Anthropogenic activities influence the abandonment of Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) territories in southern Africa

[摘要] ABSTRACT Developing an effective conservation strategy for a critically endangered species relies on identifying the most pressing threats to the species. One approach to elucidate these threats for a long-lived animal with high territorial fidelity is to identify factors associated with territorial abandonment. The Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) has declined dramatically in southern Africa over the past few decades, with nearly 50% of known territories being abandoned. In this study we examine the evidence for 3 hypotheses: that territorial abandonment was associated with (1) human impact, (2) food availability, or (3) climate change, or a combination of these. Model selection was used to determine the relative importance of 7 covariates within the home range of an adult pair, an area of 10 km radius (314 km2) around each nest. Our analyses provided strongest support for the human impact hypothesis, with abandonment more likely in territories with more power lines and higher densities of human settl...

[学科分类] 动物科学

[关键词] human impact;food availability;climate change;population decline;conservation;poisoning;power line collisions