Dispersal and Space Use of Captive-Reared and Wild-Rehabilitated Harpy Eagles Released in Central American Landscapes: Implications for Reintroduction and Reinforcement Management

Abstract

Understanding the spatial context of animal movements is fundamental for the establishment and management of protected areas. We tracked, by telemetry devices, 31 captive-reared and 5 wild-rehabilitated Harpia harpyja and estimated the dispersal and space use after release in Mesoamerica. We evaluated the effectiveness of protected areas in the protection of home ranges and examined how individual traits, release methods and landscape features influenced the dispersal and home range using mixed-effects models. The mean post-release dispersal was 29.4 km (95% CI: 22.5–38.5), and the annual home ranges averaged 1039.5 km2 (95% CI: 627–1941). The home ranges were influenced by the release method, patch richness, patch and edge density and contagion. The currently protected areas in Mesoamerica may not be effective conservation units for this species. The Harpy Eagle average home range greatly exceeded the average size of 1115 terrestrial protected areas (52.7 ± 6.1 km2) in Mesoamerica. Due to their wide use of space, including transboundary space, Harpy Eagle conservation efforts may fail if they are not carefully coordinated between the countries involved. Future restoration efforts of umbrella forest-dwelling raptors should select release sites with highly aggregated and poorly interspersed forests. The release sites should have a buffer of approximately 30 km and should be located completely within protected areas.