EUROUNGULATES: Collaborative science for studying ungulates movement ecology at the European scale

EUROUNGULATES (www.euroungulates.org) is a network of projects for data and knowledge sharing on movement ecology of European ungulates. Its aim is to investigate variation in ungulates behavioural ecology along environmental and climatic gradients and to record population responses to specific conditions, such as habitat changes, impact of human activities, different hunting regimes. EUROUNGULATES is an umbrella platform that coordinates 3 species-specific projects on roe deer Capreolus capreolus (EURODEER, www.eurodeer.org), red deer Cervus elaphus (EUREDDEER, www.euredder.org) and wild boar Sus scrofa (EUROBOAR, www.euroboar.org) European populations. At the moment, it promotes collaborative science among 50 research institutes from 24 countries. EUROUNGULATES is supported by an external sponsor and by the voluntary contribution of each partner. Structurally, EUROUNGULATES platform connects the EURODEER, EUREDDEER and EUROBOAR databases that serve as repositories where data coming from the project partners are harmonized, stored and shared to be analysed. The main set of data stored are those generated by biotelemetry sensors to monitor animals movement, i.e. GPS, VHF and accelerometer, but a key role is played by the large set of additional information on individuals, populations, management and the environment standardized among the different research groups. EUROUNGULATES connects a large part of the European community working on deer and wild boar, thus facilitating the definition of protocols and standards for future data collection and storage, improving the effectiveness of data sharing, and joining forces to address large scale ecological and societal challenges. Migration, dispersal, effect of hunting regimes on individual responses, range distribution changes because of climatic variability are some of the topics EUROUNGULATES published about or is working on at the moment. The open, bottom-up and cooperative structure of EUROUNGULATES spurs proactive involvement of partners and assures that they are involved in all stages of research.