Long-term lead intoxication of Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus Hablizl, 1783) supposedly the result of illegal shooting

Abstract The European Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus is a large-sized scavenger exploiting carcasses of livestock and wild ungulates and thus having a paramount importance in the natural ecosystems. In this study, we report on an adult Griffon Vulture detected with lead levels in the bones over the threshold. After two years of tracking, the bird died. The corpse’s clinical examination and radiography detected the presence of two embedded lead pellets from a healed gunshot wound in its right wing. Quantitative laboratory analysis of lead in bone and liver samples evidencing subclinical/chronic lead intoxication of the Griffon Vulture could potentially be a result of the long-term exposure to the lead originating from the pellets in its wing.

Download Full-text

Long-term size and range changes of the Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus population in the Balkans: a review – CORRIGENDUM

Bird Conservation International ◽

10.1017/s0959270921000320 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-1

Author(s):

DOBROMIR DOBREV ◽

RIGAS TSIAKIRIS ◽

THEODORA SKARTSI ◽

VLADIMIR DOBREV ◽

VOLEN ARKUMAREV ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Griffon Vulture ◽

The Balkans ◽

Gyps Fulvus

Download Full-text

Nest-site preference of Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) in Herzegovina

Archives of Biological Sciences ◽

10.2298/abs1201385m ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 64 (1) ◽

pp. 385-392 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

S.P. Marinkovic ◽

Ljiljana Orlandic ◽

S.B. Skoric ◽

B.D. Karadzic

Keyword(s):

Nest Site ◽

Abundant Species ◽

Breeding Population ◽

Site Preference ◽

Griffon Vulture ◽

Gyps Fulvus ◽

Dramatic Decline ◽

Breeding Habitats ◽

Using Data

Although formerly an abundant species, the Eurasian Griffon (Gyps fulvus Hablizl, 1783) has undergone a dramatic decline in Herzegovina. Such an unfavorable trend may be associated with frequent poisoning incidents (consumption of poisoned baits), shortage of food and hunting. This species disappeared from its breeding habitats in Herzegovina during the last decade of the 20th century. The extinction was probably caused by military activities during the civil war. Using data that were collected over a period of long-term (1980-1991) monitoring of the breeding population, we discovered optimal environmental conditions for the nesting of the Eurasian Griffon Vulture in Herzegovina. Information on nest-site preference is valuable for conservation programs and the possible reintroduction of the Eurasian Griffon, not only in Herzegovina, but also to a much wider region. During the study period, we observed 61 nests and 252 nesting cases in four colonies of Eurasian Griffon Vulture. Most nests were located on limestone and dolomite rocks. The average altitude of nests was 378 m a.s.l.; most of nests (85%) were located below 500 m a.s.l. Also, the majority of nests were located on west-exposed sites.

Download Full-text

BAL THERAPY IN CHRONIC LEAD POISONING

PEDIATRICS ◽

10.1542/peds.10.5.603 ◽

1952 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 603-611

Author(s):

RUDOLPH C. GIANNATTASIO ◽

MICHAEL J. PIROZZI ◽

ANDREW V. BEDO ◽

KENNETH G. JENNINGS

Keyword(s):

Body Weight ◽

Lead Poisoning ◽

Lead Intoxication ◽

Lead Levels ◽

Urinary Lead ◽

Exacerbation Of Symptoms ◽

Chronic Lead Intoxication

Three cases of chronic lead intoxication have been presented which were treated with BAL in a dose of 4 mg./kg. body weight every four hours for 20 days. Cessation of symptoms were noted in every case. Resting urinary lead levels were increased three to sevenfold without exacerbation of symptoms of plumbism. BAL was found to be nontoxic in the dose used and acted as an effective deleading agent. The authors feel that this form of treatment merits use in both the chronic and acute phases of lead intoxication.

Download Full-text

Long-term size and range changes of the Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus population in the Balkans: a review

Bird Conservation International ◽

10.1017/s0959270921000198 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-16

Author(s):

DOBROMIR DOBREV ◽

RIGAS TSIAKIRIS ◽

THEODORA SKARTSI ◽

VLADIMIR DOBREV ◽

VOLEN ARKUMAREV ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Genetic Relatedness ◽

Species Conservation ◽

Species Range ◽

Data Set ◽

Griffon Vulture ◽

The Balkans ◽

Gyps Fulvus ◽

The Status ◽

Spatial Use

Summary The Eurasian Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus is a large Palearctic, Indohimalayan and Afrotropical Old-World vulture. The species’ range is vast, encompassing territories from the Pyrenees to the Himalayas. We reviewed and analysed a long-term data set for Griffon Vulture in the Balkans to estimate the change in its population size and range between 1980 and 2019. After a large historical decline, the Griffon Vulture population slightly increased in the last 39 years (λ = 1.02) and reached 445–565 pairs in 2019. We recorded a gradual increase of Griffon Vulture subpopulations in Serbia (λ = 1.08 ± 0.003), Bulgaria (λ = 1.08 ± 0.003) and Croatia (λ = 1.05 ± 0.005) and steep to a moderate decline of the species subpopulations in Greece (λ = 0.88 ± 0.005) and North Macedonia (λ = 0.94 ± 0.01). However, species range contracted to half of its former range in the same period. It occurred in 42 UTM squares in the 1980–1990 period and only 20 UTM squares between 2011 and 2019 and concentrated into three source subpopulations in Bulgaria, Serbia, and Croatia. Following reintroductions of the Griffon Vulture in Bulgaria, new colonies were formed at three novel localities after 2010. Regular movements of individuals between the different subpopulations exist nowadays. Therefore, preservation of both current and former core areas used for breeding and roosting is essential for species conservation in the region. However, the Griffon Vulture still faces severe threats and risk of local extinction. Various hazards such as poisoning, collision with energy infrastructure, disturbance and habitat alteration are depleting the status of the Balkan population and its full recovery. Further studies should analyse age-specific survival and mortality, recruitment, genetic relatedness, spatial use to inform the viability of this population in the future.

Download Full-text

Reshaping the Economic Structure in Argentina: The Role of External Debt during the Macri Administration (2015–2019)

Review of Radical Political Economics ◽

10.1177/0486613420976429 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 048661342097642

Author(s):

Juan E. Santarcángelo ◽

Juan Manuel Padín

Keyword(s):

External Debt ◽

Economic Structure ◽

The United States ◽

Jel Classification ◽

Financial Capital ◽

Economic Policies ◽

Right Wing ◽

Long Term Effects

Argentina’s right-wing shift in the 2015 presidential election concluded twelve years of center-left rule. The elected president, Mauricio Macri, claimed that the economy would experience normalization of existing imbalances and recover its strength in a “new political era.” However, the new administration quickly restored the dominance of neoliberal economic policies through a comprehensive set of initiatives, which centrally included the return to international financial debt and equity markets and submission to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) rules. This article analyzes Argentina’s external-debt-growth process and discusses its objectives and long-term effects. This paper posits that the indebtedness process carried out by the Macri administration—and its modality—not only increased the relevance of financial capital in the Argentine economy but also structurally conditioned any future nonorthodox alternative path of development. This outcome cannot be understood without taking into account the deliberate role of the United States, the IMF, and the top companies that operate in Argentina, as well as the complicity of many political sectors. JEL Classification: H63, F34, F63

Download Full-text

Crossing the left-right party divide? Understanding the electoral success of the Czech Pirate Party in the 2017 parliamentary elections

Politics ◽

10.1177/0263395720920768 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 40 (4) ◽

pp. 510-526 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Pavel Maškarinec

Keyword(s):

Democratic Party ◽

Parliamentary Election ◽

Right Wing ◽

Spatial Perspective ◽

Electoral Success ◽

Parliamentary Elections ◽

The Right ◽

Leftist Parties ◽

Spatial Support

In the 2017 Czech parliamentary election, the Czech Pirate Party (Pirates) gained 10.79% of the votes – an unprecedented success, compared to most of the pirate parties across Europe. However, as their electoral gain varies widely across the Czech Republic’s territory, this article analyses all (more than 6000) Czech municipalities in the elections of 2010, 2013, and 2017 to explain this variation. Overall, the success of the Pirates was driven especially by obtaining much more support in larger municipalities with younger populations (although not only those aged 18–24 but also older ones), lower unemployment, higher turnout, and lower support for leftist parties. Thus, from a spatial perspective, the patterns of Pirate voting largely resembled long-term spatial support for Czech rightist parties and we can conclude that the Pirates made considerable inroads to regions which had historically been strongholds of the Civic Democratic Party, as the former main party of the right, but also strongholds of minor right-wing (‘liberal centre’) parties of the 1990s and early 2000s. Success of the Pirates thus was based especially on votes from municipalities located in more developed areas, where the Pirates received many more votes than in structurally disadvantaged regions.

Download Full-text

Landscape-scale disturbances and regeneration in semi-arid woodlands of southwestern Australia

Pacific Conservation Biology ◽

10.1071/pc940214 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 1 (3) ◽

pp. 214 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

Colin J. Yates ◽

Richard J. Hobbs ◽

Richard W. Bell

Keyword(s):

Tree Mortality ◽

Landscape Scale ◽

Eucalyptus Species ◽

Natural Ecosystems ◽

Fragmented Landscapes ◽

The Past ◽

Adult Tree ◽

Western Australian ◽

Semi Arid

Woodlands dominated by Eucalyptus salmonophloia occur both in the fragmented landscapes of the Western Australian wheatbelt and in the adjacent unfragmented goldfields area. We examined the responses of the unfragmented woodlands to landscape-scale disturbances caused by fire, floods, windstorms and drought. Sites known to have experienced disturbances of these types over the past 50 years all had cohorts of sapling-stage E. salmonophloia and other dominant Eucalyptus species. Sites disturbed either by fire, flood or storm during 1991-92 displayed adult tree mortality and extensive seedling establishment, although rates of establishment and survival varied between sites. No regeneration was observed at equivalent undisturbed sites. These results indicate that landscape-scale disturbances of several types are important drivers of the dynamics of these semi-arid woodlands. Lack of regeneration of fragmented woodlands in the wheatbelt is likely to be due to changed disturbance regimes coupled with altered physical and biotic conditions within remnants. We argue that it may be difficult to identify processes which are important for the long-term persistence of natural ecosystems in fragmented landscapes without reference to equivalent unfragmented areas.

Download Full-text