Major threats to a migratory raptor vary geographically along the eastern Mediterranean flyway

Oppel, Steffen; Arkumarev, Volen; Bakari, Samuel; Dobrev, Vladimir; Saravia-Mullin, Victoria; Adefolu, Solomon; Sözüer, Lale Aktay; Apeverga, Paul T.; Arslan, Şafak; Barshep, Yahkat; Bino, Taulant; Bounas, Anastasios; Çetin, Turan; Dayyoub, Maher; Dobrev, Dobromir; Duro, Klea; El-Moghrabi, Laith; ElSafoury, Hana; Endris, Ahmed; Asswad, Nabegh Ghazal; Harry, Junior H.; Ivande, Sam; Jbour, Sharif; Kapsalis, Eleftherios; Kret, Elżbieta; Mahamued, Bruktawit Abdu; Manu, Shiiwua A.; Mengistu, Solomon; Zabeirou, Abdoul Razack Moussa; Muhammad, Sulaiman I.; Nakev, Slave; Ngari, Alex; Onoja, Joseph; Osta, Maher; Özuslu, Serdar; Petrovski, Nenad; Popgeorgiev, Georgi; Pourchier, Cloé; Qaneer, Tareq; Ruffo, Alazar; Shobrak, Mohammed; Sidiropoulos, Lavrentis; Skartsi, Theodora; Sözüer, Özgün; Stara, Kalliopi; Tesfaye, Million; Topi, Mirjan; Vavylis, Dimitrios; Velevski, Metodija; Vorpsi, Zydjon; Wondafrash, Mengistu; Xeka, Erald; Yeniyurt, Can; Yordanov, Emil; Nikolov, Stoyan C.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109277

Cited by 19 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…Alternative monitoring methods such as satellite telemetry are more reliable sources for capturing illegal wildlife crimes, as demonstrated by Murgatroyd et al ( 2019 ) who examined patterns of Hen Harrier disappearances over grouse moors in northern England as a result of suspected illegal killing. In addition, Panter et al ( 2021 ) used satellite telemetry to estimate survival in wintering Red Kites in south‐western Europe and Oppel et al ( 2021 ) coupled satellite telemetry and on‐the‐ground surveys to explore Egyptian Vulture ( Neophron percnopterus ) mortalities along their migratory routes. However, using such technology is often costly and requires specialist skills.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causes, temporal trends, and the effects of urbanization on admissions of wild raptors to rehabilitation centers in England and Wales

Panter

Allen

Backhouse

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Data from wildlife rehabilitation centers (WRCs) can provide on-the-ground records of causes of raptor morbidity and mortality, allowing threat patterns to be explored throughout time and space. We provide an overview of native raptor admissions to four WRCs in England and Wales, quantifying the main causes of morbidity and mortality, trends over time, and associations between threats and urbanization between 2001 and 2019. Throughout the study period, 14 raptor species were admitted totalling 3305 admission records. The Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo; 31%) and Tawny Owl (Strix aluco; 29%) were most numerous. Relative to the proportion of breeding individuals in Britain and Ireland, Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus), Little Owls (Athene noctua), and Western Barn Owls (Tyto alba) were over-represented in the admissions data by 103%, 73%, and 69%, respectively. Contrastingly Northern Long-eared Owls (Asio otus), Western Marsh Harriers (Circus aeruginosus), and Merlin (Falco columbarius) were under-represented by 187%, 163%, and 126%, respectively. Across all species, vehicle collisions were the most frequent anthropogenic admission cause (22%), and orphaned young birds (10%) were most frequent natural cause. Mortality rate was highest for infection/parasite admissions (90%), whereas orphaned birds experienced lowest mortality rates (16%). For one WRC, there was a decline in admissions over the study period. Red Kite (Milvus milvus) admissions increased over time, whereas Common Buzzard and Common Kestrel admissions declined. There were significant declines in the relative proportion of persecution and metabolic admissions and an increase in orphaned birds. Urban areas were positively associated with persecution, building collisions, and unknown trauma admissions, whereas vehicle collisions were associated with more rural areas. Many threats persist for raptors in England and Wales, however, have not changed substantially over the past two decades. Threats associated with urban areas, such as building collisions, may increase over time in line with human population growth and subsequent urban expansion.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causes, temporal trends, and the effects of urbanization on admissions of wild raptors to rehabilitation centers in England and Wales

Panter

Allen

Backhouse

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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“…In addition, Panter et al . (2021) used satellite telemetry to estimate survival in wintering Red Kites in south-western Europe and Oppel et al . (2021) coupled satellite telemetry and on-the-ground surveys to explore Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus ) mortalities along their migratory routes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Causes, temporal trends and the effects of urbanisation on admissions of wild raptors to rehabilitation centres in England and Wales

Panter

Allen

Backhouse

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Data from wildlife rehabilitation centres can provide on-the-ground records of causes of raptor morbidity and mortality, allowing threat patterns to be explored throughout time and space. We provide an overview of native raptor admissions to four wildlife rehabilitation centres (WRCs) in England and Wales, quantifying the main causes of morbidity and mortality, trends over time and whether certain causes were more common in more urbanised areas between 2001-2019. Throughout the study period 14 raptor species were admitted totalling 3305 admission records. The Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo; 31%) and Tawny Owl (Strix aluco; 29%) were most numerous. Relative to the proportion of breeding individuals in Britain & Ireland, Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus), Little Owls (Athene noctua) and Western Barn Owls (Tyto alba) were over-represented in the admissions data by 103%, 73% and 69%, respectively. Contrastingly Northern Long-eared Owls (Asio otus), Western Marsh Harriers (Circus aeruginosus) and Merlin (Falco columbarius) were under-represented by 187%, 163% and 126%, respectively. Across all species, vehicle collisions were the most frequent anthropogenic admission cause (22%) and orphaned young birds (10%) were most frequent natural admission cause. Mortality rate was highest for infection/parasite admissions (90%), whereas orphaned birds experienced lowest mortality rates (16%). For one WRC, there was a notable decline in admissions over the study period. Red Kite (Milvus milvus) admissions increased over time, whereas Common Buzzard and Common Kestrel admissions declined. There were significant declines in the relative proportion of persecution and metabolic admissions, and an increase in orphaned young birds. Urban areas were positively associated with persecution, building collisions and unknown trauma admissions, whereas vehicle collisions were associated with more rural areas. Many threats persist for raptors in England and Wales, however, have not changed substantially over the past two decades. Threats associated with urban areas, such as building collisions, may increase over time in line with human population growth and subsequent urban expansion.

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“…Our interviews revealed that pastoralists used to control livestock predators with weapons, but due to the invasion of P. juliflora they are more likely to use poison as predators are no longer visible in dense P. juliflora stands. Out of nine individually marked Egyptian Vultures that perished in our study region in Ethiopia between 2016 and 2020, at least three (33%) died from poisoning (Buechley et al 2021a, Oppel et al 2021, which suggests that poisoning poses a real risk to vulture populations, although the magnitude of that risk is difficult to quantify (Ogada 2014). While the use of lead shot to kill animals may also have negative consequences on scavengers through the ingestion of lead fragments, poison residues in carcasses are more likely to cause mortality than the ingestion of lead fragments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pursuit of ‘sustainable’ development may contribute to the vulture crisis in East Africa

Oppel

Ruffo

Bakari

et al. 2021

Bird Conservation International

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Summary The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals aim to improve livelihoods and maintain functioning ecosystems, and include the provision of electricity and the prevention of desertification. We show that the pursuit of those two goals can lead to developments that put critical ecosystem functions at risk. Vultures are scavengers that provide sanitary ecosystem services, but their populations across Africa are declining due to poisoning, electrocution, and collision with power infrastructure. The extent to which the pursuit of sustainable development threatens vultures in Africa is unclear. We surveyed 227 km of powerlines in Ethiopia, which revealed bird mortality (0.15 vulture carcasses / km) at power infrastructure constructed under a National Electrification Programme to provide universal electricity access by 2025. We also interviewed 190 local pastoralists in 10 areas about livelihood challenges, which revealed that the bush Prosopis juliflora, which was originally introduced to prevent desertification but then invaded north-eastern Ethiopia, increased livestock predation and motivated the use of poison to control predators. Actions to increase universal access to electricity and to reduce desertification therefore have undesired side-effects that increase vulture mortality through electrocution and poisoning. To avoid negatively affecting local vulture populations and the services they provide, we urge governments to use infrastructure designs that minimise the risk of electrocution and assist pastoralists to protect their livestock and reduce the risk of poisoning to vultures and other wildlife.

show abstract

Major threats to a migratory raptor vary geographically along the eastern Mediterranean flyway

Cited by 19 publications

References 90 publications

Causes, temporal trends, and the effects of urbanization on admissions of wild raptors to rehabilitation centers in England and Wales

Causes, temporal trends, and the effects of urbanization on admissions of wild raptors to rehabilitation centers in England and Wales

Causes, temporal trends and the effects of urbanisation on admissions of wild raptors to rehabilitation centres in England and Wales

Pursuit of ‘sustainable’ development may contribute to the vulture crisis in East Africa

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