CONTENT - International Society of Zoological Sciences

ICZ2008 – Abstracts S18
We are investigating if the scat abundance index obtained could
be used in estimating relative abundance, allowing
us to obtain an accurate estimation of wolf population trends.
Moreover, selecting several small areas of interest for the
conservation and management of wolves, this method could be
useful in monitoring population trends over large areas.
Range development of a reintroduced deer (Cervus elaphus)
population in Southeast of Portugal
Rosana Peixoto 1 , António Mira 1 and Pedro Beja 2
1 Biology Department - Conservation Biology Unit, University of
Évora, Pólo da Mitra, 7002-554 Évora, Portugal
2 ERENA – Natural Resources Management, Rua Robalo Gouveia
1-1A 1900-392 Lisboa - Portugal
As the number of endangered species grow, the use of
reintroduction as a conservation tool against species extinction
increases. Translocations of common deer species, as the red
deer (Cervus elaphus), may also help improving our understanding
of reintroduction requirements and planning the reintroduction for
endangered ungulates. A reintroduction program has been
developed in the Herdade da Coitadinha –Noudar Nature Park,
Portugal and includes an intensive post release monitoring for
three years. This present work focus on the home range sizes and
spatial preferences on the 11 radio collared females red deer after
the first 13-months restocked monitoring program. The animals
were tracked twice a day two or three times per week between
December 2006 and December 2007. Displacement activity was
monitored by radio telemetry (locations calculated by L.O.A.S.
software) and personal observation. MCP (Minimum Convex
Polygon) was used to calculate the total area and Kernel to
describe home ranges. Spatial preferences were determined by
QGis – GRASS software. The monitored deer territory had shown
average values of 9.56 km 2 . The total territory covered by the
eleven females was 19.99 km 2 . The maximum territory was 11.36
km 2 and the minimum 6.97 km 2 . Main occupation area remains
inside the farm, southeast/northwest direction. This area is
characterized by the presence of denser stands of Holm oak,
grasslands and scrublands and also Holm oak open woods. During
reproduction period most of the mature females demonstrated
preference to a not disturbance eucalypt stand area located
northeast from the release point.
Impact Assessment of Wind Turbines over local winged
vertebrate communities
Nuno Pinto 1 , Milena Matos 2 and Eduardo Ferreira 3
University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro. Portugal, 3810-193, Aveiro,
Portugal
The study here presented refers to the update of bats and birds
checklist and monitoring campaigns carried out in the
implementation area of a power plant at the Natura 2000 site from
Serra da Lousã. The power plant includes 25 wind turbines placed
through an NE-SW axis, at two different locations, around
1200m.a.s.l. Presented results refer to the period preceding the
construction of the power plant as well as the first year of activity.
A checklist of species using the area before and during
construction period was compiled for the build up of a reference
state. This should allow the assessment of anthropogenic impact.
The bird and bats checklists include four and five threatened
species or higher status by IUCN, respectively. For chiropters, a
supplementary area of 10Km radius was searched for shelters. 39
potential shelters were found and, out of these, 12 were monitored
for six months. After construction of the power plant, use of the
space by monitored species as well as mortality rates and other
impacts were monthly assessed. Until now, no considerable
adverse impacts were detected for both groups. During the first
year of activity, estimated mortality was zero individuals.
Monitoring will continue for two more years. However, data
collected until the moment suggests that this power plant does not
present a risk for winged vertebrates using the area. If these
results stand for the following years, we could consider this case
study as a successful implementation of “effectively clean” energy
production.
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Fauna of golf courses: the example of the National Golf
(France)
Rose-Line Preud'Homme 1 , Jean-Philippe Siblet 1 , Nathalie
Machon 1 , Jérôme Paris 2 and Pierre Noël 3
1 Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Service du Patrimoine
naturel, DEGB, USM 0308, CP 53, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75231 Paris
cedex 05, France ; 2 Fédération Française de Golf, 68 rue Anatole
France, F-92309 Levallois-Perret cedex, France ; 3 Muséum
national d'Histoire naturelle, DMPA/BOME - UMR n°5178, CP 53,
57 rue Cuvier, F-75231 Paris cedex 05, France
Playgrounds are highly frequented areas, often strongly managed.
There biodiversity is thus considered very poor. In order to assess
biodiversity of Golf Courses, the French Golf Federation and the
Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle decided to carry out
inventories of several taxonomic groups in one of the most famous
golf courses in France: the National Golf at Saint-Quentin near
Paris. This golf was established 20 years ago in an agricultural
landscape, a habitat usually hosting a low animal biodiversity.
Since then, artificial ponds and lakes have been created; trees,
bushes and flower beds have been planted.
The present investigation established the presence of a richer
fauna than expected. We found mammals (wild boars, fox, bats,
moles, rabbits, hares, shrews...), birds (at least 80 species among
which kingfishers, cormorants, warblers, tits,...), amphibia (frogs,
toads, newts), fishes (white amur carps, pumkinseeds), insects
(many species including beetles, butterflies, moths, grasshoppers,
dragonflies, dipterians, ants...), molluscs (snails and slugs),
spiders, crustaceans (woodlices), centipedes, and plancton
(different zoological groups).
In conclusion, it appears that the lesser anthropized grounds of the
National Golf Course could be at least as rich as the surrounding
habitats. Furthermore, since hunting and fishing is not permitted,
wildlife is assumed to be protected on these areas. However, the
intensive management of other parts of the golf could have a
negative influence on the dynamics of animal populations. The
inventories we performed will help to define the best management
actions for biodiversity preservation. The question of the Golf
Course as ecological corridor among natural habitats will also be
discussed.
The study of the gene H2 and microsatellites located within tcomplex
region from wild populations of house mice (Mus
musculus)
Larisa D. Safronova, Sergey G. Potapov, Anna I. Chekunova and
Varos G. Petrosyan
A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS, 117071,
Moscow, Leninski pr., 33, Russia
The proximal region of the chromosome 17 in house mouse
includes the complex system of genes which charactereterized by
four non-overlapping paracentric inversions span a 20cM region.
The gene H2 and microsatellite analysis of mice from wild
populations of Russia (Volgograd, Rostov, Saratov areas and
Kalmykia), from another states (Armenia, Bulgaria, Iran, Mongolia)
and also of laboratory stocks of house mice carrying t-haplotypes
(t 12 , t w5 , t w12 , t w73 ) has been carried out using PCR method. Specific
for t-carrying mice allele variant of the exon 2 of the MHC class II
A beta gene has been found out in laboratory stock tw 12 , 2 wild
mice from Kalmykia and 1 mice from the Saratov area. The
microsatellite amplificated are DNA sequences that located at the
chromosome 17 in the region from 7,6 till 18,8 cM. Each pair of
primers of D17Mit (16, 21, 23, 28, 32, 57, 63, 78) recognized from
3 to 6 nucleotide sequence variants of different size. The patterns
of microsatellite DNA fragments were specific for each specimen,
and in the most of cases two variants of nucleotide sequences
have been detected. The variants of patterns of microsatellite
nucleotide sequences from the laboratory stocks were the most
similar to Volgograd and Rostov regions while those from Bulgaria
and Saratov region were similar to each other. Interestingly,
microsatellite specimens from Armenia and Iran significantly differ
from all other patterns. Thus variants of nucleotide sequences
located in t-complex region can be used as markers for
identification of Mus representatives from wild populations. This
study was supported by RFBR 06-04-48866.