Species-specificity of energy landscapes for soaring birds

Energy landscapes are species-specific and more knowledge is required to accurately predict the behaviour of highly specialised soaring species, such as vultures. Our models provide a base to explore the effects of landscape changes on the flight behaviour of two different soaring species: the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) and the white stork (Ciconia ciconia). We found that there is no reliable and responsible way to shortcut risk assessment in areas where multiple species might be at risk by anthropogenic structures. 

Scacco, M., Arrondo, E., Donázar, J.A., Flack, A., Sánchez-Zapata, J.A., Duriez, O., Wikelski, M., Safi, K. 2023. The species-specificity of energy landscapes for soaring birds, and its consequences for transferring suitability models across species. Landscape Ecology 38:239-252.

Movements of immature Andean condors

To better understand animals’ ecology, mitigate threats and protect species effectively, it is necessary to know how all age and sex categories use the space over time. However, little is known about how many immature animals move throughout their dispersal period. Here, we describe the movement patterns of immature Andean condors during the immature stage, analyzing whether these movements differ according to age, sex and season. We found that immature condors display the longest home ranges and flight distances during warm seasons and when they are sub-adults. Males tend to have larger home ranges than females. The movement patterns we found were larger than those reported for adult condors, but also much larger than those reported for immature individuals from other vulture species. We highlight the importance of understanding and considering immature individuals’ movements, the area they use and their capabilities of movement in conservation strategies. 

Guido, J.M., Cecchetto, N.R., Plaza, P.I., Donázar, J.A., Lambertucci, S. 2023. The influence of age, sex and season on Andean condor ranging behavior during the immature stage. Animals 13(7), 1234.

Photo: Sergio Lambertucci

Large-scale movements of GPS-tagged vultures

For this study, 127 griffon vultures were GPS-tagged in five different regions of peninsular Spain. The data obtained indicated that the individuals move throughout the year over very large areas of up to 5,000 km2 on average, but sometimes approaching 10,000 km2. Birds can also move an average of 1,700 km per month. The data analysis revealed important differences in the roosting area of the birds depending on different factors, such as breeding area, seasonality or the sex of the individual. Based on these results, it is of the utmost interest to study in depth how patterns of space use vary when environmental conditions change. In the long term, according to the researcher, it is essential to foresee how the scenarios of radical changes that are taking place in rural economies may affect the viability of scavenger bird populations.  

Morant, J., Arrondo, E., Sánchez‐Zapata, J.A., Donázar, J.A., Cortés‐Avizanda, A., De La Riva, M., Blanco, G., Martínez, F., Oltra, J., Carrete, M., Margalida, A., Oliva‐Vidal, P., Martínez, J.M., Serrano, D., Pérez‐García. J.M. 2023. Large‐scale movement patterns in a social vulture are influenced by seasonality, sex, and breeding region. Ecology and Evolution 13 (2), e9817

Photo: José A. Donázar

Tourism in protected areas has hiden effects

GPS-tagged griffon vultures living in a natural park abandon the area when the number of visitors increase. if visitor numbers to the sites continue to increase, local exclusions of these and perhaps other more sensitive scavenger species may become more common. 

Donázar, J.A., Cortés-Avizanda, A., Arrondo, E., Delgado-González, A. and Ceballos, O. 2022. Hidden effects of high numbers of tourists in protected areas: displacement of foraging top scavengers. Ibis. Accepted Author Manuscript. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.13121

Photo: https://www.diariodenavarra.es/