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Abstract: The dataset presented in this data paper supports “Breaking down insect stoichiometry into chitin-based and internal elemental traits: Patterns and correlates of continent-wide intraspecific variation in the largest European saproxylic beetle” (Orłowski et al. 2020). Here we present the supplementary data and description of methods on the following: (1) mass of elytra and abdomens across 28 local Stag Beetle Lucanus cervus populations in Europe. (2) Population origin and coverage of six major land-cover types, including transport infrastructure, measured in three radii (500 m, 1000 m and 5000 m) around the sampling sites of these populations. (3) The relationship between the mass and concentrations of elements measured in abdomens and elytra in 28 Stag Beetle populations and major land-cover types around the sampling sites.
Keywords: elemental composition, trace elements, internal metal concentrations, exoskeleton, chitin-bound metals
Published in DiRROS: 22.07.2024; Views: 14; Downloads: 6
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Abstract: The COST Action ‘European Raptor Biomonitoring Facility’ (ERBFacility) aims to develop pan-European raptor biomonitoring in support of better chemicals management in Europe, using raptors as sentinel species. This presents a significant challenge involving a range of constraints that must be identified and addressed. The aims of this study were to: (1) carry out a comprehensive review of the constraints that may limit the gathering in the field of raptor samples and contextual data, and assess their relative importance across Europe; and (2) identify and discuss possible solutions to the key constraints that were identified. We applied a participatory approach to identify constraints and to discuss feasible solutions. Thirty-one constraints were identified, which were divided into four categories: legal, methodological, spatial coverage, and skills constraints. To assess the importance of the constraints and their possible solutions, we collected information through scientific workshops and by distributing a questionnaire to stakeholders in all the countries involved in ERBFacility. We obtained 74 answers to the questionnaire, from 24 of the 39 COST participating countries. The most important constraints identified were related to the collection of complex contextual data about sources of contamination, and the low number of existing raptor population national/regional monitoring schemes and ecological studies that could provide raptor samples. Legal constraints, such as permits to allow the collection of invasive samples, and skills constraints, such as the lack of expertise to practice necropsies, were also highlighted. Here, we present solutions for all the constraints identified, thus suggesting the feasibility of establishing a long-term European Raptor Sampling Programme as a key element of the planned European Raptor Biomonitoring Facility.
Published in DiRROS: 19.07.2024; Views: 38; Downloads: 27
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Abstract: Montane temperate forests in central and southern Europe host diverse small mammal assemblages, but the fluctuations in these assemblages in correlation with owl predators are still poorly explored. The key questions of our study were how coexisting owls responded to different prey fluctuations and whether any particular small mammal species governed predator–prey co-dynamics. We conducted a long-term study (2004–2020) in low-elevation (300–1100 m above sea level) mixed Beech and Silver Fir forest in the northern Dinaric Alps (central Slovenia). Monitoring data on the main small mammal groups – mice Muridae, voles Cricetidae, dormice Gliridae and shrews Soricidae – and three owl species – the Ural Owl Strix uralensis, Tawny Owl Strix aluco and Boreal Owl Aegolius funereus – were collected annually. To find relationships between prey and predator populations, we used two types of supervised machine learning approaches and addressed three predictive modelling tasks of multi-target regression. The dominant species in the small mammal assemblage, the Yellow-necked Mouse Apodemus flavicollis, had a key role in determining predator populations and their breeding performance. We noted higher sensitivity to small mammal fluctuations in boreal zone owl species (Boreal Owl and Ural Owl), which reach their southern distribution limit in the Dinaric Alps, whereas the temperate zone species (Tawny Owl) seemed to be less affected. In years of prey shortage, the Boreal Owl was found to presumably abandon its territories, the Ural Owl suppressed breeding and the Tawny Owl sustained breeding activity by shifting prey selection. Low-elevation forests appeared to be suboptimal habitat for the competitive subordinate Boreal Owl, which may exploit occasional outbreaks of small mammal populations in these habitats even in the presence of larger competitors. Whether low-elevation forests can play a role in maintaining threatened and cold-adapted Boreal Owl populations in central and southern Europe in the face of recent ecosystem changes due to climate and environmental changes remains an open scientific question.
Keywords: sove, mali sesalci, populacijska dinamika, strojno učenje
Published in DiRROS: 16.07.2024; Views: 72; Downloads: 30
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Keywords: zoologija, rakunasti pes, Krim, zoogeografija
Published in DiRROS: 11.07.2017; Views: 4623; Downloads: 1435
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