Teleconnection between the reproductive parameters of the bearded vulture and macroclimatic oscillations. Implications for conservation.

Abstract

The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is a bird of prey belonging to the group of vultures. Although in the past it occupied mountain systems in Asia, Europe and Africa, and its distribution in the Iberian Peninsula was widely distributed, its current distribution in Spain is limited to very specific mountain ranges, including the Aragonese Pyrenees. The decline of the Iberian population is supposed to be linked to factors acting at a microscale level as the use of poisons, illegal hunting, human activity and the decrease in intensive livestock farming. There are, however, other factors acting on a biogeographical scale that may also be affecting the viability of populations that are not currently being considered. The aim of this study is to determine on a large scale the effect that environmental conditions may have on the temporal oscillations of the reproductive parameters of the bearded vulture. For this purpose, the breeding population in the Aragones Pyrenees has been used as the study population. We tested the degree to which each of 26 macroclimatic oscillation indices were teleconnected with three reproductive parameters (hatching rate, fledge rate and productivity). Two indices (the Tropical Northern Atlantic Index, and the East Atlantic/West Russia Pattern) were temporally correlated with the reproductive parameters of the bearbed vulture. The results are expected to provide novel information in the field of bearded vulture conservation, as there are no previous studies that address this issue from a biogeographical perspective. The results could have important implications for the management and conservation of the species and its successful reintroduction in other territories.