Attila Móré , Bálint Üveges , János Simics , Dávid Radovics , Gergő Kovács , Barnabás Bancsik , Bálint Wenner , Mátyás Budai , Ádám Tisza , Csaba Vadász , Szabolcs Mizser , Béla Tóthmérész , Edvárd Mizsei
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Management of grasslands for agriculture and other land uses is a critical issue for the conservation of grassland animals, both due to direct effects on mortality, as well as indirect effects such as altered predation regimes. In this study, we investigated the effect of mowing on the predation pressure by birds on an endangered snake, the Hungarian meadow viper (Vipera ursinii rakosiensis), using plasticine snake models. We placed 200 snake models each in mowed hayfields and grazed pastures (as controls) in two study periods, before and after mowing on hayfields, in 2021 and 2022. We found no strong negative effects of mowing on attack rates by birds in our study. Attack rates on snake models were higher before mowing than after mowing, and in general lower in the second year of the study than in 2021. However, in 2021 attack rates on snake models in pastures were higher than on hayfields, but this pattern reversed in 2022, when attacks were more frequent on hayfields than pastures. Our study highlights the importance of considering potential factors influencing predation pressure and predator-prey dynamics in grassland habitats, as well as the need for further research to provide results for evidence-based conservation management strategies to mitigate population declines and local extinction risk.
期刊介绍:
Rangeland Ecology & Management publishes all topics-including ecology, management, socioeconomic and policy-pertaining to global rangelands. The journal''s mission is to inform academics, ecosystem managers and policy makers of science-based information to promote sound rangeland stewardship. Author submissions are published in five manuscript categories: original research papers, high-profile forum topics, concept syntheses, as well as research and technical notes.
Rangelands represent approximately 50% of the Earth''s land area and provision multiple ecosystem services for large human populations. This expansive and diverse land area functions as coupled human-ecological systems. Knowledge of both social and biophysical system components and their interactions represent the foundation for informed rangeland stewardship. Rangeland Ecology & Management uniquely integrates information from multiple system components to address current and pending challenges confronting global rangelands.