Causes and Effects of Temporospatial Declines of <i>Gyps</i> Vultures in Asia

Pain, Deborah J.; Cunningham, Andrew A.; Donald, Paul F.; Duckworth, J. W.; Houston, David C.; Katzner, Todd E.; Parry-Jones, Jemima; Poole, Colin M.; Prakash, Vibhu; Round, Philip D.; Timmins, Robert J.

doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.2003.01740.x

Cited by 134 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Because most scavenging birds are highly specialized to rapidly dispose of the bodies of large animals, these birds are important in the recycling of nutrients, leading other scavengers to dead animals, and limiting the spread of diseases to human communities as a result of slowly decomposing carcasses. In South Asia, the combination of extremely rapid crash of vulture populations (28,29), highly virulent diseases, and high human population density may cause increases in incidences of anthrax, bubonic plague, and rabies (28), but this potentially crucial interaction has not been studied. In 1997, Ͼ30,000 of the world's 35,000-50,000 rabies deaths took place in India (30) where feral dog and rat populations have exploded after the decline of vultures (28).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem consequences of bird declines

Şekercioğlu

Daily

Ehrlich

2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

705

488

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We present a general framework for characterizing the ecological and societal consequences of biodiversity loss and applying it to the global avifauna. To investigate the potential ecological consequences of avian declines, we developed comprehensive databases of the status and functional roles of birds and a stochastic model for forecasting change. Overall, 21% of bird species are currently extinction-prone and 6.5% are functionally extinct, contributing negligibly to ecosystem processes. We show that a quarter or more of frugivorous and omnivorous species and one-third or more of herbivorous, piscivorous, and scavenger species are extinctionprone. Furthermore, our projections indicate that by 2100, 6 -14% of all bird species will be extinct, and 7-25% (28 -56% on oceanic islands) will be functionally extinct. Important ecosystem processes, particularly decomposition, pollination, and seed dispersal, will likely decline as a result.ecosystem services ͉ functional extinctions ͉ trophic cascades ͉ community disassembly ͉ ecological redundancy T he accelerating extinction of species (1) is the tip of the iceberg of global wildlife declines (2-5) that threaten to disrupt vital ecosystem processes and services (6). Although patterns of biodiversity loss have been explored extensively (7), their ecological implications have been the subject of few studies. These studies have been largely limited to temperate plants, microbes, and invertebrates (8). Yet ongoing reductions in vertebrate abundance and species richness are also likely to have far-reaching consequences, with diverse societal impacts, including plant extinctions , the loss of agricultural pest control, and the spread of disease. Birds are the best known major group of organisms (9), and the conservation status of all bird species have been assessed twice (1). Even though only 1.3% of bird species have gone extinct since 1500 (10), the global number of individual birds is estimated to have experienced a 20-25% reduction during the same period (5), indicating that avian populations and dependent ecosystem services are declining faster than species extinctions would indicate.We compiled and analyzed a database of the conservation status, distribution, and life histories of all extant (9,787) and historically extinct (129) bird species. We synthesized, in a second database, studies of the ecological roles of birds and outlined their contributions to the functioning of diverse natural and human-dominated ecosystems (Table 1, and Table 2, which is published as supporting information on the PNAS web site). To assess the potential effects of bird population declines and extinctions on ecosystem processes and services, we compare the current distribution of threatened birds across various functional groups, habitats, and regions to the distributions forecasted for 2100 based on three scenarios. The scenarios are projections based on the past and present distributions of threatened and nonthreatened birds. Our objective here is to address the ecological implications...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem consequences of bird declines

Şekercioğlu

Daily

Ehrlich

2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

705

488

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“…The Nile crocodile plays this role when scavenging the carcasses of the hundreds of ungulates that die crossing large rivers during annual migrations, through which they may reduce the spread of disease and increase water quality (Subalusky et al, 2017). While ornithologists have quantified the scale of carcass cleaning service by vultures (Pain et al, 2003), similar knowledge of carrion use by reptiles is scant. This is an interesting research gap as well as conservation issue.…”

Section: Reptiles As Trophic Actorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Plight of Reptiles as Ecological Actors in the Tropics

Miranda

Everton²

2017

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Earth's tropical ecosystems have witnessed several extinctions and a dramatic reduction of the range and abundance of large reptile species, which is directly related to the rise of early and modern humans. The occurrence of such extinctions, range reduction, species loss, and the consequences for several paramount ecosystem processes are poorly documented compared to other large vertebrate species. Here, I reviewed the literature on the ecological processes performed by large tropical reptile species and their human-induced widespread demise in order to determine knowledge gaps and encourage a paradigm shift in understanding on the interactiveness of such species. The interactions and species involved indicate that large abundant reptiles in the tropics are important in ecological processes, and can consequently have an important role in ecosystem function through gene dispersal, nutrient cycling, trophic action, and ecosystem engineering. These important interactions performed by reptiles are not solely performed by few species, or geographically restricted to islands, but instead present a pattern that repeatedly occurs in large reptiles distributed over tropical ecosystems. The observed tendency of reptiles to be tightly involved in these ecological interactions has important implications for the ecology of tropical ecosystems. Lost and current ecological processes performed by large reptiles may be orders of magnitude higher than what is currently perceived, and the misleading baseline of those processes must be addressed otherwise we risk losing species and services that are dependent of such interactions. To fix this bias I suggest: (a) Increase information spreading about Pleistocene-Holocene reptile extinctions using popular media; (b) Improved exchange between the research field of megafauna effects in ecosystems and herpetologists working with large reptiles; (c) Increase research effort on anthropogenic reptile extinctions and their potential to predict future losses; (d) Address the knowledge gaps, as human-reptile conflict, chelonian seed dispersal and nutrient movement; (e) Increase quantitative research on large reptile population ecology, density, and abundance. (f) address the potentially present or lost ecosystem effects of extant and extinct reptile species. Although the importance of reptiles in most tropical ecosystems has been perceived as negligible, this study shows that this may be a misleading paradigm.

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“…This is especially important in the current context of the global vulture crisis, mainly because the causes of this are largely related to the huge dependence of vulture populations on farming activity (Murn and Anderson 2008). For example, mortality from the veterinary drug Diclofenac has caused the collapse of many vulture species in Asia (Pain et al 2003;Green et al 2006). The sanitary restrictions derived from bovine spongiform encephalopathy are causing some European vulture populations to decline (Tella 2001;Camiña and Montelío 2006).…”

Section: Communicated By C Gortázarmentioning

confidence: 99%

When hunting benefits raptors: a case study of game species and vultures

Mateo‐Tomás

Olea

2009

Eur J Wildl Res

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Management of hunting activity to serve as a tool for sustainable development has become a key issue in conservation biology. However, little evidence is available showing positive impacts of hunting on ecosystem conservation, limiting its capability to be used as a conservation tool. We analysed hunting and its positive influence on the ecology and conservation of the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), a scavenger with a relevant function in the ecosystem, in the Cantabrian Mountains, NW Spain. Use of the area by vultures was addressed by looking for cliffs used as roosts or colonies, and consumption of game species by vultures was evaluated through field surveys and questionnaires to hunters. Results revealed a strong spatiotemporal adjustment in the use of the area by vultures and hunting events, especially of red deer and wild boar. Vultures occupied roosting sites very close to the main hunting sectors of these game species and often were seen consuming their carcasses. The spatiotemporal pattern of roost use by vultures strongly overlapped with hunting of red deer. The numbers of both red deer and wild boar hunting episodes within 3.5 km around the roosts were the best predictors of vulture occurrence and number. Our estimates show that hunting could feed around 1,800 vultures/6 months. Hunting can thus influence species at the top of the ecosystem (scavengers) and could aid sustainable management of griffon vulture populations, reconciling hunting and conservation. However, negative and positive impacts should be taken into account simultaneously for an overall evaluation of hunting on ecosystem conservation.

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Causes and Effects of Temporospatial Declines of Gyps Vultures in Asia

Cited by 134 publications

References 18 publications

Ecosystem consequences of bird declines

Ecosystem consequences of bird declines

The Plight of Reptiles as Ecological Actors in the Tropics

When hunting benefits raptors: a case study of game species and vultures

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