1,721,046 research outputs found
Studio delle strategie riproduttive adottate dai maschi di daino (Dama dama) nella Tenuta di San Rossore (Pisa): analisi dei fattori che influenzano l’adozione di una strategia di successo
No full textFallow deer lekking and alternative mating strategies in San Rossore, Italy: Insights from a long term study
No full textAnalisi delle marcature effettuate dai maschi adulti di daino (Dama dama) in prossimità di un lek durante il periodo riproduttivo
No full textRelative impact of human harvest and wolf predation on two ungulate species in Central Italy
No full textData collected from 2000 to 2010 on a predator–prey system in eastern Tuscany (central Italy) were used to investigate the relative impact of human harvest and natural predation by wolves (Canis lupus) on the local populations of their main prey: wild boar (Sus scrofa) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). We estimated the percent composition of wolf diet from scat analysis (n = 2,150) and converted it into ingested biomass and number of killed individuals by quantifying the energy requirement of the resident wolf pack based on the field metabolic rate formula. Moreover, we collected data on hunting bags, and investigating the age/weight class preferences of both wolves and hunters compared their impacts on the two ungulate populations. In both prey species, losses due to hunting resulted to be eight to nine times higher than those due to wolf predation. In terms of number of individuals removed per year, the wild boar was the main prey species for wolves (mean ± SD: 83 ± 23) and the most harvested by hunters (mean ± SD: 609 ± 241). Wolves targeted the intermediate weight class (10–35 kg) in wild boar and showed no preference for a specific class of roe deer, while hunters targeted the largest classes in both species. The combined removal by hunters and wolf predation did not exceed the recruitment of both ungulate populations. We can therefore argue that a top-down force is unlikely to contrast the population growth of the two ungulate species in Central Italy
Influence of fawning in the spatial behaviour and habitat selection of female fallow deer (Dama dama) during late pregnancy and early lactation
No full textFemale preference and predation risk models can explain the maintenance of a fallow Deer (Dama dama) lek and its ‘handy’ location.
No full textBehavioural modifications of female ungulates during the pregnancy and early lactation: the case of fallow deer Dama dama
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Non-kin associations in wild boar social units
No full textWe investigated the social organization of wild boars (Sits scrofa) using genetic and spatial data from a study population in Tuscany, Italy. In total, 120 wild boars of different sexes and age classes were captured and monitored from 2002 to 2006. All of them were genetically analyzed by using 10 polymorphic microsatellites (H(E) = 0.693, k = 6.6) and a matrix of pairwise relatedness was calculated. In addition, a reference sample of fully related individuals was created by genotyping 11 adult females and their fetuses (n = 56). Spatial data were gathered for 65 animals that had been fitted with either radiocollars or ear transmitters. Sixteen social units were identified by capture data and confirmed by observations and telemetry. A correlation between interindividual spatial distance and relatedness was observed only in summer-early autumn and seemed to be associated to the presence of piglets. The prediction of matrilinearity in wild boar social units was not confirmed, because a low degree of relatedness among boars was observed within groups. Aggregations of unrelated adult females (with their litters) were detected in the study population. The high turnover in the population due to human-caused mortality seems to be the main factor responsible for this altered social structure. Accordingly, we suggest that the observed social organization would result from grouping of unrelated survivors that is promoted by the presence of wolves in the area
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