The vultures at the crossroads of biodiversity, politics, tourism, the environment, and agriculture

Choisy, Jean-Pierre

doi:10.4314/vulnew.v63i1.2

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…It is important to recognize that the vulture's ecosystem services are not only limited to decreasing carrion burden, but also extend to economic benefits coupled with inhibiting emission of CO 2 in the environment [37,55,73].Within this research, vulture feeding prevented the incineration of 81,361 kg of biomass which would otherwise have led to a substantial CO 2 emission, causing environmental pollution with considerable ecological consequences. Economically, griffon vultures in Sardinia saved € 90,041 of public funds that would have been used for carcass disposal, which is substantially lower than the amount calculated for vultures in France [56]. Besides, as ecological tourism is currently thriving throughout the world, and given the changing public opinion on vultures in general, wildlife conservation activities in Sardinia could lead to significant economic gains in the future.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxide) impacting the environment and accelerating global warming [55], the cost saved based on reduced CO 2 emission through the feeding of carrion to vultures was evaluated. A recent reference study estimated the cost of 1 ton of CO 2 produced through incineration to amount to € 13 [56]. Expenditure saved by vultures was calculated by simply converting the total biomass consumed into tonnes.…”

Section: Ecosystem Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Help from the sky: Can vultures contribute to Cystic Echinococcosis control in endemic areas?

et al. 2021

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Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is endemic in Sardinia and constitutes a serious public health concern due to high prevalence in livestock and humans. Despite sustained efforts, control of the disease had been unsuccessful in the region. Problematic carcass disposal due to soaring incineration costs and free access of dogs to infected carrion are dominant factors, fueling endemicity among other. As sole obligate scavenger, griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) are uniquely specialized to eliminate carcasses swiftly and efficiently, saving on unnecessary environmental and economic costs for carrion disposal. However, following drastic population declines across Europe, griffon vultures practically went extinct in Italy. A conservation expansion program in Sardinia successfully reinforced the last remaining Italian vulture population by mitigating the main threats to its survival; food shortage. Through the establishment of supplementary feeding stations, permanent supply of livestock cadavers was provided. In this research, the management and conservation implications on the controlled disposal of carcass disposal through vulture feeding stations on the control of CE in Sardinia were assessed. During the course of the project, vultures scavenged a total of 81,361 kg of biomass, saving €90,041 in incineration costs and € 1,054 in CO2 emission. Through extrapolation of these results, a total of 5,304 kg of suspected CE infected sheep carcasses (65.3%) was calculated to have been disposed by griffons, considerably reducing the CE risk and burden in Sardinia. A quantification of the amount of biomass that could be eliminated by griffon in a succeeding conservation project was also made. These calculations implied that 162,722 kg of biomass, including 10,608 kg of infected biomass from sheep, would be consumed over a period of 5 years, further lowering the CE burden in Sardinia. Our results, driven under one health approach, emphasize the crucial and direct role of griffons in breaking the lifecycle of CE as well as their indirect role in rendering multiple ecosystem and economic services through the elimination of carcasses.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Ecosystem Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Help from the sky: Can vultures contribute to Cystic Echinococcosis control in endemic areas?

et al. 2021

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“…Although meloxicam is a single NSAID that was confirmed as a harmless drug designed for vultures (Harris 2013). Whereas further aspects that contribute to decline in vulture's populations include lack of food locally, habitat loss, severe climatic conditions, as well as poisoning via application of insecticides (Choisy 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic polymorphism in the mitochondrial D-loop of Oriental White-backed Vultures (Gyps bengalensis)

et al. 2022

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Vultures are among nature’s most successful scavengers, providing tractable models for ecological, economic, and cultural studies. Asian vultures have undergone dramatic declines of 90–99% in the subcontinent due to consequences of poisoning drugs, thereby being at a high risk of extinction. In Pakistan, surveys conducted previously focused mostly the cause of decline and breeding strategies only. Genetic profiling of vultures was still unmapped that could play a particular role in conservation endeavors and let researchers to genetically label individuals of threatened or endangered species. In this study, we examined genetic diversity and molecular phylogeny of Oriental White-backed Vultures by analyzing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences. Genetic polymorphism was detected among individuals, and, on that basis, phylogenetic analysis was conducted through Bayesian analysis of DNA sequences using MCMC. Using multiple sequence alignment, two mutations, transversion T>G and transition G>A, were observed at nucleotide positions 1 and 2, respectively. Similarly, T/C heterozygosity at two positions, 53 and 110, and one heterozygous T/G locus at 130 position were also observed. The reference sequence, along with other samples of V1, V6, V7 and V9, was placed into a clade, while V2, V5, V11, V3, V4 and V10 samples were grouped into a two clade.

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Drug pollution & Sustainable Development Goals

Domingo-Echaburu

Dávalos

Orive

et al. 2021

Science of The Total Environment

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The vultures at the crossroads of biodiversity, politics, tourism, the environment, and agriculture

Cited by 4 publications

References 2 publications

Help from the sky: Can vultures contribute to Cystic Echinococcosis control in endemic areas?

Help from the sky: Can vultures contribute to Cystic Echinococcosis control in endemic areas?

Genetic polymorphism in the mitochondrial D-loop of Oriental White-backed Vultures (Gyps bengalensis)

Drug pollution & Sustainable Development Goals

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