Trial Restoration of the Harpy Eagle, a Large, Long-lived, Tropical Forest Raptor, in Panama and Belize

Watson, Richard T.; McClure, Christopher J. W.; Vargas, F. Hernán; Jenny, J. Peter

doi:10.3356/rapt-50-01-3-22.1

Cited by 17 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Indeed, the Serra do Mar region has no current records of Harpy Eagles but could host successful reintroduction programs, while other suitable Atlantic Forest sites have recent or current evidence of breeding populations. The Serra do Mar forest corridor could host reintroduced populations that could become viable in the long term, much like the case of the Harpy Eagle reintroduction into Mesoamerica [64]. In contrast, the Amazon Forest currently has extensive tracts of high-suitability forest habitat, mainly concentrated in Brazil, eastern Peru and northern Bolivia.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Each of these breeders hold over several adult individuals, and other private breeders have a smaller number of adults and young animals totaling several dozens in Brazil [110]. Meanwhile, The Peregrine Fund has developed a huge amount of know-how on Harpy Eagle reintroductions during a directed restoration effort for the species in Mesoamerica [64,111–113]. In addition, the Brazilian Harpy Eagle Conservation Program successfully released several rehabilitated individuals [61].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Species distribution modeling reveals strongholds and potential reintroduction areas for the world’s largest eagle

et al. 2019

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The highly interactive nature of predator-prey relationship is essential for ecosystem conservation; predators have been extirpated, however, from entire ecosystems all over the Earth. Reintroductions comprise a management technique to reverse this trend. Species Distribution Models (SDM) are preemptive tools for release-site selection, and can define levels of habitat quality over the species distribution. The Atlantic Forest of South America has lost most of its apex predators, and Harpy Eagles Harpia harpyja —Earth’s largest eagle—are now limited to few forest pockets in this domain. Harpy Eagles are supposedly widespread in the Amazon Forest, however, where habitat loss and degradation is advancing at a rapid pace. We aim to describe the suitability of threatened Amazonian landscapes for this eagle. We also aim to assess the suitability of remaining Atlantic Forest sites for Harpy Eagle reintroductions. Here we show that that considerable eagle habitat has already been lost in Amazonia due to the expansion of the “Arc of Deforestation”, and that Amazonian forests currently represent 93% of the current distribution of the species. We also show that the Serra do Mar protected areas in southeastern Brazil is the most promising region for Harpy Eagle reintroductions in the Atlantic Forest. Reintroduction and captive breeding programs have been undertaken for Harpy Eagles, building the technical and biological basis for a successful restoration framework. Our distribution range for this species represents a 41% reduction of what is currently proposed by IUCN. Furthermore, habitat loss in Amazonia, combined with industrial logging and hunting suggest that the conservation status of this species should be reassessed. We suggest researchers and conservation practitioners can use this work to help expand efforts to conserve Harpy Eagles and their natural habitats.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species distribution modeling reveals strongholds and potential reintroduction areas for the world’s largest eagle

et al. 2019

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“…The area has most of the staple prey species targeted by harpy eagles ( Aguiar-Silva, Sanaiotti & Luz, 2014 ), including three-toed sloths ( Bradypus variegatus ), Hoffman’s two-toed sloths ( Choloepus hoffmanni ), white-nosed coati ( Nasua narica ), northern lesser anteater ( Tamandua mexicana ) and mantled howler monkeys ( Alouatta palliata ), all of which are either strictly arboreal or scansorial mammals. The Peregrine Fund had conducted experimental harpy eagle releases within SNP since 1997 ( Muela et al, 2003 ; Watson et al, 2016 ), therefore we assumed that none of the prey species here were predator-naïve during our study.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This allowed harpy eagles to learn how to hunt, as would occur in the wild ( Muñiz-López et al, 2016 ). Further details on the harpy eagle reintroduction protocols and results are available in Campbell-Thompson et al (2012) and Watson et al (2016) . Harpy eagles were fitted with both radio-telemetry and GPS tags.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Harpy eagle-sloth predator-prey systems are therefore ideal candidates to investigate how changes in climate and moonlight may affect multispecies predation rates. The Peregrine Fund has lead a comprehensive effort to reintroduce this species into parts of Mesoamerica (Campbell-Thompson et al, 2012;Watson et al, 2016). This effort, spanning from 2003 to 2009, incidentally enabled us to understand, for the first time, the prey profile of harpy eagles over multiple seasons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High moon brightness and low ambient temperatures affect sloth predation by harpy eagles

Miranda

Kenup

Campbell-Thompson

et al. 2020

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Background Climate plays a key role in the life histories of tropical vertebrates. However, tropical forests are only weakly seasonal compared with temperate and boreal regions. For species with limited ability to control core body temperature, even mild climatic variation can determine major behavioural outcomes, such as foraging and predator avoidance. In tropical forests, sloths are the arboreal vertebrate attaining the greatest biomass density, but their capacity to regulate body temperature is limited, relying on behavioural adaptations to thermoregulate. Sloths are largely or strictly nocturnal, and depend on crypsis to avoid predation. The harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) is a sloth-specialist and exerts strong top-down control over its prey species. Yet the role of environmental variables on the regulation of predator–prey interactions between sloths and harpy eagles are unknown. The harpy eagle is considered Near Threatened. This motivated a comprehensive eﬀort to reintroduce this species into parts of Mesoamerica. This eﬀort incidentally enabled us to understand the prey profile of harpy eagles over multiple seasons. Methods Our study was conducted between 2003 and 2009 at Soberanía National Park, Panamá. Telemetered harpy eagles were seen hunting and feeding on individual prey species. For each predation event, field assistants systematically recorded the species killed. We analysed the effects of climatic conditions and vegetation phenology on the prey species profile of harpy eagles using generalised linear mixed models. Results Here we show that sloth predation by harpy eagles was negatively aﬀected by nocturnal ambient light (i.e. bright moonshine) and positively aﬀected by seasonally cool temperatures. We suggest that the first ensured low detectability conditions for sloths foraging at night and the second posed a thermally unsuitable climate that forced sloths to forage under riskier daylight. We showed that even moderate seasonal variation in temperature can influence the relationship between a keystone tropical forest predator and a dominant prey item. Therefore, predator–prey ecology in the tropics can be modulated by subtle changes in environmental conditions. The seasonal eﬀects shown here suggest important demographic consequences for sloths, which are under top-down regulation from harpy eagle predation, perhaps limiting their geographic distribution at higher latitudes.

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Sex and breeding status affect prey composition of Harpy Eagles Harpia harpyja

et al. 2017

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Trial Restoration of the Harpy Eagle, a Large, Long-lived, Tropical Forest Raptor, in Panama and Belize

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 17 publications

References 39 publications

Species distribution modeling reveals strongholds and potential reintroduction areas for the world’s largest eagle

Species distribution modeling reveals strongholds and potential reintroduction areas for the world’s largest eagle

High moon brightness and low ambient temperatures affect sloth predation by harpy eagles

Sex and breeding status affect prey composition of Harpy Eagles Harpia harpyja

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