Spatial and temporal patterns in the diet of the Andean condor: ecological replacement of native fauna by exotic species

By Sergio A. Lambertucci, A. Trejo, S. Di Martino, J. Sánchez‐Zapata, J. Donázar, F. Hiraldo. Animal Conservation, 2009

112 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The development of conservation strategies to protect viable populations of scavenging birds requires the existence of adequate and safe food supplies in the wild. Early reports on Andean condors Vultur gryphus diet recorded guanacos and rheas, the dominant herbivores since the Pleistocene, as their main food in Patagonia. However, in the past century, guanaco and rhea populations have notably decreased as a consequence of introduced livestock, and other exotic mammals have colonized the region. We study the spatial and temporal variation of the condors' diet to determine which species are being consumed by condors, and to test whether native herbivores still have a role as a food source. We analysed 371 pellets (517 prey items), collected along 500 km in northwestern Patagonia, Argentina. Our study shows that the Andean condor depends heavily (98.5%) on exotic herbivores. Their diet was made up of c. 51% sheep/goat, 24% hare/rabbit, 17% red deer and 6% cow/horse, with only 2% other mammal species. Samples from locations surveyed after 12–15 years showed a diet shift coincident with the local tendencies in the food source. The diet composition of condors using roosts within the same zone was very similar, which suggests that they may be feeding from the same area. Thus, unhealthy carcasses could impact the entire local populations. Our results show the abundance of the invasive species in northwestern Patagonia and support the idea that native mega‐herbivores are ecologically extinct in this area. Exotic species management can have a decisive impact on scavenger's survival. It is necessary to apply a strategy that includes public environmental education about the problems of scavengers (e.g. use of poison, veterinary medicines and lead bullets), and a serious productive plan, including native species as a suitable source of economic development.

Subfields: Ecological Modeling, Ecology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/6473aaf38f74348920a17b23a47a6fee471f6390

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Citations in the corpus

From regional to global patterns in vertebrate scavenger communities subsidized by big game hunting (2015, background): “These regions harbour several biodiversity hotspots (Myers et al., 2000) and an increasing presence of food-subsidizing activities such as hunting and livestock rearing (Baldus et al., 2008; Lambertucci et al., 2009).”
Apex scavenger movements call for transboundary conservation policies (2014, background): “Condors use the area to feed mainly on domestic and wild herbivores (Lambertucci et al., 2009).”
Dietary shifts in two vultures after the demise of supplementary feeding stations: consequences of the EU sanitary legislation (2010, background): “Alternatively, we estimated the frequency of occurrence of each prey species (percentage of the total number of pellets in which the prey was detected) (see e.g., Hiraldo et al. 1991b; Lambertucci et al. 2009).”
Winners and losers in human‐made habitats: interspecific competition outcomes in two Neotropical vultures (2010, background): “Although scavengers in Patagonia originally depended on carcasses of native camelids, mainly guanaco Lama guanicoe, they are nowadays heavily reliant on carcasses of domestic ungulates, mainly sheep (Lambertucci et al., 2009).”
Dealing with non-native species: what makes the difference in South America? (2012, background): “While a few positive impacts of introduced species have been recorded in South America (Jaksic 1998; Novaro et al. 2000; Lambertucci et al. 2009), negative effects widely range from the extinction of endemisms and the emergence of infectious diseases to large-scale alterations of entire habitats…”
Widening the problem of lead poisoning to a South-American top scavenger: Lead concentrations in feathers of wild Andean condors (2011, background): “Among them, the red deer (Cervus elaphus), the wild boar (Sus scrofa), and Lagomorphs including the European hare, (Lepus europaeus), and rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), have notably increased in number (Novaro et al., 2000; see Novillo and Ojeda, 2008 for a review).”