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Content with tag landfills .

Current sanitarian regulations are not enough for avian scavengers' conservation

A scientific team has studied how the use of human-origin food resources, such as landfills and intensive livestock farms, by Eurasian griffon vultures can negatively impact their conservation.
These studies have been led by the Doñana Biological Station – CSIC, the University of Sevilla and the University Miguel Hernández of Elche with the collaboration of the University of Lisbon

Seagulls act as vectors of metals and arsenic between landfills and protected wetlands

Researchers from the Doñana Biological Station assessed the spatial variation in concentrations of ten metals in faeces of the lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus) wintering at seven localities in South-West Spain. They found high concentrations of metals in gull faeces, with several elements (arsenic, copper, molybdenum, lead and zinc) locally exceeding (by 2 to 11 times) derived Lowest Effect Level (LEL) values.

The functional connectivity network of wintering gulls links seven habitat types, acting ricefields as the central node

The lesser black-backed gull is now the second most abundant wintering waterbird in Andalusian wetlands. Many birds are fitted with GPS loggers on their breeding grounds in northern Europe, and using 42 tagged individuals we studied the connectivity network between different sites and habitats in Andalusia.

From landfills to lakes: gulls as transporters of nutrients

The lesser black backed gull Larus fuscus is now the second most abundant wintering waterbird in Andalusia, and has increased in numbers in recent years. Fuente de Piedra, the biggest shallow lake in Andalusia and a Ramsar site famous for its flamingo colony, is the principal gulls roosting site in midwinter. Gulls are the most important source of nitrogen and phosphorus inputs to the lake during winter through their guano, and feed in four landfills up to 80 km away in Málaga and Córdoba...