Chapter 15
Importance of Long-Term Studies
to Conservation Practice: The Case
of the Bearded Vulture in the Pyrenees
Antoni Margalida
Abstract Detailed, long-term scientific studies are necessary for conservation
purposes, but with the main handicap to have the continual economic support
required for them. Behavioural and conservation biology studies need long-term
projects to achieve robust data, but managers, administrations and policy-makers
need, in most cases, immediate results. Here I show several examples of the
research obtained from a long-term study (1987–2014) in one of the most threatened species in Pyrenean mountains, the bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus),
highlighting the importance of such long-term research. The results show how
long-term studies are necessary to identify conservation problems, to understand
demographic changes on populations and priorities to apply conservation measures.
The study’s findings allowed the identification of the negative density-dependent
effects on fecundity, the lack of recolonization of new territories outside the current
distribution area and the increase in polyandrous trios, suggesting an initial optimal
habitat saturation. From a management point of view, the studies show that supplementary feeding sites (SFS) can have detrimental effects on fecundity but
increases pre-adult survival. Also, illegal poisoning is increasing, and the demographic simulations suggest a regressive scenario in population dynamics if this
factor is not eliminated. More recently, anthropogenic activities through human
health regulations that affect habitat quality can suddenly modify demographic
parameters. The results obtained about changes in nest-site selection, mating system
and demographic parameters can only be achieved through long-term studies,
A. Margalida (&)
Faculty of Life Sciences and Engineering, Department of Animal Science,
University of Lleida, 25198 Lleida, Spain
e-mail: amargalida@ca.udl.cat
A. Margalida
Division of Conservation Biology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution,
University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
© The Author(s) 2017
J. Catalan et al. (eds.), High Mountain Conservation in a Changing World,
Advances in Global Change Research 62, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-55982-7_15
343
Importance of Long-Term Studies
to Conservation Practice: The Case
of the Bearded Vulture in the Pyrenees
Antoni Margalida
Abstract Detailed, long-term scientific studies are necessary for conservation
purposes, but with the main handicap to have the continual economic support
required for them. Behavioural and conservation biology studies need long-term
projects to achieve robust data, but managers, administrations and policy-makers
need, in most cases, immediate results. Here I show several examples of the
research obtained from a long-term study (1987–2014) in one of the most threatened species in Pyrenean mountains, the bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus),
highlighting the importance of such long-term research. The results show how
long-term studies are necessary to identify conservation problems, to understand
demographic changes on populations and priorities to apply conservation measures.
The study’s findings allowed the identification of the negative density-dependent
effects on fecundity, the lack of recolonization of new territories outside the current
distribution area and the increase in polyandrous trios, suggesting an initial optimal
habitat saturation. From a management point of view, the studies show that supplementary feeding sites (SFS) can have detrimental effects on fecundity but
increases pre-adult survival. Also, illegal poisoning is increasing, and the demographic simulations suggest a regressive scenario in population dynamics if this
factor is not eliminated. More recently, anthropogenic activities through human
health regulations that affect habitat quality can suddenly modify demographic
parameters. The results obtained about changes in nest-site selection, mating system
and demographic parameters can only be achieved through long-term studies,
A. Margalida (&)
Faculty of Life Sciences and Engineering, Department of Animal Science,
University of Lleida, 25198 Lleida, Spain
e-mail: amargalida@ca.udl.cat
A. Margalida
Division of Conservation Biology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution,
University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
© The Author(s) 2017
J. Catalan et al. (eds.), High Mountain Conservation in a Changing World,
Advances in Global Change Research 62, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-55982-7_15
343