Vultures and Livestock: The Where, When, and Why of Visits to Farms

Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI
Marina García-AlfonsoJosé A Donázar

Abstract

Recent changes in European legislation have legalized the abandonment of carcasses around livestock farms, but our understanding of how vultures exploit these semi-predictable food sources is still very limited. For filling this gap, we determine the individual and ecological drivers influencing vulture visits to farms. We assessed the effects of individual characteristics of both birds and farms on the frequency of vultures' visits to livestock facilities using data collected from 45 GPS-tagged Egyptian Vultures (Neophron percnopterus) and 318 farms (>94% of livestock) on Fuerteventura Island, Spain. Farms were more visited during the vultures' breeding season. Farms located closer to highly predictable feeding places (i.e., vulture restaurants and garbage dumps) or with more available feeding resources were visited by more vultures, whereas those located close to roads and vultures' breeding territories received fewer visits. Younger territorial birds visited a farm more frequently than older territorial ones, whereas older non-territorial individuals concentrated those visits on farms closer to their activity core areas compared with younger ones. Our findings indicate that visits to farms were determined by their spatial di...Continue Reading

References

Feb 3, 2009·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·Benjamin M BolkerJada-Simone S White
Jan 24, 2012·Science·Antoni MargalidaJosé A Donázar
Jan 1, 2009·Animal : an International Journal of Animal Bioscience·A García-MartínezA Bernués
May 4, 2012·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Rosa AgudoJosé Antonio Donázar
Jan 16, 2015·Scientific Reports·Zebensui Morales-ReyesJosé A Sánchez-Zapata
Mar 2, 2018·The Science of the Total Environment·José Antonio DonázarAinara Cortés-Avizanda
Mar 22, 2018·PloS One·Gustavo TejeraAiram Rodríguez
Sep 24, 2018·Ambio·Marina García-AlfonsoJosé A Donázar
Mar 14, 2020·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·José A DonázarManuel de la Riva

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Citations

Jun 29, 2021·The Science of the Total Environment·Marina García-AlfonsoJosé A Donázar

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Software Mentioned

MuMIn
lme4
R
AICcmodavg
stats
RVAideMemoire
VULTURE
usdm
modEvA
glmmTMB

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