scholarly journals Responses of small mammals to habitat characteristics in Southern Carpathian forests

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Maria Benedek ◽  
Ioan Sîrbu ◽  
Anamaria Lazăr
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Use ◽  
Small Mammals ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Elevational Gradient ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Habitat Characteristics ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Myodes Glareolus ◽  
Wide Range

AbstractCompared to Northern Carpathians, the small mammal fauna of Southern Carpathian forests is poorly known, with no data on habitat use; our study seeks to fill this gap. To this end, we conducted a survey in the Southern Carpathians for five years, assessing habitat use by small mammals in forests along an elevational gradient. Trapping was done using live traps set in transects at elevations between 820 and 2040 m. For each transect we evaluated variables related to vegetation structure, habitat complexity, and geographical location. We considered abundance, species composition and species richness as response variables. The rodents Apodemus flavicollis and Myodes glareolus and the shrew Sorex araneus were common and dominant. Their abundance were positively correlated with tree cover, the best explanatory variable. Responses to other variables were mixed. The strong divergence in the relative habitat use by the three most abundant species may act as a mechanism that enables their coexistence as dominant species, exploiting the same wide range of habitat resources. Overall, habitat use in our study area was similar to that reported from Northern Carpathians, but we found also important differences probably caused by the differences in latitude and forest management practices.

Implications of forest management practices for sex-specific habitat use by Nycticeius humeralis

2019 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 1263-1273
Author(s):  
Youngsang Kwon ◽  
Anna C Doty ◽  
Megan L Huffman ◽  
Virginie Rolland ◽  
Daniel R Istvanko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Habitat Use ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
Foraging Habitat ◽  
Landscape Characteristics ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Probability Of Presence

AbstractNorth American bats are experiencing declines in part due to anthropogenic impacts resulting in habitat loss and disturbance. In eastern deciduous forests, bats rely on forest resources for all or part of the year. Therefore, to promote conservation of bats, it is essential to determine whether current forest management techniques are compatible with habitat use by bats. We evaluated the relative effect of landscape characteristics, including forest management variables, on sex-specific foraging habitat of an insectivorous forest-dwelling bat species, the evening bat (Nycticeius humeralis), and predicted areas of suitable habitat for N. humeralis. A total of 18 variables were assessed using a maximum-entropy (Maxent) machine-learning approach: eight land use–land cover classes, three stand types, two topography measures, normalized difference vegetation index, and four forest management variables. Females showed the highest probability of presence closer to stands treated with prescribed fire, whereas males showed the highest probability of presence closer to reforested stands. In general, males exhibited more flexibility than females in their habitat selection. The Maxent model further indicated that habitat associated with suitability of > 70% was ~4 times larger for males than females, and predicted an additional area of suitable foraging habitat where no presence locations had been recorded. Our modeling approach may be suitable for other researchers to derive models appropriate for a wide range of bat species.

Habitat use by corn mice (Calomys musculinus) in cropfield borders of agricultural ecosystems in Argentina

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Simone ◽  
Cecilia Provensal ◽  
Jaime Polop
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Use ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Habitat Characteristics ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Small Rodent ◽  
Individual Plant ◽  
Calomys Musculinus ◽  
Rodent Abundance

Context Calomys musculinus (Cricetidae, Sigmodontinae) is a small rodent species widely distributed in Argentina and particularly abundant in agroecosystems of the Pampean region, where it is known to select border habitats over cropfields. Aims The aim of the present research was to assess habitat use by C. musculinus in cropfield borders. Assuming that the number of rodent captures in each border reflects the intensity of use, we intended to identify the habitat characteristics that would account for abundance differences among borders. Methods Seasonal trapping sessions were carried out in borders of the rural zone of Chucul, Córdoba. Environmental variables were registered from both field surveys and remote-sensing imagery. Generalised linear models were used to identify the habitat variables associated with C. musculinus habitat use. Key results General fit of the models was fairly good; spring, summer and autumn models explained more than 55% of the variation in C. musculinus abundance among borders. Individual plant species were significant predictors of C. musculinus abundance, but they varied with seasons, whereas tree cover and border width were significant predictors in most seasons studied. In general, rodent abundance was positively associated with peanut and maize crops or maize stubbles and negatively related to soybean or its stubbles. In the coldest seasons, rodent abundance increased with increasing land-surface temperature of the border. Conclusions Border use by C. musculinus appeared to respond to differences in border quality, which seems to be more affected by those environmental characteristics that entail a reduction of the predatory risk rather than by those that involve food supply. Crop-fields may partially afford C. musculinus food requirements. Implications Because C. musculinus is the natural reservoir of a zoonotic agent, the identification of the habitat characteristics affecting rodent population numbers in borders may be of crucial importance for the implementation of ecologically based rodent-management strategies aimed at reducing human–rodent contacts. We suggest that wide borders, particularly those contiguous to maize and peanut cropfields, should be understood as priority sites for the implementation of specific control actions.

scholarly journals The influence of habitat use on harvest vulnerability of cow elk (Cervus canadensis)

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0242841
Author(s):  
Maksim Sergeyev ◽  
Brock R. McMillan ◽  
Kent R. Hersey ◽  
Randy T. Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Home Range ◽  
Habitat Use ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Habitat Characteristics ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Selection Function ◽  
Hunting Season ◽  
Cervus Canadensis

Pressure from hunting can alter the behavior and habitat selection of game species. During hunting periods, cervids such as elk (Cervus canadensis) typically select for areas further from roads and closer to tree cover, while altering the timing of their daily activities to avoid hunters. Our objective was to determine the habitat characteristics most influential in predicting harvest risk of elk. We captured 373 female elk between January 2015 and March 2017 in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest and surrounding area of central Utah, USA. We determined habitat selection during the hunting season using a resource selection function (RSF) for 255 adult cow elk. Additionally, we used a generalized linear mixed model to evaluate risk of harvest based on habitat use within home ranges (3rd order selection) as well as the location of the home range on the landscape to evaluate vulnerability on a broader scale. Female elk selected for areas that reduced hunter access (rugged terrain, within tree cover, on private land). Age, elevation and distance to roads within a home range were most influential in predicting harvest risk (top model accounted for 36.2% of AIC weight). Elevation and distance to trees were most influential in predicting risk when evaluating the location of the home range (top model accounted for 42.1% of AIC weight). Vulnerability to harvest was associated with proximity to roads. Additionally, survival in our landscape decreased with age of femaleelk.

scholarly journals Wild Steps in a Semi-wild Setting? Habitat Selection and Behavior of European Bison reintroduced to an Anthropogenic Landscape

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pil Birkefeldt Møller Pedersen ◽  
Joanna B. Olsen ◽  
Brody Sandel ◽  
Jens-Christian Svenning
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Selection ◽  
Habitat Use ◽  
Ecological Impact ◽  
Spatial Models ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Habitat Characteristics ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
European Bison ◽  
Agricultural Field ◽  
Release Area

AbstractRecently, several wild or semi-wild herds of European bison have been reintroduced across Europe. It is essential for future successful bison reintroductions to know how the European bison use different habitats, which environmental parameters drive their habitat selection, and whether their habitat use and behavioural patterns in new reintroduction sites differ from habitats where European bison have been roaming freely for a long time.Here, we address these questions for a 40-ha enclosed site that has been inhabited by semi-free ranging European bison since 2012. The site, Vorup Meadows, is adjacent to the Gudenå river in Denmark and consists of human-modified riparian meadows. During 2013 we monitored the behavioural pattern and spatial use of the 11 bison present and in parallel carried out floristic analyses to assess habitat structure and food quality in the enclosure. We tested habitat use and selection against environmental parameters such as habitat characteristics, plant community traits, topography, and management area (release area vs. meadow area) using linear regression and spatial models.The bison herd had comparable diurnal activity patterns as observed in previous studies on free-roaming bison herds. Topography emerged as the main predictor of the frequency of occurrence in our spatial models, with high-lying drier areas being used more. Bison did not prefer open areas over areas with tree cover when accounting for habitat availability. However, they spent significantly more time in the release area, a former agricultural field with supplementary fodder, than expected from availability compared to the rest of the enclosure, a meadow with tree patches. We wish to increase awareness of possible long-term ethological effects of the release site and the management protocols accomplished here that might reduce the ecological impact by the bison in the target habitat, and thereby compromise or even oppose the conservation goals of the conservation efforts.

Impression management and legitimacy strategies: The BP case

2013 ◽  
pp. 35-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanna Michelon
Keyword(s):  
Impression Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Legitimacy Theory ◽  
British Petroleum ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Management Techniques ◽  
Disclosure Tone ◽  
The Empirical Analysis ◽  
A Company ◽  
Texas City

The aim of this paper is to study if and how impression management varies during different phases of the legitimation process, in particular during the legitimacy building and legitimacy repairing phases (Suchman, 1995). We aim at understanding whether and how the disclosure tone adopted by a company in the two different moments is diverse and thus functional to the intrinsic objective of the each phase. The empirical analysis focuses on the case of British Petroleum Plc. We investigated the impression management practices undertaken by the company both during the preparation of the rebranding operation, i.e. a situation in which the company is trying to build legitimacy; and during the happenings of two legitimacy crises, like the explosion of the refinery in Texas City and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The evidence appears in line with the theoretical prediction of legitimacy theory. Results show that while the company tends to privilege image enhancement techniques during the legitimacy-building phase, it uses more obfuscation techniques when managing a legitimacy-repairing process. Moreover, the analysis suggests that the company makes more extensive use of impression management techniques in the disclosures addressed to shareholders, investors and other market operators than in the disclosures addressed to the wide range of other stakeholders.

scholarly journals Fitness of Herbicide-Resistant Weeds: Current Knowledge and Implications for Management

Plants ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vila-Aiub
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Herbicide Resistance ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Resistance Management ◽  
Fitness Cost ◽  
Plant Fitness ◽  
Resistance Mutations ◽  
Fitness Costs ◽  
Wide Range

Herbicide resistance is the ultimate evidence of the extraordinary capacity of weeds to evolve under stressful conditions. Despite the extraordinary plant fitness advantage endowed by herbicide resistance mutations in agroecosystems under herbicide selection, resistance mutations are predicted to exhibit an adaptation cost (i.e., fitness cost), relative to the susceptible wild-type, in herbicide untreated conditions. Fitness costs associated with herbicide resistance mutations are not universal and their expression depends on the particular mutation, genetic background, dominance of the fitness cost, and environmental conditions. The detrimental effects of herbicide resistance mutations on plant fitness may arise as a direct impact on fitness-related traits and/or coevolution with changes in other life history traits that ultimately may lead to fitness costs under particular ecological conditions. This brings the idea that a “lower adaptive value” of herbicide resistance mutations represents an opportunity for the design of resistance management practices that could minimize the evolution of herbicide resistance. It is evident that the challenge for weed management practices aiming to control, minimize, or even reverse the frequency of resistance mutations in the agricultural landscape is to “create” those agroecological conditions that could expose, exploit, and exacerbate those life history and/or fitness traits affecting the evolution of herbicide resistance mutations. Ideally, resistance management should implement a wide range of cultural practices leading to environmentally mediated fitness costs associated with herbicide resistance mutations.

scholarly journals Environmental Drivers and Age Trends in Site Productivity for Oak in Southern Poland

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 209
Author(s):  
Luiza Tymińska-Czabańska ◽  
Jarosław Socha ◽  
Marek Maj ◽  
Dominika Cywicka ◽  
Xo Viet Hoang Duong
Keyword(s):  
Nitrogen Deposition ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Additive Model ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Environmental Drivers ◽  
Site Productivity ◽  
Site Factors ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Si Model

Site productivity provides critical information for forest management practices and is a fundamental measure in forestry. It is determined using site index (SI) models, which are developed using two primary groups of methods, namely, phytocentric (plant-based) or geocentric (earth-based). Geocentric methods allow for direct site growth modelling, in which the SI is predicted using multiple environmental indicators. However, changes in non-static site factors—particularly nitrogen deposition and rising CO2 concentration—lead to an increase in site productivity, which may be visible as an age trend in the SI. In this study, we developed a geocentric SI model for oak. For the development of the SI model, we used data from 150 sample plots, representing a wide range of local topographic and site conditions. A generalized additive model was used to model site productivity. We found that the oak SI depended predominantly on physicochemical soil properties—mainly nitrogen, carbon, sand, and clay content. Additionally, the oak SI value was found to be slightly shaped by the topography, especially by altitude above sea level, and topographic position. We also detected a significant relationship between the SI and the age of oak stands, indicating the long-term increasing site productivity for oak, most likely caused by nitrogen deposition and changes in climatic conditions. The developed geocentric site productivity model for oak explained 77.2% of the SI variation.

scholarly journals Riparian forestry management and adult stream insects

2004 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 545-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Briers ◽  
J. H. R. Gee
Keyword(s):  
Riparian Vegetation ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Riparian Management ◽  
Stream Insects ◽  
Larval Stages ◽  
Forestry Management ◽  
Coniferous Plantation

Abstract. The impacts of coniferous plantation forestry on the biology of upland streams in the UK are firmly established. Whilst benthic communities have been well studied, very little research has considered the impacts of riparian forestry management on adult stream insects, yet the essentially terrestrial adult (reproductive) phase may be important in determining the abundance and distribution of larval stages. Riparian vegetation has a potentially strong impact on survival and success of adult stages through alteration of microclimate, habitat structure and potential food sources, in addition to effects carried over from larval stages. Here, current riparian management strategies are analysed in the light of available information on the ecology of adult stream insects. On the whole, management practices appear to favour adult stream insects, although an increase in tree cover in riparian areas could be beneficial, by providing more favourable microclimatic conditions for adults. This conclusion is drawn based on rather limited information, and the need for further research into the effects of riparian forestry management on adult stream insects is highlighted. Keywords: microclimate, plantation, life history, riparian vegetation

scholarly journals A Cross-sectional Survey of the North American Skull Base Society: Current Practice Patterns of Vestibular Schwannoma Evaluation and Management in North America

2017 ◽  
Vol 79 (03) ◽  
pp. 289-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Van Gompel ◽  
R. Wiet ◽  
Nicole Tombers ◽  
Anand Devaiah ◽  
Devyani Lal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Skull Base ◽  
Vestibular Schwannoma ◽  
North American ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Current Practice ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
Wide Range

Background Very few studies have examined vestibular schwannoma (VS) management trends across centers and between providers. The objective of this study is to examine current practice trends, variance in treatment philosophies, and nuanced or controversial aspects of VS care across North America. Methods This is a cross-sectional survey of North American Skull Base Society (NASBS) members who report regular involvement in VS care. Results A total of 57 completed surveys were returned. Most respondents claimed to have over 20 years of experience and the majority reported working in an academic practice with an affiliated otolaryngology and/or neurosurgery residency program. Sixty-three percent of respondents claimed to evaluate VS patients in clinic with both an otolaryngologist and neurosurgeon involved. Eighty-six percent of respondents claimed to operate on VS with both an otolaryngologist and neurosurgeon involved, while only 18% of neurosurgeons and 9% of otolaryngologists performed surgery alone. There was a wide range in the number of cases evaluated at each center annually. Similarly, there was wide variation in the number of patients treated with microsurgery and radiation at each center. Additional details regarding management preferences for microsurgery, stereotactic radiosurgery, stereotactic radiotherapy, and conservative observation are presented. Conclusion VS management practices vary between providers and centers. Overall, most centers employ a multidisciplinary approach to management with collaboration between otolaryngology and neurosurgery. Overall, survey responses concur with previous studies suggesting a shift toward conservatism in management.

Small mammal mycophagy in hemiboreal forest communities of Lithuania

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 446-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marija Kataržytė ◽  
Ernestas Kutorga
Keyword(s):  
Small Mammals ◽  
Small Mammal ◽  
Fungal Spores ◽  
Seasonal Effects ◽  
Deciduous Tree ◽  
Myodes Glareolus ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Hypogeous Fungi ◽  
Fecal Samples ◽  
Significant Difference

AbstractThe diets of small mammals in different hemiboreal spruce-dominated, oak-dominated and mixed forests in western part of Lithuania were studied by examination of fungal spores in fresh fecal pellets of caught animals. In the diets of mice (Apodemus spp.), bank voles (Myodes glareolus), and common and pygmy shrews (Sorex araneus and S. minutus), 22 different fungal taxa were identified, 15 of which were hypogeous fungi. The sporocarp abundance and the spores in fecal samples of Elaphomyces fungi prevailed in study area during this investigation. Although most of the captured individuals consumed fungi, the consumption varied among small mammal species. The data show that the fungi were more frequent and taxonomically diverse in Myodes glareolus than in Apodemus spp. diets. The study provided evidence that the fungal component in the diets of insectivorous Sorex species is more diverse than previously known. The availability of sporocarps and the fungal component in the diets of small mammals showed seasonal effects. Annual hypogeous and epigeous sporocarp abundances did not vary significantly across forest types. The significant difference in mycophagy was observed across all forest cover types, with the greatest fungal diversity in fecal samples collected in mixed coniferous-deciduous tree stands.

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