Foraging behavior, contaminant exposure risk, and the stress response in wild California condors (Gymnogyps californianus)

Assessing Marine Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals in the Critically Endangered California Condor: Implications for Reintroduction to Coastal Environments

“…Condors reintroduced to Baja California may benefit from limited HOC exposure. 5,52 The nontargeted analysis presented here indicates that the largest known organic contaminant threat to coastal condors in California remains DDT and its metabolites. In 2014, ∼40% of breeding age coastal condors from central California were predicted to have levels of DDE associated with eggshell thinning.…”

“…Given the California condor’s slow reproductive rate (1 egg/∼1.5 years), survival of every egg is paramount . Organochlorine exposure may also be related to increased glucocorticoid stress response, which can have physiological impacts on condors . Furthermore, increased reintroduction to Baja California may limit lead exposure, since no condors in the BC flock have died of lead toxicosis in the last 5 years, compared to 17 coastal condors and 12 inland condors in California. ,,,− Although reintroduction site selection and successful condor recovery depend on multiple factors, the reduced potential for lead and HOC contamination in Baja California, compared to the California coast, highlights the value of this site.…”

Policy comparison of lead hunting ammunition bans and voluntary nonlead programs for California condors

“…A 10(j) exemption is a constituent policy (Table 1) and provides states the opportunity to participate in a recovery program without negatively impacting local interests related to existing activities like big-game hunting. Policy outcomes are measured by monitoring VOLUNTARY NONLEAD POLICIES | 3 of 16 changes in hunter awareness and behavior, acknowledgement of potential human health risks by stakeholders, monitoring condor population status and movements, and monitoring changes in condor blood-lead levels (Chase and Rabe 2015, Kelly et al 2016, Bakker et al 2017, Glucs et al 2020.…”

“…Several environmental nonprofit organizations (e.g., Center for Biological Diversity and San Diego Zoo) attempted to get the issue moved from the general policy agenda (i.e., an informal list of problems or issues requiring attention) to the formal policy agenda (i.e., an explicit recognition of an issue requiring action from a specific authority), but little progress was made towards increasing public awareness. Despite the 2008 regulation, condor blood-lead levels remained high because condors traveled extensively and scavenged on animal carcasses and gut piles outside the nonlead ammunition zone T A B L E 1 Summary of 3 policy instruments that have been implemented to mitigate lead poisoning in California condor populations living in northern Arizona, southern California, and southern Utah, USA (Seng 2005 (Bakker et al 2017, Glucs et al 2020. During 2012, California Audubon joined the advocacy coalition by mobilizing their local chapters to affect the legislative process by moving the issue to the formal policy agenda.…”

Condors in space: an individual-based population model for California condor reintroduction planning

“…Although our model did a fair job of replicating the amount of lead mortality from 1995 to 2019, further analysis of the distribution of lead and its acute and chronic impacts on individual CACOs would likely improve our predictions because population outcomes in our model are sensitive to changes in lead parameters. Additionally, studying the mechanisms behind changes in movement patterns, as CACO populations grow and become less reliant on proffered food (Kelly et al 2014;Glucs et al 2020), could also result in a more nuanced model that explicitly tracks behaviordriven demographic changes through time.…”