Ph.D. with the GEDA

Guillermo Gomez Perez will begin his doctorate in Ecology at the Universidad Cumplutense of Madrid on the demography of Griffon vultures in central Spain. 

He will be supervised by Dr Ana Sanz-Aguilar (GEDA- IMEDEA, CSIC/UIB), Dr. Martina Carrete (Pablo Olavide University) and Dr Guillermo Blanco (Natural History Museum, CSIC). Welcome Guillermo!

Left the nest !

 

The fledgling of griffon vulture marked in Mallorca has left the nest and explored the environment!! 

A press note by the Vulture Conservation Fundation here   

First Griffon vulture marked in the wild in Mallorca!

The GEDAi helped the marking of the first Griffon vulture in the wild. It was a young bird taken from its nest just before fledgling (weighting ~7kg!). The Griffon Vulture arrived in Mallorca island in 2008  as a consequence of a huge storm. Since 2012 it breeds in the island.The bird has been equipped with a GMS/GPS radio, sponsored by the Vulture Conservation Fundation, under the supervision of Dra A. Cortés-Avizanda.  Keep posted to see how and where it flies.

More here

New publication on Vultures and lead!

Arrondo, E., [..], Cortés-Avizanda, A., [...], Donázar, J.A. 2020. Dust and bullets: Stable isotopes and GPS tracking disentangle lead sources for a large avian scavenger. Enviornmental Pollution, in press https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115022

Abstract: Lead intoxication is an important threat to human health and a large number of wildlife species. Animals are exposed to several sources of lead highlighting hunting ammunition and lead that is bioavailable in topsoil. Disentangling the role of each in lead exposure is an important conservation issue, particularly for species potentially affected by lead poisoning, such as vultures. The identification of lead sources in vultures and other species has been classically addressed by means of stable-isotope comparisons, but the extremely varied isotope signatures found in ammunition hinders this identification when it overlaps with topsoil signatures.

In addition, assumptions related to the exposure of individual vultures to lead sources have been made without knowledge of the actual feeding grounds exploited by the birds. Here, we combine lead concentration analysis in blood, novel stable isotope approaches to assign the origin of the lead and GPS tracking data to investigate the main foraging grounds of two Iberian griffon vulture populations (N = 58) whose foraging ranges differ in terms of topsoil lead concentration and intensity of big game hunting activity. We found that the lead signature in vultures was closer to topsoil than to ammunition, but this similarity decreased significantly in the area with higher big game hunting activity. In addition, attending to the individual home ranges of the tracked birds, models accounting for the intensity of hunting activity better explained the higher blood lead concentration in vultures than topsoil exposure. In spite of that, our finding also show that lead exposure from topsoil is more important than previously thought

New press release on Griffon vulture arrival!

The project by A. Cortés-Avizanda was on the news today. An article by E. Soto (here) describes Ainara's research into the possible changes that the arrival of the Griffon vulture in Mallorca can generate. In 2008, pushed by an unusual storm, a group of Griffon vultures arrived in Mallorca and established a new colony.

Natural colonizations of islands are rare and offer an important opportunity to gain information on dispersal, settlement and competition among species.  

Will it compete with the Black vulture ?  

Will framers change their perception on scavangers ?   

Will this natural arrival create a new wildlife-human conflict? 

Stay in touch for the answers.

GEDA at the"GOB on Thursday" and at the "Nit de la Recerca"

Ainara Cortés-Avizanda from the GEDA (Animal Demography and Ecology Unit) will present her research on the arriving of the Griffon Vulture in Mallorca. A conference framed into the "GOB on Thursday" meeting organized by the Balearic Ornithological Group.  Tomorrow h19h30 at "Centre Cultural Sa Nostra", Palma


  
Friday 27th GEDA will be at the "Nit de la Recerca", a speed-dating session to learn the different ongoing scientific projects in the Balearic Islands.

27/09/2019 h 17: "Who had been stealing my sandwich ?" Ca N Oleo, Carrer del Almudaina - Palma.

More at :nitdelsinvestigadors.cat

New member of GEDA

Ainara Cortés-Avizanda has joined the GEDA for a 2-year postdoctoral position. She will be working on the ecology of the Griffon vulture. A species that has recently clonized Mallorca following an unusal storm. A rare case of natural colonization by a large species. Welcome Ainara!