Exploitative competition and interference competition differ in the way access to resources is modulated by a competitor. Exploitative competition implies resource depletion and usually produces spatial segregation, while interference competition is independent from resource availability and can result in temporal niche partitioning. Our aim is to infer the presence of spatial or temporal niche partitioning on a two-species system of terrestrial salamanders in Northern Italy: Speleomantes strinatii and Salamandrina perspicillata. We conducted 3 repeated surveys on 26 plots in spring 2018, on a sampling site where both species are present. We modelled count data with N-mixture models accounting for directional interactions on both abundance and detection process. In this way we were able to disentangle the effect of competitive interaction on the spatial scale, i.e., local abundance, and from the temporal scale, i.e., surface activity. We found strong evidence supporting the presence of temporal niche partitioning, consistent with interference competition. At the same time, no evidence of spatial segregation has been observed.

Amphibians are highly vulnerable to climate change, habitat loss, and fragmentation, particularly in agricultural landscapes, where land use practices are a substantial driver of biodiversity loss. However, in the Mediterranean region, the continuation of traditional land use practices over centuries has shaped the landscape, determining the coexistence of natural and artificial habitats, such as Mediterranean artificial water reserves, that are supposed to exert a positive effect on biodiversity. Our goal was to assess how landscape configuration, land-use heterogeneity, and the presence of artificial water bodies in the Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot shape amphibian community composition. Using spatial multi-species occupancy models, we analysed detection/nondetection data from 11 species across 1729 freshwater sites along the entire Apennine Mountain chain in Italy. Our findings indicate that among environmental variables, elevation is the only driver affecting the whole amphibian occupancy patterns. At the species level, the presence of artificial water sites is the factor which contributes the most to amphibian occupancy. Although the majority of species generally showed lower occupancy in artificial sites compared to natural habitats, these structures are capable of increasing amphibian resilience amid increasing droughts and changing climate conditions by modulating the ecological effect of environmental predictors. Amphibian resilience in Mediterranean agricultural landscapes can be strengthened by fostering the coexistence of natural and artificial habitats. The latter sites offer a cost-effective management solution that facilitates positive interactions between biodiversity conservation policies and agricultural stakeholders, supporting broader conservation goals in light of future environmental changes.

Context: In recent years, multiple computer algorithms, which allow us to perform photographic capture–recapture analysis, have been developed. Their massive application, also in wildlife demographic and ecological studies, is largely due to the fact that these tools are non-invasive and non-expensive. To maximise the performance of these programs, it is essential to have a good photo-standardisation so as to avoid bias in the results. A lot of ‘non-standardised’ photos are not usable for capture–mark–recapture (CMR) analysis, entailing the loss of potentially exploitable data. Aims: No study has accurately investigated the effect of the corporal bending of an animal on the performance of the interactive individual identification system (I3S) algorithm. For this reason, we assessed the effect of this photographic standardisation parameter (PSP) on the reliability of this algorithm. Methods: We assessed the effect of the body position of Triturus cristatus between capture and recapture photos on the error rates of a group of standardised pictures, performing a generalised linear model analysis. We have also evaluated the effect of image correction (i.e. straightening of newts’ bodies) on the error rates (expressed by false rejection rates, FRRs) of the first (standardised) photo-group (G1) and of a non-standardised photo-group (G2). To perform this, we used I3S-Pattern+ for the photo-matching analysis and I3S-Straighten for the correction of the pictures. Key results: The difference of body angles between capture and recapture pictures had a significantly increased error rates in G1. Digital correction of body bending reduced the error rates. For the pictures where corporal bending was not digitally corrected, the top 20 FRRs were 0.38 and 0.33 for G1 and G2 respectively. For corrected (straightened) pictures, the top 20 FRRs were 0.026 and 0.15. Conclusions: Our findings showed a high impact of newt corporal bending and photographic treatment on the I3S algorithm reliability. Implications: We provide some recommendations to avoid or minimise the effects of this PSP and improve photo-standardisation during and after CMR studies of species of Urodela. In this way, pictures that would be unusable in photo-matching software under current practice could become usable, increasing the available data to conduct a survey.

Many different amphibian skin peptides have been characterized and proven to exert various biological actions, such as wound-healing, immunomodulatory, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic effects. In this work, the possible anti-steatotic effect of macrotympanain A1 (MA1) (FLPGLECVW), a skin peptide isolated from the Chinese odorous frog Odorrana macrotympana, was investigated. We used a well-established in vitro model of hepatic steatosis, consisting of lipid-loaded rat hepatoma FaO cells. In this model, a 24 h treatment with 10 µg/mL MA1 exerted a significant anti-steatotic action, being able to reduce intracellular triglyceride content. Accordingly, the number and diameter of cytosolic lipid droplets (LDs) were reduced by peptide treatment. The expression of key genes of hepatic lipid metabolism, such as PPARs and PLINs, was measured by real-time qPCR. MA1 counteracted the fatty acid-induced upregulation of PPARγ expression and increased PLIN3 expression, suggesting a role in promoting lipophagy. The present data demonstrate for the first time a direct anti-steatotic effect of a peptide from amphibian skin secretion and pave the way to further studies on the use of amphibian peptides for beneficial actions against metabolic diseases.

Exploitative competition and interference competition differ in the way they affect re-source availability for competitors: in the former, organisms reduce resource availability for the competitors; in the latter, one organism actively prevents the competitor from accessing resources, independently of their availability. Our aim is to test for the presence of foraging competition in two forest-dwelling salamanders in Italy: Speleomantes strinatii and Salamandrina perspicillata. We also aim at testing for size-mediated competition. We obtained stomach contents from 191 sampled individuals by means of stomach flushing at 8 sampling sites where both species occur. We focused our analysis on the core prey taxa shared by both species: Collembola and Acarina. We found that the foraging activity of S. perspicillata is positively affected by body size and negatively affected by potential competitor’s activity on the forest floor during the sampling, which also significantly weakened the positive relationship with body size. These results suggest the presence of an interference/interaction occurring between the two species and affecting the foraging activity of S. perspicillata. This competitive interaction is size mediated and configured as interference competition rather than exploitative competition.