Status and distribution of diurnal raptors in Central North Algeria, the case of Great Kabylia

In 2018 and 2019 thirteen species of raptors, with 407 individuals, were found nesting in Great Kabylia in Algeria. During this period, 196 raptor nest sites were located (Falco tinnunculus is not included as it thrives in many biotopes and tolerates anthropization). We noted a decrease in specific richness and abundance of raptors in the region compared to data for 1992. Some raptors were not seen during our study: Gypaetus barbatus, Pandion haliaetus, Falco biarmicus, Circaetus aeruginosus, and Falco eleonorae. We classified nesting diurnal raptors into 3 classes according to their relative abundance: (1) widespread species (10-26 %): F. tinnunculus, Hieraaetus pennatus, and Buteo rufinus cirtensis; (2) common species (5-10 %): Elanus caeruleus, Falco peregrinus, Circaetus gallicus, Falco naumanni, Gyps fulvus, and Milvus migrans; and (3) uncommon species (1-5 %): Neophron percnopterus, Accipiter nisus, Aquila fasciata, and Aquila chrysaeto. With the exception of N. percnopterus, which is classified as an endangered species, the raptors of Great Kabylia are mainly classified in the category of species of least concern (IUCN, 2020). Dataset published through GBIF (Doi: 10.15470/wt5dgi).

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Stick supply to nests by cliff-nesting raptors as an evolutionary load of past tree-nesting

Ideas in Ecology and Evolution ◽

10.24908/iee.2019.12.3.n ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Alejandro Martínez Abraín ◽

Dr. Juan Jiménez

Keyword(s):

Gypaetus Barbatus ◽

Milvus Migrans ◽

Gyps Fulvus ◽

Accipiter Nisus ◽

True Tree ◽

Forested Areas ◽

Circaetus Gallicus ◽

Aquila Fasciata ◽

Milvus Milvus ◽

Aquila Adalberti

The supply of sticks to cliff nests by many European raptors has been explained only as a functional means of decreasing ectoparasite loads in nests and for signalling nest occupancy. We provide here a historical explanation of this behaviour as we consider it represents an evolutionary load of formerly tree-nesting species. Basically, from this perspective, facultative tree/cliff-nesting species reproduce the nests they used to build originally on top of trees, but on cliffs. Facultative species (likely evolved in forested areas) that supply their cliff nests with sticks include Pandion haliaetus, Haliaetus albicilla, Milvus migrans, Circaetus gallicus, Buteo buteo, Aquila fasciata, A. pennata, A. chrysaetos, A. heliaca, Gypaetus barbatus Gyps fulvus and Neophron percnopterus. On the contrary, the only Falco species that solely nests in cliffs (F. eleonorae)) and does not supply its nests with sticks and should be considered a true cliff-nester, likely evolved in non-forested areas. All other Falco species that do not supply their cliff nests with sticks but can make use of tree nests made by other non-raptorial species, should also be considered as true cliff-nesters, likely evolved in more forested areas or times. Milvus milvus, Elanus caeruleus, Accipiter nisus, A. gentilis, Pernis apivorus, Aquila adalberti, A. clanga, A. pomarina and Aegypius monachus are true tree nesters, likely evolved in forested areas, which did not evolve the plasticity to nest directly on cliffs.

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Ecological distribution and population densities of raptors in the inner and outer zone of a Central European city

Ukrainian Journal of Ecology ◽

10.15421/2018_279 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 772-779

Author(s):

G. Kopij

Keyword(s):

Outer Zone ◽

Passerine Birds ◽

Falco Tinnunculus ◽

Buteo Buteo ◽

Milvus Migrans ◽

Accipiter Nisus ◽

Circus Aeruginosus ◽

Wooded Area ◽

The City ◽

Milvus Milvus

Five raptor species were recorded as breeding in the city of Wrocław (293 km2) during the years 2002-2010: Falco tinnunculus (2.4 pairs per 10 km2), Buteo buteo (4.1 pairs/10 km2 of wooded area), Accipiter gentilis (3.1 pairs/10 km2 of wooded area), Accipiter nisus (1.6 pairs/10 km2 of wooded area), Circus aeruginosus (0.2 pairs per 10 km2). All these species have increased in numbers over the last 20-30 years, both in the inner and outer zone of the city. Falco tinnunculus is a well-established raptor in the inner part of the city, while Accipiter nisus, A. gentilis, Buteo buteo started to infiltrate to the inner zone. In the last 70 years, a few cases of nesting were recorded for four other raptor species in Wrocław: Milvus migrans, Milvus milvus, Pernis apivorus and Falco subbuteo, but none of them was recorded in the inner zone of the city. Abundant and stable food supply (small mammals, columbids, corvids and small passerine birds), and freely available nesting and perching sites may contribute to this success.

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Environmental factors affecting the wintering raptor community in Armenia, Southern Caucasus

Community Ecology ◽

10.1007/s42974-021-00038-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Gianpasquale Chiatante ◽

Michele Panuccio

Keyword(s):

General Pattern ◽

Abundant Species ◽

Theoretic Approach ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Milvus Migrans ◽

Gyps Fulvus ◽

Black Kite ◽

Southern Caucasus ◽

And Migration ◽

Information Theoretic Approach

AbstractThe species–habitat relationships can change during the year because of the seasonality of resources. Therefore, the investigation of habitat use by animals in each season plays a fundamental role in their conservation. The main aim of this research was to investigate the raptor community that spends the winter in Armenia, southern Caucasus, and to explore its relationship with environmental features, such as land use and topography. During January 2012, we collected data by carrying out 15 roadside counts along which we calculated three community parameters: the relative abundance, the species richness, and the species diversity. Then, we carried out a multiple linear regression with the Information-Theoretic Approach, to explain the relationship between the parameters and environmental variables. Besides, we computed a Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) between the species and the environment around their observations. As a general pattern, the community was associated with permanent crops, maybe because of their heterogeneity, which in turn allows them to support higher densities of prey during the winter. The most abundant species was the Black Kite (Milvus migrans), followed by the Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) and the Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus). To our knowledge, this is one of the first studies investigating the wintering raptor community in the Caucasus, with raptors generally studied in this area during the breeding season and migration.

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Status, Distribution, and Conservation of Native Freshwater Fishes of Western North America

Status, Distribution, and Conservation of Native Freshwater Fishes of Western North America ◽

10.47886/9781888569896.ch16 ◽

2007 ◽

Keyword(s):

Conservation Biology ◽

Biological Diversity ◽

Common Species ◽

Model System ◽

Future Research ◽

Evolutionary Processes ◽

Widespread Species ◽

Key Points ◽

Management Priorities ◽

Conservation And Management

ABSTRACT The fundamental charge of conservation biology is to preserve biological diversity. Yet, efforts to accomplish this goal have focused too narrowly on reversing the slide toward extinction in already threatened or endangered species. In this review, we argue that conservation biologists and fisheries managers should broaden their vision to include efforts to preserve the ecological and evolutionary processes that ultimately give rise to new biodiversity. Our view is based upon the simple observation that biological diversity is a function of both the rate at which new taxa originate as well as the rate at which established taxa are lost to extinction. Efforts to stem extinction that fail to maintain the ecological and evolutionary processes of speciation are ultimately unsustainable. We suggest that common, widespread species are particularly important to the origin of new diversity and argue that conservation biologists should pay particular attention to the evolution of diversity within such species. We illustrate several key points to this argument using the desert minnow, Utah chub Gila atraria, as a model system. In particular, we show that conservation efforts in common species must focus on clearly delineating conservation unit boundaries and that particular care should be paid to unique ecological and evolutionary diversity within such species.We also show the importance of understanding and conserving the range of ecological and evolutionary interactions that are common hallmarks of abundant and widespread taxa.We conclude our review by suggesting several specific areas of future research in Utah chub that would help more clearly define conservation and management priorities in this species.

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Nest-Site Fidelity in Griffon Vultures: A Case of Win–Stay/Lose–Shift?

Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution ◽

10.1163/22244662-06301007 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 63 (2) ◽

pp. 39-43 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Myriam Freund ◽

Ofer Bahat ◽

Uzi Motro

Keyword(s):

Breeding Season ◽

Breeding Success ◽

Site Fidelity ◽

Nature Reserve ◽

Nest Site ◽

Nest Sites ◽

Gyps Fulvus ◽

Nest Site Fidelity ◽

Breeding Attempt ◽

Shift Strategy

We studied the use of nest-sites by Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus) and the breeding success in these sites during 1998–2002 in Gamla Nature Reserve (Israel). Nest-sites in which a breeding attempt succeeded in fledging a young, were more likely to be occupied by nesting vultures in the following breeding season, than nest-sites that experienced a failure. This suggests that Griffon Vultures in Gamla used a Win–Stay/Lose–Shift strategy regarding nest-site fidelity.

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Common species link global ecosystems to climate change: dynamical evidence in the planktonic fossil record

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2017.0722 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 284 (1858) ◽

pp. 20170722 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Bjarte Hannisdal ◽

Kristian Agasøster Haaga ◽

Trond Reitan ◽

David Diego ◽

Lee Hsiang Liow

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Planktonic Foraminifera ◽

Deep Ocean ◽

Common Species ◽

Ecosystem Structure ◽

Environmental Forcing ◽

Widespread Species ◽

Quantitative Evidence ◽

And Function

Common species shape the world around us, and changes in their commonness signify large-scale shifts in ecosystem structure and function. However, our understanding of long-term ecosystem response to environmental forcing in the deep past is centred on species richness, neglecting the disproportional impact of common species. Here, we use common and widespread species of planktonic foraminifera in deep-sea sediments to track changes in observed global occupancy (proportion of sampled sites at which a species is present and observed) through the turbulent climatic history of the last 65 Myr. Our approach is sensitive to relative changes in global abundance of the species set and robust to factors that bias richness estimators. Using three independent methods for detecting causality, we show that the observed global occupancy of planktonic foraminifera has been dynamically coupled to past oceanographic changes captured in deep-ocean temperature reconstructions. The causal inference does not imply a direct mechanism, but is consistent with an indirect, time-delayed causal linkage. Given the strong quantitative evidence that a dynamical coupling exists, we hypothesize that mixotrophy (symbiont hosting) may be an ecological factor linking the global abundance of planktonic foraminifera to long-term climate changes via the relative extent of oligotrophic oceans.

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Mouse-like rodents and shrews in Kharkiv Oblast (Ukraine): species composition, distribution, and current state of populations

Theriologia Ukrainica ◽

10.15407/tu1904 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2020 (19) ◽

pp. 26-44

Author(s):

Oksana Markovska ◽

◽

Hennadiy Tkach

Keyword(s):

Common Species ◽

Myodes Glareolus ◽

Indigenous Species ◽

Widespread Species ◽

Microtus Oeconomus ◽

Arvicola Amphibius ◽

Mus Spicilegus ◽

Current State ◽

Population Outbreaks ◽

Sorex Minutus

Since 1957, zoologists of the Kharkiv Sanitary and Epidemiological Station have been conducting annual monitoring of small mammals in Kharkiv Oblast. To assess the current state of populations of mouse-like rodents and shrews, we analysed a dataset for the period from 2000 to 2018. The small mammal fauna was studied at 117 sites in 27 districts (raions) of Kharkiv Oblast. Various types of oak forests, dry and floodplain meadows, riparian vegetation, steppe areas, forest stripes, gardens, fields, and haystacks were examined. Four species of insectivores and 16 species of mouse-like rodents were identified. The dominant and widespread species in the region are Sylvaemus uralensis, Apodemus agrarius, Sorex araneus, Microtus levis, Myodes glareolus, and Sylvaemus tauricus. Some species are less common and in some areas of the region have not yet been identified, including Sorex minutus, Sylvaemus sylvaticus, Crocidura suaveolens, Micromys minutus, Cricetulus migratorius, and Microtus oeconomus. The least common species with single records include Neomys fodiens, Mus spicilegus, Lagurus lagurus, Terricola subterraneus, Dryomys nitedula, and Arvicola amphibius. Indigenous species of the region include seven species, another seven species are those that increased their number and range, three species have recently appeared in the region due to dispersal from adjacent territories, while, on the contrary, the abundance and range of three species have declines. Microtus oeconomus is characterised by a current southward range expansion. Myodes glareolus, which was mentioned in the last century north of our region, is now widely distributed throughout the region and further south. Lagurus lagurus is an invasive species with periodic population outbreaks in the region and currently is rarely recorded.

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Common species link global ecosystems to climate change

10.1101/043729 ◽

2016 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Bjarte Hannisdal ◽

Kristian A. Haaga ◽

Trond Reitan ◽

David Diego ◽

Lee Hsiang Liow

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Planktonic Foraminifera ◽

Species Abundance ◽

Direct Interaction ◽

Deep Ocean ◽

Common Species ◽

Global Changes ◽

Ecosystem Structure ◽

Widespread Species

Common species shape the world around us, and changes in their commonness signify large-scale shifts in ecosystem structure and function. Dominant taxa drive productivity and biogeochemical cycling, in direct interaction with abiotic components of the Earth system. However, our understanding of the dynamic response of ecosystems to global environmental changes in the past is limited by our ability to robustly estimate fossil taxonomic richness, and by our neglect of the importance of common species. To rectify this, we use observations of the most common and widespread species to track global changes in their distribution in the deep geological past. Our simple approach is robust to factors that bias richness estimators, including widely used sampling-standardization methods, which we show are highly sensitive to variability in the species-abundance distribution. Causal analyses of common species frequency in the deep-sea sedimentary record detect a lagged response in the ecological prominence of planktonic foraminifera to oceanographic changes captured by deep-ocean temperature records over the last 65 million years, encompassing one of Earth's major climate transitions. Our results demonstrate that common species can act as tracers of a past global ecosystem and its response to physical changes in Earth's dynamic history.

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Comparison of orbital asymmetries among some raptor species: “when size does not matter”

Raptor Journal ◽

10.2478/srj-2020-0005 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 23-27

Author(s):

Pere M. Parés-Casanova ◽

Jordina Salas-Bosch

Keyword(s):

Procrustes Analysis ◽

Directional Asymmetry ◽

Foraging Strategies ◽

Tyto Alba ◽

Geometric Morphometric ◽

Bubo Bubo ◽

Generalized Procrustes Analysis ◽

Gyps Fulvus ◽

Accipiter Nisus ◽

The Right

Abstract A sample of 73 dry, well-preserved skulls was studied, representing various species of raptors with different foraging strategies. The sample included Accipiter nisus (n = 15), Buteo buteo (n = 13), Gyps fulvus (n = 24) and Neophron percnopterus (n = 5), Bubo bubo (n = 16) and Tyto alba (n = 2). Geometric morphometric methods were used to detect orbital asymmetries. On digital pictures of each skull side, a set of 16 semi-landmarks and two landmarks were located in order to describe the orbital ring. The variables were analysed based on Generalized Procrustes analysis. The morphometric data showed that the orbital asymmetry of raptors differed significatively between species, although directional asymmetry (e.g. left orbita systematically more developed than the right) appeared not to be correlated with orbital size. This indicates that larger orbitas do not lead to greater asymmetry. Differences between species should rather be explained by their foraging strategies and degree of visual obstruction in their natural environment.

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Population Traits and a Female Perspective for Aglae and Exaerete, Tropical Bee Parasites (Hymenoptera, Apinae: Euglossini)

Psyche A Journal of Entomology ◽

10.1155/2019/4602785 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2019 ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

David W. Roubik

Keyword(s):

French Guiana ◽

Size Variation ◽

Biosphere Reserve ◽

Common Species ◽

Material Transport ◽

Widespread Species ◽

Amazonian Ecuador ◽

Taxonomic Confusion ◽

Males And Females ◽

Host Resource

Size variation of both males and females leads to taxonomic confusion regarding wholly parasitic euglossines. The six most widespread species, Exaerete frontalis, E. smaragdina, E. dentata, E. trochanterica, E. lepeletieri, and Aglae caerulea, ranged from 12.5 to 28 mm in length (n = 522; 50 females; 472 males), and within species, some were 40-80% larger than others. The size of E. lepeletieri matches E. smaragdina and E. dentata, but not E. frontalis, which it was said to resemble. Female E. lepeletieri, here described from Amazonian Ecuador, has a range shown to also include French Guiana and Suriname. Female Aglae and Exaerete were larger than males. Statistically, female Exaerete tended toward larger individuals more than did males. Each species should parasitize Eulaema and Eufriesea that have comparable size and provisions; thus multiple hosts may cause parasite size variation. Unknown factors may promote host resource partitioning between sympatric parasites, which include up to six in Yasuní Biosphere Reserve, Ecuador, the richest known euglossine community. Scutellum and metafemur punctation, sculpture and the frontal knob of both sexes, and male mesotibial tuft and metafemur permit easy identification of the six common species and E. azteca. Existence of E. kimseyae in Panama is questionable, while E. dentata there is certainly rare. The female tibial scoop, a structure in both Aglae and Exaerete, with a proposed function in material transport, is discussed. No new phylogenetic interpretation is presented.

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