Speaker
Description
Agricultural land abandonment in Southern Europe offers both opportunities for habitat restoration and conservation challenges, including potential human-wildlife conflicts, particularly in regions where extensive farming and free-ranging livestock persist. Livestock can pose threats to wildlife by degrading habitats, competing for resources, and altering habitat use patterns, which may lead to reduced densities or exclusion from grazed areas. This study extends previous research in the Peneda-Gerês National Park in Northern Portugal, where significant rural depopulation and agricultural abandonment have occurred over the past 60 years, while free-ranging cattle and horses are still prevalent. Prior results utilizing occupancy models indicated that cattle and horses share similar habitat preferences, but do not significantly affect the spatial distribution of wild ungulates, suggesting ecological independence between domestic and wild species despite spatial overlap, potentially due to different feeding strategies and ample resources. To further investigate the influences of habitat quality and food availability, we examined the role of plant biomass in determining the distribution patterns of both domestic livestock and wild ungulates. Our methodology involved systematic sampling of plant biomass across various habitat types, measuring dry weights of shrub and herbaceous biomass. This data was integrated with high-resolution remote sensing data, including digital surface and terrain models, NDVI, and vegetation height data obtained from drone imagery. We used generalized additive models (GAMs) to analyze the relationships between plant biomass and remote sensing data, predicting shrub, grass, herb, and total biomass across the entire study area. By correlating these biomass estimates with herbivore occurrence and abundance data from camera trapping, we aim to assess potential resource competition between domestic livestock and wild ungulates, focusing on the impacts of different feeding strategies and resource availability. Our findings aim to enhance the understanding of domestic-wildlife interactions, which is crucial for wildlife conservation and sustainable landscape management.
| Status Group | Doctoral Researcher |
|---|
