Has the condition of European bison deteriorated over last twenty years?

Wołk, Elżbieta; Krasińska, Małgorzata

doi:10.1007/bf03192538

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Increasing the selection of agriculture fields instead of winter feeding sites at fixed locations within the forest may also be a strategy to avoid negative effects of winter aggregation, such as risk of disease and parasite transmission (Wołk and Krasińska 2004; Radwan et al 2010; Pyziel et al 2011), and aggressive interactions and culling.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Movements of European bison (Bison bonasus) beyond the Białowieża Forest (NE Poland): range expansion or partial migrations?

et al. 2013

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The European bison is the largest terrestrial mammal in Europe. After extinction in the wild at the beginning of the twentieth century, it was re-introduced to Białowieża Forest and other woodlands in Eastern Europe. In this paper, we analysed the movements of European bison beyond the continuous woodlands of the Białowieża Forest (NE Poland) between 1964 and 2010. In total, 1,117 direct observations of bison were collected. The number of males moving out of the forest fluctuated during the study period, whilst the number of females steadily increased. The number of male observations outside of the forest per annum was dependent on the population size and snow depth, whilst the number of cows in mixed groups moving outside of the forest was correlated with the population size only. Males were observed mainly alone (50 % of observations) or in small groups of two to three individuals (25 %); however, distribution of group size differed from those observed in the population. There was a significant difference between the direction of movement of males and females out of the forest—males moved mainly west and southwest, whilst females moved to the north. This was also significantly different from the expected movement direction. The mean distance of bison observations from the forest border was 1.8 ± 0.13 km and did not differ significantly between sexes. After 1990, males were observed significantly farther away from the forest (2.2 km) than in the previous years (0.9 km). Most observations (94 % of bulls and 93 % of cows) were up to 5 km from the forest edge. The range of bison in the vicinity of the Białowieża Forest was strictly seasonal. Most observations (78 % in males and 88 % in females) were recorded from November to April. Increasing utilisation of areas beyond the forest habitats may be driven by different factors but most probably it is related to range expansion and the bison's preference for open habitats. The strong seasonal pattern of bison movements indicate that the partial seasonal migrations were initiated in the Białowieża population.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13364-013-0136-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Movements of European bison (Bison bonasus) beyond the Białowieża Forest (NE Poland): range expansion or partial migrations?

et al. 2013

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“…The animals were culled at the Bialowieza Forest from November to December, mainly owing to several reasons, including injuries, poaching and reproductive disorders (Pucek et al. 2004; Wolk and Krasińska 2004; Krasińska et al. 2009).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antioxidant Enzyme Activity and mRNA Expression in Reproductive Tract of Adult Male European Bison (Bison bonasus, Linnaeus 1758)

Koziorowska-Gilun

Gilun

Fraser

et al. 2012

Reprod Domestic Animals

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Contents Antioxidants in the male reproductive tract are the main defence factors against oxidative stress caused by reactive oxygen species production, which compromises sperm function and male fertility. This study was designed to determine the activity of antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), in the testicular and epididymidal tissues of adult male European bison (Bison bonasus). The reproductive tract tissues were subjected to real‐time reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) analysis to quantify mRNA expression levels of five antioxidant enzymes: copper/zinc SOD (Cu/Zn SOD), secretory extracellular SOD (Ec‐SOD), CAT, phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase (PHGPx) and GPx5. The corpus and cauda epididymidal tissues displayed greater (p < 0.05) SOD activity compared with the testicular tissue. It was found that CAT activity was lowest (p < 0.05) in the cauda epididymidis, whereas negligible GPx activity was detected in the reproductive tract tissues. There were no detectable differences in the mRNA expression level of Cu/Zn SOD among the different reproductive tract tissues. Small amounts of Ec‐SOD mRNA were found in the reproductive tract, particularly in the epididymides. The caput and cauda epididymides exhibited greater (p < 0.05) level of CAT mRNA expression, whereas PHGPx mRNA was more (p < 0.05) expressed in the testis. Furthermore, extremely large amounts of GPx5 mRNA were detected in the caput epididymidal tissue compared with other tissues of the reproductive tract. It can be suggested that the activity of the antioxidant enzymes and the relative gene expression of the enzymes confirm the presence of tissue‐specific antioxidant defence systems in the bison reproductive tract, which are required for spermatogenesis, epididymal maturation and storage of spermatozoa.

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“…As a consequence there is a high degree of inbreeding and very low genetic variability (Pucek et al 2004, Tokarska et al 2009). Wołk and Krasińska (2004) hypothesized that an observed decline in body condition of the Białowieża bison and increase in disease and parasites (Demiaszkiewicz and Lachowicz 2007) may be an expression of problems associated with inbreeding, or a consequence of the artificial aggregations of bison around feeding areas in winter (Radwan et al 2010). Every effort should be made to allow the European bison population to increase, ideally to levels where the contribution of heterozygosity through mutation exceeds loss due to genetic drift and inbreeding.…”

Section: Historic and Current Bison Management Paradigm And Its Implimentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation implications of the refugee species concept and the European bison: king of the forest or refugee in a marginal habitat?

2011

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The concept of refugee species provides a theoretical framework towards increasing the predictive power of the ‘declining population paradigm’ through identifying species which are expected to suffer from a declining population syndrome. Using a simple habitat model as a framework, refugee species are defined as those that can no longer access optimal habitat, but are confined to suboptimal habitats, with consequences of decreased fitness and density, and attendant conservation risks. Refugee species may be difficult to detect in the absence of information on prior habitat use and fitness and their observed ecology will be constrained by the habitat limits forced on them. Identification of refugee species, characterisation of pre‐refugee ecology and the restoration of such species to optimal habitat is critical to their successful conservation. The concept is showcased by addressing the conundrum of a large grazing bovid, the European bison Bison bonasus, being managed as a forest specialist, despite its evolutionary background, dental morphology, neonatal behaviour, diet and microhabitat selection being characteristic of a grazing species inhabiting open, grass‐rich habitats. It is hypothesized that a combination of increasing replacement of open steppe by forest cover after the last postglacial period and increasing human pressure forced bison into forests as a refuge habitat. This process was then reinforced through active management of bison in forests as managers committed themselves to the ‘bison as forest species’ paradigm. A research agenda to test this hypothesis using an experimental approach in the conservation management of European bison by introducing populations into diverse habitat types is suggested.

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Has the condition of European bison deteriorated over last twenty years?

Cited by 10 publications

References 14 publications

Movements of European bison (Bison bonasus) beyond the Białowieża Forest (NE Poland): range expansion or partial migrations?

Movements of European bison (Bison bonasus) beyond the Białowieża Forest (NE Poland): range expansion or partial migrations?

Antioxidant Enzyme Activity and mRNA Expression in Reproductive Tract of Adult Male European Bison (Bison bonasus, Linnaeus 1758)

Conservation implications of the refugee species concept and the European bison: king of the forest or refugee in a marginal habitat?

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