DOI: 10.5061/dryad.fbg79cnx2
title: Past, present and future of chamois science

description: The chamois Rupicapra spp. is the most abundant mountain ungulate of
 Europe and the Near East, where it occurs as two species, the Northern
 chamois R. rupicapra and the Southern chamois R. pyrenaica. Here, we
 provide a state-of-the-art overview of research trends and the most
 challenging issues in chamois research and conservation, focusing on
 taxonomy and systematics, genetics, life history, ecology and behavior,
 physiology and disease, management, and conservation. Research on
 Rupicapra has a longstanding history and has contributed substantially to
 the biological and ecological knowledge of mountain ungulates. Although
 the number of publications on this genus has markedly increased over the
 past two decades, major differences persist with respect to knowledge of
 species and subspecies, with research mostly focusing on the Alpine
 chamois R. r. rupicapra and, to a lesser extent, the Pyrenean chamois R.
 p. pyrenaica. In addition, a scarcity of replicate studies of populations
 of different subspecies and/or geographic areas limits the advancement of
 chamois science. Since environmental heterogeneity impacts behavioral,
 physiological and life history traits, understanding the underlying
 processes would be of great value from both an evolutionary and
 conservation/management standpoint, especially in the light of ongoing
 climatic change. Substantial contributions to this challenge may derive
 from a quantitative assessment of reproductive success, investigation of
 fine-scale foraging patterns, and a mechanistic understanding of disease
 outbreak and resilience. Improving conservation status, resolving
 taxonomic disputes, identifying subspecies hybridization, assessing the
 impact of hunting and establishing reliable methods of abundance
 estimation are of primary concern. Despite being one of the most
 well-known mountain ungulates, substantial field efforts to collect
 paleontological, behavioral, ecological, morphological, physiological and
 genetic data on different populations and subspecies are still needed to
 ensure a successful future for chamois conservation and research.
description: We investigated the trend of
 scientific publications on chamois species and subspecies between 1980 and
 2020, using the Scopus search engine and searching for titles, abstracts,
 and keywords using the statement "rupicapra". Genus name was
 preferred over common names to avoid inclusion of articles related to
 other fields (e.g., chamois leather manufacture). To investigate temporal
 trends, the yearly number of chamois publications was regressed against
 publication year (numerical explanatory variable) by fitting generalized
 linear models in R (R Core Team 2021), assuming a Poisson conditional
 distribution. The predictor included year as either a linear or a
 polynomial term (from the 2nd to the 6th degree); the best model was
 selected using AIC values corrected for small samples (AICc: Hurvich and
 Tsai 1989) and inspected for quantile residual distribution (Dunn and
 Smyth 2018). In all Poisson models, a first-order autoregressive term was
 included to account for temporal correlation. The best model describing
 this pattern was a 3rd-degree polynomial (β = -0.648, z-value = -2.075,
 p-value = 0.038), which suggests a steady increase in the number of
 publications until 2010, with substantial stability since
 then. Next, the trend of scientific publications on
 chamois species and subspecies in relation to other Caprinae publications,
 between 1980 and 2020, was investigated using the Scopus search engine and
 searching for titles, abstracts, and keywords using various statements and
 Boolean logic, while keeping all other default settings. First, the yearly
 number of publications that directly or indirectly involved chamois, was
 assessed using the statement "rupicapra" (see above). Then, the
 yearly number of publications on all Caprinae was assessed using the
 following search string: "rupicapra" OR "ammotragus"
 OR "arabitragus" OR "budorcas" OR "capra
 aegagrus" OR "capra caucasica" OR "capra
 cylindricornis" OR "capra falconeri" OR "capra
 ibex" OR "capra nubiana" OR "capra pyrenaica" OR
 "capra sibirica" OR "capra walie" OR
 "capricornis" OR "hemitragus" OR
 "naemorhedus" OR "nilgiritragus" OR
 "oreamnos" OR "ovibos" OR "ovis ammon" OR
 "ovis canadensis" OR "ovis dalli" OR "ovis
 nivicola" OR "ovis orientalis" OR "pantholops" OR
 "pseudois". For all statements, scientific names were preferred
 over common names to avoid the inclusion of articles related to other
 fields. For wild sheep and goats, full scientific names were preferred
 over genus names to avoid the inclusion of articles on the domestic forms.
 We are aware that these search criteria may overlook some literature, but
 this conservative approach leads to noise reduction in the outcome, which
 is desirable when comparing publication numbers over time. To investigate
 temporal trends, the yearly proportion of chamois publications within
 Caprinae publications (response variable) was regressed against
 publication year (numerical explanatory variable) by fitting linear models
 in R, assuming a Gaussian conditional distribution. For each response
 variable, the predictor included year as either a linear or a polynomial
 term (from the 2nd to the 6th degree); the best model was selected using
 AICc values and inspected for residual distribution. Gaussian models did
 not indicate issues of temporal autocorrelation. The best model describing
 this pattern was a simple linear model (Fig. 2), which revealed a slightly
 increasing trend over time (β = 0.001, t-value = 2.079, p-value = 0.044),
 meaning the number of publications increased more rapidly for chamois than
 for the Caprinae as a whole. The statements "rupicapra rupicapra"
 and "rupicapra pyrenaica" vs. the statement
 "rupicapra" were used in Scopus to assess the proportion of
 species-specific chamois literature, pooling data between 1980 and 2020.
 Similarly, the proportion of subspecies-specific literature was
 investigated using the following statements: "rupicapra rupicapra
 cartusiana", "rupicapra rupicapra tatrica", "rupicapra
 rupicapra carpatica", "rupicapra rupicapra balcanica",
 "rupicapra rupicapra asiatica", "rupicapra rupicapra
 caucasica" <em>vs.</em> "rupicapra
 rupicapra", and "rupicapra pyrenaica parva",
 "rupicapra pyrenaica ornata" <em>vs.</em> "rupicapra pyrenaica". The two main
 subspecies, the Alpine chamois and the Pyrenean chamois, were not included
 in this latter search because in the literature they are often indicated
 as the species <em>R. rupicapra </em>and<em> R.
 pyrenaica</em>. Finally, the ratios between topic-specific and
 complete chamois literature were assessed using statements reflecting
 different research areas, including taxonomy and systematics, genetics,
 life history, ecology and behavior, physiology and diseases, conservation
 and management (<em>cf</em>. search statements in Table 1) vs.
 the statement "rupicapra". It should be noted that up to 1985
 Rupicapra pyrenaica ssp. were all considered subspecies of Rupicapra
 rupicapra: although the articles published within this timeframe represent
 only about 3% of the entire literature analyzed (26 articles out of 756),
 we manually adjusted for the bias by inspecting the species and subspecies
 in these earlier articles.  
 <strong>References</strong>
 Dunn, P. K., Smyth, G. K.
 2018. Generalized linear models with examples in R. –
 Springer. Hurvich, C.M., Tsai, C.L. 1989. Regression and
 time series model selection in small samples. – Biometrika 76:
 297–307. R Core Team 2021. R: A language and environment
 for statistical computing. – Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical
 Computing. – Retrieved from https://www.R-project.org/