engleski

Space use of European mouflon: results of a preliminary study in Mediterranean Croatia

In this study, we analysed telemetry data from GPS monitoring of the European mouflon Ovis aries musimon in two areas of the Mediterranean region in Croatia. Four males were collared on the island of Dugi Otok (43°56'44.5"N 15°07'30.0"E), while two females and one male were collared on the mainland coast near the town of Senj (44°59'31.2"N 14°54'54.7"E). GPS collars programmed to take 24 locational fixes per day were deployed on seven European mouflons to provide insights into their space use. The study period was divided into two seasons - winter (January - March) and spring (April - June). The results showed that home ranges of the island population (IP) were considerably smaller than those of the mainland coast population (MP) in both seasons: 294.78 ha ± 153.34 ha for IP and 440.28 ± 31.45 ha for MP in winter, and 168.66 ha ± 60.33 ha for IP and 326.76 ± 62.69 ha for MP in spring (based on Minimum Convex Polygon method). The daily range value was estimated as 1.59 ± 0.31 km/day for IP and 2.49 ± 0.72 km/day for MP in winter, and 1.41 ± 0.22 km/day for IP and 2.81 ± 0.94 km/day for MP in spring. A possible reason for the larger seasonal home ranges of MP individuals may be explained by the presence of large predators and higher anthropogenic pressures on the mainland coast, such as hunting pressure and proximity to urban areas. In addition, variation in daily ranges among populations may be explained by food-dependent movement behaviour driven by differences in resource availability between two habitats. However, to obtain more precise daily range values, a higher sampling frequency of GPS collars is needed to increase the precision of population-specific daily range estimates. Further analyses should be conducted with a larger sample and include natural and anthropogenic covariates, such as resource availability and predation, that may potentially influence the movement ecology of European mouflon.

Bovidae, GPS telemetry, movement ecology, Ovis aries musimon, ungulates

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