Roles of raptors in a changing world: from flagships to providers of key ecosystem services

Birds of prey have been, in comparison to other avian groups, an uncommon study model, mainly due to the limitations imposed by their conservative life strategy (low population density and turnover). Nonetheless, they have attracted a strong interest from the point of view of conservation biology because many populations have been close to extinction and because of their recognised role in ecosystems as top predators and scavengers and as flagship species. Today, after more than a century of persecution, and with the exception of some vultures still very much affected by illegal poisoning, many populations of birds of prey have experienced significant recoveries in many regions of Spain and the European Mediterranean. These changes pose new challenges when addressing the conservation of raptors in the coming decades. On this basis, and from a preferentially Mediterranean perspective, we have focused our attention on the need of describing and quantifying the role of these birds as providers of both regulating (rodent pest control and removal of livestock carcasses) and cultural ecosystem services. Moreover, we revisited persisting conflicts with human interests (predation of game species) and call attention to the emergence of new conflicts with a strong social and media component such as the predation on live cattle by vultures. Also, the rampant humanization of the environment determines the need for new solutions to the growing, yet scarcely explored, problem of accidents in new infrastructures such as mortality in wind farms. Finally, we explored in depth the ecological response of birds of prey to large-scale habitat changes such as urbanisation and abandonment of marginal lands that are also expected to increase in the near future. We urgently need more scientific knowledge to provide adequate responses to the challenge of keeping healthy populations of avian predators and scavengers in a rapidly changing world

El papel de las rapaces en un mundo en cambio: de especies bandera a proveedores de servicios ecosistémicos

Open Access.[EN]: Birds of prey have been, in comparison to other avian groups, an uncommon study model, mainly due to the limitations imposed by their conservative life strategy (low population density and turnover). Nonetheless, they have attracted a strong interest from the point of view of conservation biology because many populations have been close to extinction and because of their recognised role in ecosystems as top predators and scavengers and as flagship species. Today, after more than a century of persecution, and with the exception of some vultures still very much affected by illegal poisoning, many populations of birds of prey have experienced significant recoveries in many regions of Spain and the European Mediterranean. These changes pose new challenges when addressing the conservation of raptors in the coming decades. On this basis, and from a preferentially Mediterranean perspective, we have focused our attention on the need of describing and quantifying the role of these birds as providers of both regulating (rodent pest control and removal of livestock carcasses) and cultural ecosystem services. Moreover, we revisited persisting conflicts with human interests (predation of game species) and call attention to the emergence of new conflicts with a strong social and media component such as the predation on live cattle by vultures. Also, the rampant humanization of the environment determines the need for new solutions to the growing, yet scarcely explored, problem of accidents in new infrastructures such as mortality in wind farms. Finally, we explored in depth the ecological response of birds of prey to large-scale habitat changes such as urbanisation and abandonment of marginal lands that are also expected to increase in the near future. We urgently need more scientific knowledge to provide adequate responses to the challenge of keeping healthy populations of avian predators and scavengers in a rapidly changing world.[ES]: Las aves de presa han sido, en comparación con otros grupos de aves, más raramente utilizadas como sujeto de estudios en ecología en razón de las limitaciones que impone su estrategia de vida (baja densidad de población, alta longevidad y baja natalidad). Por el contrario, han suscitado un gran interés desde el punto de vista de la biología de la conservación, debido a que sus poblaciones en muchos casos se han aproximado a la extinción, así como al reconocimiento de su papel en los ecosistemas como superpredadores y carroñeros como especies bandera. Hoy en día, tras más de un siglo de persecución, y con la excepción de algunos buitres todavía muy afectados por envenenamientos ilegales, muchas especies de aves de presa han experimentado importantes crecimientos poblacionales en muchas regiones de España y del Mediterráneo europeo. Este escenario plantea nuevos desafíos para abordar la conservación de las rapaces en las próximas décadas. Sobre esta base hemos focalizado nuestra atención en la necesidad de describir y cuantificar el papel de estas aves como proveedores de servicios ecosistémicos, tanto reguladores (control de plagas de roedores y eliminación de restos de ganado) como culturales y de apoyo. Por otra parte, llamamos la atención hacia el reavivamiento de conflictos con intereses humanos (predación sobre especies cinegéticas) y a la aparición de nuevos conflictos con un fuerte componente social y mediático como la predación de aves carroñeras sobre ganado vivo. De igual modo, la creciente humanización del medio y de las poblaciones de aves de presa de mayor tamaño determinan que haya que buscar nuevas soluciones a problemas ya conocidos como los accidentes en infraestructuras, pero que tienen nuevas facetas complejas y aun poco exploradas como la mortalidad en parques eólicos. Finalmente, nos adentramos en la respuesta de las aves de presa a cambios a gran escala en el hábitat, como la urbanización y el abandono de tierras marginales que ya están ocurriendo y se prevé que se incrementen en las próximas décadas. Debe generarse más conocimiento científico para poder dar adecuada respuesta al reto que supone mantener poblaciones sanas de aves predadoras y carroñeras en un mundo que cambia vertiginosamente.M. M. acknowledges financial support through the Severo Ochoa Program for Centres of Excellence in R+D+I (SEV-2012-0262), z. M. R. was supported by a pre-doctoral grant FPU12/00823. A. M. was supported by a Ramón y Cajal research contract (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, RYC-2012-11867). ACA was supported by a Post-Doctoral grant from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) (SFRH / BPD / 91609 / 2012) and a contract Juan de la Cierva Incorporación IJCI-2014-20744 of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. JAD, JMPG, AM, zM and JASz were funded by project CGL2015-66966-C2-1-2-R, MINECO/FEDER, UE.Peer Reviewe