Conservation and Ecology of African Raptors

Amar, Arjun; Buij, Ralph; Suri, Jessleena; Sumasgutner, Petra; Virani, Munir Z.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-73745-4_18

Cited by 21 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 126 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These studies suggest that the species may be negatively impacted by changes in land use within their distributional range. However, despite their relative abundance and large distribution, the species has received relatively little research attention (Virani and Watson, 1998;Amar et al, 2018;Buechley et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Declines in an Augur Buzzard Buteo augur Population in a Region of Increasing Human Development

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As with many areas in Africa, Kenya has witnessed rapid human development in recent decades, including an increase in urbanization and an intensification of agriculture. The impact of these land use changes on wildlife populations have, however, rarely been examined. The Augur Buzzard is a widespread raptor species, thought to adapt relatively well to human alterations of habitat. In this study, we explore trends in Augur Buzzard (Buteo augur) territory occupancy over nearly two decades around Lake Naivasha, Kenya, in relation to land-use changes, particularly expansion in human housing and flower farms. We hypothesized that these changes would cause population declines in this species within our study area. Using remote-sensed satellite imagery, we found that human development (agriculture and human settlement) increased from 9 to 24% of the study area from 1995 to 2014. We found a 47% decline in active territories over this same time period, representing an annualized decline of 3.1%. Based on the length of three generations this would qualify this species to be uplisted to at least Vulnerable in our study area, raising our concerns that the same pattern may be occurring across the species’ range. We then explored whether abandonment of individual territories was associated with either (i) the current amount or (ii) the change in human development within a range of buffer circles of varying radii (0.1–5.0 km). Contrary to our expectations, no associations were found between human development and territorial abandonment, and thus we could not attribute specific territorial abandonment to these broad scale anthropogenic land cover changes. We encourage further research to investigate whether territorial abandonment may be associated with either finer resolution (habitat specific) changes, or sources of direct mortality, for example human persecution or electrocutions. These factors might explain the decline in this population better than broader scale increases in anthropogenic land cover.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Declines in an Augur Buzzard Buteo augur Population in a Region of Increasing Human Development

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Further, a suite of interventions such as ecological assessments and monitoring, and countermeasures to illegal wildlife trafficking such as border control are important. In future, leadership through capacity building and training by raptor biologists can help in dealing with vexing challenges such as habitat loss, agricultural expansions and raptor poisoning (Amar, Buij, Suri, Sumasgutner, & Virani, 2018). Future research could also consider flight initiation distances for raptors to determine the levels of habituation to human disturbances.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influences of seasons and dietary composition on diurnal raptor habitat use in Chembe Bird Sanctuary, Zambia: Implications for conservation

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Diurnal raptor habitat use has conservation implications due to environmental and anthropogenic interactions. Three tree-nesting diurnal raptors, black kites (Milvus milvus), steppe buzzards (Buteo vulpinus) and African fish eagles (Haliaeetus vocifer), were studied from December 2016 to October 2017. The objective was to determine factors influencing diurnal raptor habitat selection and use in and around Chembe Bird Sanctuary of Kalulushi district, Zambia. We surveyed for birds in ten randomly selected 200 × 200 m sample plots in each of the five stratified sampling units (miombo woodland, grasslands, human settlements, Lake Chembe and marsh). Seasons and dietary composition variably influenced the distribution, habitat selection and use by raptors. The three raptors devised a suit of behaviours to curtail challenges associated with seasonal food and water availability, and anthropogenic disturbances. There is a need to promote multi-stakeholder engagement and involvement in raptor conservation. Résumé L'utilisation de l'habitat des rapaces diurnes a des répercussions sur la conservation en raison des interactions environnementales et anthropiques. Trois espèces de rapaces diurnes, les milans noirs (Milvus milvus), les buses de steppe (Buteo vulpinus) et les aigles pêcheurs d'Afrique (Haliaeetus vocifer) utilisant les arbres comme sites de nidification ont fait l'objet d'une étude qui s'est déroulée de décembre 2016 à octo-S U PP O RTI N G I N FO R M ATI O N Additional supporting information may be found online in the Supporting Information section. How to cite this article: Nyirenda VR, Yambayamba AM, Chisha-Kasumu E. Influences of seasons and dietary composition on diurnal raptor habitat use in Chembe Bird Sanctuary, Zambia: Implications for conservation.

show abstract

“…* = urban exploiters change: for example, Childs et al (2009) showed a decline in raptor species across an agricultural-protected area gradient and Little and Navarro (2019) used atlas data to show changes in raptor abundance with time attributable to anthropogenic alteration around Cape Town. The loss of raptors from urban ecosystems can have disproportionate ecological and ecosystem service consequences, because these species are important for maintaining pest populations (Amar et al 2018). Therefore, the ongoing global raptor decline and specific loss across cities is a concern (Buechley et al 2019).…”

Section: Species Richness and Diversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban areas have lower species richness, but maintain functional diversity: insights from the African Bird Atlas Project

Lee

Ottosson

Jackson

et al. 2021

Ostrich

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

High human population growth and rapid urbanisation, particularly in Africa, have led to an increased interest in the impacts of this land-use change on bird communities. The African Bird Atlas Project, where species presence lists are collected in pentads, is a valuable source of data with which to explore the extent of these impacts. Here, for the first-time, we test for differences in species richness patterns across 50 matched pentad pairs from sub-Saharan Africa classified as either urban (or semi-urban) and rural. We found that species richness was lowest in pentads classified as urban (mean ± SD: 132 ± 59 species), compared with rural (172 ± 54). However, species richness was similar, compared with rural pentads, when levels of urbanisation were maintained at intermediate levels (semi-urban: 141 ± 69). Surprisingly, we found no significant differences in functional diversity measures between any land-use categories. Across most major dietary guilds (carnivores, herbivores, insectivores, granivores) species richness was lower in urbanised pentads and species were often small. However, the overall biomass of these guilds was similar between urbanised and non-urbanised areas, indicating the presence of common urban exploiter species. This resulted in no differences in functional diversity overall. Pollinators and piscivores showed little difference in metrics between rural and urban pentads. According to a model of the functional traits we consider, an African urban exploiter species is best described by being a scavenger, and less likely to be a habitat specialist, but fill a variety of niches. The urban spatial planning implications are that rare and range-restricted species in proximity to cities, as well as large bird species, will require particular attention and conservation measures as African cities continue to expand. Species richness could be maintained with intermediate levels of urban infrastructure development. Les zones urbaniséessont moins riches en espèces mais conservent une diversité fonctionnelle: un aperçu du projet d'Atlas des oiseaux d'Afrique La forte croissance de la population humaine et l'urbanisation rapide, plus particulièrement en Afrique, ont suscité un intérêt accru sur les impacts de ce changement d'utilisation des terres sur les communautés aviaires. Le projet d'Atlas des oiseaux d'Afrique, qui collecte les données relatives à la présence des espèces au travers de pentades (groupe de cinq unités), est un source précieuse de données permettant d'explorer l'étendue de ces impacts. Au travers de cet article, et pour la première fois, nous testons les différences en termes de richesse d'espèces, au travers de modèles basés sur 50 paires de pentades appariées d'Afrique sub-saharienne et classées comme urbaines (ou semi-urbains) ou rurales. Nous avons estimé que la richesse en espèces était la plus faible dans des pentades de catégorie urbaine (moyenne ± σ: 132 ± 59 espèces) par comparaison aux groupes ruraux (172 ± 54 espèces). Néanmoins, il a été constaté que la richesse en espèce...

show abstract

Conservation and Ecology of African Raptors

Cited by 21 publications

References 126 publications

Declines in an Augur Buzzard Buteo augur Population in a Region of Increasing Human Development

Declines in an Augur Buzzard Buteo augur Population in a Region of Increasing Human Development

Influences of seasons and dietary composition on diurnal raptor habitat use in Chembe Bird Sanctuary, Zambia: Implications for conservation

Urban areas have lower species richness, but maintain functional diversity: insights from the African Bird Atlas Project

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About