Balkan Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra balcanica) Avoids Roads, Settlements, and Hunting Grounds: An Ecological Overview from Timfi Mountain, Greece

Balkan chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra balcanica) is a protected species with an Inadequate-Bad (U2) conservation status in Greece. Our study explores its seasonal range use pattern, demography and habitat selection in a site of the Natura 2000 network, Timfi Mountain. To this aim, we examined 1168 obs...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDiversity (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 4; p. 124
Main Authors Kati, Vassiliki, Kassara, Christina, Vassilakis, Dimitrios, Papaioannou, Haritakis
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.04.2020
Subjects
Animal behavior
Anthropogenic factors
Autumn
climate change
Conservation
Conservation status
Demography
disturbance
Endangered & extinct species
ENFA
Environmental policy
Factor analysis
Habitat selection
Habitats
Human settlements
Hunting
Mountains
National parks
Niches
Protected species
Roads
Rupicapra rupicapra
Wildlife conservation
Greece
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Summary:Balkan chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra balcanica) is a protected species with an Inadequate-Bad (U2) conservation status in Greece. Our study explores its seasonal range use pattern, demography and habitat selection in a site of the Natura 2000 network, Timfi Mountain. To this aim, we examined 1168 observations obtained from six seasonal surveys (2002: four seasons, 2014 and 2017: autumn) and performed an ecological-niche factor analysis (ENFA), using 16 environmental and human-disturbance variables. The species had an annual range of 6491 ha (25% of the study area), followed the typical range-use pattern, and presented the minimum core area during the rutting season (autumn). Timfi Mt hosted 469 individuals in 2017 (the largest population in Greece), increasing by 3.55 times since 2002. The species selected higher altitudes during summer and autumn, pinewoods over broad-leaved woods as winter grounds, and it avoided south-facing slopes. Our results supported the anthropogenic risk avoidance hypothesis; the species always selected remote areas away from roads, human settlements, and hunting grounds. In Greece, 40% of its distribution area falls within hunting ban areas (16.5% of the country). A national conservation policy is needed towards maintaining and increasing roadless areas and hunting-ban areas within Balkan chamois range nationwide.
ISSN:1424-2818
1424-2818
DOI:10.3390/d12040124