TY  - JOUR
AU  - Peshev, Hristo
AU  - Grozdanov, Atanas
AU  - Kmetova-Biro, Elena
AU  - Ivanov, Ivelin
AU  - Stoyanov, Georgi
AU  - Tsiakiris, Rigas
AU  - Marin, Simeon
AU  - Marinković, Saša
AU  - Sušić, Goran
AU  - Lisichanets, Emanuel
AU  - Hribšek, Irena
AU  - Karić, Zoran
AU  - Kapelj, Sven
AU  - Bonchev, Lachezar
AU  - Stoynov, Emilian
PY  - 2021
UR  - https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/71100/
UR  - http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=PMC8405602
UR  - https://radar.ibiss.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/4478
AB  - The knowledge in the behaviour and movement of endangered species is of key importance for the precise targeting and assessing the efficiency of nature conservation actions, especially considering vultures, which explore vast areas to locate ephemeral and unpredictable food resources. Therefore, a total of 51 Griffon Vultures (Gypsfulvus) from both the re-introduced population and the autochthonous Balkan Peninsula (Balkans) colonies have been tagged with GPS/GSM transmitters in recent years, in order to study their seasonal and spatial distribution. The current study presents the analysis of the high-resolution GPS location data, acquired between January 2016 and March 2021. A total of 1,138,383 locations (an average number of 23,716 ± 18,886 positions per bird, ranged between 2,515 and 76,431 of total fixes per bird; n=48) were used to estimate the home range size and identify the traditional foraging areas and roosting sites of the birds during the wintering, migration/roaming and summering periods. Our results reveal that Griffon Vultures movement activity and home range size varied considerably throughout the annual cycle, especially between their wintering and summering grounds, while exhibiting significant overlapping amongst the tracked individuals. Specifically, immature Griffon Vultures travel long distances across all Balkan Peninsula countries, but always gather with conspecifics, showing strong fidelity to active breeding/roosting sites. The total home range 95% area of the Griffon Vulture population on the Balkans was estimated at 39,986.4 km² and the 50% core area at 1,545.42 km² (n = 48). All tracked birds were found to either visit or frequently use (> 95% of the time) the same seven vulture key zones on the Balkan Peninsula - one in Serbia, one shared between North Macedonia and Bulgaria, one shared between Bulgaria and Greece, two entirely lying in Bulgaria, one in western Greece and one shared between Kvarner Archipelago islands in Croatia and the Julian Alps - Italy, Austria and Slovenia. Several smaller sub-zones were also defined within these general ones. The seven key zones form a coherent network and are used as stepping stones for Griffon Vultures during their migration movements and roaming, but also wintering and summering. The observed concentration tendency of Griffon Vultures on the Balkans and the predictability of their temporal and spatial presence should be used to precisely target, address and substantially increase the efficiency of the conservation measures in this marginal and, thus, still vulnerable meta-population.
T2  - Biodiversity Data Journal
T1  - New insight into spatial ecology of Griffon Vulture (Gypsfulvus) on the Balkans provides opportunity for focusing conservation actions for a threatened social scavenger.
VL  - 9
DO  - 10.3897/BDJ.9.e71100
SP  - e71100
ER  - 

@article{
author = "Peshev, Hristo and Grozdanov, Atanas and Kmetova-Biro, Elena and Ivanov, Ivelin and Stoyanov, Georgi and Tsiakiris, Rigas and Marin, Simeon and Marinković, Saša and Sušić, Goran and Lisichanets, Emanuel and Hribšek, Irena and Karić, Zoran and Kapelj, Sven and Bonchev, Lachezar and Stoynov, Emilian",
year = "2021",
abstract = "The knowledge in the behaviour and movement of endangered species is of key importance for the precise targeting and assessing the efficiency of nature conservation actions, especially considering vultures, which explore vast areas to locate ephemeral and unpredictable food resources. Therefore, a total of 51 Griffon Vultures (Gypsfulvus) from both the re-introduced population and the autochthonous Balkan Peninsula (Balkans) colonies have been tagged with GPS/GSM transmitters in recent years, in order to study their seasonal and spatial distribution. The current study presents the analysis of the high-resolution GPS location data, acquired between January 2016 and March 2021. A total of 1,138,383 locations (an average number of 23,716 ± 18,886 positions per bird, ranged between 2,515 and 76,431 of total fixes per bird; n=48) were used to estimate the home range size and identify the traditional foraging areas and roosting sites of the birds during the wintering, migration/roaming and summering periods. Our results reveal that Griffon Vultures movement activity and home range size varied considerably throughout the annual cycle, especially between their wintering and summering grounds, while exhibiting significant overlapping amongst the tracked individuals. Specifically, immature Griffon Vultures travel long distances across all Balkan Peninsula countries, but always gather with conspecifics, showing strong fidelity to active breeding/roosting sites. The total home range 95% area of the Griffon Vulture population on the Balkans was estimated at 39,986.4 km² and the 50% core area at 1,545.42 km² (n = 48). All tracked birds were found to either visit or frequently use (> 95% of the time) the same seven vulture key zones on the Balkan Peninsula - one in Serbia, one shared between North Macedonia and Bulgaria, one shared between Bulgaria and Greece, two entirely lying in Bulgaria, one in western Greece and one shared between Kvarner Archipelago islands in Croatia and the Julian Alps - Italy, Austria and Slovenia. Several smaller sub-zones were also defined within these general ones. The seven key zones form a coherent network and are used as stepping stones for Griffon Vultures during their migration movements and roaming, but also wintering and summering. The observed concentration tendency of Griffon Vultures on the Balkans and the predictability of their temporal and spatial presence should be used to precisely target, address and substantially increase the efficiency of the conservation measures in this marginal and, thus, still vulnerable meta-population.",
journal = "Biodiversity Data Journal",
title = "New insight into spatial ecology of Griffon Vulture (Gypsfulvus) on the Balkans provides opportunity for focusing conservation actions for a threatened social scavenger.",
volume = "9",
doi = "10.3897/BDJ.9.e71100",
pages = "e71100"
}

Peshev, H., Grozdanov, A., Kmetova-Biro, E., Ivanov, I., Stoyanov, G., Tsiakiris, R., Marin, S., Marinković, S., Sušić, G., Lisichanets, E., Hribšek, I., Karić, Z., Kapelj, S., Bonchev, L.,& Stoynov, E.. (2021). New insight into spatial ecology of Griffon Vulture (Gypsfulvus) on the Balkans provides opportunity for focusing conservation actions for a threatened social scavenger.. in Biodiversity Data Journal, 9, e71100.
https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.9.e71100

Peshev H, Grozdanov A, Kmetova-Biro E, Ivanov I, Stoyanov G, Tsiakiris R, Marin S, Marinković S, Sušić G, Lisichanets E, Hribšek I, Karić Z, Kapelj S, Bonchev L, Stoynov E. New insight into spatial ecology of Griffon Vulture (Gypsfulvus) on the Balkans provides opportunity for focusing conservation actions for a threatened social scavenger.. in Biodiversity Data Journal. 2021;9:e71100.
doi:10.3897/BDJ.9.e71100 .

Peshev, Hristo, Grozdanov, Atanas, Kmetova-Biro, Elena, Ivanov, Ivelin, Stoyanov, Georgi, Tsiakiris, Rigas, Marin, Simeon, Marinković, Saša, Sušić, Goran, Lisichanets, Emanuel, Hribšek, Irena, Karić, Zoran, Kapelj, Sven, Bonchev, Lachezar, Stoynov, Emilian, "New insight into spatial ecology of Griffon Vulture (Gypsfulvus) on the Balkans provides opportunity for focusing conservation actions for a threatened social scavenger." in Biodiversity Data Journal, 9 (2021):e71100,
https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.9.e71100 . .