Long‐term relationship between diet breadth and breeding success in a declining population of Egyptian Vultures Neophron percnopterus

Abstract

Between 2000 and 2009 we studied the diet and breeding success of Egyptian Vultures Neophron percnopterus in southern Spain. Wild species accounted for 74.9% of prey items (n = 1071) with a predominance of mammals (62.3%), followed by birds (20.8%) and reptiles (13.1%). Spatially, the diet was highly varied and not restricted to carcasses of livestock; wild Rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus accounted for 54% of the overall remains. The spatial variability may reflect regional and local disparity in the availability of main prey. The temporal relationship between variation in trophic diversity and Vulture nesting productivity (both values showing a long‐term decrease) might suggest a causal link between variation in diet and reproductive output. We hypothesize that high turnover rates could explain productivity variation as a consequence of the recruitment of less experienced individuals to the breeding population. This could in turn generate covariation between diet and reproductive output.

Manipulating size, amount and appearance of food inputs to optimize supplementary feeding programs for European vultures

“…This reflects the specieś adaptation to the consumption of small and scattered remains due to its pecking behavior, peripheral to the central points of feeding activity by other vulture species (König, 1983;Meretsky, 1995). Its attendance pattern was less frequent and more irregular than the other vulture species, possibly due to (1) a greater preference for other food sources of natural and wild origin Margalida et al, 2012b); (2) a better prospecting aptitude given the patchy/random distribution of the breeding territories (García-Heras et al, 2013); and/or (3) the preference for particular vulture restaurants with constant and abundant evening inputs of carrion pieces attracting a greater number of birds (Donázar et al, 2009a;Cortés-Avizanda et al, 2010) located at a few points, essential to the information exchange between individuals (Ceballos and Donázar, 1990;Donázar et al, 2009a).…”

Out of sight, out of mind? Testing the effects of overwinter habitat alterations on breeding territories of a migratory endangered species

“…In addition, other unmeasured factors, such as temporal trends in food availability, might obscure our results. In fact, the temporal relationship between variations in trophic diversity and productivity may suggest a causal link between variation in diet and reproductive output (Margalida et al, 2012). In our case, longterm monitoring data allowed us to discriminate the subtle effect of OHA.…”

“…During the 20th century, the population of this long-lived scavenger has steadily declined across large parts of its European and African range (Carrete et al, 2007). The causes of this decline are diverse: high adult mortality due to poisoning (Cort es-Avizanda, Ceballos & Don azar, 2009;Hern andez & Margalida, 2009); collisions with man-made infrastructures (wind turbines and power lines; Carrete et al, 2009); electrocution; habitat loss (Velevski et al, 2015); habitat change (Mateo-Tom as & Olea, 2015); food shortages; and human disturbance at breeding sites are among the main threats to the species (Margalida et al, 2012;Sanz-Aguilar et al, 2015;Don azar et al, 2016). In the north of its Spanish distribution range the species breeds in an oceanic landscape, on cliffs surrounded by dense forests, far from builtup areas.…”

Towards the identification of a new taphonomic agent: An analysis of bone accumulations obtained from modern Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) nests

“…As regards leporids and birds, their size may condition the loss of some elements. In certain parts of the Iberian Peninsula medium and small species of wild animal, such as leporids, play an important part in the diet of the Egyptian vulture (Margalida et al, 2012b) and their lower representation in the samples may be due to taphonomic factors. Studying their diet by means of indirect methods, such as collecting the remains found in nests, may lead to a certain amount of bias in the skeletal profiles of the species represented (Margalida et al, 2005(Margalida et al, , 2007.…”

“…The prey spectrum indicates a great heterogeneity: it is a raptor that is opportunistic and a scavenger, focusing on small and medium-sized prey (Donázar, 1993;Margalida et al, 2012b). This suggests different places and feeding models: a) remains from human consumption (rubbish dumps), which is the basis of their diet; b) farm waste (rubbish tips); c) remains of dead animals that died accidentally or naturally as a result of collisions, disease, etc.…”