Title |
Livestock Drugs and Disease: The Fatal Combination behind Breeding Failure in Endangered Bearded Vultures
|
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Published in |
PLOS ONE, November 2010
|
DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0014163 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Guillermo Blanco, Jesús A. Lemus |
Abstract |
There is increasing concern about the impact of veterinary drugs and livestock pathogens as factors damaging wildlife health, especially of threatened avian scavengers feeding upon medicated livestock carcasses. We conducted a comprehensive study of failed eggs and dead nestlings in bearded vultures (Gypaetus barbatus) to attempt to elucidate the proximate causes of breeding failure behind the recent decline in productivity in the Spanish Pyrenees. We found high concentrations of multiple veterinary drugs, primarily fluoroquinolones, in most failed eggs and nestlings, associated with multiple internal organ damage and livestock pathogens causing disease, especially septicaemia by swine pathogens and infectious bursal disease. The combined impact of drugs and disease as stochastic factors may result in potentially devastating effects exacerbating an already high risk of extinction and should be considered in current conservation programs for bearded vultures and other scavenger species, especially in regards to dangerous veterinary drugs and highly pathogenic poultry viruses. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Unknown | 1 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 1 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
France | 3 | 4% |
South Africa | 1 | 1% |
India | 1 | 1% |
Mexico | 1 | 1% |
Romania | 1 | 1% |
Unknown | 64 | 90% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 17 | 24% |
Researcher | 14 | 20% |
Other | 9 | 13% |
Student > Master | 7 | 10% |
Student > Bachelor | 4 | 6% |
Other | 8 | 11% |
Unknown | 12 | 17% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 26 | 37% |
Environmental Science | 15 | 21% |
Veterinary Science and Veterinary Medicine | 7 | 10% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 4 | 6% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 2 | 3% |
Other | 5 | 7% |
Unknown | 12 | 17% |