School of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 241, 541 24, Thessaloníki, Greece.
Sci Rep. 2024 Apr 30;14(1):9973. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-60542-4.
Identifying the environmental factors that determine the occurrence of invasive species is essential in defining and implementing effective control campaigns. Here, we applied multi-season occupancy models to analyze American mink (Neogale vison) track data collected using 121 floating rafts, as a function of factors occurring at multiple spatial scales. Our overall aim was to identify those factors that determine the use, colonization or abandonment of rafts by free ranging individuals found in western Macedonia, Greece. We found that increasing values of shrubs and rock cover at the micro-habitat scale were positively associated with the species' probability of raft use, as was the density of medium-sized rivers at the landscape scale. Colonization was found to increase with increasing amounts of shrub and reed cover; however, both variables were not informative. Conversely, the distance from the nearest fur farm was highly informative in predicting raft abandonment by the species. Effective control actions may require removal by trapping along rocky or densely vegetated riverbanks or lake shores located in the vicinity of the established fur farms in the area. Habitat management, although possible, may be difficult to implement due to the ability of the species to adapt. Finally, fur farms should maximize security and establish an early warning and rapid eradication system in case of future escapes.
确定决定入侵物种发生的环境因素对于确定和实施有效的控制措施至关重要。在这里，我们应用多季节占有率模型，分析了在希腊西部马其顿使用 121 个浮筏收集的美洲水貂（Neogale vison）足迹数据，这些数据是多个空间尺度上的因素的函数。我们的总体目标是确定那些决定自由放养个体对筏子的使用、殖民或放弃的因素。我们发现，微生境尺度上灌木和岩石覆盖物的增加值与物种使用筏子的概率呈正相关，景观尺度上中等大小河流的密度也是如此。我们发现，随着灌木和芦苇覆盖物的增加，殖民化会增加；然而，这两个变量都没有信息。相反，与最近的皮草养殖场的距离是预测物种放弃筏子的高度信息变量。有效的控制措施可能需要通过在附近有已建立的皮草养殖场的地区的岩石或植被茂密的河岸或湖边进行诱捕来去除。尽管可能进行栖息地管理，但由于该物种具有适应能力，可能难以实施。最后，皮草养殖场应最大限度地提高安全性，并建立早期预警和快速根除系统，以防将来发生逃逸。
