Gareth Tate

Endangered Wildlife Trust | EWT

Intra‐Africa movements of most African migratory birds remain an enigma. We describe the migrations of Wahlberg's eagle Hieraaetus wahlbergi using GPS‐GSM transmitters on adult eagles in their South African (n = 3) and Kenyan (n = 7) breeding areas between 2018 and 2022. The dataset included 57 migratory tracks, 29 post‐breeding and 28 pre‐breeding...

Given the current biodiversity crisis, understanding how animals move across a landscape dotted with different anthropogenic threats and the consequences of those threats for animals is paramount to devising evidence‐based conservation interventions. Vultures roam across large areas and are highly exposed to poisoning, which represents a particular...

There is increasing recognition of the potential pleiotropic effects of melanin pigmentation, particularly on immunity, with reports of variation in haemoparasite infection intensity and immune responses between the morphs of colour-polymorphic bird species. In a population of the black sparrowhawk (Accipiter melanoleucus) in western South Africa,...

Human-induced direct mortality affects huge numbers of birds each year, threatening hundreds of species worldwide. Tracking technologies can be an important tool to investigate temporal and spatial patterns of bird mortality as well as their drivers. We compiled 1704 mortality records from tracking studies across the African-Eurasian flyway for 45...

Traditionally, demographic monitoring of birds has been undertaken by intensive monitoring of nesting sites. However, this is challenging for low-density species, whereby the effort and costs involved in locating and monitoring remote sites can be prohibitive or even bias research findings. We show that Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking can...

The rapid development of wind energy in southern Africa represents an additional threat to the already fragile populations of African vultures. The distribution of the vulnerable Cape Vulture Gyps coprotheres overlaps considerably with wind energy development areas in South Africa, creating conflicts that can hinder both vulture conservation and su...

Blood parasites can impact host fitness and can, thus, act as selective agents in their host’s evolution. The melanocortin system linked to colouration of vertebrates may infer higher parasite resistance via pleiotropic properties of the genes involved. Black Sparrowhawks (Accipiter melanoleucus) are colour polymorphic (dark and light morph adults)...

Waterbirds in stochastic environments exhibit nomadism in order to cater for the unpredictable availability of water resources. Lesser flamingos Phoeniconaias minor have long been thought to be nomadic waterbirds. In southern Africa, conservation efforts for lesser flamingos are hampered by a lack of knowledge about their movement trajectories. To...

Waterbirds in stochastic environments exhibit nomadism in order to cater for the unpredictable availability of water resources. Lesser flamingos Phoeniconaias minor have long been thought to be nomadic waterbirds. In southern Africa, con-servation efforts for lesser flamingos are hampered by a lack of knowledge about their movement trajectories. To...

Disassortative mating in color-polymorphic raptors is a proposed mechanism for the maintenance of color polymorphism in populations. Selection for such a mating system may occur if there are fitness advantages of mating with a contrasting morph. In the black sparrowhawk (Accipiter melanoleucus), mixed-morph pairs may have a selective advantage beca...

Under the current African vulture crisis, supplementary feeding sites (SFS), which provide carrion resources, have become a popular conservation tool to address vulture declines. In South Africa, this practice is unregulated and the context in which SFS operate and their adherence to best management practices is currently unknown. In this study, we...

Background and objective: African vultures are under pressure from various, well-known anthropogenic threats. Here we describe and aim to highlight a littleknown source of mortality to two Critically Endangered vulture species (Gyps africanus and Necrosyrtes monachus), as well as the Endangered Cape Vulture (Gyps copropheres) in southern Africa – t...

Old world vultures are the most threatened group of raptors globally. Supplementary feeding sites (SFS) are a popular conservation tool, widely used to assist vulture populations. Despite their popularity, the impact of SFS on vultures remains largely unstudied. A lack of knowledge on the number, distribution and management of SFS is a key factor h...

Colour polymorphism may be maintained within a population by disruptive-selection. One hypothesis proposes that different morphs are adapted to different ambient light conditions, with lighter morphs having a selective advantage in bright conditions and darker morphs having advantages in darker conditions. The mechanism for this advantage is propos...

Capsule: Urban black sparrowhawk males hunt mostly within 2.27 km from their nest during the breeding season (‘home range’ of 16.15 km2) and increased the distance slightly to 2.43 km outside of the breeding season (18.56 km2). We found incredibly high individual variation within and between 6 GPS tagged males breeding, but no significant seasonal...

How multiple morphs are maintained within populations of colour polymorphic bird species remains a challenging question in evolutionary ecology. In some systems, differential productivity or survival between morphs are thought to play a role. Here we examine key demographic parameters between the two discrete adult morphs that characterise the poly...

From an evolutionary perspective, recruitment into the breeding population represents one of the most important life‐history stages and ultimately determines the effective population size. In order to contribute to the next generation, offspring must survive to sexual maturity, secure a territory and find a mate. In this study, we explore factors i...

Detectability of different colour morphs under varying light conditions has been proposed as an important driver in the maintenance of colour polymorphism via disruptive selection. To date, no studies have tested whether different morphs have selective advantages under differing light conditions. We tested this hypothesis in the black sparrowhawk,...

Understanding the effects climate change may have on animal populations relies on establishing which environmental conditions shape their behaviour and subsequent reproductive output, fitness or survival. South Africa has seen significant warming trends and changes in precipitation over the last few decades; however, the ways in which these trends...

Morphological parameters of the mammalian kidney can provide information on the extent to which an animal is able to regulate water relations within its body and cope with arid conditions. Certain groups of mammals, such as rabbits and hares, show a flexible phenotype (phenotypic plasticity) with respect to renal physiology that enables them to inh...

Morphological parameters of the mammalian kidney can provide information on the extent to which an animal is able to regulate water relations within its body and cope with arid conditions. Certain groups of mammals, such as rabbits and hares, show a flexible phenotype (phenotypic plasticity) with respect to renal physiology that enables them to inh...

Recent research suggests that genes coding for melanin based colouration may have pleiotropic properties, in particular conveying raised immune function. Thus adaptive function of polymorphism may be associated with parasite resistance. The black sparrowhawk Accipiter melanoleucus is a polymorphic raptor with two morphs. Over most of its range the...