Hidden effects of high numbers of tourists in protected areas: displacement of foraging top scavengers

Abstract

Protected areas in southern Europe are important for the conservation of large avian scavengers. However, the effects an increasing number of visitors may have on the scavengers' patterns of movement are unknown. Here, we took advantage of data collected from seven GPS‐tagged adult Griffon Vultures Gyps fulvus breeding in the Bardenas Reales Natural Park in northern Spain to determine whether foraging birds moved to more remote areas on the days when the number of visitors increased. We found that although the number of visitors did appear to affect movement patterns, this had a smaller effect size compared with the mean temperature of the day. Additionally, males moved further than females. If the number of visitors to natural areas continues to increase, local exclusions of Griffon Vultures may become more common, so further research is needed to address the potential consequences for the scavenger population and ecosystem functions and services they provide.

Characterizing personalized ecologies

“…In turn, the natural apparency of species may be reshaped by the presence of potential human observers. This can happen in the short‐term, with diel activity patterns and the composition of species assemblages being altered through differential disturbance of some species and potential attraction of others, sometimes even when numbers of people are very low (Donázar et al., 2023; Gallo et al., 2022; Gaynor et al., 2018; Sytsma et al., 2022). This was demonstrated, for example, by changes to bird and mammal behaviour during the COVID‐19 lockdowns when people's patterns of outdoor activity changed markedly (Tucker et al., 2023; Warrington et al., 2022).…”

Abundance and Breeding Ecology of Critically Endangered Vultures in Mole National Park, Ghana

“…Similar to some mammal populations in Mole NP (Burton 2010), vultures appeared to be most common in the southeastern part of the park (Dowsett-Lemaire and Dowsett 2014) close to water sources, park infrastructure, hotels, and ranger stations. Although human disturbance, including from tourists in protected areas, may negatively affect vultures in some regions (Dona ´zar et al 2023), in Ghana the presence of tourists appears to act as a poaching deterrent, motivating rangers and providing an increased measure of protection (Jachmann et al 2011).…”

Validating the concept of top scavenger: the Andean Condor as a model species

“…Indeed, the fact that vultures have such a dominant influence on the use of carrion and the ecological interactions around it, disproportionate compared to that of other scavenger species [14][15][16][17], has led to them being referred to as top or apex, scavengers [e.g. 14,[18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

“…Thus, although this term began to be used anecdotally to refer to the Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus) [24], a New World vulture, it is noteworthy that it has not been used to refer to the rest of the vulture species in the Americas. Similarly, in the case of Old World vultures, the term has been used mainly to refer to a single species, the Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) [14,[19][20][21][22][23], with the difference that its consideration as a top scavenger appears to have been more generally extended to the rest of vulture species [18]. Considering this, what seems to be a conceptually assumed rather than formally evaluated designation of vultures as top scavengers may be owing to several reasons.…”