Global Wildlife Conservation Center, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY, 13210, USA.
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Aiken, SC, 29802, USA.
Sci Rep. 2021 Jul 20;11(1):14793. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-94045-3.
Recent increases in turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) and black vulture (Coragyps atratus) populations in North America have been attributed in part to their success adapting to human-modified landscapes. However, the capacity for such landscapes to generate favorable roosting conditions for these species has not been thoroughly investigated. We assessed the role of anthropogenic and natural landscape elements on roosting habitat selection of 11 black and 7 turkey vultures in coastal South Carolina, USA using a GPS satellite transmitter dataset derived from previous research. Our dataset spanned 2006-2012 and contained data from 7916 nights of roosting. Landscape fragmentation, as measured by land cover richness, influenced roosting probability for both species in all seasons, showing either a positive relationship or peaking at intermediate values. Roosting probability of turkey vultures was maximized at intermediate road densities in three of four seasons, and black vultures showed a positive relationship with roads in fall, but no relationship throughout the rest of the year. Roosting probability of both species declined with increasing high density urban cover throughout most of the year. We suggest that landscape transformations lead to favorable roosting conditions for turkey vultures and black vultures, which has likely contributed to their recent proliferations across much of the Western Hemisphere.
近年来，北美的火鸡秃鹫（Cathartes aura）和黑秃鹫（Coragyps atratus）数量有所增加，部分原因是它们成功适应了人类改造的景观。然而，这些景观是否有能力为这些物种提供有利的栖息条件，尚未得到彻底调查。我们使用之前研究中 GPS 卫星传输器数据集，评估了人为和自然景观要素对美国南卡罗来纳州沿海地区 11 只黑秃鹫和 7 只火鸡秃鹫栖息选择的作用。我们的数据集跨越 2006 年至 2012 年，包含 7916 个夜晚的栖息数据。景观破碎度（用地覆盖丰富度衡量）对所有季节的两种物种的栖息概率都有影响，表现出正相关关系或在中间值达到峰值。在四个季节中的三个季节中，火鸡秃鹫的栖息概率在中等道路密度下达到最大值，而黑秃鹫在秋季与道路呈正相关关系，但在一年中的其余时间则没有关系。在一年中的大部分时间里，两种物种的栖息概率都随着高密度城市覆盖的增加而下降。我们认为，景观的变化为火鸡秃鹫和黑秃鹫提供了有利的栖息条件，这可能是它们在西半球大部分地区最近大量繁殖的原因之一。
