). Here, we studied Eurasian red squirrels to investigate the relationship between personality traits and one integrated measure of HPA axis activity, both in areas uncolonized (natural populations) and colonized by an IAS, the Eastern grey squirrel (invaded populations). We expected an association between physiological and behavioural responses, and that activity, exploration and social tendency would covary, forming a behavioural syndrome in natural populations, while competition with the IAS was predicted to disrupt these associations. We used faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGMs) as an integrated measure of adrenocortical activity, and measured the levels of four personality traits (exploration, activity, activity-exploration and social tendency) with an open field test and a mirror image stimulation test. We found no correlation between FGMs and personality traits, neither in natural nor invaded populations. However, we found correlations among personality traits in areas without interspecific competition, indicating a behavioural syndrome, which was disrupted in invaded populations. This is one of the few studies showing that an IAS, acting as an environmental stressor, alters a native species' behavioural syndrome, but does not influence its coping style.
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Biological invasions are one of the major drivers of global environmental change and there is a need to develop integrated strategies to counteract this phenomenon. Eradication is an effective management option to mitigate the deleterious... more
Biological invasions are one of the major drivers of global environmental change and there is a need to develop integrated strategies to counteract this phenomenon. Eradication is an effective management option to mitigate the deleterious impacts of invasive alien species (IAS). Eradication can be achieved if all reproductive individuals are removed and population recovery is prevented. However, individuals may survive removal operations in private areas if interventions are not allowed. Here, we present 1) three case studies in which restricted private property access prevented the local eradication of invasive alien populations, and 2) a list of reasons for denying access to private properties and a list of actions implemented or suggested by managers to facilitate access and reported in 29 reviewed papers. The restricted access affected the local eradication of three Eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) populations in Italy. In Lombardy region, in one area a planned eradication did not start and in another area the implemented eradication failed due to the refusal from the owner of a large private property to grant access to managers. In Umbria region, the lack of collaboration from an Italian financial institution produced a delay of 15 months in the removal. In our case studies, therefore, a single person or institution denied access for a personal gain or presumed internal security. The reasons behind landowner opposition may be diverse and individual attitudes towards IAS management will depend on interactions with owners. According to our review, in many cases the denial of access takes place in a general perception of mistrust or opposition to the project as the results of a limited engagement of local people. Such opposition often jeopardizes control activities, with profound negative consequences on eradication, expecially at landscape scale. Bottom-up approaches aiming at involving stakeholders can increase the possibility to achieve IAS eradication, however appropriate legislation remains pivotal to enforce eradication in case of non-cooperative behaviour.
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Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs), with their characteristic climate, occur in just five regions of the world: the Mediterranean Basin, the Cape Region of South Africa, Southwestern and South Australia, California, and central Chile.... more
Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs), with their characteristic climate, occur in just five regions of the world: the Mediterranean Basin, the Cape Region of South Africa, Southwestern and South Australia, California, and central Chile. In spite of their small geographic area, they harbour a significant and exclusive proportion of the planet’s biodiversity. Biodiversity values in MTE are threatened by a range of factor including land use changes, overexploitation of natural resources, global climate changes, among others. Researchers have a key role in providing solutions for conserving biodiversity in face of these multiple stressors and socio-economic challenges. Under the scope of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) – Europe Section and the International Society of Mediterranean Ecologists (ISOMED), a group of researchers from the five MTE regions of the world organized an initiative to identify the 100 priority questions that, if answered, would have a high probability of increasing the success of actions targeted at the conservation of biological diversity in the five Mediterranean regions of the world. We will present the first overall results of this exercise. A total of 1490 original questions were merged into a final 171 questions divided in 11 major topics. The three topics with higher importance were governance, climate change and habitat restoration. Further results on patterns across Mediterranean-type regions and stakeholder types, in order to identify topics of overall and regional importance, will be presented.peerReviewe
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Abstract The increase in numbers and range of the continental subspecies of great cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis in Europe has led to a growing number of conflicts with commercial fisheries and recreational angling. We... more
Abstract The increase in numbers and range of the continental subspecies of great cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis in Europe has led to a growing number of conflicts with commercial fisheries and recreational angling. We investigated the dietary preferences (fish species and size classes) of wintering cormorants in two freshwater basins in Northern Italy, using pellet analysis and data on fish community composition. First, we compared cormorant diet (biomass of fish species consumed) with the annual harvest by professional fishing (biomass/year). Second, we compared diet with a measure of prey availability: direct fish sampling with nets of different mesh size. Cormorants preyed mainly on cyprinid fish. A comparison of pellet analysis and commercial fishing data showed that some fish species consumed by cormorants did not occur in the commercial harvest. Using only species that occurred in the diet and in the commercial harvest, there was no relationship between the amount of fish of different species taken. A positive correlation between pellet analysis data (consumed) and data from scientific fish sampling (available) showed that cormorants exploited fish resources on the basis of prey availability. Comparing the size of fish collected from nets and fish consumed by cormorants also showed that birds were selective with respect to prey size, picking mostly small individuals (< 110 g). We conclude that potential effects of cormorants on commercially important fish will mainly depend on habitat type (fish ponds, natural deep lakes, others), and that in the natural lakes in Lombardy cormorants mainly concentrate on species which are of limited value for commercial fishing.
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Invasive alien species can constitute a serious threat to biodiversity, causing the decline or even the extinction of many native species. EC-SQUARE Life project tends to develop methods to remove from several Italian areas the grey... more
Invasive alien species can constitute a serious threat to biodiversity, causing the decline or even the extinction of many native species. EC-SQUARE Life project tends to develop methods to remove from several Italian areas the grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), an introduced American species responsible of wide scale replacement of the native Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)
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Acknowledgements We are grateful to Ministry Of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC) and to Nature and Wildlife Conservation Division (NWCD) of Myanmar for their participation and for the constant support to the... more
Acknowledgements We are grateful to Ministry Of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC) and to Nature and Wildlife Conservation Division (NWCD) of Myanmar for their participation and for the constant support to the monitoring activities. We like to thank the field sta consisting of U Win Lin Aung, U Than Tun Win, U Maung Phyu, U Naing Lin So and the park rangers U Aung Kyaw Myint, U Ye Win Naing and U Phyo Min Thu for their deep commitment showed throughout the data collection. Authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for the precious comments and the IUCN SSC Bear Specialist Group (BSG) for the productive discussion on Asiatic bears monitoring that helped improving the manuscript. Funding Statement This study was partially funded by Fondation Segré with the project “Conservation of Sun bears in Myanmar” and by Fondation Ensemble “Préservation de l’Ours malais dans le sud de l’Etat Rakhine (Arakan)” Abstract
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In the last century bat populations significantly declined mainly due to habitat fragmentation and degradation. As management-dependent species, bats need appropriate monitoring programs for the implementation of sound conservation... more
In the last century bat populations significantly declined mainly due to habitat fragmentation and degradation. As management-dependent species, bats need appropriate monitoring programs for the implementation of sound conservation strategies. However, bats’ small size, high mobility, elusiveness and nocturnal lifestyle make them difficult to survey. Non-Invasive Genetic Sampling (NIGS) may offer safe and cost-effective solutions, but requires well-planned sampling strategies, informative molecular markers and reliable laboratory protocols. Here we developed a NIGS protocol for species and individual identification of three mouse-eared bats, the Geoffroy’s bat ( Myotis emarginatus ), the long-fingered bat ( Myotis capaccinii ) and the Daubenton’s bat ( Myotis daubentonii ). Species identification was accomplished by mitochondrial (mt) DNA sequencing of reference tissue (n=49) and droppings (n=285) from Central-Northern Italy. In addition, we optimized a multiplex panel of seven micr...
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Human activities are affecting habitats and wildlife populations worldwide. Tropical forests are one of the most affected environments, mainly due to deforestation and poaching. Since high levels of anthropogenic pressure on forest... more
Human activities are affecting habitats and wildlife populations worldwide. Tropical forests are one of the most affected environments, mainly due to deforestation and poaching. Since high levels of anthropogenic pressure on forest ecosystems, including illegal logging and hunting, occur in southwest Myanmar (Rakhine State), we analyzed the effects of human disturbance on medium to large mammals in this region. We used camera‐trapping data collected over three consecutive years to investigate occurrence probabilities of 10 species: five common species exploited for bushmeat consumption, and five threatened species targeted by the illegal wildlife trade. We used a hierarchical single‐species multi‐season occupancy model implemented in a Bayesian framework to evaluate the effects of human disturbances and persistent habitat characteristics, such as the proportion of remaining pristine evergreen forest and the elevation, on occurrence probabilities. We found that occupancy probabilitie...