Roles of Raptors in a Changing World: From Flagships to Providers of Key Ecosystem Services

Upland buzzard (Buteo hemilasius), Saker falcon (Falco cherrug), and Himalayan vulture (Gyps himalayensis) are three common large raptors in the Sanjiangyuan National Park (SNP), China's first national park. Among them, Upland buzzard and Saker falcon play a significant role in controlling plateau rodent populations and reducing the transmission of pathogens carried by rodents. The Himalayan vulture can provide services for the redistribution and recycling of nutrients in the ecosystem, and play an irreplaceable role in the celestial burial culture of Tibetans in China. Exploring their habitat suitability is important for the protection of the three raptors. Our research was based on the current distribution of Upland buzzard, Saker falcon, and Himalayan vulture that we had extensively surveyed in the Sanjiangyuan National Park from 2016 to 2017. Combined with the correlation analysis of environmental variables, we utilized maximum entropy model (MaxEnt) to evaluate and compare the habitat suitability of the three species in the Sanjiangyuan National Park. Elevation, climate, and human disturbance factors, which had direct or indirect effects on species survival and reproduction, were all included in the model. Among them, elevation was the most important environmental variables affecting the suitability of habitats of three species. Temperature‐related factor was another important predictor. The high (>60%) suitable habitat areas for Upland buzzard, Saker falcon, and Himalayan vulture were 73,017.63, 40,732.78, and 61,654.33 km2, respectively, accounted for 59.32%, 33.09%, and 50.08% of the Sanjiangyuan National Park and their total suitable area (i.e., the sum area of high and moderate habitats) reached 96.07%, 60.59%, and 93.70%, respectively. Besides, the three species have overlapping areas for the suitable habitats, which means that overlapping areas should be highly valued and protected. Therefore, understanding the distribution of suitable habitats of the three raptors can provide useful information and reasonable reference for us to put forward suggestions for their protection and regional management.

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“…Raptors are generally recognized as top predators and scavengers in the ecosystem (Donázar et al, 2016;McClure et al, 2018).…”

Section: Upland Buzzard (Buteo Hemilasius) Saker Falcon (Falco Cherrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maxent modeling for predicting the spatial distribution of three raptors in the Sanjiangyuan National Park, China

Zhang

Jiang

Li³

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

113

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“…The amount of research conducted on raptors, including how they have adapted to human-dominated environments, has grown rapidly in recent years (Donázar et al 2016). This study summarises the responses of this bird group to urbanisation, using breeding performance as a proxy for habitat quality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The breeding performance of raptors in urban landscapes: a review and meta-analysis

et al. 2017

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Global urbanisation is rapidly increasing and can have profound impacts on wild flora and fauna. For many species, the impacts are detrimental and irreversible, whereas others are able to colonise and apparently thrive in these novel, human-made environments. Raptors are particularly susceptible to changes in the environment due to their position at the end of the food chain, yet some species are increasingly associated with towns and cities. To explore the impact of urbanisation on raptors, we reviewed the literature and compared breeding performance in urban and rural populations globally. In general, raptors began breeding earlier and had larger brood sizes in urban compared to rural environments. However, some of these raptors also fledged fewer young in urban habitats, apparently caused largely by a lack of prey and, in some cases, increased human disturbance. As such, urban environments may act as ecological traps for some raptor species. Species differed in their response to urbanisation. In particular, specialist bird predators such as Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus) had a higher breeding performance (clutch size, brood size, number to fledge and nest success) and showed a positive response to urbanisation compared to those that predate on small mammals, such as Eurasian Kestrels (F. tinnunculus), which showed a negative response. This suggests that prey availability is one of the most important determinants of the success of urban-nesting raptors. We demonstrate a need for continued research into the breeding performance of raptors that live in urban environments, and stress the importance of focusing on the reasons for any differences in breeding performance between urban and non-urban environments in order to aid conservation and management efforts for this iconic bird group.

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“…Most of the studies investigating the functional role of raptors have focused on rodent control and the potential benefits to society associated with a reduction in agriculture damage or the scavenging services provided by vultures (Paz et al 2013, Morales-Reyes et al 2015Don azar et al 2016). However, a broader understanding of the ecological functions of avian top predators, particularly of the trophic linkages between large raptors, mesopredators and game species and how they can be valued as regulatory services by the hunting sector, would bring potential conservation benefits to this guild.…”

Section: Future Research Directions Combining Experimental and Long-tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Top‐down limitation of mesopredators by avian top predators: a call for research on cascading effects at the community and ecosystem scale

Terraube

Bretagnolle

2018

Ibis

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Roles of Raptors in a Changing World: From Flagships to Providers of Key Ecosystem Services

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 186 publications

References 300 publications

Maxent modeling for predicting the spatial distribution of three raptors in the Sanjiangyuan National Park, China

Maxent modeling for predicting the spatial distribution of three raptors in the Sanjiangyuan National Park, China

The breeding performance of raptors in urban landscapes: a review and meta-analysis

Top‐down limitation of mesopredators by avian top predators: a call for research on cascading effects at the community and ecosystem scale

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