Ensuring the survival of a viable European Ground Squirrel population in the Pannonian region.

ongoing

The European Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus citellus) is a keystone, ecological engineer species of dry grassland ecosystems. Its importance in maintaining functions and ecosystem services provided by Pannonian grasslands is evident. Suitable habitats for the European Ground Squirrel (EGS) are threatened by human interventions, lack of appropriate land management, and natural processes. For these reasons, they have been shrinking rapidly in size since 1950's and, although at slower rates in recent decades, EGS habitats have become more and more isolated. Due to strong socio-economic pressures, this process cannot be reversed in the short-term by conservation measures. To slow it down and halt this trend at a viable level for the species is a realistic goal but difficult to achieve. Previous conservation successes on EGS protection cannot be properly interpreted without the comprehensive coordination of different projects and disconnected individually-initiated interventions. Continuing these activities remains extremely important, but the overall coordination of successful local activities as a network of conservation actions carried out so far is more crucial to achieve our goal. Global survival of the EGS lies in this coordination activity in 'stretching' of an ‘EGS Conservation Safety Net’. This means that – except in a minority of cases, where natural connectivity can and should be secured by maintaining or creating ecological corridors – natural migration between local populations must be replaced by strongly synchronised artificial interventions. These will be reached by a range of other well-coordinated conservation measures (e.g. colony-level registration system, local communication activities), different development activities (e.g. captive breeding centres, 'Citellus Gardens') and field interventions for the benefit of the species (e.g. habitat creation and expansion, improvement of habitat quality). These measures can ensure the survival of viable population of the species in the long term.