and Ettore CENTOFANTI Mattioli L., Apollonio M., Mazzarone V. and Centofanti E. 1995. Wolf food habits and wild ungulate availability in the Foreste Casentinesi National Park, Italy. Acta Theriologica 40: 387-402.We investigated wolf Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758 food habits in northern Apennines by examining 240 scats collected between 1988 and 1992. In the same area we also estimated densities of the most common wild ungulates. Wild ungulates were the main prey of the wolf and accounted for more than 92% of both frequencies of occurrence and mean percentage volume. During our study period we observed a decrease in the use of roe deer and an increase in the use of wild boar. Moreover selection of wild boar by wolves increased too, but selection of roe deer decreased by almost 400%, with moderately fluctuating deer densities. The impact of predation was generally greatest on young animals. Roe deer fawns and red deer calves were predated 3.14 and 2.18 times respectively more than available. Wild boar also were predated mainly in their first year but more often from 6 months of age than before.

[D epartm ent of A natom y, In stitu te of B iology, P ed agogical C ollege, R ew. P aźd ziernikow ej Str. 33, 25-518 K ielce, Poland).

Predation has always been an important problem in extensive sheep farms, causing serious economic losses to the farmers. Official predation reports have recently been decreasing in the District of Pisa, in spite of the presence of two wolf packs in the area. The aim of the present research was to obtain reliable information on the characteristics of predation and to estimate the effectiveness of existing prevention methods in sheep farms of the southern District of Pisa, in order to set up predictive models for an improved and more focused prevention plan and support interventions by public authorities. On-farm surveys were carried out in 73 semi-extensive sheep farms. Predation events were reported by 75.3% of the farmers. Wolves seemed to be responsible for most of those events, although their actual role could be confirmed only in 34% of cases. Most of the events occurred in spring and 85.1% of them were concentrated during night time. The average number of sheep killed during each attack was 7.05. In 22.3% of cases, the number of sheep killed was ≥ 10. Proximity to protected areas and the presence of thick vegetation cover significantly affected the probability of a farm being subjected to chronic predation. Farm size was significantly higher in those cases. No clear indication about the effectiveness of prevention methods could be obtained from our survey. The results of this investigation highlighted the impact of predation in the Southern District of Pisa and emphasized the need for finding technical and political solutions to this problem. Attention should be focused on large farms, with thick vegetation cover and located close to protected areas. Further investigations should be carried out in order to test the effectiveness of suitable prevention methods in these farms.The title and the running title have been changed, following the reviewer's suggestion.The manuscript (text, figures and tables) has been reviewed again from a native English speaker. We hope that there are no more errors in this new version. All the changes are highlighted in red.Thank you for the quick revision and the useful comments.

In this chapter, reducing the high-density populations of wild boars in an Italian’s Tuscany region is addressed as a measure of controlling crop damage and road accidents. The issue is usually tackled from a technical and rarely sociological point of view, making the proposed and implemented solutions less effective. The results presented in these chapter highlight the importance of awareness of the social context when the technical choices are applied. The management of ungulates creates economic interests that oppose changes that shift the economic balance, even when the actions taken are for the benefit of the entire community’. In the previous decades, the wild boar populations have increased considerably in Italy in the Tuscany region. As a consequence of this phenomenon, damage to crops and road accidents has increased. In 2016, the Tuscany region enacted a law to change the management of ungulates by promoting individualism in unsustainable harvest rate areas, allowing shooting wild boar with stalking and selling the meat and maintaining a corporate approach in sustainable harvest rate areas. In three years of enforcing the law, damage to crops and road accidents have decreased significantly and meet supply chain has started. On the other hand, a strong reaction against this Law by wild boar drive hunters emerged. The region is, consequently, faced with an emblematic case where political intervention in future is inevitable in order to mediate between long-term results and short-term consensus.

The phenology of migratory bird species is a crucial aspect of their biology that has far-reaching implications for wildlife management, particularly when these species are hunted as game. For this reason, many monitoring projects have investigated the presence of Western European bird species in diverse Palearctic regions using abundance indexes. Here, our aim was to define Woodcock’s presence in Italy during the post-nuptial migration, the wintering phase, and at the beginning of the pre-nuptial migration phase, using monitoring data collected between September and March for the period 2016 to 2021. The presence of Woodcock in Italy and other regions of the Mediterranean basin can be compared using an index, specifically the “Indice Cynégétique d’Abondance” (ICA) which corresponds to the number of different Woodcock flushed during a hunting trip. We modelled the abundance of Woodcock as a function of biotic (habitat type, vegetation) and abiotic (place, season, temperature, altitude) factors to assess the presence of Woodcock in Italy Our findings reveal that temperature and altitude have an inverse effect on the abundance index of Woodcock in Italy, while deciduous woodland is a preferred habitat for the species. We observe an increase in Woodcock’s presence from the end of September to late November, followed by a decrease in late January. Moreover, we have identified a significant rise in the ICA index during the latter part of February and early March, indicating the pre-nuptial migration period. Our study contributes significantly to our understanding of Woodcock migration phenology, particularly with respect to the management of the species in Italy and other Mediterranean basin states. Our results underscore the importance of long-term monitoring programs for evaluating key spatial population metrics such as presence and abundance, which are critical for sustainable hunting and effective conservation management of game species.