Biology and Ecology of Mountain Ungulates

Dear Colleagues,

Mountain ungulates have great value from both the scientific and the conservation standpoint. They inhabit a variety of ecosystems, where they have developed a great diversity of morphological adaptations and social organizations, from highly social, highly dimorphic species through more primitive forms with a low degree of sociality and sexual dimorphism to highly social, but scarcely dimorphic forms. This goes hand-in-hand with a striking interspecific variation in the size and shape of weapons and the behavioral repertoire. Furthermore, many wild Caprinae inhabit areas where the effects of climatic changes are expected to be particularly evident and they represent an important group of species throughout a large part of their distribution range from an economic standpoint, for both consumptive (e.g., hunting, trophy-hunting) and non-consumptive (e.g., wildlife watching) uses.

The past few decades have seen a variety of different trends in wild mountain ungulate populations in different areas, some recovering from near-extinction, some declining, some showing a stable or increasing trend, and some potentially causing conflicts with human-driven ecosystems. Furthermore, over the last two centuries, several non-native species have been translocated out of their native range; consequently, the release of individuals reared in captivity, co-occurrence of related domestic animals, and the introduction of related non-native species represent possible sources of genetic changes in wild ungulate populations.

In this Special Issue, we aim to provide a state-of-the-art overview of the biology, ecology, and management of mountain ungulates of the world.

Dr. Nikica Sprem
Dr. Luca Corlatti
Guest Editors

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• behavior
• biology
• climate change
• ecology
• human–ungulate conflict and coexistence
• hunting
• inter/intraspecific interactions
• morphology
• non-native
• predation
• reintroduction
• reproduction
• trophy hunting