Loading [MathJax]/jax/output/SVG/jax.js
Adrian Orihuela-Torres, Juan M. Pérez-García, Zebensui Morales-Reyes, Lara Naves-Alegre, José A. Sánchez-Zapata, Esther Sebastián-González. 2021: Avian-power line interactions in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia: are mitigation actions effective?. Avian Research, 12(1): 41. DOI: 10.1186/s40657-021-00277-2
Citation: Adrian Orihuela-Torres, Juan M. Pérez-García, Zebensui Morales-Reyes, Lara Naves-Alegre, José A. Sánchez-Zapata, Esther Sebastián-González. 2021: Avian-power line interactions in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia: are mitigation actions effective?. Avian Research, 12(1): 41. DOI: 10.1186/s40657-021-00277-2

Avian-power line interactions in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia: are mitigation actions effective?

Funds: 

Generalitat Valenciana SEJI/2018/024

JMPG and ESG were supported by Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities contracts IJC-2019-038968

JMPG and ESG were supported by Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities contracts RYC-2019-027216-I

ZMR and LNA by contracts cofunded by the Generalitat Valenciana and the European Social Fund APOSTD/2019/016

ZMR and LNA by contracts cofunded by the Generalitat Valenciana and the European Social Fund ACIF/2019/056

More Information
  • Corresponding author:

    Adrian Orihuela‑Torres: adrian.orihuela89@gmail.com

  • Received Date: 01 Mar 2021
  • Accepted Date: 11 Aug 2021
  • Available Online: 24 Apr 2022
  • Published Date: 20 Aug 2021
  • Background 

    Electrocution and collisions on power lines are among the leading causes of non-natural mortality for birds. Power lines are exponentially increasing, particularly in developing countries, but mitigation strategies to prevent bird mortality are questionable. Mongolia combines a recently increased power line network, an abundant raptor population, a dangerous crossarm configuration and a habitat with no natural perches, producing many bird-power line interactions. Our aim is to assess the bird mortality caused by power lines in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, to determine the factors increasing the risk of bird electrocution, and to evaluate the effectiveness of used retrofitting measures.

    Methods 

    In July 2019 we covered 132.9 km of 15 kV power lines checking 1092 poles. We also conducted bird transects to record raptor and corvid richness and abundance, to assess species vulnerability to electrocution.

    Results 

    We recorded 76 electrocuted birds of 7 species. Electrocution rate was 6.96 birds/100 poles. The most affected species were Common Raven (Corvus corax) and Upland Buzzard (Buteo hemilasius), highlighting the electrocution of 5 endangered Saker Falcons (Falco cherrug). By contrast, we only recorded 8 individuals of 5 species colliding with wires, the most affected being Pallas's Sandgrouse (Syrrhaptes paradoxus). About 76.1% of sampled poles had some mitigation measure. Of these, 96.6% were brush perch deflectors and 3.4% rotating-mirrors perch deterrents. We found differences in electrocution rates among crossarm configurations, with the strain insulator with one jumper being the most lethal. Additionally, we found no correlation between bird abundance and electrocution rates, suggesting that some species are more sensitive to electrocution. Although no differences in total bird electrocution rates were detected between poles with and without perch deterrents, when bird size is considered, deterrents reduced the mortality rate of small birds, while they were ineffective for medium-sized birds.

    Conclusions 

    Despite the widespread use of perch deterrents in the Mongolian power line network, there is still an alarming electrocution rate. This strategy is ineffective and some mechanisms, such as brush perch deflectors, may increase the electrocution rate for some medium-sized birds. Finally, we propose strategies to minimize the avian electrocution rate in the Gobi Desert.

  • Galliformes are ground-living birds, an order consisting of around 280 species worldwide (). This group of birds is found to have around 23 species listed as endangered and 6 as critically endangered in the IUCN red list (). Phylogenetic relationships among species have been widely studied in recent years (; ; ). Although current phylogenetic information is still limited and does not cover the systematics and affinities of all 280 Galliformes, a recent investigation has established a phylogeny of Galliformes for up to 197 species (), accounting for over 70% of global Galliformes.

    Macro-evolutionary patterns of this large-size and attractive-appearance bird assemblage might be initiated by utilizing the available phylogenetic affinity information of the 197 species (). The proposal to study macro-evolutionary patterns of Galliformes is to reveal in a more comprehensive way the extinction mechanism of this species assemblage from a long-term evolutionary perspective, for the purpose of better conserving them. In the present study, several macro-evolutionary attributes relevant to the phylogeny and diversity of Galliformes are considered.

    In first instance, clade age has been thought to link up with species richness. The relationship between clade age and species richness is one of recent interest in macro-evolutionary studies (; ). Clade age has been thought to relate to species richness because of the fact that older clades could have more time to diversify (; ), implying that the older the age of the clade, the higher its richness, resulting in a positive clade age-species richness relationship. However, whether such a relationship is universal is still controversial. Several previous studies have shown that clade age could predict species richness (; ), while others argued that there is no clear relationship between clade age and species diversity (). In the present study, I wanted to test whether there is a relationship between the evolutionary age of the ancestors of Galliformes and the number of their externally living descendants.

    Secondly, a shifting pattern in the rate of diversification has been broadly observed in many taxa, by showing patterns in which this rate is initially high but decreases over time (, ). Such a declining-diversification model is predicted by adaptive evolution (), because openings of new vacant niches are limited. Filling vacant niches would have been accomplished at an early evolutionary time, leading to a decline in the rate of diversification of species ().

    Finally, the size of their range might be related to the rate of diversification of species (), since range size of a species is a trait jointly affected by species dispersal, colonization and reproduction. The importance of geographic isolation in shaping speciation has been debated for a long time (). A phylogenetic comparative method, referred to as "age-range correlation", is introduced to quantify the relative importance of sympatric and allopatric speciation on structuring contemporary species diversity patterns (; ).

    Considerable progress has been made in the development of robust statistical methods to infer ancestral ranges by incorporating a variety of biological processes. For example, a dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis model (DEC) has been proposed to estimate explicitly and infer historical changing patterns of ancestral ranges of species when projected on the phylogeny under a maximum likelihood framework (; ). In addition to maximum likelihood-based methods for reconstructing ancestral distributional ranges, traditional methods are derived from the parsimony principle. Dispersal-vicariance analysis (DIVA) () and some of its extensions (for example, statistical DIVA (S-DIVA), ) are built on parsimony algorithms and still widely cited in current literature of phylogeographic studies (). Recently, a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method has been proposed by .

    The ancestral ranges of the Galliformes group were estimated by utilizing the well-established phylogenetic tree for 197 Galliformes (). The following terrestrial regions are considered in biogeographical analyses: East Asia (A), South Asia (B), Southeast Asia (C), West Asia (D), North America (E), South America (F), Africa (G), Europe (H) and Oceania (I). Distribution of each species over these terrestrial regions was obtained from the Avibase database (http://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/avibase.jsp?lang=EN).

    In comparing ancestral ranges of Galliformes species, three analytical methods are used, i.e., dispersal-vicariance analysis (DIVA), Bayesian binary MCMC analysis (BBM) and dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis analysis (DEC). All three methods are carried out by using the software RASP (, ).

    Different diversification rate-shifting models have been tried to fit the Galliformes phylogeny, as proposed in previous studies (; , ). Specifically, four methods from an R package "laser" () are implemented for comparative purposes, consisting of a constant-speciation and constant-extinction model (CONSTANT), a decreasing-speciation and constant-extinction model (SPVAR), a constant-speciation and increasing-extinction model (EXVAR) and a decreasing-speciation and increasing-extinction model (BOTHVAR) (). These four models have been used to test the temporal shifting patterns in rates of diversification of different taxa (, ).

    Each of the models require four parameters for estimation (), which can be obtained by maximizing the following likelihood equation ():

    L(t|λ(t),μ(t))=N1n=2n(λ(t)μ(t))exp{n(λ(t)μ(t))(tntn+1)}×{1μ(t)λ(t)exp((λ(t)μ(t))tn+1)}n1{1μ(t)λ(t)exp((λ(t)μ(t))tn)}n (1)

    where t is the vector of observed branch times from the phylogeny, tn the branch time for the lineage, while n, λ(t) and μ(t) are time-dependent speciation and extinction rates, respectively. The time-dependent rate of diversification is defined as r(t)=λ(t)-μ(t) and N is the number of external tips in the tree.

    In the CONSTANT model, λ(t) and μ(t) are assumed to be constant over the entire phylogenetic tree (i.e., λ(t) = λ0, μ(t) = μ0), where λ0 and μ0 are the constants to be estimated. In the SPVAR model, μ(t) is assumed to be constant over the entire tree (i.e., μ(t) = μ0), while λ(t) is assumed to decrease continuously from the root to the tips of the tree, defined as follows: λ(t)=λ0 exp(-kt). As seen in the SPVAR model, the additional parameter k is required to model the declining trend of rate of speciation over the tree. For this model, the rate of diversification is predicted to decline over the evolutionary time as (r(t)=λ0 exp(-kt)-μ0). In the EXVAR model, the rate of speciation is assumed to be constant over the tree while the rate of extinction is assumed to decline over the tree as follows: u(t)=u0(1-exp(-zt)). As well, this model has an additional parameter, i.e., z, to be estimated. Finally, in the BOTHVAR model, both λ(t) and μ(t) are assumed to change over time as follows: λ(t)=λ0 exp(-kt) and u(t)=u0(1-exp(-zt)) (; ).

    The evolutionary age for each clade is calculated as the phylogenetic distance between the root and the internal node leading to the focused clade. The corresponding clade species richness is defined as the number of external tips (living species) for that specific clade.

    To reveal the possible relationship between clade age and clade species richness and/or phylogenetic diversity, I performed both a non-phylogenetic ordinary least-squares regression analysis (OLS) and a phylogenetic general least-squares regression analysis (PGLS). Given that various clades are not independent from each other, it is necessary to remove the impacts of phylogenetic inertia by performing PGLS, i.e., a method to introduce a phylogenetic variance-covariance matrix in the fitting formula, a matrix missing in the OLS method. For the OLS method, the vector of coefficients is fitted using the following identity:

    ˆβOLS=(XTX)1XTy (2)

    while for the PGLS method, the vector of coefficients is estimated from the following equation:

    ˆβPGLS=(XTW1X)1XTW1y (3)

    The superscript T denotes the transpose of a matrix, while -1 denotes the inverse of a matrix. X is a matrix with columns indicating the explanatory variables, while y is a column vector storing the values for the response variable and W is the phylogenetic variance-covariance matrix. The calculation of W is only related to the branch lengths of the phylogenetic tree ().

    Both the Bayesian and maximum likelihood methods (BBI and Lagrange) identified SE Asia as the most likely origin of the distribution of the most common ancestor for all Galliformes species. The S-DIVA method failed to run because of unknown errors (out of memory when using RASP software).

    Because BBI and Lagrange share some levels of similarity, ancestral ranges estimated by Lagrange are the focus in the subsequent biogoegraphic discussion (Figure 1). As seen, a number of dispersal and vicariance events have occurred in the distribution of Galliformes species.

    Figure 1. Ancestral range reconstruction of Galliformes with color legends using Lagrange maximum likelihood method.
    Figure  1.  Ancestral range reconstruction of Galliformes with color legends using Lagrange maximum likelihood method.
    Codes for terrestrial regions: E Asia (A), S Asia (B), SE Asia (C), W Asia (D), N America (E), S America (F), Africa (G), Europe (H) and Oceania (I).

    At root node 393 (Figure 1), the most likely ancestral range is SE Asia and N America with a marginal probability of 29% (light orange color, symbol: CE). One vicariance event is identified, in which the Galliformes lineages in N America and SE Asia are separated in subsequent evolutionary times.

    For the lineages distributed in N America, in later times at node 378 (Figure 1), two dispersal events occurred. Starting from N America, one ancestral lineage dispersed to S America (node 233, Figure 1, light blue color, symbol: EF) while another dispersed to Africa (node 377, Figure 1, purple color, symbol: EG). Again some time later (node 366), some lineages dispersed to E Asia (blue color, symbol: A).

    For the lineage distributed in SE Asia at the root (Figure 1), it continued to inhabit that region and later underwent local radiation up until our contemporary era. During some evolutionary time points at nodes 391 and 389, some ancestral lineages of Galliformes dispersed to Oceania (green color, symbol: Ⅰ), leading to the contemporary distribution of Alectura lathami and Leipoa ocellata in Australia, Megapodius pritchardii in Tonga and Megapodius layardi in Vanuatu.

    No significant diversification rate-shifting pattern is evident in Galliformes phylogeny. As shown by the comparison of different diversification models, the constant-rate model received the lowest AIC value (-621.62, Table 1) and thus became the best model.

    Table  1.  A comparison of different time-dependent diversification models for fitting the Galliformes phylogeny
    Model CONSTANT SPVAR EXVAR BOTHVAR
    Likelihood 312.81 312.69 312.81 312.63
    AIC -621.62 -619.38 -619.61 -617.27
    Parameters
    λ0 0.174 0.193 0.1 85 0.186
    μ0 0.064 0.014 0.011 0.001
    K - 0.001 - 0.001
    Z - 1.003 0.078
    The best-fitted model is marked in boldface.
     | Show Table
    DownLoad: CSV

    There is a significant and positive relationship between clade age and Galliformes species richness (Figure 2), regardless of whether the situation or whether phylogenetic inertia is controlled or not. For the OLS, the fitted equation of clade richness=1.24×clade age-8.29 (p < 0.05), while for the PGLS, the best fitted equation of clade richness=3.111 × clade age-101.48 (p < 0.05). This supports the prediction that older clades process higher species diversity since they have more time to diversify.

    Figure 2. Clade age-richness relationships.
    Figure  2.  Clade age-richness relationships.
    The black fitted line indicated the result from ordinary least-squares regression analysis (OLS), while the red line is from the phylogenetical general least-squares regression analysis (PGLS). Both lines have significant slopes (p < 0.05). For OLS, the fitted equation is clade richness=1.24×clade age-8.29; while for PGLS, the fitted equation is clade richness=3.111×clade age-101.48.

    Interestingly, no significant diversification-shifting trend has been observed for the phylogeny of the 197 Galliformes species (Table 1). Several previous studies working on other avian taxa suggest a temporally diversification rate-declining pattern, for example that of the North American Wood-warblers (). However, other studies also show that rates of diversification could have shown a temporally increasing trend up to our contemporary era for some specific species assemblages, for example Tiger Beetles () and angiosperm plants (). It is still controversial whether the rate of species diversification has a density-dependent trend throughout evolutionary times. From my observation of the Galliformes phylogeny, I conclude that this avian assemblage has a relatively constant rate of diversification over time, contradicting any time-dependent shifting trends of diversification.

    There is a strong correlation between clade age and Galliformes richness as shown in Figure 2. As such, the current study confirms that clade age predicts Galliformes diversity throughout evolutionary times, but not rates of diversification. This conclusion is consistent with those of several previous studies (; ). However, other studies have argued that there is no clear positive relationship between clade age and species richness (; ) due to variation in rates of diversification among clades (). Because I found that rates of diversification tend to be constant over evolutionary times for this Galliformes assemblage (Table 1), species richness of this avian group is principally driven by clade age (Figure 2).

    As evidenced by the results of the Lagrange maximum likelihood analysis, it is found that SE Asia and N America are two disjunctive ancestral distributional origins for the earliest ancestor of Galliformes species. Dispersal frequency is very high for ancestral lineages of Galliformes. At some point in time, the lineage distributed in SE Asia then dispersed over Oceania while another lineage from N America dispersed to S America, Africa, E Asia and Europe. Active dispersals of Galliformes ancestors over the various continents might be an important driver of species diversity, because new vacant niches were available in these new terrestrial regions. Therefore, instead of rates of diversification, ecological opportunity might have played, implicitly, a role in species richness of Galliformes (; ; ).

    Some limitations apply to this study. First, the phylogeny used contains only 197 Galliformes species, which might be not sufficient to unravel the true macro-evolutionary pattern of the assemblage because the remaining 83 species have not been included in this analysis. It has been suggested that estimating rates of diversification is very sensitive to the complete status of the tree, because incomplete taxonomic sampling could generate artificial diversification rate-shifting patterns (; ). Second, estimation of the ancestral range is widely applied in plant biogeographical studies. Whether it is legitimate to infer historically ancestral ranges for bird taxa using plant-tailored statistical methods requires further elaboration. However, there is a growing trend in inferring ancestral life-history states of avian groups (). To a certain extent therefore, it should be rational to estimate the ancestral distribution of Galliformes using the analytical DEC, S-DIVA and BBM methods. Third, utilization of country-level distributional information might not be sufficient to quantify range-clade relationships, given that country-level distributional records do not accurately reflect the true distributional ranges of Galliformes species. For example, some species might be present in a small area of a large country, leading to the over-representation of the distribution of the species.

    In implementing further studies, the correlation of life-history traits and rates of diversification would be of interest, since it is reported that the ability of migration of avian species might slow down the rate of speciation of taxa (; ). Analyses of the correlation between functional traits and rates of diversification would offer some insights into the relationship between dispersal capability and speciation patterns for Galliformes ().

    The constant diversification rate for global Galliforme species implied that there were no diversification rate-shifting trends for Galliformes species. The present study may contribute to the understanding of the ecology and diversity patterns of Galliformes from the perspective of historical biogeography, although some limitations existed.

    The author declares that he has no competing interests.

    This work is supported by the China Scholarship Council (CSC). I like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments to improve the quality of the present work.

  • Alonso JC, Alonso JA, Muñoz-Pulido R. Mitigation of bird collisions with transmission lines through groundwire marking. Biol Conserv. 1994;67: 129–34.
    Amartuvshin P, Gombobaatar S. The assessment of high risk utility lines and conservation of globally threatened pole nesting steppe raptors in Mongolia. Ornis Mongolica. 2012;1: 2–12.
    Angelov I, Hashim I, Oppel S. Persistent electrocution mortality of Egyptian Vultures Neophron percnopterus over 28 years in East Africa. Bird Conserv Int. 2013;23: 1–6.
    Antal M. Policy measures to address bird interactions with power lines—a comparative case study of four countries. Ostrich. 2010;81: 217–23.
    Avian Power Line Interaction Committee (APLIC). Suggested practices for avian protection on power lines: the state of the art in 2006. Washington and Sacramento: Edison Electric Institute and the California Energy Commission; 2006.
    Barrientos R, Alonso JC, Ponce C, Palacín C. Meta-analysis of the effectiveness of marked wire in reducing avian collisions with power lines. Conserv Biol. 2011;25: 893–903.
    Begzsuren S, Ellis JE, Ojima DS, Coughenour MB, Chuluun T. Livestock responses to droughts and severe winter weather in the Gobi Three Beauty National Park. Mongolia J Arid Environ. 2004;59: 785–96.
    Bernardino J, Bevanger K, Barrientos R, Dwyer JF, Marques AT, Martins RC, et al. Bird collisions with power lines: state of the art and priority areas for research. Biol Conserv. 2018;222: 1–13.
    Bevanger K. Biological and conservation aspects of bird mortality caused by electricity power lines: a review. Biol Conserv. 1998;86: 67–76.
    BirdLife International. BirdLife Species Factsheet: Saker falcon (Falco cherrug). 2021. .
    Chaurey A, Ranganathan M, Mohanty P. Electricity access for geographically disadvantaged rural communities—technology and policy insights. Energy Policy. 2004;32: 1693–705.
    del Hoyo J, Elliott A, Sargatal J. Handbook of the birds of the world. Volume 2: New World vultures to guineafowl. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions; 1994.
    Dixon A, Maming R, Gunga A, Purev-Ochir G, Batbayar N. The problem of raptor electrocution in Asia: case studies from Mongolia and China. Bird Conserv Int. 2013a;23: 520–9.
    Dixon A, Purev-Ochir G, Galtbalt B, Batbayar N. The use of power lines by breeding raptors and corvids in Mongolia: nest-site characteristics and management using artificial nests. J Raptor Res. 2013b;47: 282–91.
    Dixon A, Rahman ML, Galtbalt B, Gunga A, Sugarsaikhan B, Batbayar N. Avian electrocution rates associated with density of active small mammal holes and power-pole mitigation: implications for the conservation of threatened raptors in Mongolia. J Nat Conserv. 2017a;36: 14–9.
    Dixon A, Li X, Rahman ML, Batbayar N, Zhan XJ. Characteristics of home range areas used by Saker Falcons (Falco cherrug) wintering on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Bird Conserv Int. 2017b;27: 525–36.
    Dixon A, Bold B, Tsolmonjav P, Galtbalt B, Batbayar N. Efficacy of a mitigation method to reduce raptor electrocution at an electricity distribution line in Mongolia. Conserv Evid. 2018;15: 50–3.
    Dixon A, Rahman ML, Galtbalt B, Bold B, Davaasuren B, Batbayar N, et al. Mitigation techniques to reduce avian electrocution rates. Wildlife Soc Bull. 2019;43: 476–83.
    Dixon A, Batbayar N, Bold B, Davaasuren B, Erdenechimeg T, Galtbalt B, et al. Variation in electrocution rate and demographic composition of Saker Falcons electrocuted at power lines in Mongolia. J Raptor Res. 2020;54: 136–46.
    Dwyer JF, Taylor RC, French GA. Failure of utility pole perch deterrents modified during installation. J Raptor Res. 2020;54: 172–6.
    Eccleston DT, Harness RE. Raptor electrocutions and power line collisions. In: Sarasola J, Grande J, Negro J, editors. Birds of prey: biology and conservation in the XXI century. Cham: Springer; 2018. p. 273–302.
    Ganbold O, Bing GC, Purevee E, Munkhbayar M, Choi WS, Jargalsaikhan A, et al. Bird accidents in southern Mongolia: a case study of bird electrocution. Kor J Ornithol. 2018;25: 94–100.
    García-del-Rey E, Rodríguez-Lorenzo JA. Avian mortality due to power lines in the Canary Islands with special reference to the steppe-land birds. J Nat Hist. 2011;45: 2159–69.
    Gombobaatar S, Sumiya D, Shagdarsuren O, Potapov E, Fox N. Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug milvipes Jerdon) mortality in Central Mongolia and population threats. Mong J Biol Sci. 2004;2: 13–21.
    Gómez-Catasús J, Carrascal LM, Moraleda V, Colsa J, Garcés F, Schuster C. Factors affecting differential underestimates of bird collision fatalities at electric lines: a case study in the Canary Islands. Ardeola. 2020;68: 71–94.
    Guil F, Àngels Colomer M, Moreno-Opo R, Margalida A. Space-time trends in Spanish bird electrocution rates from alternative information sources. Glob Ecol Conserv. 2015;3: 379–88.
    Guil F, Fernández-Olalla M, Moreno-Opo R, Mosqueda I, Gómez ME, Aranda A, et al. Minimising mortality in endangered raptors due to power lines: the importance of spatial aggregation to optimize the application of mitigation measures. PLoS ONE. 2011;6: e28212.
    Haas D. Protecting birds from powerlines (Nature and Environment No. 140). Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing; 2005.
    Hammons TJ. Electricity infrastructure in Asian region and energy security problems. In: Hammons TJ, editor. Electricity infrastructures in the global marketplace. InTech; 2011. p. 415–50.
    Harness R, Gombobaatar S, Yosef R. Mongolian distribution power lines and raptor electrocutions. In: IEEE Rural Electric Power Conference (REPC). 2008.
    IUCN. IUCN red list of threatened species. 2020. .
    Janss GFE. Avian mortality from power lines: a morphologic approach of a species-specific mortality. Biol Conserv. 2000;95: 353–9.
    Janss GFE, Ferrer M. Mitigation of raptor electrocution on steel power poles. Wildlife Soc b. 1999;27: 263–73.
    Lehman RN, Kennedy PL, Savidge JA. The state of the art in raptor electrocution research: a global review. Biol Conserv. 2007;136: 159–74.
    López-López P, Ferrer M, Madero A, Casado E, McGrady M. Solving man-induced large-scale conservation problems: the Spanish imperial eagle and power lines. PLoS ONE. 2011;6: e17196.
    Martin GR, Shaw JM. Bird collisions with power lines: failing to see the way ahead? Biol Conserv. 2010;143: 2695–702.
    Meretsky VJ, Snyder NFR, Beissinger SR, Clendenen DA, Wiley JW. Demography of the California condor: implications for reestablishment. Conserv Biol. 2000;14: 957–67.
    Orihuela-Torres A, Morales-Reyes Z, Pérez-García JM, Naves-Alegre L, Sánchez-Zapata JA, Sebastián-González E. Unravelling the vertebrate scavenger assemblage in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia. J Arid Environ. 2021;190: 104509.
    Pfeiffer M, Chimedregzen L, Ulykpan K. Community organization and species richness of ants (Hymenoptera/Formicidae) in Mongolia along an ecological gradient from steppe to Gobi desert. J Biogeogr. 2003;30: 1921–35.
    Prather PR, Messmer TA. Raptor and corvid response to power distribution line perch deterrents in Utah. J Wildl Manage. 2010;74: 796–800.
    R Core Team. R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R foundation for statistical computing. R version 3.6.0. 2019.
    Reading RP, Azua J, Garrett T, Kenny D, Lee H, Paek WK, et al. Differential movement of adult and juvenile Cinereous Vultures (Aegypius monachus) (Accipitriformes: Accipitridae) in Northeast Asia. J Asia Pac Biodivers. 2020;13: 156–61.
    Real J, Grande JM, Mañosa S, Sánchez-Zapata JA. Causes of death in different areas for Bonelli's Eagle Hieraaetus fasciatus in Spain. Bird Study. 2001;48: 221–8.
    Sánchez-Zapata JA, Clavero M, Carrete M, DeVault TL, Hermoso V, Losada MA, et al. Effects of renewable energy production and infrastructure on wildlife. In: Mateo R, Arroyo B, García JT, et al. editors. Current trends in wildlife research. Cham: Springer; 2016. p. 97–123.
    Schürenberg B, Schneider R, Jerrentrup H. Implementation of recommendation No. 110/2004 on minimising adverse effects of above ground electricity transmission facilities (power lines) on birds. In: Report to the Council of Europe, Convention on the conservation of the European Wildlife and natural habitats. 2010. .
    Slater SJ, Dwyer JF, Murgatroyd M. Conservation letter: raptors and overhead electrical systems. J Raptor Res. 2020;54: 198–203.
    Stevens BS, Reese KP, Connelly JW. Survival and detectability bias of avian fence collision surveys in sagebrush steppe. J Wildlife Manag. 2011;75: 437–49.
    Tintó A, Real J, Mañosa S. Predicting and correcting electrocution of birds in Mediterranean areas. J Wildlife Manage. 2010;74: 1852–62.
    Viñuela J. Road Transects as a large-scale census method for raptors: the case of the Red Kite Milvus milvus in Spain. Bird Study. 1997;44: 155–65.
    Walter H. Deserts of Central Asia. In: West NE, editor. Ecosystems of the world: temperate deserts and semi-deserts. Amsterdam: Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co; 1993. p. 193–236.
  • Related Articles

  • Cited by

    Periodical cited type(3)

    1. Dey, P., Ray, S.D., Kochiganti, V.H.S. et al. Mitogenomic Insights into the Evolution, Divergence Time, and Ancestral Ranges of Coturnix Quails. Genes, 2024, 15(6): 742. DOI:10.3390/genes15060742
    2. Fuentes-López, A., Rebelo, M.T., Romera, E. et al. Genetic diversity of Calliphora vicina (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in the Iberian Peninsula based on cox1, 16S and ITS2 sequences. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2020, 131(4): 952-965. DOI:10.1093/biolinnean/blaa109
    3. Chen, Y.. Does the diversification rate of endemic birds of mainland China follow abrupt, gradual shifting or constant patterns?. Integrative Zoology, 2017, 12(2): 165-171. DOI:10.1111/1749-4877.12205

    Other cited types(0)

Catalog

    Esther Sebastián-González

    1. On this Site
    2. On Google Scholar
    3. On PubMed

    Figures(2)  /  Tables(1)

    Article Metrics

    Article views (698) PDF downloads (12) Cited by(3)

    /

    DownLoad:  Full-Size Img  PowerPoint
    Return
    Return