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Invasive parasites that expand their natural range can be a threat to wildlife biodiversity and may pose a health risk to non-adapted, naive host species. The invasive giant liver fluke, Fascioloides magna, native to North America, has extended its range in Europe and uses mainly red deer (Cervus elaphus) as definitive hosts. The penetration of the intestinal barrier by the young flukes to reach the liver via the abdominal cavity as well as the release of fluke metabolism products and excreta with the bile and/or changes in the microbial community of the biliary system may enable the translocation of intestinal bacteria across the intestinal barrier and, in turn, could be associated with inflammation and changes in the intestinal bacterial community. The gut commensal community plays a key role in host nutrition and interacts with cells of the immune system to maintain host health. For this study, the gut bacterial community of red deer infected with F. magna and of non-infected red deer from one of the largest forest ecosystems in Central Europe, located on the border between the Czech Republic and Germany, was investigated. The individual fluke burden was associated with changes in the gut microbial composition of the gut of infected individuals, whereas the diversity and composition of the gut bacteria were only slightly different between fluke-infected and uninfected deer. Several bacterial taxa at the genus level were unique to individuals carrying either one or many liver flukes. Our results suggest that the microbiota of red deer is stable to perturbation by low numbers of F. magna. However, a larger parasite burden may cause changes in the gut microbial composition in definitive hosts implying that non-invasive fecal microbiome assessments could serve as indicator for wildlife health monitoring.

Abstract The border region between Austria, the Czech Republic, and Germany harbors the most south‐western occurrence of moose in continental Europe. The population originated in Poland, where moose survived, immigrated from former Soviet Union or were reintroduced after the Second World War expanded west‐ and southwards. In recent years, the distribution of the nonetheless small Central European population seems to have declined, necessitating an evaluation of its current status. In this study, existing datasets of moose observations from 1958 to 2019 collected in the three countries were combined to create a database totaling 771 records (observations and deaths). The database was then used to analyze the following: (a) changes in moose distribution, (b) the most important mortality factors, and (c) the availability of suitable habitat as determined using a maximum entropy approach. The results showed a progressive increase in the number of moose observations after 1958, with peaks in the 1990s and around 2010, followed by a relatively steep drop after 2013. Mortality within the moose population was mostly due to human interactions, including 13 deadly wildlife‐vehicle collisions, particularly on minor roads, and four animals that were either legally culled or poached. Our habitat model suggested that higher altitudes (ca. 700–1,000 m a.s.l.), especially those offering wetlands, broad‐leaved forests and natural grasslands, are the preferred habitats of moose whereas steep slopes and areas of human activity are avoided. The habitat model also revealed the availability of large core areas of suitable habitat beyond the current distribution, suggesting that habitat was not the limiting factor explaining the moose distribution in the study area. Our findings call for immediate transboundary conservation measures to sustain the moose population, such as those aimed at preventing wildlife‐vehicle collisions and illegal killings. Infrastructure planning and development activities must take into account the habitat requirements of moose.

Effects of climate change‐induced events on forest ecosystem dynamics of composition, function and structure call for increased long‐term, interdisciplinary and integrated research on biodiversity indicators, in particular within strictly protected areas with extensive non‐intervention zones. The long‐established concept of forest supersites generally relies on long‐term funds from national agencies and goes beyond the logistic and financial capabilities of state‐ or region‐wide protected area administrations, universities and research institutes.We introduce the concept of data pools as a smaller‐scale, user‐driven and reasonable alternative to co‐develop remote sensing and forest ecosystem science to validated products, biodiversity indicators and management plans. We demonstrate this concept with the Bohemian Forest Ecosystem Data Pool, which has been established as an interdisciplinary, international data pool within the strictly protected Bavarian Forest and Šumava National Parks and currently comprises 10 active partners. We demonstrate how the structure and impact of the data pool differs from comparable cases.We assessed the international influence and visibility of the data pool with the help of a systematic literature search and a brief analysis of the results. Results primarily suggest an increase in the impact and visibility of published material during the life span of the data pool, with highest visibilities achieved by research conducted on leaf traits, vegetation phenology and 3D‐based forest inventory.We conclude that the data pool results in an efficient contribution to the concept of global biodiversity observatory by evolving towards a training platform, functioning as a pool of data and algorithms, directly communicating with management for implementation and providing test fields for feasibility studies on earth observation missions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The border region between Austria, the Czech Republic, and Germany harbors the most south‐western occurrence of moose in continental Europe. The population originated in Poland, where moose survived, immigrated from former Soviet Union or were reintroduced after the Second World War expanded west‐ and southwards. In recent years, the distribution of the nonetheless small Central European population seems to have declined, necessitating an evaluation of its current status. In this study, existing datasets of moose observations from 1958 to 2019 collected in the three countries were combined to create a database totaling 771 records (observations and deaths). The database was then used to analyze the following: (a) changes in moose distribution, (b) the most important mortality factors, and (c) the availability of suitable habitat as determined using a maximum entropy approach. The results showed a progressive increase in the number of moose observations after 1958, with peaks in the 1990s and around 2010, followed by a relatively steep drop after 2013. Mortality within the moose population was mostly due to human interactions, including 13 deadly wildlife‐vehicle collisions, particularly on minor roads, and four animals that were either legally culled or poached. Our habitat model suggested that higher altitudes (ca. 700–1,000 m a.s.l.), especially those offering wetlands, broad‐leaved forests and natural grasslands, are the preferred habitats of moose whereas steep slopes and areas of human activity are avoided. The habitat model also revealed the availability of large core areas of suitable habitat beyond the current distribution, suggesting that habitat was not the limiting factor explaining the moose distribution in the study area. Our findings call for immediate transboundary conservation measures to sustain the moose population, such as those aimed at preventing wildlife‐vehicle collisions and illegal killings. Infrastructure planning and development activities must take into account the habitat requirements of moose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Recovery from disturbances is a prominent measure of forest ecosystem resilience, with swift recovery indicating resilient systems. The forest ecosystems of Central Europe have recently been affected by unprecedented levels of natural disturbance, yet our understanding of their ability to recover from disturbances is still limited. Objectives: We here integrated satellite and airborne Lidar data to (i) quantify multi-decadal post-disturbance recovery of two indicators of forest structure, and (ii) compare the recovery trajectories of forest structure among managed and un-managed forests. Methods: We developed satellite-based models predicting Lidar-derived estimates of tree cover and stand height at 30 m grain across a 3100 km2 landscape in the Bohemian Forest Ecosystem (Central Europe). We summarized the percentage of disturbed area that recovered to > 40% tree cover and > 5 m stand height and quantified the variability in both indicators over a 30-year period. The analyses were stratified by three management regimes (managed, protected, strictly protected) and two forest types (beech-dominated, spruce-dominated). Results: We found that on average 84% of the disturbed area met our recovery threshold 30 years post-disturbance. The rate of recovery was slower in un-managed compared to managed forests. Variability in tree cover was more persistent over time in un-managed forests, while managed forests strongly converged after a few decades post-disturbance. Conclusion: We conclude that current management facilitates the recovery of forest structure in Central European forest ecosystems. However, our results underline that forests recovered well from disturbances also in the absence of human intervention. Our analysis highlights the high resilience of Central European forest ecosystems to recent disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The variability of body weight and body dimensions of the Eurasian lynx was studied in the reintroduced Bohemian-Bavarian-Austrian population. In 1996-2018, 27 males and 21 females were examined. The material was obtained from telemetry, road kills and illegal kills. The weight and basic external body parameters were measured and analysed as well as the individual growth per time. Adult males exhibit significantly bigger values in main measured parameters. The study indicates that there are substantial differences in the development of body length and weight. The growth of length is finished approximately in 2 years in both sexes. The weight development is longer, finishing in approximately 3 years in female and in 4 (5) years in male lynx. The study collected data from the wild and can bring one of the basic but useful information for future monitoring and population viability assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though recent years have shown a slow recovery of the Eurasian otter ( Lutra lutra ) populations from their previous lows, the species is still highly endangered in most parts of its European distribution range. Surprisingly, only a few studies have so far assessed the species’ genetic variability and population density, and they have mostly been carried out only in small territories. In Germany, most otter populations live in protected areas whose management urgently needs data on population sizes and densities as well as on genetic variability of the species under their custody. Thus, we analyzed genetic variability and assessed size and density of the otter population in the Bohemian Forest Ecosystem, an area that had not been included in the few previous molecular studies. The study area comprised of 1500 km 2 , divided into fifteen squares of 10 × 10 km 2 , each of which was sampled in two collection periods. Overall we collected 261 fecal samples (spraints), of which 60 (23%) could be genotyped at least at eight microsatellite loci, yielding 38 distinct otter genotypes. The low genotyping success rate was the result of high ambient temperature at the time of sampling rather than that of high humidity. The population did not show signs of a past bottleneck, indicating a small yet stable population size. Population size was estimated to be 118 (CI 95% 64–163) individuals, with a mean density of 1 animal per 8.5 km 2 or 3.1 km river length. Our results imply that hunting, requested by local fishpond owners, should remain banned to avoid a decline in (effective) population size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large, severe disturbances drive many forest ecosystems over the long term, but pose management uncertainties when human experience with them is limited. Recent continent-scale outbreaks of bark beetles across the temperate Northern Hemisphere have raised major concerns as to whether coniferous forests will regenerate back towards pre-outbreak condition and meet possible reforestation objectives. To date, however, analyses of post-outbreak regeneration across broad spatial and temporal scales have been rare, and entirely lacking for many regions., Following a series of large, severe ( 99% overstorey mortality) outbreaks of spruce bark beetles Ips typographus in Central Europe, we capitalized on an extensive forest inventory data set ( n = 615 plots across 7000 ha) to evaluate regeneration dynamics in Norway spruce Picea abies forests across the Bohemian Forest Ecosystem (spanning Germany and the Czech Republic). We asked whether neighbourhood effects (conspecific advance regeneration of spruce) would support prompt regeneration back to spruce forest, or whether the rapid, severe canopy mortality would overwhelm this influence and promote pioneer and broadleaf species. We tracked 15 years of post-outbreak regeneration dynamics (occupancy, density, height, composition) of all tree species and evaluated initial variations in successional pathway and structure., Median tree regeneration density increased from 400 trees ha−1 at the time of outbreak to 2000 trees ha−1 within a decade, and occupancy increased from 58% to 76%. The increases were driven by spruce, which primarily recruited from advance regeneration, gradually occupying greater height classes. Only one broadleaf/pioneer species increased in relative proportion, for a brief (<3-year) period before declining again. Nevertheless, both pure spruce and spruce-broadleaf stands were common and, coupled with wide variations in density and height, contributed to diverse early-successional structure., Synthesis and applications. Contrary to common expectations, spruce beetle outbreaks in Central Europe effectively promoted their host in the long term. Outbreak-affected forests are naturally self-replacing even after severe canopy mortality, when positive neighbourhood effects of conspecific advance regeneration lead to rapid replacement of the dominant species. Thus, natural regeneration may be considered among the most effective ways to meet possible reforestation objectives in forests destroyed by beetles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]