Survival and cause-specific mortality of European wildcat (Felis silvestris) across Europe. (September 2021)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Survival and cause-specific mortality of European wildcat (Felis silvestris) across Europe. (September 2021)
- Main Title:
- Survival and cause-specific mortality of European wildcat (Felis silvestris) across Europe
- Authors:
- Bastianelli, Matteo Luca
Premier, Joseph
Herrmann, Mathias
Anile, Stefano
Monterroso, Pedro
Kuemmerle, Tobias
Dormann, Carsten F.
Streif, Sabrina
Jerosch, Saskia
Götz, Malte
Simon, Olaf
Moleón, Marcos
Gil-Sánchez, José María
Biró, Zsolt
Dekker, Jasja
Severon, Analena
Krannich, Axel
Hupe, Karsten
Germain, Estelle
Pontier, Dominique
Janssen, René
Ferreras, Pablo
Díaz-Ruiz, Francisco
López-Martín, José María
Urra, Fermín
Bizzarri, Lolita
Bertos-Martín, Elena
Dietz, Markus
Trinzen, Manfred
Ballesteros-Duperón, Elena
Barea-Azcón, José Miguel
Sforzi, Andrea
Poulle, Marie-Lazarine
Heurich, Marco
… (more) - Abstract:
- Abstract: Humans have transformed most landscapes across the globe, forcing other species to adapt in order to persist in increasingly anthropogenic landscapes. Wide-ranging solitary species, such as wild felids, struggle particularly in such landscapes. Conservation planning and management for their long-term persistence critically depends on understanding what determine survival and what are the main mortality risks. We carried out the first study on annual survival and cause-specific mortality of the European wildcat with a large and unique dataset of 211 tracked individuals from 22 study areas across Europe. Furthermore, we tested the effect of environmental and human disturbance variables on the survival probability. Our results show that mortalities were mainly human-caused, with roadkill and poaching representing 57% and 22% of the total annual mortality, respectively. The annual survival probability of wildcat was 0.92 (95% CI = 0.87–0.98) for females and 0.84 (95% CI = 0.75–0.94) for males. Road density strongly impacted wildcat annual survival, whereby an increase in the road density of motorways and primary roads by 1 km/km 2 in wildcat home-ranges increased mortality risk ninefold. Low-traffic roads, such as secondary and tertiary roads, did not significantly affect wildcat's annual survival. Our results deliver key input parameters for population viability analyses, provide planning-relevant information to maintain subcritical road densities in key wildcatAbstract: Humans have transformed most landscapes across the globe, forcing other species to adapt in order to persist in increasingly anthropogenic landscapes. Wide-ranging solitary species, such as wild felids, struggle particularly in such landscapes. Conservation planning and management for their long-term persistence critically depends on understanding what determine survival and what are the main mortality risks. We carried out the first study on annual survival and cause-specific mortality of the European wildcat with a large and unique dataset of 211 tracked individuals from 22 study areas across Europe. Furthermore, we tested the effect of environmental and human disturbance variables on the survival probability. Our results show that mortalities were mainly human-caused, with roadkill and poaching representing 57% and 22% of the total annual mortality, respectively. The annual survival probability of wildcat was 0.92 (95% CI = 0.87–0.98) for females and 0.84 (95% CI = 0.75–0.94) for males. Road density strongly impacted wildcat annual survival, whereby an increase in the road density of motorways and primary roads by 1 km/km 2 in wildcat home-ranges increased mortality risk ninefold. Low-traffic roads, such as secondary and tertiary roads, did not significantly affect wildcat's annual survival. Our results deliver key input parameters for population viability analyses, provide planning-relevant information to maintain subcritical road densities in key wildcat habitats, and identify conditions under which wildcat-proof fences and wildlife crossing structures should be installed to decrease wildcat mortality. Highlights: Understanding survival is crucial for effective species conservation. We studied survival and cause-specific mortality of European wildcat across Europe. 83% of wildcat annual mortality was caused by humans. Roadkill was the main source of mortality for the wildcat in Europe. Survival decreased with increasing density of high-traffic roads. … (more)
- Is Part Of:
- Biological conservation. Volume 261(2021)
- Journal:
- Biological conservation
- Issue:
- Volume 261(2021)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 261, Issue 2021 (2021)
- Year:
- 2021
- Volume:
- 261
- Issue:
- 2021
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2021-0261-2021-0000
- Page Start:
- Page End:
- Publication Date:
- 2021-09
- Subjects:
- Anthropogenic landscapes -- European wildcat -- Survival -- Human-caused mortality -- Roadkill -- Road density
Conservation of natural resources -- Periodicals
Nature conservation -- Periodicals
Ecology -- Periodicals
Environment -- Periodicals
Environmental Pollution -- Periodicals
Electronic journals
333.9516 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00063207 ↗
http://www.elsevier.com/journals ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109239 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0006-3207
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 2075.100000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 18507.xml