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Article 2

The diet of the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) in Sicily: temporal variation and conservation implications

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M. DI VITTORIO1, P. LÓPEZ-LÓPEZ2*, G. CORTONE1, L. LUISELLI3,4
1 Ecologia Applicata Italia srl, Via Jenner 70-00151 Roma, Italy
2 Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Terrestrial Vertebrates Group, University of Valencia, C/ Catedrático José Beltran 2, E-46980 Paterna, Valencia, Spain
3 IDECC – Institute for Development, Ecology, Conservation & Cooperation, via G. Tomasi di Lampedusa 33, I-00144 Rome, Italy
4 Niger Delta Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation Unit, Department of Applied and Environmental Biology, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, PMB 5080, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
* Corresponding author: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

ABSTRACT. – Dietary habits of Egyptian vultures in Sicily have changed in the last 30 years mainly due to changes in livestock production. Here we describe and quantify Egyptian vulture’s diet in Sicily; to compare it with previous studies; to discuss changes in diet composition in relation to changes in food availability; and to suggest conservation actions aimed at improving food availability for this endangered species in Italy. To this end, prey remains were collected in nests from 2005 to 2009 and were compared with previous studies conducted in 1981 and 2002 in the same study area. Monte Carlo simulations and different measures of dietary diversity indexes (i.e. richness, evenness and Shannon’s index) were used for analyses. Prey individuals were classified into 33 different taxonomical categories, out of which 52.4 % (n = 77) were mammals (predominantly Wild Rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus), 34.7 % (n = 51) were birds and only 11.6 % (n = 17) were domestic poultry. There were significant differences in diet composition among the three study periods. Considerable differences were also observed in terms of diet diversity indexes, with bootstrapping procedures revealing larger differences between 1981 and 2002 than between 2005 and 2009. In particular, indexes related to dietary evenness tended to decrease over time, whereas those related to diet dominance tended to increase. Dietary composition of Egyptian vultures differed significantly between the periods before and after changes of livestock ownership occurred in Sicily, with an observed reduction of livestock remains and the increase of wild medium size mammals and birds in the diet. Measures aimed at increasing food availability such as supplementary feeding stations would probably benefit population recovery through increase in survival and breeding success. From our point of view, taking these measures is urgently needed before the Egyptian vulture population will become eventually extinct in Italy.

You are here: Volume 67 (2017) Issue 1 Article 2
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