Search results for "Endangered Species"

Effect of glochidia infection on growth of fish : freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifera margaritifera and brown trout Salmo trutta

2019

AbstractEffect of freshwater mussels’ (Unionoida) glochidia on the growth of fish host has remained poorly studied. We compared the specific growth rate of the juvenile, PIT-marked brown trout (Salmo trutta) between uninfected controls to those experimentally infected (average initial intensity of infection 8000 fish−1) with Margaritifera margaritifera glochidia, kept in high and low feeding. Growth and mortality of fish were monitored for 10 months. Our hypothesis was that glochidiosis would impair the growth of fish. According to our hypothesis, infected fish gained statistically significantly less weight than the control fish throughout the experiment. A proportional increase in weight o…

Food predictability determines space use of endangered vultures: implications for management of supplementary feeding.

2013

Understanding space use of free-living endangered animals is key to inform management decisions for conservation planning. Like most scavengers, vultures have evolved under a context of unpredictability of food resources (i.e. exploiting scattered carcasses that are intermittently available). However, the role of predictable sources of food in shaping spatial ecology of vultures has seldom been studied in detail. Here, we quantify the home range of the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), a long-lived raptor which has experienced severe population decline throughout its range and is qualified as endangered worldwide. To this end six adults were tracked by satellite telemetry in Spain d…

Bio-ecological, phytosociological and conservation aspects of relictual and disjointed populations of Simethis mattiazzi (Vandelli) Sacc. (Xanthorrho…

2012

Two populations of Simethis mattiazzi (Xanthorrhoeaceae) were recently discovered in the Channel of Sicily – (1) Punta Bassana (Marettimo Island) and (2) Mount S. Giuliano (western Sicily) – at a considerable distance from the nearest stations hitherto known, located in southern Sardinia, the Pontine Islands Archipelago and Tunisia. The taxonomical and distributive aspects of this species are analysed to highlight the relictual and biogeographical significance of the disjointed and fragmentary nuclei distributed in several small islands of the Channel of Sicily, the Italian Peninsula and North Africa. Some morphological, biological, ecological and phytosociological aspects of the two new po…

Calendula maritima

2017

Where are you from, stranger? The enigmatic biogeography of North African pond turtles (Emys orbicularis)

2014

Abstract The European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) is a Nearctic element in the African fauna and thought to have invaded North Africa from the Iberian Peninsula. All North African populations are currently identified with the subspecies E. o. occidentalis. However, a nearly range-wide sampling in North Africa used for analyses of mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA provides evidence that only Moroccan populations belong to this taxon, while eastern Algerian and Tunisian pond turtles represent an undescribed distinct subspecies. These two taxa are most closely related to E. o. galloitalica with a native distribution along the Mediterranean coast of northern Spain through southern France …

Breeding system and conservation strategy of the extremely endangered Cistus carthaginensis Pau (Cistaceae) of Spain

2001

Cistus carthaginensis is one of the most endangered plants in Europe: at present there exist only a few individuals in Murcia and one in Valencia (SE and E Spain). To design an adequate conservation strategy able to avoid the extinction of this species, various aspects of its reproductive biology were studied. The extreme rarity of C. carthaginensis is not related to problems of development and/or fertility of pollen or ovules produced by the few existing specimens. Meiosis in the pollen mother cells is always regular and chromosome segregation is completely equilibrated in the male gametes. Pollen and ovule production is high and similar to that reported for other related species of Cistus…

Pollination biology in an endangered rocky mountain toadflax (Linaria cavanillesii)

2013

Knowledge about the reproductive system of species inhabiting rocky habitats is scarce. The reproductive biology (floral biology, experimental pollination, insect visits, inbreeding depression, and seed predation) of the rupicolous Linaria cavanillesii was analyzed under field and experimental conditions. Self-compatibility was revealed by the high fruit set, seed set, and seed mass in the pollination experiment. Furthermore, results disclose that this species does not need insect visitors for seed production since fruit set after autonomous self-pollination was similar to that by hand cross-pollination. Self-offsprings were not affected by a strong degree of inbreeding depression in early …

Hybridization and competition between the endangered sea marigold (Calendula maritima, Asteraceae) and a more common congener

2013

Occurrences of hybridization between the rare, endangered Sicilian endemic, Calendula maritima, and other congeners in the wild have been suspected by several authors, but never demonstrated. In San Cusumano (Trapani), one of the only three Sicilian mainland populations, C. maritima occurs in close proximity to the more common congener C. suffruticosa subsp. fulgida, and individuals morphologically intermediate between the two taxa have been observed. In order to determine whether hybridization is occurring at this site, and, if so, begin to assess the impact it could have on C. maritima, two independent tests of hybridity were conducted by studying (1) the pollen morphology and viability a…

Parental investment asymmetries of a globally endangered scavenger: unravelling the role of gender, weather conditions and stage of the nesting cycle

2019

Capsule: In Egyptian Vultures Neophron percnopterus, both sexes invested similar parental effort throughout the breeding period. However, there was variation in the degree of intensity of parental ...

The genetic heritage of Alpine local cattle breeds using genomic SNP data

2020

Abstract Background Assessment of genetic diversity and population structure provides important control metrics to avoid genetic erosion, inbreeding depression and crossbreeding between exotic and locally-adapted cattle breeds since these events can have deleterious consequences and eventually lead to extinction. Historically, the Alpine Arc represents an important pocket of cattle biodiversity with a large number of autochthonous breeds that provide a fundamental source of income for the entire regional economy. By using genotype data from medium-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays, we performed a genome-wide comparative study of 23 cattle populations from the Alpine Arc an…