Ricerc@Sapienza

The demographic challenges of the Mediterranean are not well known. Indeed, major societal changes are taking place in the region: young people’s expectations, women’s desire for greater autonomy, male-female and intergenerational relations, and the forms and size of families. These transformations have consequences on Mediterranean demographics: progress in women’s education, decline in fertility indicators, reduction in intergenerational cohabitation, rural exodus, and an increase in single-parenthood and single households.

Anthropogenic hybridization is increasing worldwide with unpredictable outcomes for species persistence. Accurately quantifying anthropogenic hybridization in threatened populations is fundamental for assessing extinction risk and for elaborating conservation measures. Hybridization between wolves (Canis lupus) and dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) is an emblematic case that is raising concern for wolf conservation across several countries.

Hybridization affects the evolution and conservation status of species and populations. Because the dynamics of hybridization is driven by reproduction and survival of parental and admixed individuals, demographic modelling is a valuable tool to assess the effects of hybridization on population viability, e.g., under different management scenarios. While matrix models have been used to assess the long-term consequences of hybridization between crops and wild plants, to our knowledge they have not been developed for animal species.