Livestock grazing affects movements and activity pattern of Italian roe deer in Southern Italy

Effects of Livestock Grazing on Spatiotemporal Interactions Between Snow Leopards and Ungulate Prey

Spatiotemporal interactions between predators and prey are central to maintaining sustainable functioning ecosystems and community stability. For wild ungulates and their predators, livestock grazing is an important anthropogenic disturbance causing population declines and modifying their interactions over time and space. However, it is poorly understood how fine-scale grazing affects the spatiotemporal responses of predators, prey, and their interactions. Two opposing hypotheses describe a dichotomy of possible effects. The human shield hypothesis states that people can protect prey because predators avoid areas with high human-induced mortality risk, whereas in the human competitor hypothesis, humans compete for prey and negatively impact predators through reduced prey availability. We used camera-trapping data from the Gansu Qilianshan National Nature Reserve in Northwest China to measure occupancy, daily activity patterns, and spatiotemporal interactions between snow leopards (Panthera uncia), the dominant predator, and their ungulate prey in areas with contrasting grazing intensities. The results of grazing were consistent with both the human-shield and human-competitor hypotheses, affecting spatiotemporal patterns and interactions of predators and prey. For the primary prey species, blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur), their spatial and temporal patterns were affected by grazing, which led to a reduction in interaction frequencies with snow leopards. For secondary prey, grazing led to reduced interaction frequencies with snow leopards for white-lipped deer (Przewalskium albirostris) and red deer (Cervus yarkandensis), but increased frequencies for alpine musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster). Our results indicate how both competition among livestock and prey and predator or prey avoidance of grazed areas can impact populations and predator-prey interactions. Our findings are relevant to grazing management and snow leopard conservation.

Analysis of Fibropapillomatosis in Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) Confirms High Content of Heavy Metals

In recent decades, there has been an increase in European wild ungulate populations, often associated with a decline in health and spread of disease. This is true for the roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), the most common European cervid, with populations apparently affected by fibropapillomatosis, an increasingly common cancer. To date, however, there has been little research into this disease, thus many interactions remain unclear and descriptions of tumour composition are poorly validated. The main aim of the present study was to evaluate the presence and concentration of toxic heavy metals in roe deer skin tumours. Our results confirmed the presence of virtually all the metals tested for, i.e., Pb, Hg, Cd, As, Cr, Mn, Al, Co, Cu, Ni, Se, Zn, and Fe, with the highest average concentrations found for Cr (0.99 mg/kg-1 ± 2.23 SD), Cd (0.03 mg/kg-1 ± 0.03 SD), and Hg (0.02 mg/kg-1 ± 0.02 SD), exceeding FAO limits for meat from slaughtered animals. We also observed a significant positive relationship between heavy metal concentration and age, especially for Pb, As, Hg, Mn, Se, Al, Zn, and Ni. Our findings provide a strong baseline for further research on the impact of fibropapillomatosis, not only on the welfare and health status of game but also on the final consumer of venison, which in many respects is regarded as a high-quality, ecological, and renewable wild resource. While deer with this disease are not considered qualitatively or medically defective, they could represent a potential reservoir of substances toxic to humans and could affect substance levels in adjacent tissues or the animal as a whole.

A scoping review on bovine tuberculosis highlights the need for novel data streams and analytical approaches to curb zoonotic diseases

Zoonotic diseases represent a significant societal challenge in terms of their health and economic impacts. One Health approaches to managing zoonotic diseases are becoming more prevalent, but require novel thinking, tools and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is one example of a costly One Health challenge with a complex epidemiology involving humans, domestic animals, wildlife and environmental factors, which require sophisticated collaborative approaches. We undertook a scoping review of multi-host bTB epidemiology to identify trends in species publication focus, methodologies, and One Health approaches. We aimed to identify knowledge gaps where novel research could provide insights to inform control policy, for bTB and other zoonoses. The review included 532 articles. We found different levels of research attention across episystems, with a significant proportion of the literature focusing on the badger-cattle-TB episystem, with far less attention given to tropical multi-host episystems. We found a limited number of studies focusing on management solutions and their efficacy, with very few studies looking at modelling exit strategies. Only a small number of studies looked at the effect of human disturbances on the spread of bTB involving wildlife hosts. Most of the studies we reviewed focused on the effect of badger vaccination and culling on bTB dynamics with few looking at how roads, human perturbations and habitat change may affect wildlife movement and disease spread. Finally, we observed a lack of studies considering the effect of weather variables on bTB spread, which is particularly relevant when studying zoonoses under climate change scenarios. Significant technological and methodological advances have been applied to bTB episystems, providing explicit insights into its spread and maintenance across populations. We identified a prominent bias towards certain species and locations. Generating more high-quality empirical data on wildlife host distribution and abundance, high-resolution individual behaviours and greater use of mathematical models and simulations are key areas for future research. Integrating data sources across disciplines, and a "virtuous cycle" of well-designed empirical data collection linked with mathematical and simulation modelling could provide additional gains for policy-makers and managers, enabling optimised bTB management with broader insights for other zoonoses.

Domestic Cattle in a National Park Restricting the Sika Deer Due to Diet Overlap

Managers need to know the extent of the conflict between livestock and wild animals. Although many studies have reported the conflict between livestock and wild animals, few have checked the extent of the conflict. Cattle raising in the Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park is considered one of the main driving forces behind the restricted distribution of sika deer. To understand whether foraging competition is contributing to avoidance patterns between sika deer and cattle, we investigated their feeding habits using DNA barcoding and high-throughput sequencing. Our study shows that although cattle are grazers in the traditional division of herbivores, their diet shifted to a predominance of dicotyledonous woody plants, and this diet shift resulted in a high degree of dietary overlap between sika deer and cattle. Moreover, compared to sika deer, cattle diets are more diverse at the species level with a wider ecological niche. Our results confirm that overlapping dietary niches and the superior competitive abilities of cattle contribute to the restricted distribution of the sika deer, which has critical implications for the conservation of their predators. Our study suggests that cattle grazing should be prohibited in the Park and effective measures should be taken for the benefit of sika deer.

Spatiotemporal overlap between Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus tianschanicus) and sympatric mammalian species on Jeju Island, South Korea

Analysis of spatiotemporal partitioning is pivotal to shed light on interspecific coexistence. Most research efforts have involved large-sized carnivores and their prey species, whereas little attention has been given to ungulate in the predator-free ecosystems. We assessed seasonal activity patterns and spatiotemporal overlap among the Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus tianschanicus) and its sympatric species through camera-trapping from October 2017 and September 2020 in Jeju Island, South Korea. Trap events when compared seasonally, roe deer show higher activity in summer (34.9%), a pronounced low in winter (14.1%), and a moderate in autumn (23.8%) and in spring (26.9%). Roe deer exhibited bimodal activity patterns and had the highest spatiotemporal overlap and composite score with sika deer (Cervus nippon). Our results are among the few available data on the interaction of sympatric species and suggest strong overlapping with sika deer. This study provides important insight into species coexistence in predator-free habitats, which would be important for management initiatives.

Livestock displace European mouflon from optimal foraging sites

The conflict between free-ranging livestock and wildlife is a serious conservation concern across rural communities worldwide. Livestock may affect wild herbivores via direct competition for resources due to spatial and diet overlap or via behavioural interference. It is imperative that we disentangle the effects of livestock on wildlife behaviour to obtain an empirical basis able to stir management and conservation decisions. Here, we studied the effect of livestock presence on the habitat selection in a free-ranging European mouflon (Ovis aries musimon) population in Sardinia, where the species is under strict protection. We collected spatial data on mouflon and livestock during two consecutive years to investigate whether the mouflon selection of key feeding grassland sites was negatively impacted by the livestock presence. We found that mouflon preferably selected grassland, and its selection significantly increased when grass was of better quality (greener). We showed that livestock presence led to the displacement of mouflon from such preferred feeding sites, an effect clearly exacerbated by livestock proximity. We indeed found that the selection of grassland by mouflon dropped significantly when the distance between livestock and mouflon was below ~ 650 m, providing a useful management threshold indication. Livestock presence in close proximity displaced mouflon to sub-optimal habitat, and its effects may have negative impact on the population dynamic of this species which is already characterized by low female productivity within harsh Mediterranean environment. Our results give clear management indications aimed at better managing livestock grazing within natural areas to ultimately improve wildlife conservation.

Camera traps reveal overlap and seasonal variation in the diel activity of arboreal and semi-arboreal mammals

Our study aimed to investigate seasonal variation in the activity of arboreal and semi-arboreal mammals and investigate their overlap in temporal activity, as well temporal shifts in activity because of behavioural interference. In our camera trapping study in a fragmented landscape in south-eastern Australia, a total of ten arboreal and semi-arboreal species were found, with 35,671 independent observations recorded over 6517 camera trap nights. All species were found to be nocturnal; however, a notable number of daytime observations were made for several species (i.e. brown antechinus, Antechinus stuartii; sugar glider, Petaurus breviceps; bush rat, Rattus fuscipes; brown rat, Rattus norvegicus). Seasonal variations in diel activity were observed through an increase in crepuscular activity in spring and summer for antechinus, sugar gliders, brown rats, brushtail possums, Trichosurus vulpecula and ringtail possums, Pseudocheirus peregrinus. Diel activity overlap between species was high, that is 26/28 species comparisons had overlap coefficients (Δ) > 0.75. The species pair with the least amount of overlap was between southern bobucks, Trichosurus cunninghami and brown antechinus (Δ4 = 0.66). The species pair with the most overlap was between the native sugar glider and introduced brown rat (Δ4 = 0.93). When comparing the activity of sugar gliders in sites with low and high abundance of brown rats, sugar gliders appear to shift their activity relative to the brown rats. Similarly, behavioural interference was also observed between antechinus and sugar gliders, and when comparing sites of low and high abundance of sugar glider, antechinus had a shift in activity. Our work provides some of the first quantification of temporal patterns for several of the species in this study, and the first for a community of arboreal and semi-arboreal mammals. Our results indicate that some shifts in behaviour are potentially occurring in response to behavioural interference, allowing for coexistence by means of temporal partitioning.