Tourism in protected areas: Disentangling road and traffic effects on intra-guild scavenging processes

The Science of the Total Environment
José Antonio DonázarAinara Cortés-Avizanda

Abstract

The expansion of road networks and the increase in traffic have emerged in recent years as key threats to the conservation of biodiversity. This is particularly concerning in many protected areas because the increase of recreational activities requiring the use of vehicles. Effects of roads and traffic within guild scenarios and ecological processes remain however poorly known. Here we examined how road proximity and traffic intensity influence patterns of resource use in an Old-World avian scavenger guild living in a protected natural park in northern Spain. We experimentally placed 130 carcasses at different distances from a scenic road in the centre of the park. Vehicles were recorded by means of traffic counters which revealed that maximum numbers were reached during weekends and holidays and during the middle hours of the day. Avian scavenger attendance at carcasses was recorded by means of camera-traps. Obligated scavengers, Eurasian griffon (Gyps fulvus) and Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus) were frequently observed (59.4% and 37.7% of the consumed carcasses) together with five other facultative scavenger species. We found that the richness (number of species) and the probability of consumption of the resource we...Continue Reading

Citations

Oct 7, 2020·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Ben MaYali Wen
Nov 20, 2020·Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI·Marina García-AlfonsoJosé A Donázar

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