New Video:  Research Project on vulture conservation in Andalusia 

A new Video from the Doñana Biological Station (CSIC) summarizes the development and main results of a project financed by the Junta de Andalucía. Multidisciplinary studies reveal that Andalusian vulture populations are in a better state of conservation than that observed in other areas of Iberia because they depend on trophic resources provided by extensive livestock farming and wild ungulates in little-disturbed areas. Preserving the populations of scavenger birds and the services they provide is a challenge in the face of the changes that are coming in the Andalusian countryside and in general in Mediterranean ecosystems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CNkcd6KVrk

Project: P18-RT-1321. Consecuencias Ecológicas de la Intensificación en Explotaciones Ganaderas: Estrategias Individuales y Viabilidad de Poblaciones de Buitres en el Antropoceno.

Consejería de Transformación Económica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades, Junta de Andalucia 

After Iberian scavengers migrating to the Sahel

In January 2023 we undertook a three-week trip to Senegal to collect field data on the areas frequented in winter by juvenile griffon vultures that have been tagged in two research projects carried out in Bardenas Reales de Navarra and Andalucía.  The main objectives have been both to characterise the factors that determine the distribution of this species in the Sahel and to determine its relationships with other large African carrion-eating birds that inhabit the same area. Initial information indicates a very important presence of wintering European vultures and native African vultures linked to extensive livestock farming, which is concentrated in areas that are highly humanised.

TFG defence by Cristina Hernández de Tena

On July 19th Cristina Hernández de Tena defended her Final Degree Project (TFG) at the University of Girona. It was co-supervised by Ainara Cortés-Avizanda (University of Seville). Her research was focused on the analysis of stable isotopes (Carbon 13 and Nitrogen 15) in Egyptian Vulture fledgling feathers from the Bardenas Real Park (northern Spain). Samples were collected over a 10-year period during which there have been profound changes in the abundance and availability of trophic resources (wild prey, livestock). The main objective was to determine how the avian scavengers respond face these changes and in particular, those imposed by the sanitary regulations on the abandon of livestock carcasses. The results showed a long-term homogeneization of the diet of the Egyptian Vultures which may be of conservation concern.

Ringing of fledgling Egyptian vultures in Bardenas Reales Natural Park

During the month of July, 17 Egyptian Vulture chicks have been ringed in the Bardenas Reales de Navarra Natural Park and Biosphere Reserve and its surroundings. Since 2010, this work has been part of the collaboration between the Bardenas Reales Community and researchers from the Doñana Biological Station (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas). Since March 2022, biologists from the CSIC and staff from the Bardenas Community have been monitoring the Egyptian vulture population in the Park. As a result, it has been possible to determine the existence of 19 occupied territories. This number is similar to that of 2021, so the population can be considered to be stable.

More information can be found here (in Spanish).

Ongoing research project: GPS-tagging of young griffon vultures

In June 2022 36 young griffon vultures were marked with GPS transmitters within the research project initiated in 2021. In total, during the two years, 71 fledglings were equiped with these devices.  Three populations of different regions of Iberia have been targeted: Bardenas Reales (Navarra) and Alcornocales and Cazorla (Andalusia). These markings will help to solve questions about the ontogeny of individual strategies (movements, acquisition of resources), as well as to determine survival rates in the pre-adult stage of these long-lived birds. The research was promoted by our EBD-CSIC team in collaboration with the UMH of Elche and the University of Seville. Researchers of other Institutes and Universities also collaborated (ICQ-CSIC, IREC-UCLM-CSIC, IG-CSIC, MNCN-CSIC, UM, UPO).  Funding is provided by the Comunidad de Bardenas Reales de Navarra and the Project P18-RT-1321 of the Junta de Andalucía. 

New Ph D. Thesis: Cecilia Gimeno Castellano

In March 2022 Cecilia Gimeno Castellano started her PhD thesis at the Doñana Biological Station thanks to a grant from the Junta de Andalucía. This Thesis plan, co-supervised by David Serrano, is part of a long-term monitoring project of an island population of in the Canary Islands. Due to its insularity, this population is a closed one, which makes it ideal to establish precise individual monitoring. The population has been monitored since 1998, so that 85% of the birds are marked and individualised. Moreover, the history of each bird and each territory is known in detail. Last but not least, 49 Egyptian Vultures (33 immature birds) have been tagged with GPS/GSM transmitters since 2013, offering a unique opportunity to study the individual mechanisms and trajectories that underlie settlement patterns.

The particular objetives are:

1- To use GPS technology to study the movement patterns of the guirres in the preadult period and how they affect the settlement phase (recruitment) during the process of natal dispersal.

2- To understand the causes of natal dispersal patterns. Specifically, to analyse the variability within the dispersal distances in terms of phenotypic (who recruits and when), social (population structure and density) and environmental factors (population structure and density).

3- To study the causes of reproductive dispersal understanding what factors motivate an individual to abandon its mate/territory. To assess the association of probability of dispersal with loss of mates and reproductive failure.

4- To determine the consequences on individual fitness of different dispersal strategies (natal and reproductive).