A Global Review of Causes of Morbidity and Mortality in Free-Living Vultures

Ives, Angela M.; Brenn-White, Maris; Buckley, Jacqueline; Kendall, Corinne J.; Wilton, Sara; Deem, Sharon L.

doi:10.1007/s10393-021-01573-5

Cited by 19 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…However, new molecules (whose harmlessness is still to be entirely proven) were developed, manufactured in large scales, and started being used in their place. Despite this (partial) change of agents, current reports indicate the continuity of poisoning events toward animals ( 4 , 6 , 13 – 17 ). Consequently, researchers in this area face the paramount task of unraveling the underlying mechanisms (such as the toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics models and the adverse outcome pathways-AOPs) of new toxicants created by the continuous outpouring of new synthetic chemicals developed for the industry, the agrobusiness and household products market, as well as the growing sector of natural extracts.…”

mentioning

confidence: 89%

“…There are several reasons for this reality, being one of the major the wide gaps of knowledge regarding toxicosis agents and their profile (particularly in terms of toxicity mechanisms), since these encompass an extensive variety of synthetic chemicals, molecules of plant and animal origin, as well as drugs (both of use and abuse) ( 1 – 3 ). Together with the lack of specific and sensitive analytical techniques for their detection and quantification, this reality leads to reports being usually submitted in incomplete form, and presented in a case-by case manner ( 4 – 6 ). This situation has created uncertainty when comparing poisoning with other types of clinical findings, such as infectious diseases, traumatic injuries or malignant neoplasms, since toxicosis would come out, at least apparently, as an uncommon cause of disease ( 3 ).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Editorial: Animal Poisoning and Biomarkers of Toxicity

Silva

Pastorinho

et al. 2022

Front. Vet. Sci.

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confidence: 89%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Editorial: Animal Poisoning and Biomarkers of Toxicity

Silva

Pastorinho

et al. 2022

Front. Vet. Sci.

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“…Despite the importance of quantifying life-history traits for wildlife conservation, survival is poorly understood in birds of prey, particularly in vultures (Newton 1979, Newton et al 2016). Globally, vulture mortality events have included intentional poisoning, incidental ingestion of lead ammunition, and other human activities (Forman and Alexander 1998, Ogada et al 2012, Ives et al 2022). Furthermore, vultures move long distances across varied landscapes searching for food, highlighting the need to better understand their patterns of survival in human-dominated landscapes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Turkey Vulture survival is reduced in areas of greater road density

Naveda‐Rodríguez

Bildstein

Barber

et al. 2023

Ornithological Applications

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The demography of, and factors that influence these metrics, are largely unknown for most vultures in the Americas. Survivorship of Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) may be influenced by landscape heterogeneity and human disturbance. We quantified the effects of landscape composition (Shannon’s diversity index) and configuration (contagion, edge density, and largest patch index), and human disturbance (road density) on the annual and seasonal survival probabilities of the 3 North American breeding populations (western, central, and eastern) of Turkey Vultures that spend the nonbreeding season in the southeastern portion of the Nearctic and the northern Neotropics during a 17-yr period. We used Cox’s proportional hazards models with time-varying covariates to estimate spatial and temporal changes in survival rates of adult Turkey Vultures. Road density, but not landscape composition or configuration, influenced survival rates in space and time. Overall annual survival averaged 0.87 (95% CI: 0.74–0.98). Mortality risk was low in western and central populations (hazard ratio < 1) but was 3.7 times greater for vultures in the eastern population. Survival during the breeding (0.97, 95% CI: 0.96–0.98) and outbound migration (1.0, 95% CI: 1–1) seasons was significantly higher than the other seasons. Average survival tended to be higher for nonbreeding (0.81, 95% CI: 0.71–0.88) compared to return migration (0.69, 95% CI: 0.56–0.81) seasons. Risk of mortality for all vulture populations increased with road density, and this was greater during the nonbreeding and return migration seasons. The spatial variation in road density across the Americas may generate a network of ecological traps for Turkey Vultures induced to stop in areas of greater road-kill abundance. Road killed animals acting as an attractant for vultures can increase the occurrence of vulture–vehicle collisions and potentially aggravate human–wildlife conflicts. Further analyses are needed to address survivorship and mortality factors for young birds. Our results may help to the implementation of specific mitigation efforts to reduce human–vulture conflicts and vulture mortality. For instance, concentrating efforts to remove road-killed animals in areas where road density is highest can likely reduce vulture–vehicle collisions and associated mortalities of these birds.

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“…Currently the Black Vulture is classed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (BirdLife International 2016). However, during recent decades human impacts on the environment have caused catastrophic population declines of many vulture species (Ives et al 2022). Presently, 13 of 23 (57%) of both New World and Old World vulture species are threatened with extinction (BirdLife International 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal circulation affects Black Vulture Coragyps atratus soaring behaviour in the vicinity of two airports in south-east Brazil.

Novoselova¹,

Macarrão²,

Gallo-Ortiz³

et al. 2022

Vul. News

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The growth of air traffic all over the world faces an increasing risk of aircraft collisions with birds. The Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus), being a large soaring species living across the Americas, presents a serious hazard to airplanes. The reduction of this threat without harm to birds is a complex task requiring thorough investigations of their behaviour. Various natural and anthropogenic factors can affect the distribution of soaring Black Vultures in the surrounds of airports. Here we focus on the impact of meteorological parameters (i.e. air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and atmospheric pressure) on Black Vulture flight at two study sites. In the course of one year, from September 2012 to August 2013, we surveyed with binoculars the soaring activity of Black Vultures around Amarais and Presidente Prudente airports in the southeast of Brazil. The study areas were characterized by tropical climatic conditions with mild dry winter and hot rainy summer. We found that the frequency of soaring flights depended on the wind speed, a proxy of the strength of thermals (upward air flows). This finding is consistent with habits of Black Vultures using thermals for soaring. In contrast, air temperature, air humidity and atmospheric pressure did not affect their activity. We also showed that the different seasons affected the birds’ behaviour, but the degree of their influence depended on the level of anthropogenic pressure in the soaring terrain. Two contrasting types of daily soaring activity appeared: a plateau-like trend and a tendency of two peaks at morning and afternoon with a pronounced drop between them. Our findings can be used to inform methods to reduce the risk of collisions between aircraft and Black Vultures at our study sites, and our analytical approach could be applied elsewhere.

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A Global Review of Causes of Morbidity and Mortality in Free-Living Vultures

Cited by 19 publications

References 70 publications

Editorial: Animal Poisoning and Biomarkers of Toxicity

Editorial: Animal Poisoning and Biomarkers of Toxicity

Turkey Vulture survival is reduced in areas of greater road density

Thermal circulation affects Black Vulture Coragyps atratus soaring behaviour in the vicinity of two airports in south-east Brazil.

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