Strangers Coming from the Sahara: An Update of the Worldwide Distribution, Potential Impacts and Conservation Opportunities of Alien Aoudad

Mori, Emiliano; Mazza, Giuseppe; Saggiomo, Laura; Sommese, Andrea; Esattore, Bruno

doi:10.5735/086.054.0501

Cited by 18 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 65 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is a polygynous species with high reproductive rate. Large and strong individuals have high fitness and reproductive success 15 , increasing their potential to colonise different localities whenever conditions are appropriate 11 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population structure and genetic diversity of non-native aoudad populations

Stipoljev

Safner

Gančević

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aoudad (Ammotragus lervia Pallas 1777) is an ungulate species, native to the mountain ranges of North Africa. In the second half of the twentieth century, it was successfully introduced in some European countries, mainly for hunting purposes, i.e. in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Spain. We used neutral genetic markers, the mitochondrial DNA control region sequence and microsatellite loci, to characterize and compare genetic diversity and spatial pattern of genetic structure on different timeframes among all European aoudad populations. Four distinct control region haplotypes found in European aoudad populations indicate that the aoudad has been introduced in Europe from multiple genetic sources, with the population in the Sierra Espuña as the only population in which more than one haplotype was detected. The number of detected microsatellite alleles within all populations (< 3.61) and mean proportion of shared alleles within all analysed populations (< 0.55) indicates relatively low genetic variability, as expected for new populations funded by a small number of individuals. In STRUCTURE results with K = 2–4, Croatian and Czech populations cluster in the same genetic cluster, indicating joined origin. Among three populations from Spain, Almeria population shows as genetically distinct from others in results, while other Spanish populations diverge at K = 4. Maintenance of genetic diversity should be included in the management of populations to sustain their viability, specially for small Czech population with high proportion of shared alleles (0.85) and Croatian population that had the smallest estimated effective population size (Ne = 5.4).

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population structure and genetic diversity of non-native aoudad populations

Stipoljev

Safner

Gančević

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Furthermore, crop damage has been also pointed out as another emergent issue leading to the application of management tools such as diversionary feeding to mitigate these impacts (Pascual-Rico et al, 2018). Due to these problems associated with the exotic species (see Mori et al 2017), the aoudad was first included in the Spanish catalogue of invasive species in 2013 (Real Decreto 630/2013, Spanish Government) although the population in Murcia Region introduced legally before 2007 was excluded.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological niche overlap between co-occurring native and exotic ungulates: insights for a conservation conflict

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Exploitative competition implies an indirect interaction in which a resource exploited by one species is not available for another; e.g., when species share diet or habitat. It plays a key role in community structure and dynamics. Here we evaluated the niche overlap between the exotic aoudad (Ammotragus lervia) and the native Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica) where the species coexist in the Iberian Peninsula, along two main dimensions, the trophic niche and the environmental niche. Then we assessed the spatial segregation of the species. We expected that if a niche overlap was high, competition could drive spatial segregation to allow coexistence. We analyzed their trophic niche overlap by using the content of stable isotopes δ 15 N and δ 13 C in the hair of both species. To establish environmental niche competition, we compared the similarity in their habitat, estimated by environmental niche models based on the fine-scale presence 1

show abstract

“…Aoudad is a highly dimorphic caprid that originates from Northern Africa, in arid and semiarid areas, and it is considered highly adaptable to different environments (Cassinello, 1998). Therefore, it has been introduced worldwide with several successful attempts in Europe (Mori et al, 2017). In addition, aoudad has been introduced to some countries as a breed of sheep for meat consumption, since it has high farming potential (Sharaby and Suleiman, 1988).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphological analysis of the aoudad: the introduced population is well adapted to the Mediterranean habitat

Kavčić

Gančević

Šprem

2020

JCEA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The aoudad is a bovid species native to North Africa and highly adaptable to different environments. Although some morphological data of aoudad has been published, the research mostly dealt with measurements taken from captive populations. Therefore, morphological data of free-ranging populations in their non-native habitat is largely unknown. The present study analysed the important morphometric parameters in a non-native Mediterranean population of aoudad. Body and horn measurements were taken on 30 free-range aoudads (20 M, 10 F) legally culled from 2014 to 2019. A descriptive analysis of the quantitative body and horn measurements was performed and an insight into population growth rates was provided. The Mediterranean population of aoudad showed higher mean values of investigated body and horn measurements and higher growth rates than in other research, ranging from ca. 2-10% for most of the measurements. The results suggest that the investigated population is well adapted to Mediterranean habitat which allowed aoudad to notably allocate energy to both body and horn development. This research is a contribution to knowledge about how specific habitat might shape aoudad population life-history traits.

show abstract

Strangers Coming from the Sahara: An Update of the Worldwide Distribution, Potential Impacts and Conservation Opportunities of Alien Aoudad

Cited by 18 publications

References 65 publications

Population structure and genetic diversity of non-native aoudad populations

Population structure and genetic diversity of non-native aoudad populations

Ecological niche overlap between co-occurring native and exotic ungulates: insights for a conservation conflict

Morphological analysis of the aoudad: the introduced population is well adapted to the Mediterranean habitat

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About