Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://hdl.handle.net/11000/31071
Conserving outside protected areas: edge effects and avian electrocutions on the periphery of Special Protection Areas
Title: Conserving outside protected areas: edge effects and avian electrocutions on the periphery of Special Protection Areas |
Authors: Pérez-García, Juan Manuel Botella Robles, Francisco ![](/jspui/image/ORCID.jpg) Sánchez Zapata, José Antonio ![](/jspui/image/ORCID.jpg) Moleón, Marcos ![](/jspui/image/ORCID.jpg) |
Editor: Cambridge University Press |
Department: Departamentos de la UMH::Biología Aplicada |
Issue Date: 2011-07-26 |
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/11000/31071 |
Abstract:
Electrocution on power lines is one of the principal problems facing raptors and other mediumand large-sized birds at the global scale. The recent European-based Spanish state legislation on
avian electrocutions has focused on Special Protection Areas (SPA). Here we evaluate whether this
policy has been successful, using the Community of Valencia, Spain, as a regional model. We
compiled a database of 400 electrocution events from information on electrocuted birds taken into
Wildlife Recovery Centres and incidents registered by the main local power company during the
last decade. A small proportion (c.18%) of electrocution casualties occurred within SPA boundaries
but the 5 km wide belt immediately surrounding the SPAs produced more than three times the
number of avian electrocutions (c.60% of the total recorded). This was probably caused by higher
densities of both power lines and susceptible birds, and higher use of the pylons for perching and
roosting in the areas surrounding the SPAs. We therefore conclude that the focus on preventative
measures being applied within SPAs is inefficient and that action should be targeted in these
peripheral areas. Our results illustrate a classic problem of an edge effect associated with a protected
area, where external human influences directly affect the persistence of protected species within
reserves. Equally, they support the idea that management strategies within parks cannot be independent of the human activities surrounding them.
|
Knowledge area: CDU: Ciencias puras y naturales: Biología: Ecología general y biodiversidad |
Type of document: application/pdf |
Access rights: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional |
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270911000062 |
Appears in Collections: Artículos Biología Aplicada
|
???jsp.display-item.text9???