Neophron Percnopterus Research Articles

Dispersal of Egyptian Vultures Neophron percnopterus: the first case of long-distance relocation of an individual from France to Sicily

ABSTRACTKnowledge of juvenile dispersal is important for understanding population dynamics and for effective conservation, particularly of geographically isolated raptor populations. Here, we report the first documented case of a long-distance movement of an Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus from the French population to Sicily. This observation opens a new perspective for the conservation of the small and endangered Sicilian population of this species, providing evidence that persistence of the Italian population may be aided by new input from other countries.

Landscape factors affecting territory occupancy and breeding success of Egyptian Vultures on the Balkan Peninsula

Avian scavengers are declining throughout the world, and are affected by a large number of threats such as poisoning, electrocution, collision with man-made structures, direct persecution, changes in agricultural practices, landscape composition, and sanitary regulations that can reduce food availability. To formulate effective conservation strategies, it is important to quantify which of these factors has the greatest influence on demographic parameters such as territory occupancy and breeding success, and whether quantitative models can be transferred across geographic regions and political boundaries. We collated territory and nest monitoring data of the endangered Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus in the Balkans to understand the relative influence of various factors on population declines. We monitored occupancy in 87 different territories and breeding performance of 405 territory-monitoring years between 2003 and 2015, with an overall territory occupancy rate of 69% and a mean productivity of 0.80 fledglings per occupied territory. We examined which of 48 different environmental variables were most influential in explaining variation in territory occupancy and breeding success in Bulgaria and Greece, and tested whether these models were transferrable to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Territory occupancy and breeding success were affected by a wide range of environmental variables, each of which had a small effect that may not be the same across political boundaries. Both models had reasonably good discriminative ability [area under the receiver-operated characteristic curve (AUC) for territory occupancy = 0.871, AUC for breeding success = 0.744], but were unsuccessful in predicting occupancy or breeding success in the external validation data set from a different country, possibly because the most influential factors vary geographically. Management focussing on a small number of environmental variables is unlikely to be effective in slowing the decline of Egyptian Vultures on the Balkan Peninsula. We recommend that in the short term the reduction of adult mortality through the enforcement of anti-poison laws, and in the long term the adoption of large-scale landscape conservation programs that retain or restore historical small-scale farming practices may benefit vultures and other biodiversity.

Food safety in scavenger conservation: Diet-associated exposure to livestock pharmaceuticals and opportunist mycoses in threatened Cinereous and Egyptian vultures

Pharmaceuticals from veterinary treatments may enter terrestrial food webs when medicated livestock are available to wildlife in supplementary feeding stations aimed at the conservation of endangered scavengers. Here, we hypothesized that the exposure risk to livestock fluoroquinolones, as indicators of pharmaceutical burden in food, is related to the variable reliance of scavengers on domestic versus wild animal carcasses. Since the misuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics is a major predisposing factor for opportunistic mycoses, we evaluated disease signs potentially associated with diet-dependent drug exposure in nestlings of two threatened vultures. A greater occurrence (100%, n=14) and concentration of fluoroquinolones (mean±SD=73.0±27.5µgL−1, range=33.2–132.7), mostly enrofloxacin, were found in Cinereous vultures, Aegypius monachus, due to their greater dependence on livestock carcasses than Egyptian vultures, Neophron percnopterus (fluoroquinolones occurrence: 44%, n=16, concentration: 37.9±16.6µgL−1, range=11.5–55.9), which rely much more on carcasses of wild animals (42% of remains vs. 23% in the cinereous vulture). The chaotic, chronic and pulsed ingestion of these drugs throughout nestling development is proposed as one of the most plausible explanations for the high occurrence and intensity of oral Candida-like lesions in nestling vultures. The high occurrence of fluoroquinolone residues and disease hindered the probing of a cause-effect relationship between both factors in individual vultures. This relationship could be evaluated through a population-based approach by sampling vultures not exposed to these drugs. The high dependence of vultures on domestic animals today compared to past decades and the growing intensification of livestock farming, imply an expected increase in the impact of pharmaceuticals on scavenger populations. This requires further evaluation due to potential consequences in biodiversity conservation and environmental health. We encourage the prioritization of efforts to promote the use of less medicated free-ranging livestock carcasses left in the countryside, rather than stabled stocks made available in vulture restaurants. Additionally, attention should be paid to the population recovery of wild species that dominated scavenger diets in the past.

Long-term Occupancy (1900–2015) of an Egyptian Vulture Nest

Long-term Occupancy (1900–2015) of an Egyptian Vulture Nest

Non‐trophic functions of carcasses: from death to the nest

Non‐trophic functions of carcasses: from death to the nest

Sex determination in the wild: a field application of loop-mediated isothermal amplification successfully determines sex across three raptor species.

PCR-based methods are the most common technique for sex determination of birds. Although these methods are fast, easy and accurate, they still require special facilities that preclude their application outdoors. Consequently, there is a time lag between sampling and obtaining results that impedes researchers to take decisions insitu and in real time considering individuals' sex. We present an outdoor technique for sex determination of birds based on the amplification of the duplicated sex-chromosome-specific gene Chromo-Helicase-DNA binding protein using a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). We tested our method on Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus), Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) and Black Kite (Milvus migrans) (family Accipitridae). We introduce the first fieldwork procedure for sex determination of animals in the wild, successfully applied to raptor species of three different subfamilies using the same specific LAMP primers. This molecular technique can be deployed directly in sampling areas because it only needs a voltage inverter to adapt a thermo-block to a car lighter and results can be obtained by the unaided eye based on colour change within the reaction tubes. Primers and reagents are prepared in advance to facilitate their storage at room temperature. We provide detailed guidelines how to implement this procedure, which is simpler (no electrophoresis required), cheaper and faster (results in c. 90min) than PCR-based laboratory methods. Our successful cross-species application across three different raptor subfamilies posits our set of markers as a promising tool for molecular sexing of other raptor families and our field protocol extensible to all bird species.

Middle Pleistocene vertebrate fossils from the Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia: Implications for biogeography and palaeoecology

The current paucity of Pleistocene vertebrate records from the Arabian Peninsula – a landmass of over 3 million km2 – is a significant gap in our knowledge of the Quaternary. Such data are critical lines of contextual evidence for considering animal and hominin dispersals between Africa and Eurasia generally, and hominin palaeoecology in the Pleistocene landscapes of the Arabian interior specifically. Here, we describe an important contribution to the record and report stratigraphically-constrained fossils of mammals, birds and reptiles from recent excavations at Ti’s al Ghadah in the southwestern Nefud Desert. Combined U-series and ESR analyses of Oryx sp. teeth indicate that the assemblage is Middle Pleistocene in age and dates to ca. 500 ka. The identified fauna is a biogeographical admixture that consists of likely endemics and taxa of African and Eurasian affinity and includes extinct and extant (or related Pleistocene forms of) mammals (Palaeoloxodon cf. recki, Panthera cf. gombaszogenis, Equus hemionus, cf. Crocuta crocuta, Vulpes sp., Canis anthus, Oryx sp.), the first Pleistocene records of birds from the Arabian Peninsula (Struthio sp., Neophron percnopterus, Milvus cf. migrans, Tachybaptus sp. Anas sp., Pterocles orientalis, Motacilla cf. alba) and reptiles (Varanidae/Uromastyx sp.). We infer that the assemblage reflects mortality in populations of herbivorous animals and their predators and scavengers that were attracted to freshwater and plant resources in the inter-dune basin. At present, there is no evidence to suggest hominin agency in the accumulation of the bone assemblages. The inferred ecological characteristics of the taxa recovered indicate the presence, at least periodically, of substantial water-bodies and open grassland habitats.

Assessing the effectiveness of intensive conservation actions: Does guarding and feeding increase productivity and survival of Egyptian Vultures in the Balkans?

Assessing the effectiveness of conservation measures to reverse population declines is essential to evaluate management strategies. Management solutions such as direct protection or supplementary feeding typically aim at reducing mortality or increasing productivity, but demonstrating such demographic consequences of adopted management is often difficult. Here we assess the effectiveness of large-scale management actions aimed at the conservation of an endangered vulture on the Balkan Peninsula by extending a novel analysis to estimate seasonal adult survival from observations of unmarked individuals. We monitored Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus breeding success and territory occupancy over 11years in three countries during which both nest guarding and supplementary feeding were carried out. We found little evidence that nest guarding and supplementary feeding increased breeding propensity (mean=0.88±0.32 standard deviation, n=463), breeding success (0.82±0.39), or the number of fledglings raised by successful pairs (1.3±0.74). We estimated adult survival during the 23-week breeding season (mean=0.936, 95% credible interval 0.889–0.968) and found no significant increase due to management. In the last 13years 43 dead adult birds have been found during the breeding season, and 77% of confirmed mortalities were due to poisoning. Overall, the current management measures may have so far failed to halt ongoing population declines because the beneficial effects are insufficient to offset the loss of adult birds for example due to poisoning. We suggest that additional measures to slow the decline of Egyptian Vultures in the Balkans are required. In the short term, we urge governments to enforce anti-poison regulations that already exist. In the medium term, alternative approaches need to be developed that reduce the use of poisons and the associated accidental mortality of vultures and other wildlife species.

Using dynamic sustainability indicators to assess environmental policy measures in Biosphere Reserves

The assessment of different policy options represents a major tool for decision-makers in Biosphere Reserves, to develop more-resilient strategies for sustainable development and to visualise unintended consequences of these policies.In this work we analyse eight measures proposed by different agents in order to meet the main objectives of environmental sustainability, included in the Action Plan of the Fuerteventura Biosphere Reserve (Spain). We quantified the effects of these measures in terms of the sustainability thresholds of 10 environmental indicators, also proposed by the Action Plan, which was integrated in the Fuerteventura Biosphere Reserve dynamic model. Their behaviours under these measures allow determination of whether the objectives will be met in the period 2012–2025. Although some indicators would improve under these measures, fitting certain objectives, some negative effects on other indicators confirm the existence of trade-offs among these objectives. For instance, grazing limitation would improve the proportion of high-quality vegetation but would negatively affect the Egyptian vulture population, which would even fall below its sustainability threshold. The definition of thresholds for each indicator allows decision-makers to establish a way to prioritise among the eight measures analysed. The results show that these measures are insufficient to meet the sustainability thresholds of four indicators (the landscape indicator, the proportion of renewable energy, the per capita primary energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions). Focusing on the remaining six indicators and following the rule “Threshold out, measure out”, seven out of the eight measures would exceed some thresholds and should be avoided. Only one option, aimed at growing fodder to feed cattle on restored traditional agricultural lands, would not exceed any of these thresholds. However, this measure also presents certain negative effects regarding indicators related to flagship species (the houbara habitat and the Egyptian vulture population), which would require compensation measures.

Wind effects on the migration routes of trans-Saharan soaring raptors: geographical, seasonal, and interspecific variation.

Wind is among the most important environmental factors shaping birds’ migration patterns. Birds must deal with the displacement caused by crosswinds and their behavior can vary according to different factors such as flight mode, migratory season, experience, and distance to goal areas. Here we analyze the relationship between wind and migratory movements of three raptor species which migrate by soaring–gliding flight: Egyptian vulture Neophron percnopterus, booted eagle Aquila pennata, and short-toed snake eagle Circaetus gallicus. We analyzed daily migratory segments (i.e., the path joining consecutive roosting locations) using data recorded by GPS satellite telemetry. Daily movements of Egyptian vultures and booted eagles were significantly affected by tailwinds during both autumn and spring migrations. In contrast, daily movements of short-toed eagles were only significantly affected by tailwinds during autumn migration. The effect of crosswinds was significant in all cases. Interestingly, Egyptian vultures and booted eagles showed latitudinal differences in their behavior: both species compensated more frequently at the onset of autumn migration and, at the end of the season when reaching their wintering areas, the proportion of drift segments was higher. In contrast, there was a higher drift at the onset of spring migration and a higher compensation at the end. Our results highlight the effect of wind patterns on the migratory routes of soaring raptors, with different outcomes in relation to species, season, and latitude, ultimately shaping the loop migration patterns that current tracking techniques are showing to be widespread in many long distance migrants.

Net Effects of Ecotourism on Threatened Species Survival.

Many threatened species rely on ecotourism for conservation funding, but simultaneously suffer direct ecological impacts from ecotourism. For a range of IUCN-Redlisted terrestrial and marine bird and mammal species worldwide, we use population viability analyses to calculate the net effects of ecotourism on expected time to extinction, in the presence of other anthropogenic threats such as poaching, primary industries and habitat loss. Species for which these calculations are currently possible, for one or more subpopulations, include: orangutan, hoolock gibbon, golden lion tamarin, cheetah, African wild dog, New Zealand sealion, great green macaw, Egyptian vulture, and African penguin. For some but not all of these species, tourism can extend expected survival time, i.e., benefits outweigh impacts. Precise outcomes depend strongly on population parameters and starting sizes, predation, and ecotourism scale and mechanisms. Tourism does not currently overcome other major conservation threats associated with natural resource extractive industries. Similar calculations for other threatened species are currently limited by lack of basic population data.

Status and population of vultures in Moyar Valley, southern India

<p>Four species of vultures were surveyed using road transects in two parts of the Moyar Valley, three of these are Critically Endangered by IUCN criteria and one is Endangered. The vulture study was done for the first time in Nilgiri North Forest Division and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve of Moyar Valley to determine the flock size in the three species of vultures and also to get a rough estimation of vultures. The results show higher flock size and higher densities in Nilgiri North Forest Division than in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve and the most numerous of these was the White-rumped Vulture. There is also evidence of seasonal movements in Nilgiri North Forest Division. These data represent the first systematic survey results from the area and demonstrate the significance of the Moyar Valley for all four Endangered vulture species, probably the main stronghold remaining in southern India. They are White-rumped Vulture <em>Gyps bengalensis</em>, Indian Vulture <em>Gyps indicus</em>, Red-headed Vulture <em>Sarcogyps calvus</em> and Egyptian Vulture <em>Neophron percnopterus</em>. The study recommends that immediate long-term conservation efforts should be taken to save the Critically Endangered vultures in the Moyar Valley.</p><div> </div>

Trends of autumn counts at Iberian migration bottlenecks as a tool for monitoring continental populations of soaring birds in Europe

Migration monitoring may allow us to detect population trends over large geographic areas because the pattern of change in migrant counts may be expected to follow the pattern of change in population size. We analysed recent regional European population trends of migratory soaring birds from rates of change in migration counts over the Strait of Gibraltar (Spain) during the years (1999–2013). An additional bottleneck (Organbidexka, France) within the same migratory route and period was also considered. We estimated count trends by fitting a log-generalized linear model to the time series of each species counts. The counts in Organbidexka were used to test the consistency in the observed trends over the Strait of Gibraltar. Migration counts of White and Black Storks, Black Kites, Short-toed and Booted Eagles as well as Egyptian Vultures showed a linear increase over the Strait of Gibraltar throughout the 15-year period. In contrast, Honey Buzzard numbers remained stable. Trends were highly consistent with those recorded in Organbidexka. We suggest that the larger slopes for the trends in Organbidexka when compared with the Strait reflect an increasing tendency in these species to overwinter in southern Europe. A combination of complementary data sets collected at different bottleneck sites within the European–African flyway system may become a fundamental tool for the investigation of migratory patterns and population trends and changes of soaring migrant birds all over Europe.

Significant population of Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus found in Morocco

The Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus population in Morocco has undergone a marked decline since the 1980s to the point of nearing local extinction in the twenty-first century. A field study of some possible sites for Egyptian Vultures was carried out over six days during June 2014 in the Middle Atlas Mountains, Morocco. We counted a total of 48 Egyptian Vultures at three different localities: two occupied breeding sites and one communal roost that hosted 40 vultures of different ages. A (probable) singe adult bird at the breeding site was located and a previously occupied site was also visited. A preliminary survey amongst local people indicated that threats faced by this species are predator poisoning in some areas, and the use of vulture parts for traditional medicine. Given that the species is considered globally Endangered and populations continue to decline in many areas, the discovered population reported here, although relatively small, is of national and regional (North-west Africa) importance. We expect this new situation will revive the hopes for studying and conserving this and other vulture species in Morocco and North-west Africa in general.

Diet is not related to productivity but to territory occupancy in a declining population of Egyptian VulturesNeophron percnopterus

SummaryA prominent threat to European vultures has been sanitary regulations that banned the disposal of livestock carcasses. Changes in food abundance following these regulations have been associated with changes in vulture behaviour and demographic parameters, but to what extent diet changes are responsible for population declines is poorly understood. The Egyptian VultureNeophron percnopterusis the smallest and most threatened European vulture species and has an opportunistic and diverse diet. In Eastern Europe, the Egyptian Vulture population is declining more rapidly than elsewhere but there is little information on diet composition and the relationship between diet and demographic parameters to inform conservation management. We examined whether Egyptian Vulture population declines in Bulgaria and Greece may have been associated with diet changes that affected breeding productivity by monitoring breeding success and collecting diet remains from 143 Egyptian Vulture breeding attempts between 2006 and 2013. We found no relationship between diet diversity or composition and productivity. However, there was a significant relationship between occupancy rate of territories and diet diversity, indicating that occupancy rate decreased with a very diverse or a very narrow diet and a higher proportion of wild animals or a lower proportion of livestock in the diet. There was no temporal change in diet diversity in Bulgaria after admission to the EU in 2007. We conclude that it is unlikely that diet limitations on reproductive output are a critical threat to Egyptian Vultures on the Balkan Peninsula. The relationship between diet diversity and territory occupancy rate may indicate that adult birds with a very narrow or a very broad diet may be more susceptible to consuming poisoned carcasses, and more information on the effect of diet availability on adult and juvenile survival would be useful to inform and improve conservation management actions.

Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) Uses Stone-Throwing to Break into a Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) Egg

Egyptian Vulture (<i>Neophron percnopterus</i>) Uses Stone-Throwing to Break into a Griffon Vulture (<i>Gyps fulvus</i>) Egg

The status of vultures in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, central India

&lt;p&gt;The study on the status of vultures in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BRT), central India was carried out from January 2011 to March 2013 in different seasons using opportunistic sightings. In total, 265 observations were made in which 1,366 individuals belonging to four species were recorded. Among these, Long-billed Vulture &lt;em&gt;Gyps indicus&lt;/em&gt; were more frequently sighted followed by White-backed Vulture &lt;em&gt;Gyps africanus&lt;/em&gt;, Red-headed Vulture or Asian King Vulture &lt;em&gt;Sarcogyps calvus&lt;/em&gt; and Egyptian Vulture &lt;em&gt;Neophron percnopterus&lt;/em&gt;. During the study period, 27 vulture nests were identified, of these 25 nests belonged to Long-billed Vulture and two nests were that os White-backed Vulture. No attempts were made to examine the nesting site characteristics and the breeding status of vulture in BTR. Vultures were largely observed feeding on carnivore kills such as chital, sambar, nilgai, wild pig, domestic cattle and common langur. On a few occasions vultures were seen feeding on the dumped cattle carcasses near villages. The study reveals that vulture population in BTR was mainly dependent on large carnivore kills. Regular monitoring of vulture nest sites in the study area is recommended to assess their breeding success. Since we observed the vultures feeding on dumped livestock carcasss near villages, use of Diclofenac in the villages around the park should be monitored as it has caused a large-scale mortality in vultures in different regions of the country. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt; &lt;/div&gt;

Modeling the consequences of the demise and potential recovery of a keystone-species: wild rabbits and avian scavengers in Mediterranean landscapes.

Restoration of demised keystone-species populations is an overriding concern in conservation biology. However, since no population is independent of its environment, progress is needed in predicting the efficacy of restoration in unstable ecological contexts. Here, by means of Population Dynamics P-system Models (PDP), we studied long-term changes in the population size of Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus) inhabiting a Natural Park, northern Spain, to changes in the numbers of wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), a keystone-species of Mediterranean ecosystems that have suffered >90% population decline after a hemorrhagic disease outbreak. Low availability of rabbit carcasses leads Egyptian vultures to extend their foraging activities to unprotected areas with higher non-natural mortality whereas growing numbers of griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus), a dominant competitor, progressively monopolize trophic resources resulting in a focal population decrease. Modeling shows that, even if keystone-species populations recover in core protected areas, the return to the original studied population size may be unfeasible, due to both the high non-natural mortality rates in humanized areas and long-term changes in the scavenger guild structure. Policy decisions aimed to restore keystone-species should rely on holistic approaches integrating the effects of spatial heterogeneity on both producer and consumer populations as well as within-guild processes.

Population and breeding success of Red-headed Vulture &lt;i&gt;Sarcogyps calvus&lt;/i&gt; and Egyptian Vulture &lt;i&gt;Neophron percnopterus&lt;/i&gt; in central west Nepal

This study on population and breeding success of Red-headed Vulture ( Sarcogyps calvus ) and Egyptian Vulture ( Neophron percnopterus ) was carried out in the middle mountain region of central west Nepal covering Arghakhanchi, Kaski, Palpa, Salyan and Pyuthan districts. A total of 34 days of study were conducted from October 2011 to February 2013 and on each study day observation was conducted between 9h00 to 15h00. We did absolute counts of vulture aggregations in flight in Arghakhanchi, Palpa, Pyuthan and Salyan districts, and on a garbage dump in Kaski district, and used a jack-knife technique to estimate the population size of each vulture species. We estimated a total of 24 Red-headed Vultures and 241 Egyptian Vultures across these five districts. Periodic monitoring of each identified nest was done to determine breeding success and we followed Postupalsky (1974) for the categorisation of nests. Based on active nests as a primary unit, the breeding success of Egyptian Vulture was 62.5% for nine nests identified in breeding year 2012; average nesting cliff/tree height was 27.8 m and that of nests was 14.8 m. In the study we did not find any Red-headed Vulture nests, however fresh juvenile birds were recorded repeatedly in the autumn season. Historical reports indicate Red-headed Vultures and Egyptian Vultures were abundant in Nepal, but have undergone rapid population decline across their ranges in the recent past, which is likely to continue into the foreseeable future. Recent information from India indicates the rate of population decline is 44% per year for Red-headed Vultures and 35% per year for Egyptian Vultures.

Relative contribution of local demography and immigration in the recovery of a geographically-isolated population of the endangered Egyptian vulture

In a context of increasing concern for biodiversity conservation but decreasing resources devoted to species management, measuring the impact of actions is critically needed so as to optimise conservation practices. Long-term longitudinal data collected on marked individuals allow for an assessment of the demographic response of a population to conservation actions while accounting for potential confounding factors. This study focused on the recovery of a geographically-isolated population of the endangered Egyptian vulture in south-eastern France, which experienced food shortages induced by major changes in habitat and sanitary legislation limiting the abandonment of dead animals in the field. The survival rates and population dynamics of the Egyptian vulture were computed, following the implementation of supplementary feeding stations, while accounting for the potential variation in environmental conditions on wintering grounds, reproduction and immigration. An integrated population model (IPM) was used to combine capture–resighting data with recoveries of dead birds, breeding surveys and counts of territorial pairs over a 16-year period. Results showed that the implementation of vulture restaurants improved the local survival rates and successfully stabilised the local demography of Egyptian vultures; this despite a reduction in average fecundity due to compensatory density feedback. Moreover, throughout the study period, about two thirds of the new recruits into the breeding population were immigrants, suggesting immigration constantly sustained the Egyptian vulture population in south-eastern France. However, we did not detect any effect of vulture restaurants on the immigration rate, indicating that the improvement of local survival by vulture restaurants remained the main driver of the positive shift in the population dynamics. This study highlights the positive impact of vulture restaurants on Egyptian vulture population restoration by compensating for natural food limitations. It also points out the methodological importance of estimating immigration for understanding population dynamics and that large-scale monitoring and internationally-concerted conservation should be promoted.