The introductory course on Capture-Mark-Recapture analyses ended!

 The introductory course on Capture-Mark-Recapture analyses ended this friday! It has been nice to recover a pre-COVID agenda and meet many colleagues. R. Pradel, A Sanz and A Rotger helped with the teaching and the practical exercises. We learned about mantas, little auks, newts, gulls, rodents, shearwater, nighjars and other animals. Thank you to all!

Domestic, wondering and feral cats. A debate based on scarce information.

This week cats are on the news. Many volunteers maintain colonies of cats around the villages or in city parks. The issue is controversial because cats are a potential problem for the island biodiversity. They are known to have caused extinction and to be a serious threat to the local biodiversity in many countries. Some have adopted strict laws to reduce or confine the cat population. Surprisingly, we have Little information on cat movements, their ecology and on the size of their populations. A recent press note here

 

Workshop on Capture-Mark-Recapture analysis 2021!

We open the subscriptions to the workshop on Capture-Mark-Recapture analyses.

Photo: J Atero

Two CMR courses in a row:
1 - Introductory course (23-26 November, 15 places)
2 - Multievent course (29 November - 1 December, 15 places).
Pick up your level or join both !!! 

More information here

INTRODUCTORY COURSE: https://animaldemography.blogspot.com/p ... ourse.html
This introductory course aims to introduce students, researchers and environmental managers to the theory and practical aspects of the analysis of capture-mark-recapture and –recovery data to estimate survival, recruitment and dispersal probabilities. The course is based on theoretical classes as well as practical sessions with real and simulated data. The format of the course will be a combination of lectures and computer lab exercises with programs MARK, U-CARE and R (optional). No previous knowledge of these programs is needed.

MULTIEVENT : https://animaldemography.blogspot.com/p ... ourse.html
This course aims to provide participants with a solid background in the theory and practices of capture-recapture analysis with a specific emphasis on multievent data and models. Multievent models are a natural generalization of the multisite models. Contrary to multisite models, the uncertainty in sate assessment such as breeder, diseased, causes of death or capture heterogeneity can be incorporated into the analysis. They can be used to address fine questions on epidemiology, conservation and hidden biological processes. The format of the workshop will be a combination of lectures and computer lab exercises with the programs E-SURGE (or R2ESURGE) and U-CARE. No previous knowledge is needed although experience with CMR data and R-programming will be useful.

ECOPIC on Mallorcan vulture!

Cortés-Avizanda, A. and Tavecchia, G. 2021. New arrivals: natural colonization of an island by a large vertebrate. EcoPics 419 Front Ecol Environ doi:10.1002/fee.2398

The arrival of the Griffon vulture in Mallorca and the associated research project has been highlighted on the ECOPIC section of Fronters in Ecology and Environment here.

New Publication on Lizard Body size differences!

Rotger, A., Igual, J.M., Genovart, M., [...], Tavecchia, G. 2021.  Contrasting Adult Body-Size in Sister Populations of the Balearic Lizard, Podarcis lilfordi (Günther 1874) Suggests Anthropogenic Selective Pressures. Herpethological Monograph  35: 53-64. https://doi.org/10.1655/HERPMONOGRAPHS-D-19-00005 

Summary: Recently isolated populations offer a good biological model to infer the evolutionary forces responsible for the current divergences across populations. We coupled genetic, morphometric, ecological, and demographic analyses from three island populations of the endemic Balearic Wall Lizard, Podarcis lilfordi, (Balearic archipelago, Spain) to infer the mechanisms underlying the observed differences in body size. For each population, we described plant community structure, derived a biotic capacity index, and used individual-based data on 1369 lizards captured and released during 6 yr (2009–2015) to estimate population density and body growth patterns.

We used genetic data collected on 80 individuals (∼27 for each population) to infer genetic divergences across islets and population history. Body size divergences cannot be explained by the ecological or population characteristics. Individual growth was slower in the smallest island, where lizards reached the largest average body size. In addition to having the highest density, results suggested that resource availability does not constrain asymptotic body size, but the speed at which individuals reach it does. The Approximate Bayesian Computation used to infer population history from genetic data supported the occurrence of two bottlenecks in the islet with the highest anthropogenic footprint. We emphasize the need to integrate ecological and genetic data and the importance of considering the effects of past human disturbance as an additional force in being able to model present island fauna.

The European Storm Petrel on "Es Busqueret"

A popular science article on Storm Petrel foraging trips from Ibiza has been published in the "Es Busqueret" (vol. 51, pag 12-17), the natural history journal of the Balearic Island (in catalan). It adds more evidence to the recent article by Rotger et al. published in Ardeola (here) from Storm petrels breeding in the Balearic Island.

The eDNA hits the news!

Photo: E Colom

The search for the Monk seal eDNA carried out by D Ramella (Universitá Milano Bicocca) y Prof. E. Valsecchi in collaboration with the GEDA-i has hit the news. A press note by the IMEDEA here and here. A press note by the Consell de Mallorca here, press notes on the local newpapers here and here (in Spanish), here (in German) and here (in Catalan). On air: interview at IB· Radio, El RePlá (min.3:00) here. 

Stay tuned to know the results of the quest !!!

GEDA-i and "SPOT THE MONK" project!

Photo: P. Henry at IUCN

The increasing sightings of the Monk Seal Monachus monachus in Italy and central Mediterranean indicate a possible increase of the Atlantic (here) as well as Eastern Mediterranean populations. As part of the Med for Med project (more here), Prof E. Valsecchi has developed a novel technique to reveal Monk Seal traces of DNA in the environment (eDNA, here and here). “Spot the Monk” is the new initiative to assess Monk seals presence in the Central and Western Mediterranean. The first results are very promising (here). D.  Ramella, the GEDA-i and several collaborators are collecting samples around Mallorca from sites originally used by the seals. Stay tuned to know the results!