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Between June 2020 and May 2021, we studied the fauna road mortality on a recently asphalted local road in a protected area in southwestern Romania (Iron Gates Natural Park–IGNP). Despite our expectation of reduced road mortality because of the very low traffic (3.97 cars/hour), numerous animals belonging to a high number of taxa were killed. Animals were killed throughout the entire year, even amphibians in the winter months, which normally should hibernate in that period. Road mortality differences between periods and sectors were obvious. Plant assemblages near the road influence the composition and intensity of road mortality. Diverse habitats near the road have diverse plant assemblages and richer fauna, which are more affected by the road. The highest road mortality intensity was registered in areas with diverse plant assemblages. The possibilities of diverse mitigation measures are also discussed, all implying the decrease of the traffic intensity in the touristic season, which overlaps the road mortality hot time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-time monitoring studies recently indicated that newts are in decline in many regions. Motivated by the above-mentioned, in the year 2019, we started monitoring the newt populations from the Jiu Gorge National Park (JGNP) in the Romanian Carpathians, 10 years after the previous study on the same topic. Compared with other areas where newts are in decline, we identified new distribution locations of the two newt species which are present in the park. Also, the previously known populations have greatly increased. Thus, the Lissotriton vulgaris population increased 2.58 times in 10 years, and the Triturus cristatus increased 1.80 times in 10 years. At the same time, in areas from JGNP affected by human activities in the past (abandoned quarry and areas adjacent to the railway), the newts extended their range in the last years and occupied artificial aquatic habitats. In the case of the populations from the natural habitat, the temporal dynamics and the ratio between sexes and species followed the same evolution as in the case of other populations from Romania. The increase of newt populations from JGNP in the last 10 years was most probably a consequence of the reduced human pressure, corroborated with the large surface occupied by native forests in the park. Thus, in natural areas, probably the best management measures for both newt species are not represented by direct (invasive) human interventions but by the conservation of the natural habitats used by the newts. A protected area should maintain the conservation status at least at the present level, and if the region is natural, this fact will maintain and also increase the newt and probably other amphibian populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cuticle is the interface between an animal and its environment; thus, it has a special importance. In Arthropods, the cuticle is not uniform, having numerous formations, which is also the case of epigeic terrestrial isopods. Our study presents data on cuticle surface morphology, obtained with a scanning electron microscope, of an endemic terrestrial isopod species, Trachelipus trilobatus. Here we present SEM images of some external morphological features of this species, which were previously described only at the light microscope. Although T. trilobatus was frequently encountered in caves, the aspect of its cuticle is characteristic for an epigeic isopod, presenting numerous micro-scales, spines, and tricorn sensilla, which are considered hygroreceptors. This fact proves that originally T. trilobatus is an epigeic species, which secondarily adapted to karst areas with caves. Nevertheless, it regularly leaves the caves and the limestone cracks and emerges on the soil surface. Therefore, T. trilobatus is able to receive information about environmental humidity, especially on the soil surface, which, when unfavorable, causes the species retreat into caves or cracks. Climatic fluctuations from the glacial periods could direct T. trilobatus to this environment and way of life, modifying its morphology, but not its cuticle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In July 2020 we analyzed the terrestrial isopod assemblages from different (mostly abandoned) railway constructions in Dobruja, eastern Romania. We identified 10 terrestrial isopod species, of which the most abundant and frequent were Porcellionides pruinosus (Brandt, 1833) and Armadillidium vulgare Latreille, 1804. We identified species that, in Romania, are present only in Dobruja: Leptotrichus pilosus Dollfus, 1905 and Trachelipus squamuliger (Verhoeff, 1907). Most of the species are common, generalist or synanthropic, connected to dry and open habitats. In abandoned railway-stations the number of species/samples was low (at most two), but at the base of a stone railway bridge in Babadag forest six species were found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesoniscus graniger (Frivaldsky, 1865) is a terrestrial isopod species generally known from mountainous karstic caves. Nevertheless, we found an endogeic population in Blahnița Plain, south-western Romania, on a stream bank, at 81 m altitude. The presence of this endogeic plain population may represent a new proof upon the species' habitat of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Perccottus glenii continues its upstream distribution on the hydrographic network from Banat region, south-western Romania. In 2014, we identified five new distribution localities, one in the Aranca River and four in the Timiş River hydrographical basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]