Teleconnection between the reproductive parameters of the bearded
vulture and macroclimatic oscillations. Implications for conservation.
Abstract
The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is a bird of prey belonging to
the group of vultures. Although in the past it occupied mountain systems
in Asia, Europe and Africa, and its distribution in the Iberian
Peninsula was widely distributed, its current distribution in Spain is
limited to very specific mountain ranges, including the Aragonese
Pyrenees. The decline of the Iberian population is supposed to be linked
to factors acting at a microscale level as the use of poisons, illegal
hunting, human activity and the decrease in intensive livestock farming.
There are, however, other factors acting on a biogeographical scale that
may also be affecting the viability of populations that are not
currently being considered. The aim of this study is to determine on a
large scale the effect that environmental conditions may have on the
temporal oscillations of the reproductive parameters of the bearded
vulture. For this purpose, the breeding population in the Aragones
Pyrenees has been used as the study population. We tested the degree to
which each of 26 macroclimatic oscillation indices were teleconnected
with three reproductive parameters (hatching rate, fledge rate and
productivity). Two indices (the Tropical Northern Atlantic Index, and
the East Atlantic/West Russia Pattern) were temporally correlated with
the reproductive parameters of the bearbed vulture. The results are
expected to provide novel information in the field of bearded vulture
conservation, as there are no previous studies that address this issue
from a biogeographical perspective. The results could have important
implications for the management and conservation of the species and its
successful reintroduction in other territories.