A long-term analysis of the declining population of the Egyptian vulture in the Italian peninsula: distribution, habitat preference, productivity andconservation implications

Between the beginning of the 1970s and the early 1990s the breeding populat ion of the Egyptian vulture (Neophron perenopterus) in the Italian peninsul a declined from 29 to nine breeding pairs. We analysed the main aspects of the decline of this population during the last 30 years, namely: (1) landsc ape structure and composition of active and extinct nesting sites; (2) chan ges in the land use and number of cattle within the breeding range; (3) pro ductivity (1986-1999) of the last nine pairs breeding in the Italian penins ula. Further decline in the breeding population was probably stopped by cre ating artificial feeding sites and protecting the last nesting sites from d irect persecution. Nearly two-thirds of the pairs laid at least one egg per year, and half of the pairs fledged at least one young per year. The mean number of fledged young was 0.99 +/-0.66 per breeding pair, and 1.27 +/-0.4 5 per successful pair. About 75% of the breeding failures occurred during i ncubation, and 71% were related to human activities and direct persecution. The nesting cliff occupation rate, percentage of breeding attempts that fl edged at least one chick and mean number of fledged young were negatively c orrelated with the distance to an artificial feeding site. (C) 2001 Elsevie r Science Ltd. All rights reserved.