Eliades Nicolas-George Homer, Astaras Christos, Messios Belle Verheggen, Vermeer Rob, Nicolaou Kostas, Karmiris Ilias, Kassinis Nicolaos
Nature Conservation Unit, Frederick University, Pallouriotisa, Nicosia 1036, Cyprus.
Forest Research Institute, ELGO-DIMITRA, Vassilika, 57006 Thessaloniki, Greece.
Animals (Basel). 2022 Nov 7;12(21):3060. doi: 10.3390/ani12213060.
For large herbivores inhabiting arid/semi-arid environments, water can be a limiting resource affecting their distribution and abundance for periods when water requirements are not met via forage. The Cyprus mouflon () is such a species, which is endemic to the mountain habitats of Cyprus. Recognizing water scarcity to be a major pressure to the mouflon, and with global warming projected to intensify hot and dry periods in the region, the Game and Fauna Service has been maintaining a network of locally designed watering troughs in Pafos Forest-the mouflon's stronghold-since 1997. This study describes the mouflon's use of the water troughs and examines whether visitation rates differed at the daily or weekly scale in response to environmental, climatic or anthropogenic parameters. Using camera traps, ten troughs were monitored from September 2017 to March 2018 (1,065 days; range 29-164 days per trough). Mouflon were detected at seven troughs (mean herd size 1.5 ± 1.2) during 373 independent detections (≥30 min interval between photographs), with visits peaking during late morning and midday hours. Generalized mixed-effect models showed mouflon visiting water troughs more frequently during hotter days, regardless of recent precipitation. Visits were also more frequent at water troughs located close to tar roads. Moreover, there was no evidence of mouflon avoiding water troughs used by predators (red foxes, feral dogs) at either daily or weekly scale, or during hunting days. The study supports the value of artificial water troughs for mediating, partially at least, the effects of climate change on mountain ungulates such as the Cyprus mouflon. Additional studies are proposed that will examine both mouflon drinking patterns across all seasons and ways of improving the effectiveness of the current water trough grid.
对于栖息在干旱/半干旱环境中的大型食草动物而言，在无法通过觅食满足水分需求的时期，水可能成为限制其分布和数量的资源。塞浦路斯盘羊（）就是这样一种物种，它是塞浦路斯山区栖息地的特有物种。由于认识到水资源短缺是对盘羊的主要压力，并且预计全球变暖会加剧该地区的炎热和干旱时期，自1997年以来，塞浦路斯狩猎与动物保护局一直在帕福斯森林（盘羊的主要栖息地）维护着一个由当地设计的饮水槽网络。本研究描述了盘羊对饮水槽的使用情况，并探讨了在每日或每周尺度上，其访问率是否因环境、气候或人为因素而有所不同。利用相机陷阱，在2017年9月至2018年3月期间（共1065天；每个水槽监测时间范围为29 - 164天）对10个水槽进行了监测。在373次独立监测（照片之间间隔≥30分钟）中，在7个水槽处检测到了盘羊（平均群体规模为1.5 ± 1.2），访问高峰出现在上午晚些时候和中午时段。广义混合效应模型显示，无论近期降水量如何，在较热的日子里盘羊访问水槽的频率更高。靠近柏油路的水槽处的访问也更频繁。此外，没有证据表明盘羊在每日或每周尺度上，或在狩猎日会避开被食肉动物（赤狐、野狗）使用过的水槽。该研究支持了人工饮水槽的价值，即至少能部分缓解气候变化对塞浦路斯盘羊等山地有蹄类动物的影响。建议开展进一步研究，以考察盘羊全年的饮水模式以及提高当前饮水槽网格有效性的方法。
