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Satellite telemetry reveals individual variation in juvenile Bonelli’s eagle dispersal areas

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Abstract

Natal dispersal is the time elapsed between departing from the natal site and settling to attempt breeding for the first time. In long-lived species with deferred sexual maturity this period may last several years, making this process crucial for their survival and conservation. Here we present a large-scale outline of juvenile Bonelli’s eagle’s dispersal areas in the Iberian Peninsula. We describe the ranging and movement patterns of 14 juvenile Bonelli’s eagles during their dispersal period, studied by satellite telemetry. Three distinct phases during the juveniles’ first year of life were detected, namely, the dependence period, the departure from the parental territory, and the settlement in dispersal areas. In general, between-sex differences in relation to ranging behavior were not significant. Interestingly, there seems not to be a few, clearly delimited, overlapping Bonelli’s eagle’s juvenile dispersal areas within the Iberian Peninsula. A total of 17 dispersal areas were detected, with some animals using more than one. These areas were located in eight autonomous communities (Spanish administrative units), being the most important Castilla-La Mancha and Andalucía. Juveniles were more frequently located in cultivated man-managed areas, with non-irrigated herbaceous crops. This is probably due to higher prey availability and higher efficiency in prey capture in these open areas, as well as to the absence of breeding pairs. This has important management implications, suggesting that conservation efforts should focus on the whole landscape matrix of man-managed ecosystems rather than in a few clearly delimited geographic areas.

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Acknowledgments

This project was principally funded by Terra Natura Foundation. The authors are indebted to the Conselleria de Territori i Habitatge of the Generalitat Valenciana (J. Jiménez, P. Mateache, A. Izquierdo, and A. García), Consejería de Industria y Medio Ambiente of Región de Murcia (E. Aledo and E. Cerezo), Departament de Medi Ambient of the Generalitat de Cataluña (X. Parellada), the University of Barcelona (N. Pocino, J. Real, and A. Tintó), the ICRA (M.R. Jané and T. Borau), the University Miguel Hernández (M. Carrete and J.A. Sánchez-Zapata), and the Spanish Ministerio de Medio Ambiente (V. García and P. García) for inestimable field assistance, permission to access the nests, and partial funding. M. Moléon, M. Ferrer, and anonymous referee made interesting comments in an early draft of this manuscript. L.C. and P.L.-L. were supported by FPU grants of the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (references AP2001-1444 and AP2005-0874, respectively). This paper was part of L.C.’s PhD thesis at the University of Alicante. The first two authors contributed equally to this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1066 Blindern, 0316, Oslo, Norway

    Luis Cadahía

  2. Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial Vertebrates Group, University of Valencia, Polígono de la Coma s/n, 46980, Paterna, Valencia, Spain

    Pascual López-López

  3. Grupo de Zoología de Vertebrados, University of Alicante, Apdo. correos 99, 03080, Alicante, Spain

    Vicente Urios

  4. Evolutionary Ecology Department, Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, C/Americo Vespucio s/n. Isla de la Cartuja, 41092, Sevilla, Spain

    Juan José Negro

Authors
  1. Luis Cadahía
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  2. Pascual López-López
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  3. Vicente Urios
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  4. Juan José Negro
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pascual López-López.

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Communicated by C. Gortázar

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Cadahía, L., López-López, P., Urios, V. et al. Satellite telemetry reveals individual variation in juvenile Bonelli’s eagle dispersal areas. Eur J Wildl Res 56, 923–930 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-010-0391-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-010-0391-z

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