Drivers of daily movement patterns affecting an endangered vulture flight activity

[Background] The development of satellite tracking technology enables the gathering of huge amounts of accurate data on animal movements over measured time intervals, to reveal essential information about species’ patterns of spatial use. This information is especially important in optimizing the de...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: García-Jiménez, Ruth, Pérez-García, Juan M., Margalida, Antoni
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/170377
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/170377
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Daily movements
Daylight time
GPS
Gypaetus barbatus
Season
Spain
Territorial status
Descripción
Sumario:[Background] The development of satellite tracking technology enables the gathering of huge amounts of accurate data on animal movements over measured time intervals, to reveal essential information about species’ patterns of spatial use. This information is especially important in optimizing the design of conservation and management strategies for endangered species. In this study, we analysed the main drivers of daily patterns in the flight activity of the threatened Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus. We studied 19 Bearded Vultures tagged with solar-powered GPS transmitters from 2006 to 2016 in the Pyrenees (Spain). We assessed the relative influence of external factors (season and daylight time) and internal factors (sex, breeding season and territorial status) on their daily activity behaviour by computing mean hourly distance travelled, maximum displacement and cumulative distance travelled per hour.