Poland – Polska

The non-invasive methods, which do not need direct access and harassment of animals, are essential for biodiversity monitoring. For mammals, analyses of scats and hair samples, tracking and recording by remote cameras are among the most commonly used. The study aimed to verify the current status of animal populations using camera traps in Gorce National Park (GNP), located in the Polish Carpathians covered with the natural beech and spruce mountain forests. On average, 35 passive infra-red camera traps annually were deployed in GNP. The archived data from the period of December 2013 to December 2017 was processed. In total, there were 21087 recordings of animals with 23 different taxa of mammals including 17 large and medium-sized species. Shannon’s diversity index was H´= 1.908. Among ungulates, the most commonly observed species were red deer (Cervus elaphus; n=7898), followed wild boar (Sus scrofa; n=526) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus; n=482). Three large carnivores i.e., grey wolf (Canis lupus), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) and brown bear (Ursus arctos) were all regularly observed, though they belong to rare species in Poland and other neighbouring countries. The use of camera traps allowed us to distinguish lynx individuals and estimate the size of its local population. The European wildcat (Felis silvestris) which was not observed in GNP since the 90s, was surprisingly recorded by camera traps in 2015 and 2016. Additionally, we registered raccoon (Procyon lotor), an invasive alien species in Poland, which can pose a potential threat to local fauna. Similarly, domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and cats (Felis catus) were free-ranging in GNP without any confinement and far from the nearest human settlements. The collected information helped to improve management and conservation measures by GNP. We showed that this non-invasive method is particularly useful for the monitoring of elusive and individually recognizable animal species.

Introduction:
Echinococcus multilocularis has been endemic in red foxes in eastern and central parts of Europe, and E. granulosus s. l. identified in wolves in some countries. In recent years, wolves hale emerged as potentially important definitive hosts of E. multilocularis.

Objective:
This aim of the survey was to record indirectly using nested-PCR test with faecal samples the presence of Echinococcus multilocularis and E. granulosus s. l. in the two species of wild canids in the protected area of the Tatra National Park (TNP) in Western Carpathian, southern mountainous part of Poland.

Material and methods:
From February to June 2019, experienced staff of TNP randomly collected fox and wolf faeces on and off hiking trails at altitudes from 850 m to 2,000 m above sea level. In total, 91 faecal samples from red foxes and 19 from wolves were collected. Genomic DNA was obtained by direct extraction from faecal samples using a commercial kit, and from taeniid eggs retrieved from the same samples after flotation.

Results:
A nested PCR screening of 91 red fox faeces indicated the prevalence of E. multilocularis of 4.4%. Positive samples were confirmed by sequencing parts of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene (cox1). Neither genomic DNA of E. multilocularis nor of E. granulosus s.l. was obtained from 19 wolves faeces, nor from taeniid eggs retrieved from these samples by initial flotation.

Conclusions:
The current results show that humans might be exposed to a risk of fox tapeworm infection in nature, even at high altitude inan alpine zone, in an environment contaminated by roaming red foxes encouraged by food leftovers on mountain trails.