TY  - JOUR
AU  - Mizsei, Edvárd
AU  - Budai, Mátyás
AU  - Wenner, Bálint
AU  - Rák, Gergő Attila
AU  - Radovics, Dávid
AU  - Bancsik, Barnabás
AU  - Kovács, Gergő
AU  - Tisza, Ádám Bálint
AU  - Simics, János
AU  - Szabolcs, István Márton
AU  - Vadász, Csaba
AU  - Móré, Attila
TI  - Before-after-control-impact field experiment shows anti-predator netting enhances occupancy of the threatened Hungarian meadow viper (Vipera ursinii rakosiensis)
JF  - WILDLIFE BIOLOGY
J2  - WILDLIFE BIOL
VL  - 2025
PY  - 2025
IS  - 3
PG  - 9
SN  - 0909-6396
DO  - 10.1002/wlb3.01147
UR  - https://m2.mtmt.hu/api/publication/34265548
ID  - 34265548
N1  - First published: 06 November 2023

Kiskunság National Park Directorate, Kecskemét, Hungary            
            Department of Ecology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary            
            Department of Tisza Research, Conservation Ecology Research Group, Danube Research Institute, Centre for Ecological Research, Budapest, Hungary            
            Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary            
            Department of Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Budapest, Hungary            
            Department of Ecology, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary            
            Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Institute for Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation, Gödöllő, Hungary            
            Export Date: 11 July 2024            
            CODEN: WIBIF            
            Correspondence Address: Mizsei, E.; Kiskunság National Park DirectorateHungary; email: edvardmizsei@gmail.com
AB  - The Hungarian meadow viper is an endangered grassland‐dwelling species, which faces high predation pressure, partially due to avian species that forage in its habitat. Predation pressure by avian predators is caused not only by abundant game species (e.g. hooded crow, Corvus cornix ) but also by protected and threatened species (e.g. short‐toed eagle, Cricaetus gallicus ; common buzzard, Buteo buteo ; roller, Coracias garrulus ) in the project area (Felső‐kiskunsági turjánvidék, Hungary). Mark–recapture data of a reintroduced viper population showed a very low, 42% yearly average apparent survival rate. To establish a strong sub‐population we applied anti‐predator netting (APN) by building a 200 × 200 × 3 m (4 ha) totally closed exclusion site with a mesh net, lateral sides boosted with a 1 m high steel field fence to exclude mammals as well as birds. To test the effect of APN we monitored viper occupancy at 50 × 50 m sampling plots in a before–after/control–intervention (BACI) design, where we randomly placed quadrats 0.25 ha (50 × 50 m) to be surveyed, n = 26 at control habitats and n = 4 below the APN enclosure. We collected data across four years (2020–2023), in each year during the spring by 10 surveys replicates in each plot resulting in 1200 surveys to record viper detection/non‐detection data. We applied a multi‐season occupancy model to estimate site occupancy changes to test the effects of the BACI design. Occupancy probabilities were increasing during the four consecutive survey years in both the control and the intervention sites, however except for the initial occupancy, the occupancy probability became significantly higher at APN sites, and the APN intervention had a significant positive effect on viper occupancy, while the distance to APN showed negative effect. Predator exclusion is an effective method to minimise predation pressure and potentially has a deterministic positive demographic outcome, however, due to the high logistical and maintenance costs, this measure can be applied at only a few sites.
LA  - English
DB  - MTMT
ER  -