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The influence of vulture restaurants on breeding success and nestling body condition of Gyps vulture populations across southern Africa
Vulture populations in many parts of the world continue to decline owing to numerous threats, such as lack of adequate food sources, poisoning and collisions with power-lines. Worldwide, supplementary feeding sites (hereafter, vulture restaurants) have been used as a conservation tool aimed at suppo...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Biological Sciences
2019
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| _version_ | 1867613254968147968 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Zimunya, Tapiwa |
| author2 | Thomson, Robert |
| author_browse | Thomson, Robert Zimunya, Tapiwa |
| author_facet | Thomson, Robert Zimunya, Tapiwa |
| author_sort | Zimunya, Tapiwa |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Vulture populations in many parts of the world continue to decline owing to numerous threats, such as lack of adequate food sources, poisoning and collisions with power-lines. Worldwide, supplementary feeding sites (hereafter, vulture restaurants) have been used as a conservation tool aimed at supporting vulture populations. However, in many parts of the world there is little scientific evidence about their effectiveness in aiding vulture populations. Here, I assessed the relationship between chick condition (African White-backed Vultures) and breeding success (Cape Vultures/African White-backed Vultures) in relation to a variety of variables which described levels of access to vulture restaurants. My data suggest the potential of vulture restaurants to increase breeding success in vulture populations. Breeding success generally increased for nests closer to vulture restaurants. There was a significant positive correlation between African White-backed Vulture breeding success and proximity to vulture restaurants (p< 0.05), but little evidence to support such a relationship for Cape Vultures (p> 0.05). Nestling body condition of African White-backed Vultures was also not influenced by proximity to vulture restaurants (p> 0.05). Findings of this study provide motivation on the use of vulture restaurants as a conservation strategy across southern Africa. The current study informs future conservation efforts on the use of vulture restaurants across the region, particularly in countries where a network of vulture restaurants is still being established. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/29719 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:13.838Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publishDateRange | 2019 |
| publishDateSort | 2019 |
| publisher | Department of Biological Sciences |
| publisherStr | Department of Biological Sciences |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/29719 The influence of vulture restaurants on breeding success and nestling body condition of Gyps vulture populations across southern Africa Zimunya, Tapiwa Thomson, Robert Amar, Arjun Conservation Biology Vulture populations in many parts of the world continue to decline owing to numerous threats, such as lack of adequate food sources, poisoning and collisions with power-lines. Worldwide, supplementary feeding sites (hereafter, vulture restaurants) have been used as a conservation tool aimed at supporting vulture populations. However, in many parts of the world there is little scientific evidence about their effectiveness in aiding vulture populations. Here, I assessed the relationship between chick condition (African White-backed Vultures) and breeding success (Cape Vultures/African White-backed Vultures) in relation to a variety of variables which described levels of access to vulture restaurants. My data suggest the potential of vulture restaurants to increase breeding success in vulture populations. Breeding success generally increased for nests closer to vulture restaurants. There was a significant positive correlation between African White-backed Vulture breeding success and proximity to vulture restaurants (p< 0.05), but little evidence to support such a relationship for Cape Vultures (p> 0.05). Nestling body condition of African White-backed Vultures was also not influenced by proximity to vulture restaurants (p> 0.05). Findings of this study provide motivation on the use of vulture restaurants as a conservation strategy across southern Africa. The current study informs future conservation efforts on the use of vulture restaurants across the region, particularly in countries where a network of vulture restaurants is still being established. 2019-02-22T07:29:28Z 2019-02-22T07:29:28Z 2018 2019-02-22T06:02:39Z Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29719 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Conservation Biology Zimunya, Tapiwa The influence of vulture restaurants on breeding success and nestling body condition of Gyps vulture populations across southern Africa |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | The influence of vulture restaurants on breeding success and nestling body condition of Gyps vulture populations across southern Africa |
| title_full | The influence of vulture restaurants on breeding success and nestling body condition of Gyps vulture populations across southern Africa |
| title_fullStr | The influence of vulture restaurants on breeding success and nestling body condition of Gyps vulture populations across southern Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | The influence of vulture restaurants on breeding success and nestling body condition of Gyps vulture populations across southern Africa |
| title_short | The influence of vulture restaurants on breeding success and nestling body condition of Gyps vulture populations across southern Africa |
| title_sort | influence of vulture restaurants on breeding success and nestling body condition of gyps vulture populations across southern africa |
| topic | Conservation Biology |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29719 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT zimunyatapiwa theinfluenceofvulturerestaurantsonbreedingsuccessandnestlingbodyconditionofgypsvulturepopulationsacrosssouthernafrica AT zimunyatapiwa influenceofvulturerestaurantsonbreedingsuccessandnestlingbodyconditionofgypsvulturepopulationsacrosssouthernafrica |