Measurement of Plasma Cholinesterase Levels Permits Rapid Detection of Pesticide Poisoning of Eurasian Griffon Vultures and Facilitates Early Intervention and Species Conservation

Anglister, Nili; Gonen-Shalom, Shira; Shlanger, Peleg; Blotnick-Rubin, Edna; Rosenzweig, Ariela; Horowitz, Igal; Hatzofe, Ohad; King, Roni; Anglister, Lili; Spiegel, Orr

doi:10.2139/ssrn.4290240

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Past research, from a single population, suggests that actuarial senescence (an increase in mortality rates) in griffon vultures starts at 28 years 29 . Griffons in our study area rarely live past the age of 24, and most mortality is caused by human activities 42 . Thus, it is unlikely that the observed increase in site fidelity and predictability starting at 15 years old results from age-related changes in cognitive or physical abilities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Behavioural plasticity shapes population ageing patterns

Acácio,

Gahm,

Anglister

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ageing is ubiquitous across living organisms, leading to behavioural changes throughout life [1][2][3][4] ("behavioural ageing"). Younger, sexually immature individuals tend to differ from older, mature individuals in a number of behavioural traits, including how they move (e.g., flight performance 5 ) and how they interact with conspecifics (e.g., strength of social interactions 6,7 ). Such behavioural changes may influence space use 3,8 , the spread of infectious diseases 1 , and even the lifespan of individuals 9 .Behavioural changes with age may also play an important role in how populations adjust to environmental change: young individuals may adopt novel behaviours and be the agents of change 10,11 , while old individuals, with their accumulated knowledge and experience, may adjust to the environment by shifting behavioural strategies over their lifetimes [12][13][14] . Despite the importance of understanding behavioural ageing in nature, most ecological studies focus on binary comparisons between young and old animals, failing to track individuals throughout their lives 15 . Specifically, longitudinal studies that follow long-lived animals throughout most of their lives are rare, mostly due to methodological contraints 15 . This gap hinders the identification of gradual and non-monotonic behavioural changes in the wild or the mechanisms that underlie population-level ageing patterns.Research on behavioural ageing reveals a spectrum of patterns at the population level (Figure 1): some behaviours remain fixed throughout life 16 , while others change, either gradually 2 , or drastically at specific ages (e.g., early 17,18 or late in life 19,20 ; the latter usually associated with senescence and loss of physiological or physical capacities 21,22,3 , Figure 1A). Population-level behavioural changes with age can arise from two, non-mutually exclusive mechanisms. First, individuals may change their behaviour throughout their lifetimes (behavioural plasticity 23,24,6 ).Second, natural selection may act against behaviours that can confer lower fitness, resulting in differential mortality (or selective disappearance) of particular phenotypes 25,26 . Such selection may result in changes to the behavioural composition of the population with increasing age, without within-individual behavioural plasticity 27,28 (Figure 1B). Ultimately, examining the patterns and

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Behavioural plasticity shapes population ageing patterns

Acácio,

Gahm,

Anglister

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To demonstrate the applicability of our proposed method, we applied it to empirical data from a population of free-ranging Eurasian griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus, hereafter 'griffon vultures') in the Negev Desert. The study system has been extensively described in (Acácio et al 2023;Anglister et al 2023;Sharma et al 2023). Griffon vultures are large soaring fliers and obligate scavengers (Mundy et al 1993).…”

Section: Vulture Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

A wrap-around movement path randomization method to distinguish social and spatial drivers of animal interactions

Nguyen,

Acácio,

Gahm

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Studying the spatial-social interface requires tools that distinguish between social and spatial drivers of interactions. Testing hypotheses regarding the factors determining animal interactions often involves comparing observed interactions with reference or ’null’ models. One approach to accounting for spatial drivers of social interactions in reference models is randomizing animal movement paths to decouple spatial and social phenotypes while maintaining environmental effects on movements. Here, we update a reference model that detects social attraction above the effect of spatial constraints. We explore the utility of our 'wrap-around' method and compare its performance to the previous approach using agent-based simulations. The wrap-around method provides reference models that are more similar to the original tracking data, while still distinguishing between social and spatial drivers. Furthermore, the wrap-around approach results in fewer false-positives than its predecessor, especially when animals do not return to one place each night but change movement foci, either locally or directionally. Finally, we show that interactions among GPS-tracked griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) emerge from social attraction rather than from spatial constraints on their movements. We conclude by highlighting the biological situations in which the updated method might be most suitable for testing hypotheses about the underlying causes of social interactions.

show abstract

“…Griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) (Hablizl, 1783) are social species that interact when feeding and roosting, and are exposed to a wide range of pathogens. Our study population in Israel is locally critically endangered (Anglister et al, 2023;BirdLife International 2024) and has been the target of many conservation efforts, including the implementation of GPS-tracking for the majority of the population. A reduction in flight distances has been observed in mycoplasma-infected griffon vultures, particularly among sub-adults (Anglister et al, 2024).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social interactions do not affect mycoplasma infection in griffon vultures

D'Bastiani,

Anglister,

Lysnyansky

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Uncovering the ways in which pathogens spread has important implications for population health and management. Pathogen transmission is influenced by various factors, including patterns of social interactions and shared use of space. We aim to understand how the social behavior of griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus), a species of conservation interest, influences the presence or absence of mycoplasma, a group of bacteria known to cause respiratory diseases in birds. We investigated how direct and indirect social interactions of griffon vultures in the wild, in different social situations, impacted the mycoplasma infection status. We inferred interactions from high-resolution Global Positioning system (GPS) tracking data. Specifically, we assessed how social behavior affects infection status when vultures share feeding and roosting locations, either at the same time (direct interactions) or subsequently, when space use is asynchronous (indirect interactions). We did not detect a significant effect of any type of social interaction on infection status. However, we observed a high population prevalence of Mycoplasma spp., suggesting that other factors might be more important than social interactions in determining disease dynamics in this population. Uncovering the mechanisms that underlie infection status in wildlife is crucial for maintaining viable populations, designing containment management actions, and gaining insights into the ecological mechanisms that drive infectious disease dynamics.

show abstract

Measurement of Plasma Cholinesterase Levels Permits Rapid Detection of Pesticide Poisoning of Eurasian Griffon Vultures and Facilitates Early Intervention and Species Conservation

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Behavioural plasticity shapes population ageing patterns

Behavioural plasticity shapes population ageing patterns

A wrap-around movement path randomization method to distinguish social and spatial drivers of animal interactions

Social interactions do not affect mycoplasma infection in griffon vultures

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About