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The village weaver (Ploceus cucullatus) is a common colonial nesting bird widespread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. It is known to weave its nests from leaf strips from a variety of tree species (mainly coconuts trees, oil palm trees) associated with human settlement areas, grasses, and other available plants. In this regard, this bird was considered a pest for its impact on different economic activities. Although extensive literature is already available on the parasitic role of village weavers, there is still a lack of analytical data that outlines which tree species are used for nesting and in what proportion, as well as the related implications in terms of economic impacts. Here, we carried out the first comprehensive arrangement of trees used by this species for nesting in Southern Nigeria (West Africa), checking for possible different impacts on stakeholders. In April 2021, we searched for village weaver nesting in 95 sites in 77 communities from 24 local government areas in Southern Nigeria, during 14 field surveys. Within each site, we collected GPS coordinates and counted the number of active nests, nesting birds and occupied trees. We recorded a total of 5,776 nests and 2,140 birds in 94 plants belonging to 23 tree species selected for nesting. Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis; n = 45) was the most used tree species, as 2,990 (51.77%) nests and 873 (40.79%) birds were recorded. Our results indicate the preference for nesting on trees used by stakeholders belonging to agricultural (palm farmers), touristic (operators) and energy (gas flare stations) sectors with economic implications about the conflict with this pest species.

A body plan (bauplan) is a suite of morphological characters shared by phylogenetically related animals at some point during their development. Despite its value, the bauplan concept is still rarely employed to characterize functional groups in community ecology. Here, we examine habitat use and spatio-temporal activity correlates of an entire seven-species community of lizards with different bauplans. The study was carried out in three locations in central Italy, encompassing a complex landscape with a patchy mosaic of a wide variety of habitats and microclimates. We tested four hypotheses regarding niche breadth, habitat use, and activity patterns. The first hypothesis, niche complementarity, in which species with similar body shapes should non-randomly partition available habitats, was not supported. By contrast, the hypotheses that larger bodied species should have a wider niche breadth, that slower species should inhabit habitat types of higher cover, and species inhabiting open sunny habitats should exhibit more seasonally variable activity patterns, were all supported by the data. Sympatric lizard communities in our study area were clearly organized by autecological constraints and eco-physiological attributes. Key words: Sauria, Western Green Lizard, Lacerta bilineata, Common Wall Lizard, Podarcis muralis, Italian Wall Lizard, Podarcis siculus, Mediterranean House Gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus, Common Wall Gecko, Tarentola mauritanica, Italian Slow Worm, Anguis veronensis, Italian Three-toed Skink, Chalcides chalcides, Mediterranean, resource partitioning, bauplan, autecological constraints, eco-physiological attributes. Un plan de construction (bauplan) est un ensemble de caractères morphologiques qu'ont en commun, à un moment ou un autre de leur développement, des animaux phylogénétiquement apparentés. Malgré sa valeur, le concept de plan de construction demeure rarement employé pour caractériser les groupes fonctionnels en écologie des communautés. Nous examinons des corrélats de l'utilisation d'habitats et de l'activité spatiotemporelle de l'ensemble d'une communauté de sept espèces de lézards présentant différents plans de construction. L'étude a été menée en trois sites du centre de l'Italie couvrant un paysage complexe caractérisé par une mosaïque parcellaire d'habitats et de microclimats très variés. Nous avons vérifié quatre hypothèses concernant la largeur de niche, l'utilisation d'habitats et les motifs d'activité. La première hypothèse, de complémentarité des niches, selon laquelle des espèces aux formes de corps semblables devraient se partager les habitats disponibles de manière non aléatoire, n'est pas appuyée par les observations. En revanche, les hypothèses selon lesquelles la largeur de niche d'espèces à plus grands corps devrait être plus grande, les espèces plus lentes devraient habiter des types d'habitats au couvert plus important et les motifs d'activité d'espèces vivant dans des habitats ouverts ensoleillés devraient présenter de plus importantes variations saisonnières sont toutes appuyées par les données. Les communautés de lézards sympatriques dans la région d'étude étaient clairement organisées en fonction de contraintes autoécologiques et d'attributs écophysiologiques. [Traduit par la Rédaction] Mots-clés : sauriens, lézard vert occidental, Lacerta bilineata, lézard des murailles, Podarcis muralis, lézard des ruines, Podarcis siculus, gecko verruqueux, Hemidactylus turcicus, tarente de Maurétanie, Tarentola mauritanica, orvet de Vérone, Anguis veronensis, seps tridactyle, Chalcides chalcides, Méditerranée, partage des ressources, plan de construction, contraintes autoécologiques, attributs écophysiologiques., Introduction In evolutionary biology, a suite of characters shared by a group of phylogenetically related animals at some point during their development is defined as body plan or 'bauplan' (Woodger [...]

Biological communities are structured by a variety of biotic and abiotic relationships, whose understanding forms the basis for effective conservation. Among the myriad factors influencing community dynamics, resource partitioning stands out, potentially enriching ecosystem complexity but also carrying risks for conservation if disregarded. In this study, we investigated intersexual and ontogenetic niche differences among populations of the West African softshell turtle Trionyx triunguis in Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria. We observed that these distinct populations exhibited similar habitat preferences, favouring large rivers with abundant riverbank and aquatic vegetation, and muddy substrates. Disparities in habitat preferences were evident among populations and across various life stages, indicating the adaptability of the species. We found that the species was active throughout the year, but most of our sightings and captures occurred during the wet season. In light of the species' vulnerability to overhunting, our research findings provide important data on the ecology of this species that can assist in its effective conservation across all life stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Venomous snakes are among the most serious health hazards for rural people in tropical regions of the world. Herein we compare the monthly activity patterns of eight venomous snake species (Elapidae and Viperidae) with those of rural people in the Niger Delta area of southern Nigeria, in order to identify the periods of highest potential risk for persons, and the human group actually at greater risk of snakebite. Results We documented that above-ground activity of all venomous snakes peaked in the wet season, and that high snake activity and high human activity were most highly correlated between April and August. In addition, we documented that women and teenagers were at relatively higher risk of encountering a venomous snake than adult males, despite they are less often in the field than men. Conclusions Our results suggest that future programs devoted to mitigate the social and health effects of snakebites in the Niger Delta region should involve especially women and teenagers, with ad-hoc education projects if appropriate. We urge that international organizations working on social and health problems in the developing world, such as IRD, DFID, UNDP, should provide advice through specific programs targeted at especially these categories which have been highlighted in comparatively potential higher threat from snakebites than adult men.

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Long-term ecological studies are important for understanding wild populations' dynamics and processes and the actual factors that can determine their decline. Here, we report the results of a 28-years-long (1992–2019) monitoring of three distinct populations of a tortoise, Testudo hermanni , in Central Italy, with an emphasis on their population abundance trends and on the eventual variation in their habitat use across years and among the study areas. Samplings were conducted by Visual Encounter Survey (VES) methodology, and using a suite of statistical analyses including correlations and Generalized Linear Models analyses. Our data showed a statistically significant decline in tortoise sightings through time, and concurrently also a variation in habitat use by tortoises. In all the three study areas, we observed a significant increase of tortoise sighting frequency in the habitat type characterized by high (>taller than 200 cm) shrubby and wooded vegetation. Since our analyses revealed no significant change in the habitat type availability by year in each study area, we suggest that T. hermanni was increasingly selecting closed vegetation spots throughout the years. We hypothesize that this observed trend of shift in habitat selection could be due to lowering their body temperatures to prevent overheating. So, the selection of more covered spots would be a thermal ecology adaptive consequence of the ongoing global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports of global declines in animal populations are now numerous and also include snakes, a group of animals now widely regarded as bio-indicators. A prerequisite for any conservation management plan to protect or restore snake populations requires a data base that provides insight into population composition and changes. However, snakes are well known to be particularly difficult to quantitatively sample due to their secretive and elusive nature, and hence accumulating an adequate database for analysis requires long-term field studies that involve intensive searches. Populations of four snake species, Zamensis longissimus, Natrix helvetica, Vipera aspis and Hierophis viridiflavus living in two suburban areas of Rome with different extents of habitat alteration (deforestation), Vejo, a less altered site, and Tor Bella Monaca, a high altered site, have been monitored, but with interruptions since 1995. The results indicated that H. viridiflavus was the commonest species at both sites. Male bias was found in all four species but especially in Z. longissimus and V. aspis with detection of juveniles greatest in H. viridiflavus and N. helvetica. Snout to vent lengths (SVL) of H. viridiflavus and Z. longissimus, which were present at both sites, were greater at the less degraded habitat of the two study localities. Community metrics indicated that the degraded habitat had lower species richness, evenness, Shannon and Simpson diversity indices, but a higher dominance index. Recapture frequencies of snakes recaptured either once or multiple times were in general greater at Vejo. The highest population densities were found in H. viridiflavus, followed by V. aspis and N. helvetica, which were similar. However, long term trends in densities show declines in V. aspis and N. helvetica between 1995 and 2019. Population densities were in good agreement with density estimates found in previous studies of snakes in more natural habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]