The Alpine Overview - Territories & Reproduction R… · The Alpine Overview - Territories & Reproduction R. Zink EGS / NPHT / IBM / VCF. International Bearded Vulture Monitoring

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International Bearded Vulture Monitoring

The Alpine Overview - Territories & Reproduction

R. Zink

EGS / NPHT / IBM / VCF



Overview

I. Release

II. Territories & Reproduction

III. Mortality



Conservation Beyond Administrative Borders

Vercors



Geographical Sectors

Vercors



Releases 2010



Release 2010BirdID Region Name Sex Birth Release Release

613 Alps Elena female Liberec 23.05.2010 Argentera

615 Alps Spelugue female RFZ 23.05.2010 Argentera

616 Alps Stéphan male RFZ 11.06.2010 PN Vercors

618 Alps Cordouane male Ostrova 11.06.2010 PN Vercors

619 Alps Lousa female Haute Savoie 11.06.2010 PN Vercors

628 Alps Figol female Valcallent 12.06.2010 Kals

629 Alps Tschadin female Tierpark Berlin 12.06.2010 Kals

621 Alps Ingenius male Valcallent 13.06.2010 Calfeisen

624 Alps Sardona male Goldau 13.06.2010 Calfeisen

626 Alps Kira female Ostrava 13.06.2010 Calfeisen

612 Andalusia Tranco male Vallcalent 22.05.2010 Centenares

614 Andalusia Quiteria female RZF 22.05.2010 Centenares

631 Andalusia Hortelano male Guadalentin 30.06.2010 Castril

632 Andalusia Huéscar male Guadalentin 30.06.2010 Castril

633 Andalusia Blimunda female Guadalentin 30.06.2010 Castril

10

5



Total Releases VCF

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010

Alps Andalusia Sardinia



Questions

Does the number of released birds explain the actual

re-colonization pattern (formation of couples)?

If not: What are the driving forces for pair settlement ?



Releases until 2010



Mature Birds until 2010

Vercors

39(28)46

(37)

25

39

Considering only birds released until 2004

(11)(9)

born in nature

released



0

5

10

15

20

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

pairs with egg pairs with hatching fledgelings

Alps

Pair Formation



Reproduction 2010n = 18

?




?




?



Couples / released & wild born

Sector SW Alps NW Alps Central Alps E-Alps

released & wild born 25 46 39 39

Couples 2 9 5 2

Couples / released & wild born 16% 40% 26% 10%

?



Mature Couples November 2010



Mature Couples November 2010

Do we miss successful couples?A feather collected in the Lechtal, Austria,revealed the genotype GT038. This bird isrelated to BG422 (Kasati) and GT031 (a

female offspring of the Livigno pair).



Answers

Obviously the number of releases can not explain the a ctual

re-colonization pattern!

Thus also phylopatrie explains the current pattern only to

some extent.

Does mortality explain the current situation?



Questions

But what about productivity?

Does the distribution of breeding sites equally mirror

productivity?

Let`s search for the future source of population growth …



Alpine Bearded Vultures 2010

Alps AUT FRA ITA CHE

F/C2 Productivity 0,53 0,50 0,63 0,40 0,50

D/C2 % Breeding Pairs 0,95 1,00 1,00 1,00 0,75

F/D % succ. Breeding Pairs 0,56 0,50 0,63 0,40 0,67

C1 controlled Territories 19 2 8 5 4

C2 controlled mature Pairs 19 2 8 5 4

D pairs with egg 18 2 8 5 3

E pairs with hatching 15 1 7 4 3

F fledgelings 10 1 5 2 2

Criteria & Parameter

considering alle reproductive sets in the IBM data base

(17?)



x

0

0,25

0,5

0,75

1

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Productivity

Productivity Linear (Productivity)

Criteria of Success in the Alps




Criteria of Success 2010

Productivity % breeding % successful

Alps 0,53 0,95 0,56

French Pyrenees

0,31 0,83 0,38

Crete 0,46 0,62 0,75

Corse 0,00 0,44 0,00

SpanishPyrenees

0,390,33 (2009) 0,70 (2009) 0,48 (2009)



Alpine Bearded Vultures 2009��2010

Alps

F/C2 Productivity ~

D/C2 % Breeding Pairs +0,19

F/D % succ. Breeding Pairs -0,13

C1 controlled Territories +2

C2 controlled mature Pairs +2

D pairs with egg +5

E pairs with hatching +5 (50%!)

F fledgelings +1





Alpine Bearded Vulture Data 2009��2010


F/C2 Productivity +0,50 -0,27

D/C2 % Breeding Pairs +0,19 +0,50 -0,25

F/D % succ. Breeding Pairs -0,13 +0,50 -0,20 -0,27

C1 controlled Territories +2 +2

C2 controlled mature Pairs +2 +2

D pairs with egg +5 +1 +2 +2

E pairs with hatching +5 +1 +1 +2 +1

F fledgelings +1 +1





y = 0,9288e0,1831x

R² = 0,7679

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Fle

dge

lings average bird n° released until 2009 (6,67)

Exponential Growth?



Fit of Data with Exponential Growth …

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

0,56 0,62 0,70 0,72 0,74 0,77

R²

… is getting better and better!

R² being the % of explaind variation of Y



Alpine Bearded Vulture Data Total


F/C2 Productivity 0,47 0,08 0,52 0,54 0,41

D/C2 % Breeding Pairs 0,78 0,83 0,86 0,75 0,59

F/D % succ. Breeding Pairs 0,61 0,10 0,60 0,72 0,69

C1 controlled Territories 162 16 65 51 30

C2 controlled mature Pairs 146 12 64 48 22

D pairs with egg 114 10 55 36 13

E pairs with hatching 92 5 42 33 12

F fledgelings 69 1 33 26 9





Productivity SW-Alps

average productivity 17%

Seasons: 6Clutches: 3Hatchlings: 2Offspring: 1

considering only mature couples where incubation was proven at least once



Productivity NW-Alps






Productivity Central-Alps






Productivity E-Alps






Average Productivity in the AlpsProd.=50% (137 seasons, 20 couples)




Fledgelings / released & wild born


released & wild born 25 46 39 39

Fledgelings 1 33 34 1

Fledgelings / released & wild born 4% 72% 87% 3%

considering only birds/released / born in nature until 2004



Fledgelings / Couples


couples 2 9 5 (6) 2 (3)

Fledgelings 1 33 34 1

Fledgelings / couple 0,5 3,7 6,8 0,5




Answers

Neither the number of releases nor that of breeding uni ts fully

explains why productivity is highest in the Central-A lps.

�� Are those couples more stable & experienced than

elsewhere?



Turnover in Couples




Composition of Couples




Answers

Neither the number of releases nor that of breeding uni ts fully

explains why productivity is highest in the Central-A lps.

�� Are those couples more stable & experienced than

elsewhere?

In case of new mortality threats on the local level (e.g. poison

against wolf) a more scattered distribution of couple s will

reduce the negative impact. �� advantage in NW-Alps!



Questions

Do we find increased mortality rate in SW- and E-Alps?

If not: What else explains the delay of re-coloniza tion in the

exterior parts of the Alps!



Mortality

BirdID Name reason age Sex BirdID Name reason age Sex

W081 Rhemes 2010 ? 3 ? 94 Saturnin ? 163 m

W52 xxx ? 4 ? 114 Robespierre collision 252 m

W10 xxx ? 4 ? 193 Felix shot 379 m

W33 xxx i.s. competition 6 m 438 Culan ? 404 m

W71 Aravis2010 ? 6 ? 214 Jackpot 1 avalanche 461 f

W40 xxx ? 6 ? W68 Leon desease 498 ?

W47 Sixt07 ? 12 ? 557 Ikarus ? 654 m

W19 xxx ? 20 ? 93 Melusine avalanche 897 f

W20 xxx predated 30 ? 182 Republic 5 shot 1724 f

W04 xxx ? 40 ? 433 Blangiar avalanche 1975 m

W15 Clarins other accidents 74 ? 144 Republic collision 2319 f

GT019 GT019 ? 82 f 96 Nina shot 2371 f

W60 Voltige ? 83 ? 196 Mounier (Shot) 2546 m

147 xxx desease 97 m 113 Danton collision 2617 m

219 Republic 7 predated 101 m 323 Sempach ? 2647 f

377 Europa Life desease 115 m 380 Natura Mate ? 3054 f

374 Roseg ? 128 f 285 Sina shot 4082 f

140 Avarell ? 4133 m

n = 35

~50:50



Mortalityn = 35



Mortalityn = 35



Mortalityn = 18



Mortality



2008

2008

2007

2007

20051994

2008

<1990

2001?

NP2008 ?

?

Illegal Shooting in E-Alps

M. KnollseisenM. Knollseisen



Mortalityn = 35

Poison

???

Lead

!�Re

capt

ures

Shoo

ting �

Taxide

rmist!

dark

figu

re?



Answers

So far there is no evidence that delayed re-colonizati on of SW-and E-Alps is caused by increased (known) mortality cases! It seems that detected mortality cases depend more on population density.Conclusion:

Poisoning, shooting & collision are difficult to det ect and likely to occur more often. If SW- and E-Alps are more exposed to those risks remains unclear! On the long-term habitat suitability explains site selection, pair formation a nd reproductive output best!



Information & Data provided by:

Thank you for the excellent collaboration!

Documents

The Alpine Overview - Territories & Reproduction R… · The Alpine Overview - Territories & Reproduction R. Zink EGS / NPHT / IBM / VCF. International Bearded Vulture Monitoring