Dietary shifts in two vultures after the demise of supplementary feeding stations: consequences of the EU sanitary legislation
Dietary shifts in two vultures after the demise of supplementary feeding stations: consequences of the EU sanitary legislation
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DOI：
10.1007/s10344-009-0358-0
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发表时间：
2010-08-10
影响因子：
2
通讯作者：
Carrete, Martina
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Donazar, Jose A.;Cortes-Avizanda, Ainara;Carrete, Martina
在脊椎动物中，专门从事食腐的只有“真正的”吉普赛秃鹫，它们通常几乎完全以中型和大型哺乳动物的尸体为食物，而所有其他食腐动物都依赖于更广泛的猎物。近几十年来，西欧食腐动物的食物供应并没有受到限制，允许大量秃鹫种群的存在和增长。然而，从2000年起，欧盟卫生立法逐渐限制在野外遗弃死亡动物，导致粮食供应突然减少，并带来未知的生态和保护后果。在这里，我们研究的饮食反应的一系列腐肉食客，狮鹫秃鹫（Gyps fulvus）和埃及秃鹫（Neophron cannopterus），表现出不同程度的饮食专业化。我们的研究结果表明，在减少补充饲养站（秃鹫餐厅）的数量后，狮鹫秃鹫的生态位宽度已经扩大，现在包括大量的野兔（Oryctolagus cuniculus）和垃圾。相反，埃及秃鹫的饮食并没有实质性的变化。饮食重叠显示模式可能是由种间竞争和不可预测的尸体逐步开发的条件。在短期范围内，由于占主导地位和更丰富的狮鹫秃鹫垄断了资源，对较小的食腐动物的影响可能是负面的，但从长远来看，所有公会物种都将受益于对不可预测的尸体的开发，这可能会增加共存的可能性。
Among vertebrates, specialization in scavenging has appeared only in "true" Gyps vultures, which usually base their diet almost exclusively on carcasses of medium and large-sized mammals, whereas all other scavengers rely on broader ranges of prey. The availability of food for scavengers in Western Europe has not been limited during recent decades permitting the existence and growth of huge vulture populations. From 2000 onwards, however, EU sanitary legislation has progressively limited the abandonment of dead animals in the field resulting in a sudden reduction of food availability with unknown ecological and conservation consequences. Here, we examine the dietary response of a tandem of carrion eaters, the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) and the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), showing different degrees of dietary specialization. Our results showed that after the reduction in numbers of supplementary feeding stations (vulture restaurants) the niche breadth of the griffon vulture has broadened and now includes significant amounts of wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and garbage. The diet of the Egyptian vulture, on the contrary, did not vary substantially. The diet overlap showed patterns probably conditioned by interspecific competition and the progressive exploitation of unpredictable carcasses. On a short-term scale, consequences for smaller scavengers could be negative due to the monopolization of resources by the dominant and much more abundant griffon vulture, however in the long-term all guild species would benefit from the exploitation of unpredictable carcasses, which could enhance the possibilities of coexistence.