Predator-prey dynamics are fundamental in shaping and regulating wildlife communities; however, these relationships are often altered by urbanization. An urban predation paradox, where predation rates are lower in urban areas despite an increase in p...
Understanding the migratory route of raptors in their breeding and wintering grounds is crucial for ensuring their effective conservation. This study presents the preliminary findings through satellite telemetry to describe the summer and winter home...
Land use and landcover change alter the ability of habitat networks to maintain viable species populations. While their effects on the quality, amount and patterns of landcover patches are commonly studied, how they affect ecological processes, such...
To develop effective conservation strategies for migratory birds, it is essential to understand the ecology of a species at each biological phase, including its wintering (or non-breeding) season. For the red kite (Milvus milvus), an endangered rapto...
It was assumed that the Spanish breeding population of the red kite (Milvus milvus) was resident, hence their movements were restricted to their breeding area for their entire lifecycle. However, recent observations indicated that the post-reproducti...
The Red Kite (Milvus milvus), a Western Palearctic raptor, experienced a severe population decline across its range during the 19th and 20th centuries, nearly disappearing as a breeding species in Spain. Although conservation and reintroduction effor...
The Optimal Foraging Theory predicts that, to maximize fitness, animals adapt their foraging strategy that provides the most benefit for the lowest cost, maximizing the net energy gained. While the diet of many breeding raptor populations is well kno...
Single individuals of the Greater Spotted Eagle (Clanga clanga), Indian Spotted Eagle (Clanga hastata), Tawny Eagle (Aquila rapax), Western Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus), and two Pallid Harriers (Circus macrourus) were deployed with satellite tr...
The eastern imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca) has shown a marked population increase in the past decades in Hungary. The breeding range is expanding towards homogeneous agricultural habitats of the Hungarian Plain, where the already existing and recent...
This report presents the first complete natal dispersal trajectory of a female Montagu’s Harrier Circus pygargus, tracked in real time from fledging to first breeding using high-resolution continuous Global Positioning System (GPS) telemetry. T...
Estimating turnover in a population provides information on population dynamics, such as dispersal and mortality. Dispersal increases genetic diversity and affects the genetic structure. Golden eagles are monogamous, tend to mate for life, and have s...
Natal dispersal of large raptors is poorly understood, despite being a crucial transitional life-cycle phase affecting gene flow and population dynamics. A research-gap rarely examined concerns how young dispersing raptors strategize movements toward...
Understanding the spatial distribution and socio-cultural perceptions of threatened raptors is essential for evidence-based conservation in biodiverse yet understudied regions such as Nigeria. This study combines species distribution modelling with c...
Raptors (Accipitriformes, Falconiformes and Strigiformes) are important for ecological niches as bioindicators and an apex predator; however, their global populations have continuously decreased due to human activities, habitat loss and contagious di...
Ecological diversity among diurnal birds of prey, or raptors, is highlighted regarding their sensory abilities. While raptors are believed to forage primarily using sight, the sensory demands of scavengers and predators differ, as reflected in their...
Global raptor conservation relies on humans to establish and improve interaction and coexistence. Human–wildlife interaction research is well-established, but tends to focus on large-bodied, terrestrial mammals. The scope and characteristics of...
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment proposed four categories of ecosystem services as regulating, provisioning, supporting and cultural. Of these, cultural services have been the most difficult to quantify despite playing a key role in developing soc...
Raptors are a diverse avian guild distributed worldwide and adapted to different environments [...]
In healthy ecosystems, large raptors such as the White-tailed Eagle perform the essential roles of predators, bioindicators, and umbrella species. Despite their importance, many species of raptors are globally endangered, and similarly, in the Republ...
Understanding spatial distribution patterns is a key component in predicting community structural changes and preserving biodiversity. Within the subtropical forest ecosystems of China, the spatial interrelations between raptors and pheasants, and th...
Kites of the Elaninae group are small and medium-sized, mostly tropical raptors traditionally considered as an early diverged subfamily of the Accipitridae. We used nucleotide sequences of three genetic markers (mitochondrial Cyt b and COI, nuclear R...
Wildlife can serve as a potential reservoir and spreader of resistant and pathogenic bacteria. Raptors, occupying the ecological position of apex or mesopredators, integrate exposure across different habitats and therefore serve as bioindicators of e...
Wildlife persecution due to human-wildlife conflict has become a serious concern for biodiversity conservation, especially for many endangered species. In this context, conservation approaches need to consider the socio-ecological dimensions of each...
Raptors, being at top of the food chain, serve as important models to study the impact of changing climate, as they are more vulnerable due to their unique ecology. They are vulnerable to extinction, with 52% species declining population and 18% are...
Megafires are a growing global phenomenon, with their frequency increasing in recent decades. In 2023, Europe’s largest recorded fire occurred in North-Eastern Greece, burning 94,250 hectares, including the Dadia–Lefkimi–Soufli Nati...
Urban biodiversity is crucial for ecological security, balance, and important for fostering awareness on human-nature interconnectedness among the public. The diversity of birds, as an urban ecosystem indicator, reflects ecosystem services and is imp...
Habitat fragmentation and human disturbance pose major challenges to bird movement and ecological connectivity, highlighting the need for effective ecological network construction in conservation planning. Although coastal ecological networks have re...
Our study investigates predation among sympatric owl species in the Judea Region, specifically focusing on the predation by Eurasian Eagle Owls (Bubo bubo) on smaller owl species. Field observations conducted between 2006 and 2009 revealed recurrent...
Intraspecific brood parasitism (IBP), where one female lays eggs in another’s nest, is considered rare in raptors, including typically monogamous and solitary or semi-colonial falcons. The Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) is a colonial falcon wi...
Despite advancements through satellite telemetry, knowledge of the behaviour and ecology of large raptors during natal dispersal is still poor, even though this transience phase is important in understanding the population dynamics and conservation o...
The Pannonian root vole Alexandromys oeconomus ssp. mehelyi represents a rare glacial relict, whose occurrence is nowadays bound to several areas in Europe. Four somatic and 25 craniological features were analysed, based on 355 measured specimens. Se...
The suri, or lesser rhea (Rhea pennata), is a flightless Andean bird facing multiple anthropogenic threats. Despite these pressures, its reproductive ecology remains poorly documented near its distributional limits. This study provides the first comp...
Understanding the breeding ecology and trophic dynamics of the Swainson’s Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) is essential for conserving grassland raptor populations in northern Mexico. We evaluated reproductive success, nest-site characteristics, and diet...
Rapid coastal urbanization poses severe threats to biodiversity through habitat fragmentation, making continuous monitoring of urban ecosystems essential. While birds serve as sensitive bio-indicators, the long-term spatiotemporal dynamics of their h...
Reproductive seasonality in birds represents a key ecological adaptation that ensures synchronization between breeding activity and optimal environmental conditions for offspring survival and development. Photoperiod is the primary cue regulating the...
Seasonally dry mature and old-growth (MOG) forests in the western USA face increasing threats from catastrophic wildfire and drought due to historical fire exclusion and climate change. The Emerald Point forest at Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada of C...
Wild birds are a natural reservoir for zoonotic viruses. To clarify the role of migratory birds in viruses spread in Poyang Lake, we investigated the microbiome of 250 wild bird samples from 19 species in seven orders. The bacterial and viral content...
Natal dispersal is a crucial period for raptors with serious implications for individuals’ survival and population demography. In this study we analyzed data from 18 GPS-tracked golden eagles in order to describe their dispersal ecology in nort...
The central point of evolutionary ecology is understanding the drivers of variation in life-history strategies among organisms. The post-fledging dependence period is a critical life-history stage in the life cycle of altricial birds, influencing the...
Ecologically based rodent management strategies are arising as a sustainable approach to rodent control, allowing us to preserve biodiversity while safeguarding human economic activities. Despite predator signals being known to generally repel rodent...
Studying bird, insect, and other wildlife interactions with photovoltaic (PV) solar energy facilities is difficult due to limited multi-season, multi-site data. Researchers can address such data gaps by combining passive monitoring and artificial int...
High-resolution GPS/GSM dataloggers provide spatial information of the highest quality, which outperform previous tracking methods, such as Argos telemetry or conventional VHF ground-tracking. As a result, this has improved our knowledge of home-rang...
Wet grassland degradation is a global issue that involves both altered land cover patterns and ecological processes, which affect the distribution and abundance of species. The sharp decline in European wader bird (Charadrii) populations is a good ex...
Predator–prey interactions may be linked to different temporal or spatial patterns, including dynamics in prey populations. Therefore, understanding the adaptive capacity and how top predators respond to shifts in prey abundance and availabilit...
The hen harrier, Circus cyaneus, is a migratory raptor that relies on open grasslands as key winter habitats in Central Europe, where it predominantly preys on common voles, Microtus arvalis. However, habitat loss due to agricultural intensification,...
Birds may act as hosts for numerous pathogens, including members of the family Chlamydiaceae, beak and feather disease virus (BFDV), avipoxviruses, Columbid alphaherpesvirus 1 (CoAHV1) and Psittacid alphaherpesvirus 1 (PsAHV1), all of which are a sig...
Chemical pollution affects the health of marine biota, key functions of the ecosystem, and endangers its biodiversity. The current environmental monitoring and assessment approach is based on chemical and ecological measurements, while the linkage be...
Background/Objectives: The Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) is an endangered raptor species of ecological and conservation relevance. Despite its status, data regarding its microbiota and the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remain scarce, es...
Accurate assessment of avian community structure and bird-strike risk within airport ecosystems is vital for balancing aviation safety with biodiversity conservation. From October 2019 to July 2020, we conducted systematic bird surveys at Lincang Bos...
Crocodilians are considered to be “ecosystem engineers” because their modification of habitats provides opportunities for feeding, drinking, breeding, and other vital life activities to a wide variety of other animals. One such habitat mo...