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Alpine ecosystems harbour a rich and highly specialised biodiversity, which is particularly susceptible to anthropogenic disturbances such as habitat loss and fragmentation as well as to climate change. Combined with other forms of land‐use conversion, construction and maintenance of ski resorts can have severe consequences on alpine biodiversity. In this study, we show how one amphibian and two reptile species, namely Rana temporaria, Zootoca vivipara and Vipera berus, respond to such impacts by means of a multi‐season occupancy analysis. We found all three species both in and outside ski‐runs, showing that these habitats do not necessarily preclude their occurrence. Contrarily, this is influenced more by microhabitat availability, such as ground vegetation, humid areas and rock cover, rather than by macro‐characteristics like elevation or habitat type. Moreover, we found a climatic influence on the year‐to‐year occupancy change of the species, with activity‐month conditions being more relevant than overwintering ones. Our results demonstrate how, in the specific case of reptiles and amphibians, ski resorts do not necessarily limit species' occurrence and that a mild series of management actions might secure the species' persistence in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sightings of vagrant walruses in Europe have been known since historic times, yet whether this phenomenon remains constant or changes over time is unclear. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive cross-reference of information on vagrant walruses observed in temperate Europe (below 61° N) between 1923 and 2022 utilising data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility depository. In addition, we conducted an online search of records from the last ten years, resulting in a detailed reconstruction of the movements of the most recently observed individuals. We estimated that between 31 and 36 different individuals have been observed over the last century, with most of these likely originating from the Svalbard region and only a few from Greenland. A comparison in the yearly number of records showed a significant increase over time, suggesting that vagrant walruses reach Europe as a result of a combination of climatic and meteorological events as well as of demographic changes in the populations of the North Atlantic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Habitat modification and invasive species are considered some of the most impelling causes of the ongoing sixth mass extinction, especially in freshwater ecosystems. Artificial water troughs are, in this regard, particularly vulnerable environments, while being pivotal breeding habitats for many amphibian species. However, despite their well‐known importance and their conservation concern, detailed information on the resilience of such ecosystems is lacking.This note describes the events following the introduction of invasive fish species into a water trough in southern Italy and reconstructs the recolonization times of two newt species (Lissotriton italicus, Triturus carnifex) after disappearance of the fish a few months later.As expected, both newt species were no longer observed in the water as soon as the fish were introduced in the trough. However, in contrast to previous reports, they recolonized it within 2 months of the last observation of fish and, in the case of L. italicus, bred shortly after.Although the short permanence of fish in the trough may have facilitated the recolonization process, this event represents the fastest recolonization by newts of a restored habitat ever reported in the wild and sheds further insights on the resilience of amphibian species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring of wildlife populations is essential for their conservation and requires a carefully chosen methodology. We compared survey effectiveness of reptiles using coverboards and visual encounter surveys in two study sites in the Italian Alps with similar habitats and reptile communities. The two sites shared similar methodologies, cover boards and visual encounter surveys (VES), except for the temporal approach, with one employing a long-lasting monitoring scheme and the other operating on a much shorter time-frame. Coverboards were placed two years before the beginning of the monitoring in the first site, while they were installed only for ten days and then removed each year in the second site. Similarly, VES were spread across the whole reptile activity season (May-September) in the first site, while conducted over nine consecutive days in the second site. Although the observation rate of any species was mainly associated with its relative abundance, reptiles preferred long-established coverboards and all three species present (Zootoca vivipara , Anguis veronensis and Vipera berus) were found underneath them. Only Zootoca vivipara used recently installed ones. On the other hand, short-term daily visual encounter surveys led to a much higher observation rate of Z. vivipara than those spread over the entire season. Our results suggest that coverboards may provide a valuable monitoring tool for reptiles when projects are conducted over long periods. Conversely, when only short-term assessments are possible, no real difference exists between the two methods and observation rate is more influenced by the species abundance than by the chosen method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amphibian species are declining worldwide, with a negative trend affecting both rare and widespread species. There is increasing evidence that resources must be allocated not only toward the monitoring of rare and charismatic species; however, the attention toward abundant species has often been minimal. Here, we describe the strong reduction in the numbers of several widespread amphibian species over the last 3 years observed in three independent amphibian monitoring studies conducted in an alpine, floodplain, and urban landscape in Italy, Germany, and Russia, respectively. The decline was particularly strong in juveniles, but adults and egg clutches were also affected. Such declining rates, if prolonged in the future years, will likely pose a serious threat to the populations' ability to recover and might increase extinction risk also in abundant and widespread species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keywords: animal perception; cinema; hostility; human-wildlife conflict; public attitude EN animal perception cinema hostility human-wildlife conflict public attitude 701 710 10 06/10/22 20220601 NES 220601 INTRODUCTION Animals are one of the most common triggers of human fears (Ajdacic-Gross et al., 2016; Becker et al., 2007). Specifically, in 58 films (22%), humans entering the animal's territory triggered the conflict while in the remaining 90 movies (34.2%) the animal was brought into a human environment by humans themselves, either unintentionally ( I n i = 18) or intentionally ( I n i = 72). Groups are circled by way of contact between animal and humans; from left to right: animal entrance into human territory, human entrance into animal territory and animal brought into human territory gl DISCUSSION To the best of our knowledge, this article is the first systematic study of animal antagonistic roles in films, with previous works mostly consisting of cinematographic overviews (Fuchs, 2018; Gregersdotter et al., 2015; Lennard, 2019), or in-depth single movies analyses (Francis, 2012; Neff, 2014). [Extracted from the article]

The impact of climate change is considered to be particularly important in arid environments where ectotherm species constitute the majority of vertebrates. Surprisingly, most studies dealing with the response of reptiles to climate change focus only on a few species. Here, we used a 30‐yr monitoring dataset to assess the consequences of climatic variations on a desert reptile community in eastern Australia. Community structure was measured in three habitat plots differing in flood regime using a range of metrics: the number of individuals and species, alpha biodiversity indices, species turnover, functional diversity, and an indicator describing the change in the critical maximum temperature of the community. Although the functional groups of species sharing similar traits were not clustered by habitat plots, diversity indices were highly plot‐specific. Community composition significantly shifted over time toward higher abundance of individuals for species tolerant to heat in two plots, whereas we found an opposite trend in the third plot. Importantly, the response patterns of the different diversity indices to climatic parameters were not uniform. Yet, water‐related parameters were overall more influential than temperature. A decrease in water availability paired with rising temperatures may have strongly negative impacts. We stress that combining different diversity metrics is critical to better grasp the complexity of community responses to climate change and that predicting future changes in reptile communities of deserts needs to account for the complementarity of different sources of water supply such as those resulting from the dynamics of local rainfalls with flood regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While typically insectivorous, large centipedes are known to attack and eat vertebrates. Though opportunistic, this behavior might be relatively frequent. Predation of centipedes on snakes is rarely observed. We report an incident, witnessed at the Sakaerat Biosphere Reserve, Thailand, involving the predation of a scolopendrid centipede, Scolopendra dawydoffi, on a female colubrid snake, Sibynophis triangularis. This is the first known case of a centipede predating on a vertebrate that that was laying eggs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While typically insectivorous avian species may occasionally consume small vertebrates, it is still a rarely directly observed phenomenon, limited tofew species. Herein I report what is apparently the first incident of a northern barred woodcreeper (Dendrocolaptidae, Dendrocolaptes sanctithomae) catching a frog. The observation reported was made on the 3 August 2014 at Jalova Biological Station, Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica. This observation is a useful addition to the scant knowledge on predation on vertebrates by tropical passerines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]