Invasive raccoon dog depredation on nests can have strong negative impact on the Dalmatian pelican’s breeding population in Bulgaria

Koshev, Yordan; Petrov, Momchil M.; Nedyalkov, Nedko; Raykov, Ivaylo

doi:10.1007/s10344-020-01423-9

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The use of camera traps has revolutionized wildlife monitoring programs, and it has proven to be effective also to assess predation rates at bird nests by different predator species (Krüger et al ., 2018; Holopainen et al ., 2020; Koshev et al ., 2020). Differently from the analysis of tooth marks on dummy eggs and post hoc direct visits, camera traps enable indisputable identifications of predators (Krüger et al ., 2018) and also show whether different predators consumed eggs of the same nest (Holopainen et al ., 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The massive increase of wild boar populations in Europe (Massei et al ., 2015; Carpio et al ., 2016; Genov et al ., 2017) may expose ground‐nesting birds to a threat they have not coevolved with, comparable with the one posed by introduced alien carnivores (e.g., the common genet Genetta genetta , the American mink Neovison vison and the raccoon dog: Nyctereutes procyonoides : Castilla et al ., 2007; Zschille et al ., 2014; Holopainen et al ., 2020b; Koshev et al ., 2020). We are aware that actual predation on real nests with active adult birds defending clutches would produce different results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The negative impact of predation may increase when specific predator species reach high population densities or where different guilds of predators are simultaneously active (Holopainen et al ., 2020a). For instance, the former may occur when introduced alien predators become invasive (Fukami et al ., 2006; Koshev et al ., 2020). In these cases, predator eradication programs might be beneficial and often result in recovery of the target prey populations and restoration of ecosystem functions (Nordström et al ., 2002; Lock, 2006; Marie et al ., 2014; Engeman et al ., 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The wild boar Sus scrofa as a threat to ground‐nesting bird species: an artificial nest experiment

et al. 2021

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Nest predation is reported as a cause of reproductive failure of ground‐nesting bird species whose populations in Europe are declining. Conversely, European populations of the wild boar Sus scrofa have been expanding, leading to increasing threats to habitats and ecological communities. The impacts of wild boar on ground‐nesting bird species are poorly known and have never been explicitly assessed. We conducted an artificial ground‐nest experiment in Mediterranean habitats of central Italy using camera traps to assess predator identities. Deployed nests contained quail or chicken eggs, and predation occurred within one week for 47/48 deployments carried out during March‐July 2020. The wild boar was the most common predator (36% deployments), followed by the magpie Pica pica (18%), the red fox Vulpes vulpes (10%) and the pine marten Martes martes (10%). Predation by other species was occasionally observed. Egg type and deployment habitat did not significantly influence time to predation or the likelihood that a nest was preyed upon by wild boar, respectively. The presence of a stuffed gull close to the nests significantly delayed predation. Nests preyed by birds and mammals other than wild boar were often subsequently scavenged by wild boar, which consumed the remaining eggs or eggshells. Time to predation increased from spring to summer, suggesting a reduction of predation intensity during periods when the availability of natural eggs is lowest. The likelihood of a nest being preyed upon by the wild boar compared to other predators increased when wild boar frequency of occurrence in 1‐week camera trap shootings was the highest, suggesting that higher abundance/activity of this species triggered increased egg predation. The wild boar might act as major predators of ground‐nesting bird species in Mediterranean habitats and the large‐scale population increase of this ungulate should be considered a significant threat to ground‐nesting species of European conservation concern.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The wild boar Sus scrofa as a threat to ground‐nesting bird species: an artificial nest experiment

et al. 2021

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“…For example in Europe, increasing mesopredator numbers are suggested to be a threat for ground-nesting birds due to increased nest predation (Dahl and Åhlen 2019, Nummi et al 2019, Koshev et al 2020, McMahon et al 2020. This is indicated by the more pronounced population declines in ground-nesting bird species than in other bird groups (McMahon et al 2020;Pöysä and Linkola 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invasive species control with apex predators: increasing presence of wolves is associated with reduced occurrence of the alien raccoon dog

et al. 2022

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The role of an alien predator in the community depends on its interaction with native predators. The absence of apex predators may facilitate outbreaks of invasive mesopredators, but the effect of apex predators may vary between species and environments. We analysed the occurrence of a common invasive mesopredator in Europe, the raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides), and native mesopredators, the red fox and the Eurasian badger, in camera-trap data from Finland. The observations in cameras were analysed in relation to the presence of apex predators in the landscape (grey wolf and Eurasian lynx), human density, and habitat. We observed negative effect of increasing presence of wolves and lynxes on the occurrence of raccoon dogs. This effect appeared clear compared to the effects of habitat and human density. The effect of lynxes on raccoon dogs was clearer in areas with short growth season. For the occurrence of badgers, the presence of wolves had a weak negative effect and the presence of lynxes had a positive effect. For the occurrence of red foxes, wolves had a positive effect when agricultural fields were sparse in the landscape and lynxes had no effect. We also observed that the invasive raccoon dog currently appears to be the most common mesopredator within the study area. We conclude that the effect of apex predators on mesopredators depends on the environment and, in our case, was more suppressive on the alien mesopredator than on the native mesopredators. Thus, apex predators can play an important role in controlling invasive mesopredators.

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“…However, recent studies have raised particular concerns regarding the role of the raccoon dog as a nest predator (Krüger et al 2018;Dahl and Å hlen 2019;Nummi et al 2019). The presence of just a few individual raccoon dogs can have major adverse impacts on inland nesting waterbird colonies (Koshev et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do alien predators pose a particular risk to duck nests in Northern Europe? Results from an artificial nest experiment

et al. 2021

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Several alien predator species have spread widely in Europe during the last five decades and pose a potential enhanced risk to native nesting ducks and their eggs. Because predation is an important factor limiting Northern Hemisphere duck nest survival, we ask the question, do alien species increase the nest loss risk to ground nesting ducks? We created 418 artificial duck nests in low densities around inland waters in Finland and Denmark during 2017–2019 and monitored them for seven days after construction using wildlife cameras to record whether alien species visit and prey on the nests more often than native species. We sampled various duck breeding habitats from eutrophic agricultural lakes and wetlands to oligotrophic lakes and urban environments. The results differed between habitats and the two countries, which likely reflect the local population densities of the predator species. The raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides), an alien species, was the most common mammalian nest visitor in all habitats and its occurrence reduced nest survival. Only in wetland habitats was the native red fox (Vulpes vulpes) an equally common nest visitor, where another alien species, the American mink (Neovison vison), also occurred among nest visitors. Although cautious about concluding too much from visitations to artificial nests, these results imply that duck breeding habitats in Northern Europe already support abundant and effective alien nest predators, whose relative frequency of visitation to artificial nests suggest that they potentially add to the nest predation risk to ducks over native predators.

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Invasive raccoon dog depredation on nests can have strong negative impact on the Dalmatian pelican’s breeding population in Bulgaria

Cited by 12 publications

References 8 publications

The wild boar Sus scrofa as a threat to ground‐nesting bird species: an artificial nest experiment

The wild boar Sus scrofa as a threat to ground‐nesting bird species: an artificial nest experiment

Invasive species control with apex predators: increasing presence of wolves is associated with reduced occurrence of the alien raccoon dog

Do alien predators pose a particular risk to duck nests in Northern Europe? Results from an artificial nest experiment

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