Estimating risk to prevent damage: predicting and preventing coypu (Myocastor coypus) damage to transport infrastructure.

Background: A major impact of invasive Myocastor coypus in their introduction range is the collapse of riverbanks and nearby infrastructure, such as railway lines, due to the species' burrowing activities. Because widespread implementation of preventive measures along watercourses is unfeasible, identifying susceptible areas is key to guide targeted management actions. This study used species-habitat models to: (i) identify local environmental features of the railway line/watercourse intersections (RLWIs) that make them particularly susceptible to coypu damage, and (ii) predict species occurrence probability over a wide lowland-hilly area of northern Italy (Lombardy) to identify priority areas for monitoring.

Odonate diversity of a highly urbanised region: An annotated checklist of the damselflies and dragonflies (Insecta, Odonata) of Lario and Brianza (Lombardy, N Italy).

Background: Given their sensitivity to environmental alterations, odonates act as reliable bioindicators to assess the effects of changes in freshwater ecosystems and associated terrestrial habitats. The region comprised between Lario and Brianza (Provinces of Como, Lecco and Monza and Brianza - Lombardy, N Italy) is one of the most urbanised of the Italian peninsula and large parts of its territory have been heavily altered, especially at low elevation. Despite this pervasive anthropogenisation, the area is still characterised by a considerable variety of freshwater habitats, possibly harbouring rich odonate communities, which, however, have been never thoroughly investigated.

Main roads and land cover shaped the genetic structure of a Mediterranean island wild boar population.

Patterns of genetic differentiation within and among animal populations might vary due to the simple effect of distance or landscape features hindering gene flow. An assessment of how landscape connectivity affects gene flow can help guide management, especially in fragmented landscapes. Our objective was to analyze population genetic structure and landscape genetics of the native wild boar () population inhabiting the island of Sardinia (Italy), and test for the existence of Isolation-by-Distance (IBD), Isolation-by-Barrier (IBB), and Isolation-by-Resistance (IBR).

Species Traits Drive Long-Term Population Trends of Common Breeding Birds in Northern Italy.

Long-term population trends are considerable sources of information to set wildlife conservation priorities and to evaluate the performance of management actions. In addition, trends observed in functional groups (e.g.

Quantitative selection of focal birds and mammals in higher-tier risk assessment: An application to rice cultivations.

European Pesticide Registration requires a risk assessment (RA) for nontarget organisms according to EU Regulation. European Authorities have developed Guidance Documents (GDs) for RA considering exposure scenarios for the required organisms typical for terrestrial crops. The "Birds and Mammals EFSA GD" allows using multiple sources of information to extract information on species frequency needed in identifying focal species for higher-tier RA.

Hierarchies and Dominance Behaviors in European Pond Turtle () Hatchlings in a Controlled Environment.

Few species of reptiles are known to establish stable social structures and among these, chelonians provided scarce and conflicting results. Moreover, studies on turtles are usually performed on adult individuals. In this study, we checked whether and when hatchlings of the European Pond Turtle () established stable hierarchical structures in their first year of life, whether hierarchies were stable in time and how steady they were.

Combining ensemble models and connectivity analyses to predict wolf expected dispersal routes through a lowland corridor.

The Italian wolf (Canis lupus italicus) population has remained isolated South of the Alps for the last few thousand years. After a strong decline, the species has recolonized the Apennines and the Western Alps, while it is currently struggling to colonize the Eastern Alps. Recently, the species was detected in a lowland park connecting the Northern Apennines to the Central Alps.

Species specialization limits movement ability and shapes ecological networks: the case study of 2 forest mammals.

To counteract the negative effects of forest fragmentation on wildlife, it is crucial to maintain functional ecological networks. We identified the ecological networks for 2 mammals with very different degrees of forest specialization, the European badger and the Roe deer , by differentiating 4 agroforestry elements as either nodes or connectivity elements, and by defining the distance that provides the functional connectivity between fragments. Species occurrence data were collected in a wide agroecosystem in northern Italy.

Winners and losers: How the elevational range of breeding birds on Alps has varied over the past four decades due to climate and habitat changes.

Climate warming and habitat transformation are widely recognized as worrying threatening factors. Understanding the individual contribution of these two factors to the change of species distribution could be very important in order to effectively counteract the species range contraction, especially in mountains, where alpine species are strongly limited in finding new areas to be colonized at higher elevations. We proposed a method to disentangle the effects of the two drivers of range change for breeding birds in Italian Alps, in the case of co-occurring climate warming and shrub and forest encroachment.

Ecological connectivity assessment in a strongly structured fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) population.

Small populations are more prone to extinction if the dispersal among them is not adequately maintained by ecological connections. The degree of isolation between populations could be evaluated measuring their genetic distance, which depends on the respective geographic (isolation by distance, IBD) and/or ecological (isolation by resistance, IBR) distances. The aim of this study was to assess the ecological connectivity of fire salamander Salamandra salamandra populations by means of a landscape genetic approach.

Polymorphism at the Clock gene predicts phenology of long-distance migration in birds.

Dissecting phenotypic variance in life history traits into its genetic and environmental components is at the focus of evolutionary studies and of pivotal importance to identify the mechanisms and predict the consequences of human-driven environmental change. The timing of recurrent life history events (phenology) is under strong selection, but the study of the genes that control potential environmental canalization in phenological traits is at its infancy. Candidate genes for circadian behaviour entrained by photoperiod have been screened as potential controllers of phenological variation of breeding and moult in birds, with inconsistent results.

Detecting a hierarchical genetic population structure: the case study of the Fire Salamander (Salamandra salamandra) in Northern Italy.

The multistep method here applied in studying the genetic structure of a low dispersal and philopatric species, such as the Fire Salamander Salamandra salamandra, was proved to be effective in identifying the hierarchical structure of populations living in broad-leaved forest ecosystems in Northern Italy. In this study, 477 salamander larvae, collected in 28 sampling populations (SPs) in the Prealpine and in the foothill areas of Northern Italy, were genotyped at 16 specie-specific microsatellites. SPs showed a significant overall genetic variation (Global F ST = 0.