Raptor research during the COVID-19 pandemic provides invaluable opportunities for conservation biology

Petra Sumasgutner; Ralph Buij; Christopher J W McClure; Phil Shaw; Cheryl R Dykstra; Nishant Kumar; Christian Rutz

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109149

Raptor research during the COVID-19 pandemic provides invaluable opportunities for conservation biology

Biol Conserv. 2021 Aug:260:109149. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109149. Epub 2021 Apr 28.

Authors

Petra Sumasgutner¹, Ralph Buij^{2

3}, Christopher J W McClure², Phil Shaw⁴, Cheryl R Dykstra⁵, Nishant Kumar^{6

7

8}, Christian Rutz⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Behavioral & Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
² The Peregrine Fund, 5668 West Flying Hawk Lane, Boise, ID 83709, USA.
³ Animal Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands.
⁴ Centre for Biological Diversity, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9TH, UK.
⁵ Raptor Environmental, West Chester, OH 45069, USA.
⁶ Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK.
⁷ Mansfield College, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, UK.
⁸ Wildlife Institute of India, Uttarakhand 248001, India.

Abstract

Research is underway to examine how a wide range of animal species have responded to reduced levels of human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this perspective article, we argue that raptors (i.e., the orders Accipitriformes, Cariamiformes, Cathartiformes, Falconiformes, and Strigiformes) are particularly well-suited for investigating potential 'anthropause' effects: they are sensitive to environmental perturbation, affected by various human activities, and include many locally and globally threatened species. Lockdowns likely alter extrinsic factors that normally limit raptor populations. These environmental changes are in turn expected to influence - mediated by behavioral and physiological responses - the intrinsic (demographic) factors that ultimately determine raptor population levels and distributions. Using this population-limitation framework, we identify a range of research opportunities and conservation challenges that have arisen during the pandemic, related to changes in human disturbance, light and noise pollution, collision risk, road-kill availability, supplementary feeding, and persecution levels. Importantly, raptors attract intense research interest, with many professional and amateur researchers running long-term monitoring programs, often incorporating community-science components, advanced tracking technology and field-methodological approaches that allow flexible timing, enabling continued data collection before, during, and after COVID-19 lockdowns. To facilitate and coordinate global collaboration, we are hereby launching the 'Global Anthropause Raptor Research Network' (GARRN). We invite the international raptor research community to join this inclusive and diverse group, to tackle ambitious analyses across geographic regions, ecosystems, species, and gradients of lockdown perturbation. Under the most tragic of circumstances, the COVID-19 anthropause has afforded an invaluable opportunity to significantly boost global raptor conservation.

Keywords: Anthropause; Before-after-control-impact (BACI); Birds of prey; Human disturbance; Human-wildlife interactions; Lockdown; Natural experiment.