Search

Predation threatens the viability of livestock farming, while lethal predator management can negatively influence wildlife ecology. There is renewed interest in non-lethal vs lethal methods of livestock protection, but a systematic comparison is lacking. Using multivariate models, we explored how predator management (shepherd, no shepherd), land tenure, flock characteristics, and environmental factors drive losses of small livestock across the Northern Cape, South Africa. Black-backed jackal and caracal were the dominant livestock predators in both management groups. Predation of small livestock was five-fold lower in the shepherd (1.29% ± 0.38) compared to the non-shepherd group (6.09% ± 0.51; p < 0.0001), with a seven-fold lower-level of lamb predation (1.67% ± 0.51 vs. 11.52% ± 0.99; p < 0.0001). Predator management, livestock type, and flock size (but not land tenure or environmental factors) were predictor variables in a best-fit linear mixed effects model describing small livestock losses (p < 0.0001). We interpret our findings with caution because we could not control for predator and prey abundances, and the non-herder group could have inflated their predation estimates. While the efficacy of shepherding requires more research, we suggest that it is a viable predation management approach in South Africa and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: An exciting research frontier is the intersection of wildlife ecology and social science. Associated research is embracing a spatial approach to integrating ecological and social data to investigate the complex relationships between wildlife and humans across landscapes. However, there is a lack of coherence on the status, current methodology, and potential future directions of this body of research to advance landscape analyses. Objectives: We provided a review of the current state of the science of social-ecological research and modeling of human-wildlife interactions across space, with a goal of compiling state-of-the-art approaches, methods, major findings, limitations, and future directions. Methods: We performed a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles published from January 2000 to August 2023. We synthesized methods, lessons learned, and key themes in the literature. Results: Synthesized findings pointed to the importance of spatial context in shaping wildlife and human attributes and their interactions, and the demonstrated value of adding social science data to contest past practices of oversimplifying the complex drivers of human-wildlife interactions. Challenges and limitations included spatial scale mismatches, the limits of assigning causality, misaligned terminology, and need for more in-depth and diverse social science data collection methods and frameworks. Conclusions: These studies highlighted the potential for social-ecological analyses to inform management through identification of key levers, scenario modeling, and avoidance of "panacea traps." Our results also chart a path forward that calls for more extensive data integration, investigation of feedbacks, and multi-scale approaches to more deeply understand human-wildlife relationships across landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bilateral asymmetry of the morphotypes m1 of the root vole Alexandromys oeconomus Pallas, 1776 from different parts of the range has been analyzed from morphogenetic positions. The material from the collection of the Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk), is used. A total of 2314 pairs of morphotypes m1 have been studied on the left and right rami of the mandible of voles. Seventeen different morphotypes and 70 different combinations of them are identified, of which 13 are symmetrical and 57 are asymmetrical. The data of bilateral asymmetry of morphotypes for each sample is presented in the form of square contingency tables. Based on these tables, the information-entropy parameters of the samples are calculated, in accordance with which the eco-geographic factors of the habitat are put. The 2B–PLS method is applied to the matrices after standardization. Two significant directions of contingency variability of the information-entropy parameters of the samples and eco-geographic factors of the environment have been identified. The first direction, latitudinal, is associated with a decrease in the Shannon entropy and fluctuating asymmetry in the northern samples of the root vole. Thus, the northern samples have a higher degree of morphogenetic stability compared to the southern ones. The second—the longitude direction—is highly correlated with the increase in altitude above sea level from west to east and is accompanied by a decrease in the values of the Cohen coefficient, Shannon information, and an increase in fluctuating asymmetry. This indicates a lower degree of morphogenetic stability of the eastern samples compared to the western ones. The approach we use complements the classical concept of the "epigenetic landscape" with the ability to take into account the influence of the environment. This is important in the practical use of asymmetry indicators for assessing the "health of the environment," especially when determining the natural background for populations of the "ecological periphery" of the areal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For various temperate ungulate species, recent research has highlighted the potential for spring vegetation phenology ("green‐up") to influence individual condition, with purported benefits to population productivity. However, few studies have been able to measure the benefit on vital rates directly, and fewer still have investigated the comparative influence of other phenological periods on ungulate vital rates. In this study, we tracked phenological changes throughout the duration of the growing season and examined how their timing affected the probability of pregnancy in an ungulate population. We did this for elk (Cervus canadensis) across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) by sampling 1106 adult females in winter at 25 sites over a 13‐year period and assessing sources of variation in pregnancy using a Bayesian hierarchical model. Pregnancy rates were generally high across the GYE (82.4%), and the primary influences on probability of pregnancy were the timing of vegetation senescence ("brown‐down") in autumn and exposure to the reproductive disease brucellosis. Earlier forage brown‐down in fall negatively influenced the probability of pregnancy of elk aged 6–9 years by an estimated 17.2% within the range (ca. 32 days) of observed brown‐down end dates. While summer habitat quality has been inferred to influence elk pregnancy previously, our findings specify the key influence of foraging conditions later in the seasonal cycle, immediately before the breeding season. The reproductive disease brucellosis was also an important factor, reducing the probability of pregnancy by 12.4% in elk in the 6‐ to 9‐year age class. Because pregnancy was tested before most disease‐induced abortions occur, the apparent mechanism for this effect is a prolonged reduction in fertility beyond the period of initial exposure in which fetal mortality is typically expected. Our results prompt greater scrutiny of the combined effects of late‐season phenology and disease on reproductive rates and population productivity in temperate ungulates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Journal of Animal Ecology reflects on its activities in 2023, acknowledging the challenges faced by many during that year. Despite these difficulties, the journal continued to publish high-quality research in animal ecology. It organized special features on leveraging natural history collections and infection-induced phenotypes, among others. The journal also recruited new associate editors and awarded prizes for outstanding research. Looking ahead to 2024, the journal plans to publish special features on marine heatwaves, global energy transition, and intraspecific variation. It also aims to explore the field of macrosystems ecology and revisit Charles Elton's work. The journal emphasizes the importance of understanding how animals affect ecosystems and invites researchers to submit their work for publication. [Extracted from the article]

This article, titled "Cover Picture and Issue Information," features a cover image of African wild dogs resting in Zambia's Luangwa Valley Ecosystem. The article discusses new research that challenges the long-held belief that wild dogs are limited by dominant competitors like lions, instead suggesting that the loss of prey due to human activities is now impacting the survival, reproduction, and population dynamics of wild dogs. The research utilizes an integrated population model based on long-term data from monitoring known individuals. The article provides valuable insights into the effects of anthropogenic prey depletion on African wild dogs. [Extracted from the article]

Abstract More diverse data on animal ecology are now available. This “data deluge” presents challenges for both biologists and computer scientists; however, it also creates opportunities to improve analysis and answer more holistic research questions. We aim to increase awareness of the current opportunity for interdisciplinary research between animal ecology researchers and computer scientists. Immersive analytics (IA) is an emerging research field in which investigations are performed into how immersive technologies, such as large display walls and virtual reality and augmented reality devices, can be used to improve data analysis, outcomes, and communication. These investigations have the potential to reduce the analysis effort and widen the range of questions that can be addressed. We propose that biologists and computer scientists combine their efforts to lay the foundation for IA in animal ecology research. We discuss the potential and the challenges and outline a path toward a structured approach. We imagine that a joint effort would combine the strengths and expertise of both communities, leading to a well-defined research agenda and design space, practical guidelines, robust and reusable software frameworks, reduced analysis effort, and better comparability of results.

Abstract For various temperate ungulate species, recent research has highlighted the potential for spring vegetation phenology (“green‐up”) to influence individual condition, with purported benefits to population productivity. However, few studies have been able to measure the benefit on vital rates directly, and fewer still have investigated the comparative influence of other phenological periods on ungulate vital rates. In this study, we tracked phenological changes throughout the duration of the growing season and examined how their timing affected the probability of pregnancy in an ungulate population. We did this for elk (Cervus canadensis) across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) by sampling 1106 adult females in winter at 25 sites over a 13‐year period and assessing sources of variation in pregnancy using a Bayesian hierarchical model. Pregnancy rates were generally high across the GYE (82.4%), and the primary influences on probability of pregnancy were the timing of vegetation senescence (“brown‐down”) in autumn and exposure to the reproductive disease brucellosis. Earlier forage brown‐down in fall negatively influenced the probability of pregnancy of elk aged 6–9 years by an estimated 17.2% within the range (ca. 32 days) of observed brown‐down end dates. While summer habitat quality has been inferred to influence elk pregnancy previously, our findings specify the key influence of foraging conditions later in the seasonal cycle, immediately before the breeding season. The reproductive disease brucellosis was also an important factor, reducing the probability of pregnancy by 12.4% in elk in the 6‐ to 9‐year age class. Because pregnancy was tested before most disease‐induced abortions occur, the apparent mechanism for this effect is a prolonged reduction in fertility beyond the period of initial exposure in which fetal mortality is typically expected. Our results prompt greater scrutiny of the combined effects of late‐season phenology and disease on reproductive rates and population productivity in temperate ungulates.

Simple Summary: The gut microbiome can provide valuable information on the ecology and health of wildlife. We profiled the gut microbiota of the southern greater glider, an endangered Australian marsupial that was heavily disturbed by the 2019–2020 Australian bushfire season. Geographic location was found to be a significant driver of gut microbial community diversity and structure. In addition, the wildfires were shown to shape some aspects of the gut microbiome. By establishing baseline microbiome data for the southern greater glider, we lay the foundation for the future monitoring of populations at risk of compromised health, as well as inform future conservation management decisions for this endangered species. Studying the gut microbiome can provide valuable insights into animal health and inform the conservation management of threatened wildlife. Gut microbiota play important roles in regulating mammalian host physiology, including digestion, energy metabolism and immunity. Dysbiosis can impair such physiological processes and compromise host health, so it is essential that the gut microbiome be considered in conservation planning. The southern greater glider (Petauroides volans) is an endangered arboreal marsupial that faced widespread habitat fragmentation and population declines following the 2019–2020 Australian bushfire season. This study details baseline data on the gut microbiome of this species. The V3–V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was amplified from scats collected from individuals inhabiting burnt and unburnt sites across southeastern Australia and sequenced to determine bacterial community composition. Southern greater glider gut microbiomes were characterised by high relative abundances of Firmicutes and Bacteroidota, which is consistent with that reported for other marsupial herbivores. Significant differences in gut microbial diversity and community structure were detected among individuals from different geographic locations. Certain microbiota and functional orthologues were also found to be significantly differentially abundant between locations. The role of wildfire in shaping southern greater glider gut microbiomes was shown, with some significant differences in the diversity and abundance of microbiota detected between burnt and unburnt sites. Overall, this study details the first data on greater glider (Petauroides) gut microbiomes, laying the foundation for future studies to further explore relationships between microbial community structure, environmental stressors and host health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predators must contend with numerous challenges to successfully find and subjugate prey. Complex traits related to hunting are partially controlled by a large number of co‐evolved genes, which may be disrupted in hybrids. Accordingly, research on the feeding ecology of animals in hybrid zones has shown that hybrids sometimes exhibit transgressive or novel behaviors, yet for many taxa, empirical studies of predation and diet across hybrid zones are lacking. We undertook the first such field study for a hybrid zone between two snake species, the Mojave rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus) and the prairie rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis). Specifically, we leveraged established field methods to quantify the hunting behaviors of animals, their prey communities, and the diet of individuals across the hybrid zone in southwestern New Mexico, USA. We found that, even though hybrids had significantly lower body condition indices than snakes from either parental group, hybrids were generally similar to non‐hybrids in hunting behavior, prey encounter rates, and predatory attack and success. We also found that, compared to C. scutulatus, C. viridis was significantly more active while hunting at night and abandoned ambush sites earlier in the morning, and hybrids tended to be more viridis‐like in this respect. Prey availability was similar across the study sites, including within the hybrid zone, with kangaroo rats (Dipodomys spp.) as the most common small mammal, both in habitat surveys and the frequency of encounters with hunting rattlesnakes. Analysis of prey remains in stomachs and feces also showed broad similarity in diets, with all snakes preying primarily on small mammals and secondarily on lizards. Taken together, our results suggest that the significantly lower body condition of hybrids does not appear to be driven by differences in their hunting behavior or diet and may instead relate to metabolic efficiency or other physiological traits we have not yet identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) is a top marine predator widely dispersed in coastal and pelagic habitats and with a generalist feeding behavior. Yet, information on the trophic ecology of animals inhabiting pelagic environments is still scarce. Using carbon (δ13C: 13C/12C) and nitrogen (δ15N: 15N/14N) stable isotope ratios, we identified and quantified the main groups of prey assimilated by bottlenose dolphins inhabiting an oceanic habitat (Madeira Island, East Atlantic). Bottlenose dolphins assimilated pelagic, schooling fish (such as blue jack mackerel, Trachurus picturatus) and mesopelagic and demersal squids, which reinforces the pelagic dietary composition of insular/oceanic dolphins. Also, intra-seasonal differences were found in their stable isotope ratios, which suggest intraspecific variability in the feeding behavior among individuals living in the same area. Sex was not the main factor contributing to these differences, suggesting the lack of trophic niche segregation between adult males and females in this offshore environment. Nonetheless, further studies including different life stages and information on the ecophysiological requirements are necessary to disclose the factors responsible for the observed variability. This study showed that insular dolphins fed primarily on economically important pelagic prey, highlighting the need of developing management strategies that integrate conservation in fisheries plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In citizen science (CS) projects, citizens who are not professional scientists participate in scientific research. Besides serving research purposes, CS projects provide participants opportunities for inquiry‐based learning to promote their topic‐specific knowledge and scientific reasoning skills. Previous research suggests that participants need scientific reasoning skills to engage in scientific activities and to learn from inquiry in CS projects. Participants' scientific reasoning skills, therefore, might enhance the resulting topic‐specific knowledge at the end of a CS project. On the other hand, scientific reasoning skills themselves are a learning outcome of CS projects. Hence, they might play a double role in CS projects: as a learning outcome and as a prerequisite for acquiring knowledge. In the informal education context of CS, it has not yet been investigated whether scientific reasoning skills predict topic‐specific knowledge or vice versa. To address this question, the research presented here used a cross‐lagged panel design in two longitudinal field studies of a CS project on urban wildlife ecology (N = 144 participants). The results indicated that participants' scientific reasoning skills positively influenced their topic‐specific knowledge at the end of the project, but not vice versa. Extending previous research on individual learning outcomes of CS projects, the results showed that inquiry‐based learning in CS projects depends on certain prerequisites, such as participants' proficiency in scientific reasoning. We discuss the implications for future research on inquiry‐based learning in CS projects and for further training of CS participants in acquiring scientific reasoning skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brönmark et al. [[15]] discuss the importance of whole-lake studies and replicated pond systems as an innovative experimental infrastructure, to study animal movement and ecology. Fish tracking data are used to compare catchability, fine-scale movement, emigration from the lake and natural mortality of triploid and regular diploid fish, and coupled with data from traditional stock assessments. One of the most important tasks of ecology is to understand how animals use space and time. [Extracted from the article]

Space use, estimated based on location data, provides fundamental knowledge in the basic and applied ecology of wild animals. There is a trade-off between sampling frequency and duration in location data which are collected from a tracking device attached to an animal because the battery of the device has a limited life. In this study, we assessed how different combinations of sampling frequency and duration would affect estimates for home-range size and maximum utilization area (MUA) of Japanese macaques, using datasets subsampled by reducing frequency and/or duration from the original dataset. Estimates of MUA were likely to be overestimated if the sampling duration was shorter than 80 days for Japanese macaques. Reductions in sampling frequency and duration had opposite effects on estimates of home-range size: the estimated area decreased with decreasing sampling duration, while it increased with decreasing sampling frequency. Moreover, these opposite effects can be offset when the sampling frequency and duration are simultaneously reduced. We discussed the applicability of our results to animals other than Japanese macaques and how to design the sampling frequency and duration in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human-wildlife interaction is an important topic for analyzing the threat to wildlife. It may have a severe impact on sustainability for both humans and wildlife if unchecked. Hence, data on the different uses of wild animals i.e. food, ethnomedicine, fun and etc. and hunting and killing of animals in Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir was collected. The data were collected through direct (i.e., dead body observation) and indirect (i.e., meetings with local people) methods. Results showed a total of 386 wild animals belonging to 37 species from four major vertebrate groups were killed during the study period. High numbers of animal killings were noted for different reasons, i.e., trade, road accidents, food, medicine, etc. This illegal and brutal hunting of wildlife requires immediate conservation measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The size of both predators and prey can profoundly affect the foraging ecology of animals. This is especially true for snakes which consume prey whole. Although their gape imposes an anatomical limit on prey size, different snake species have a wide variety of prey types, prey sizes, and dietary breadth. To test whether a dietary specialist that only consumes bird eggs (Dasypeltis gansi) differed from a generalist that occasionally eats eggs (Pantherophis obsoletus), I quantified and compared the scaling relationships between overall size, cranial dimensions, and maximal gape and the orientation and mobility of relevant bones. Compared to P. obsoletus with a given overall size, D. gansi had maximal gape areas approximately 3–4 times greater and a significantly larger relative contribution to gape by the intermandibular (IM) soft tissues (50% vs. 19%). The greater distensibility of the IM soft tissues also allowed much greater lateral displacement of the distal end of the lower jaw in D. gansi versus P. obsoletus, but at maximal gape, the bones of these species had unexpectedly similar orientations in lateral view. The large gape of D. gansi was attained despite having a significantly shorter head than Pobsoletus for a given snout–vent length. As a result of their large gape and more slender build, the predicted values of relative prey masses (RPM) for D. gansi at maximal gape vastly exceeded those of P. obsoletus for a given prey type. Although eggs are much stouter than rats, values of RPM at maximal gape for D. gansi eating eggs greatly exceeded those for P. obsoletus eating rats. Perhaps, Dasypeltis has the greatest size‐corrected gape and potential values of RPM (for a given prey shape) of any snake taxon as these values of D. gansi exceed those from all previously studied species with similar data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education to improve knowledge of animal welfare is not a universal component of training for zoo staff, and little is reported about the perspectives of zoo staff on the need for such education. This paper reports results from structured telephone interviews of a diverse sample of eight Chinese and eight European zoo staff about aspects of zoological animal welfare, education and zoological practices. These qualitative data were thematically analyzed and key themes generated. Similar themes emerged across regions: Zoo staff consider professional attributes including motivation and enthusiasm to be important alongside formal training, zoo staff value learning opportunities but don't always feel supported, and contextual information including wild animal ecology was considered important content in zoo animal welfare education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non sustainable land uses are disturbing natural habitats and wild animals' ecology worldwide. Nevertheless, the sensitisation of key actors combined with research and a consequent management can influence decision-making and improve animals' well-being. COVID-19 has influenced the number of interactions with wildlife in urban environments and the ESPOL Polytechnic University is a university campus that holds forested areas in Guayaquil, Ecuador. We implemented an environmental education course with an empathetic approach for the security guards of the university. We used questionnaires to evaluate their attitudes and knowledge on wildlife before and after the sensitisation course. In addition, we registered the incidences of native fauna resulting from the guards' collaborations and we designed management strategies according to the data gathered. The guards showed an improvement in their knowledge of the issues covered (n = 81-87; X² = 163.4%) and an increased preference for wild and native fauna after the sensitisation course (n = 67; 151.6%). Furthermore, the collaborations of guards with the Biodiversity Unit of the university concerning animal-human interactions increased, as did the supporting actions towards the well-being of native animals. Moreover, the information about direct and indirect interactions with wildlife included reports on traces of large to medium animal activity and a record of illegal hunting of Choloepus hoffmanni for bushmeat consumption. Obtained data sustained adaptive management actions such as signalling and restrictions in use. We recommend educating key actors with an empathetic approach, developing critical skills and promoting collaborations to reduce human impacts in wild areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of infectious disease ecology would benefit greatly from knowing when individuals were infected, but estimating this time of infection can be challenging, especially in wildlife. Time of infection can be estimated from various types of data, with antibody‐level data being one of the most promising sources of information. The use of antibody levels to back‐calculate infection time requires the development of a host‐pathogen system‐specific model of antibody dynamics, and a leading challenge in such quantitative serology approaches is how to model antibody dynamics in the absence of experimental infection data.We present a way to model antibody dynamics in a Bayesian framework that facilitates the incorporation of all available information about potential infection times and apply the model to estimate infection times of Channel Island foxes infected with Leptospira interrogans.Using simulated data, we show that the approach works well across a broad range of parameter settings and can lead to major improvements in infection time estimates that depend on system characteristics such as antibody decay rate and variation in peak antibody levels after exposure. When applied to field data we saw reductions up to 83% in the window of possible infection times.The method substantially simplifies the challenge of modelling antibody dynamics in the absence of individuals with known infection times, opens up new opportunities in wildlife disease ecology and can even be applied to cross‐sectional data once the model is trained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competition typically takes place in a spatial context, but eco-evolutionary models rarely address the joint evolution of movement and competition strategies. Here we investigate a spatially explicit forager-kleptoparasite model where consumers can either forage on a heterogeneous resource landscape or steal resource items from conspecifics (kleptoparasitism). We consider three scenarios: (1) foragers without kleptoparasites, (2) consumers specializing as foragers or as kleptoparasites, and (3) consumers that can switch between foraging and kleptoparasitism depending on local conditions. We model movement strategies as individual-specific combinations of preferences for environmental cues, similar to step-selection coefficients. Using mechanistic, individual-based simulations, we study the joint evolution of movement and competition strategies, and we investigate the implications for the distribution of consumers over this landscape. Movement and competition strategies evolve rapidly and consistently across scenarios, with marked differences among scenarios, leading to differences in resource exploitation patterns. In scenario 1, foragers evolve considerable individual variation in movement strategies, while in scenario 2, movement strategies show a swift divergence between foragers and kleptoparasites. In scenario 3, where individuals' competition strategies are conditional on local cues, movement strategies facilitate kleptoparasitism, and individual consistency in competition strategy also emerges. Even in the absence of kleptoparasitism (scenario 1), the distribution of consumers deviates considerably from predictions of ideal free distribution models because of the intrinsic difficulty of moving effectively on a depleted resource landscape with few reliable cues. Our study emphasizes the advantages of a mechanistic approach when studying competition in a spatial context and suggests how evolutionary modeling can be integrated with current work in animal movement ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For gape‐limited predators like snakes that swallow their prey whole, large‐bodied species with wide gapes should theoretically be able to consume a more diverse range of prey than smaller species with narrow gapes and, therefore, may have broader diets. However, in cases where large‐bodied species exclude small prey, their diets may not necessarily be more taxonomically diverse compared to smaller species. Thus, while body size can potentially predict broad dietary preferences, it cannot always predict diet breadth. We explored the relationship between body size and diet within the Pythonidae—a morphologically diverse clade of dwarf and giant snakes. We gathered ecological data of pythons and tested if python body lengths correlated with diet breadth and diet preferences respectively within a phylogenetic framework. Next, we reconstructed ancestral diets (as proportional use of ectothermic prey in their diets) and body lengths across a phylogeny of 36 species of pythons to explore the evolutionary relationship between these traits. We demonstrate that among extant pythons, body size is not linearly associated with diet breadth but linearly correlates with proportional use of ectothermic (and inversely endothermic) prey. Small‐bodied pythons more often have specialized diets dominated by the use of ectotherm prey whereas large‐bodied pythons tend to have diets dominated by the use of endotherm prey. We further show that the most recent common ancestor of pythons was likely large‐bodied and fed on a diet comprised mostly of endothermic prey. Shifts in diet towards greater proportional use of endothermic prey coincided with increases in body size. Conversely, shifts in diet towards greater proportional use of ectothermic prey coincided with decreases in body size. Our findings contribute to the growing body of work investigating the ecomorphological determinants of snake diets and thus provide further insight into our understanding of these animals' ecology and evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rodent virus communities (viromes) are overrepresented with zoonotic viruses, and as such are a key host system for the study of zoonotic viruses. However, the extent of viral diversity beyond characterized zoonotic viruses, and the factors that modulate the viromes of rodents remain opaque. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Raghwani et al. (2023) use rodents as a model to understand the role of seasonality in dictating virome abundance and composition—a factor known to play an important role in most animal one‐host, one‐pathogen systems. These data are not only highly relevant to rodents, but have broad applications across understanding and disentangling animal virome ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystems function in a series of feedback loops that can change or maintain vegetation structure. Vegetation structure influences the ecological niche space available to animals, shaping many aspects of behaviour and reproduction. In turn, animals perform ecological functions that shape vegetation structure. However, most studies concerning three‐dimensional vegetation structure and animal ecology consider only a single direction of this relationship. Here, we review these separate lines of research and integrate them into a unified concept that describes a feedback mechanism. We also show how remote sensing and animal tracking technologies are now available at the global scale to describe feedback loops and their consequences for ecosystem functioning. An improved understanding of how animals interact with vegetation structure in feedback loops is needed to conserve ecosystems that face major disruptions in response to climate and land‐use change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) parasites play an important role in the ecological dynamics of many animal populations. Recent studies suggest that fine‐scale spatial variation in GIN infection dynamics is important in wildlife systems, but the environmental drivers underlying this variation remain poorly understood.We used data from over two decades of GIN parasite egg counts, host space use, and spatial vegetation data from a long‐term study of Soay sheep on St Kilda to test how spatial autocorrelation and vegetation in an individual's home range predict parasite burden across three age groups. We developed a novel approach to quantify the plant functional traits present in a home range to describe the quality of vegetation present.Effects of vegetation and space varied between age classes. In immature lambs, strongyle parasite faecal egg counts (FEC) were spatially structured, being highest in the north and south of our study area. Independent of host body weight and spatial autocorrelation, plant functional traits predicted parasite egg counts. Higher egg counts were associated with more digestible and preferred plant functional traits, suggesting the association could be driven by host density and habitat preference.In contrast, we found no evidence that parasite FEC were related to plant functional traits in the host home range in yearlings or adult sheep. Adult FEC were spatially structured, with highest burdens in the north‐east of our study area, while yearling FEC showed no evidence of spatial structuring.Parasite burdens in immature individuals appear more readily influenced by fine‐scale spatial variation in the environment, highlighting the importance of such heterogeneity for our understanding of wildlife epidemiology and health. Our findings support the importance of fine‐scale environmental variation for wildlife disease ecology and provides new evidence that such effects may vary across demographic groups within a population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Highlight: Leimberger, K.G., Hadley, A.S., & Betts, M.G. (2023). Plant–hummingbird pollination networks exhibit minimal rewiring after experimental removal of a locally abundant plant species. Journal of Animal Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365‐2656.13935. In this paper, Leimberger, Hadley and Betts (2023) explore the effects of removing a locally abundant plant species on plant–hummingbird pollination networks. They experimentally prevented access of hummingbirds to flowers of Heliconia tortuosa and assessed subsequent changes in the interactions between plants and hummingbirds. Their main hypothesis postulated that the loss of a highly connected species would lead to interaction rewiring and niche expansions by hummingbirds, decreasing individual, species and network specialization. However, they found that the overall structure of the plant‐hummingbird networks remains mostly unaltered, with limited rewiring and minimal changes in specialization. The main contributions of this study can be summarized as (i) it adds to a limited number of manipulative studies on the capacity of species to rewire their interactions following the loss of partners, and importantly, it is the first study from the tropics and with vertebrate pollinators, for which experimental studies at appropriate scales is intrinsically more challenging; and (ii) innovates by evaluating change in specialization for the individual level, carried out through pollen sampling on the body of hummingbirds. The limited change in species interactions highlights that network stability through interaction rewiring may have been overestimated in previous studies, calling for further manipulative studies in the field. At the same time, it also indicated that even the loss of a highly abundant plant species has an overall small effect on network structure. Thus, this study contributes timely findings regarding the capacity of ecological communities to respond to species extinctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skull shape analysis provides useful information on wildlife ecology and potential local adaptations. Common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) often differentiate between coastal and offshore populations worldwide, and skull shape analyses can be particularly useful in this context. Here we quantify skull shape variation between coastal populations from the Gulf of Guayaquil (Ecuador) and the Mediterranean Sea, compared to offshore specimens from multiple oceans. We analysed skull shape differences using 3D models from museum specimens through geometric morphometrics (3DGM). Two complementary landmark approaches included single-point semi-landmarks in homologous features, as well as pseudo-landmarks placed automatically. Results show skull shape distinction between both coastal populations and offshore specimens. Offshore specimens showed little differentiation between distinct locations. Skull shape patterns mostly diverged in the shape and length of rostrum, as well as the shape of the ascending processes of the maxilla, pterygoids, and occipital bones. However, both coastal populations differed in the patterns and direction of change of those features and were also morphologically distinct. Our results are consistent with local data on site fidelity and social structure in the coastal populations. Skull shape changes suggest divergent feeding and sound production patterns are potential drivers, probably specific to the local environment of each community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The escalating conflict between human and wildlife due to competing demands for limited space and resources has raised concerns worldwide, and understanding the dynamics of this conflict is crucial for devising effective strategies and policies. The present study is an attempt to carry out a bibliometric analysis of the published literature on the topic of human-wildlife conflict (HWC) for the period of January 1991-February 2023. For carrying out the analysis of the data obtained from Web of Science, the 'Bibliometrix' tool, developed through the R programming language, was used. The findings of the study revealed that a total of 1592 documents have been published on the HWC research topic from January 1991 to February 2023 within 338 sources. It is observed that the number of publications has continuously increased since 1991, with an annual growth rate of 5.16%. A total of 4995 authors have contributed to the targeted research field. Of the 388 sources, the journal 'Biological Conservation' is the most relevant and productive, followed by 'Oryx' and 'Human Dimensions of Wildlife'. Based on the country production analysis, authors from 110 countries have contributed to the field, and the USA has the highest frequency of publications on HWC, followed by the UK and Australia. The USA also has the highest multiple country publications and has collaborated with 88 countries, with the highest frequency of collaboration with the UK, followed by India, Australia, and South Africa. The most frequently used keywords include 'human-wildlife conflict', 'conservation', 'conflict', 'human-wildlife', 'wildlife', 'wildlife management', 'livestock', 'management', 'coexistence', and 'carnivore'. The present study identifies the most prolific authors, sources, institutions, and countries, as well as the study hotspots in the subject of HWC, which may assist researchers in finding the best working and publication platforms. Further, it may also help them identify reliable research partners to acquire the best findings and develop more effective strategies and policies to address the issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the shift in wildlife management approaches from a focus on game species and local habitats to a more holistic and ecosystem-based approach that considers the influence of landscape configuration, composition, and connectivity on wildlife populations. The book "Wildlife Management and Landscapes: Principles and Applications" by Porter et al. aims to develop collaboration between landscape ecologists and wildlife managers by providing theory, tools, and applications of landscape ecology to promote long-term viability and resilience for wildlife populations. The book is organized into four parts, covering topics such as understanding habitat on landscapes, establishing a landscape foundation for wildlife managers, translating landscape ecology to management, and implementing landscape ecology in wildlife management. Overall, the book serves as a valuable resource for understanding the intersection of landscape ecology and wildlife management. [Extracted from the article]

Modern sensor technologies increasingly enrich studies in wildlife behavior and ecology. However, constraints on weight, connectivity, energy and memory availability limit their implementation. With the advent of edge computing, there is increasing potential to mitigate these constraints, and drive major advancements in wildlife studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a corrigendum for an article titled "Identifying the wetlands of international importance in Beibu Gulf along the East Asian - Australasian Flyway, based on multiple citizen science datasets." The corrigendum corrects errors in the original article, including incorrect information about the number of nationally protected animal species and the number of wetlands under national or international protection. The corrected information highlights the critical importance of the Beibu Gulf for the survival of certain waterbird species. The authors apologize for the errors and state that they do not change the scientific conclusions of the article. [Extracted from the article]

Animal sociality emerges from individual decisions on how to balance the costs and benefits of being sociable. Novel pathogens introduced into wildlife populations should increase the costs of sociality, selecting against gregariousness. Using an individual-based model that captures essential features of pathogen transmission among social hosts, we show how novel pathogen introduction provokes the rapid evolutionary emergence and coexistence of distinct social movement strategies. These strategies differ in how they trade the benefits of social information against the risk of infection. Overall, pathogen-risk-adapted populations move more and have fewer associations with other individuals than their pathogen-risk-naive ancestors, reducing disease spread. Host evolution to be less social can be sufficient to cause a pathogen to be eliminated from a population, which is followed by a rapid recovery in social tendency. Our conceptual model is broadly applicable to a wide range of potential host-pathogen introductions and offers initial predictions for the eco-evolutionary consequences of wildlife pathogen spillover scenarios and a template for the development of theory in the ecology and evolution of animals' movement decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Movement is an important characteristic of an animal's ecology, reflecting the perception of and response to environmental conditions. To effectively search for food, movement patterns likely depend on habitat characteristics and the sensory systems used to find prey. We examined movements associated with foraging for two sympatric species of lizards inhabiting the Great Basin Desert of southeastern Oregon. The two species have largely overlapping diets but find prey via different sensory cues, which link to their differing foraging strategies—the long‐nosed leopard lizard, Gambelia wislizenii, is a visually‐oriented predator, while the western whiptail, Aspidoscelis tigris, relies more heavily on chemosensory cues to find prey. Using detailed focal observations, we characterized the habitat use and movement paths of each species. We placed markers at the location of focal animals every minute for the duration of each 30‐min observation. Afterward, we recorded whether each location was in the open or in vegetation, as well as the movement metrics of step length, path length, net displacement, straightness index, and turn angle, and then made statistical comparisons between the two species. The visual forager spent more time in open areas, moved less frequently over shorter distances, and differed in patterns of plant use compared to the chemosensory forager. Path characteristics of step length and turn angle differed between species. The visual predator moved in a way that was consistent with the notion that they require a clear visual path to stalk prey whereas the movement of the chemosensory predator increased their chances of detecting prey by venturing further into vegetation. Sympatric species can partition limited resources through differences in search behavior and habitat use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ťahyňa virus (TAHV) is an orthobunyavirus and was the first arbovirus isolated from mosquitoes in Europe and is associated with floodplain areas as a characteristic biotope, hares as reservoir hosts and the mammal‐feeding mosquitoes Aedes vexans as the main vector. The disease caused by TAHV ("Valtice fever") was detected in people with acute flu‐like illness in the 1960s, and later the medical significance of TAHV became the subject of many studies. Although TAHV infections are widespread, the prevalence and number of actual cases, clinical manifestations in humans and animals and the ecology of transmission by mosquitoes and their vertebrate hosts are rarely reported. Despite its association with meningitis in humans, TAHV is a neglected human pathogen with unknown public health importance in Central Europe, and a potential emerging disease threat elsewhere in Europe due to extreme summer flooding events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solitary carnivores are an ecologically important taxa and at a high risk of extinction worldwide. Interactions between conspecifics can influence fitness outcomes and may help these animals cope with environmental and anthropogenic disturbances. However, the structure and maintenance of these interactions in solitary carnivore species is underexplored. In this research, we leveraged existing camera trap data on tigers (Panthera tigris)—a globally endangered and solitary carnivore species—in Nepal's Chitwan National Park to examine for the first time their social networks over 8 years (2008–2017). These networks assume that the co‐occurrence at camera trap locations represents an association between conspecifics. We found that tiger networks were fickle, remaining stable for about 3 years before dissolving. We also found that males were more likely than females to form bridges between other tigers, and resident tigers were more central in the networks than nonresidents. In addition, interactions between two animals were more frequent if they were of the opposite sex or were both residents. These insights have implications on disease transmission, population dynamics, and human‐wildlife conflict. Combined with camera trap monitoring programs, collecting data on the conspecific interactions of solitary carnivores can advance our knowledge of animal ecology and improve conservation planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animal ecology and evolution are shaped by environmental perturbations, which are undergoing unprecedented alterations due to climate change. Fire is one such perturbation that causes significant disruption by causing mortality and altering habitats and resources for animals. Fire regimes are changing on a global scale, but the effects of these changes on animal communities are poorly understood. Arthropods are one of the most ubiquitous and diverse animal taxa on the planet and their populations are sensitive to environmental change. Given their wide‐ranging impacts on ecosystem functioning, a better understanding of arthropod responses to changing fire regimes is critical and may also provide more general insights into how other groups might respond to fire.Here, we provide a comprehensive meta‐analytical assessment of how fire influences the arthropod community across habitats and functional groups. Using data from 130 peer‐reviewed papers across the globe, we tested how a variety of fire characteristics, including management regime, severity and time‐since‐fire affect arthropod populations and communities across habitats.Our results show that arthropod communities display substantial variation in response to fire and that community‐level responses are most likely to be detected within the first year. Responses also vary depending on fire characteristics and habitat. Specifically, while community metrics such as diversity were increased by low severity fires, they were reduced by high severity fires. Likewise, evenness increased after prescribed burns but was reduced after wildfire. Measures of arthropod community structure decreased following fires in deserts and forests.Across the entire arthropod community, fire also had variable effects on community diversity. Fire tended to have a negative effect size on arthropods across life stages, but responses did vary among groups. Nearly all functional groups exhibited a negative response to fire with the exception of herbivores, for which abundance, diversity and richness increased after fire.Our results suggest that the increasing prevalence of high‐severity wildfires are changing the structure of arthropod communities. Given their ubiquitous presence and diverse roles in terrestrial ecosystems, these community changes are likely to affect ecosystem functioning in various ways, including through increased herbivory. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age is an essential trait for understanding the ecology and management of wildlife. A conventional method of estimating age in wild animals is counting annuli formed in the cementum of teeth. This method has been used in bears despite some disadvantages, such as high invasiveness and the requirement for experienced observers. In this study, we established a novel age estimation method based on DNA methylation levels using blood collected from 49 brown bears of known ages living in both captivity and the wild. We performed bisulfite pyrosequencing and obtained methylation levels at 39 cytosine‐phosphate‐guanine (CpG) sites adjacent to 12 genes. The methylation levels of CpGs adjacent to four genes showed a significant correlation with age. The best model was based on DNA methylation levels at just four CpG sites adjacent to a single gene, SLC12A5, and it had high accuracy with a mean absolute error of 1.3 years and median absolute error of 1.0 year after leave‐one‐out cross‐validation. This model represents the first epigenetic method of age estimation in brown bears, which provides benefits over tooth‐based methods, including high accuracy, less invasiveness, and a simple procedure. Our model has the potential for application to other bear species, which will greatly improve ecological research, conservation, and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Habitat utilization is a major component of animal behavior and ecology, yet nighttime habitat utilization by diurnal animals remains understudied for many taxa. Sheltered sleeping sites are considered particularly important for parrotfishes (Labridae: Scarini) inhabiting coral reefs, where predation risk is most prominent at night. Parrotfishes are also known to sleep in mucus cocoons, which allegedly function as a means of predator and/or ectoparasite avoidance. In this study, we present the first systematic characterization of nocturnal habitat utilization and cocoon formation in parrotfishes, in their natural environment. We performed a total of 153 surveys and sampled 225 individual parrotfishes (of 11 species) and characterized their sleeping sites. We found that several species utilized sleeping sites with distinct characteristics, such as exposed sites that provided little to no coverage or sleeping sites well above the reef floor. However, most species exhibited substantial overlap in site characteristics and exposure. We found that the utilization of sheltered sleeping sites did not correlate with body size or life stage, suggesting that sleeping-site selection in parrotfish is unlikely to be driven by competitive exclusion. We also found that while some species either never or rarely formed cocoons, many species exhibited facultative cocoon formation that was not clearly associated with exposure or habitat. While we expected cocoons to be more frequent in exposed sites to avoid predators, or on soft substrates to avoid ectoparasites, we found no effect of either predictor. As many species exhibited a wide range of sleeping sites and behaviors, nocturnal habitat utilization does not appear to be a major axis for niche differentiation in this guild. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]