ARPHA Conference Abstracts : Conference Abstract
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Conference Abstract
When is a dormouse ‘Endangered’? Continued population decline of Hazel Dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius) in Great Britain. (Poster)
expand article infoEleanor R. Scopes, Cecily E. D. Goodwin§, Nida Al-Fulaij|, Ian White|, Steve Langton, Katherine Walsh#, Alice Broome¤, Robbie McDonald
‡ University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
§ UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, United Kingdom
| People’s Trust for Endangered Species, London, United Kingdom
¶ Freelance in association with People’s Trust for Endangered Species, London, United Kingdom
# Natural England, Crewe, United Kingdom
¤ Forest Research, Roslin, United Kingdom
Open Access

Abstract

It is important to monitor species populations to identify changes in Red List assessment, whether increases from conservation or continued declines. This can be more difficult when there are multiple modelling options available. Using data from the National Dormouse Monitoring Programme, provided by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, we explore the change in British Hazel Dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius) populations using two appropriate generalised additive models. The first uses the negative binomial distribution, and second the Poisson distribution, with a fixed effect of month included. Both models indicate that dormice have declined by >70% between 1994 and 2018 in Great Britain, indicating a continuation of the chronic decline of the species. Our models do not differ significantly in their evaluation of the population trend, but do indicate different Red List categories, leading us to ask: when is the dormouse population considered endangered?

Keywords

Muscardinus avellanarius, Great Britain, conservation

Presenting author

Eleanor R. Scopes

Presented at

Poster presentation at the 11th International Dormice Conference 2022

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