Miguel Ángel Farfán Aguilar

• Miguel A. Farfán PhD Biology
• University of Malaga

The Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is a scavenging bird of prey that was once widespread on the Iberian Peninsula. Its current distribution in Spain is limited to specific mountain ranges, including the Aragonese Pyrenees. The decline of the Iberian population has been linked to factors acting at a microscale level, such as the use of poisons,...

Recently, Duriez et al. (2024) responded to the study by Farfán et al. (2023), asserting that the conclusions regarding the potential habituation and coexistence of a Griffon Vulture population near a wind farm in southern Spain are flawed. First, Duriez et al. (2024) argued that the observed increase in the study area is due to the general growth...

Simple Summary In the Aragonese Pyrenees, we studied the survival and productivity of bearded vultures, an endangered species known for its diet of bones. Using data from 1987 to 2020, we found that the survival rates for juveniles, subadults and adults were 90%, 95% and 92%, respectively. Overall, the species’ survival has improved, but juvenile s...

Since the early stages of wind energy development, there has been concern about the potential impact of wind farms on wildlife, particularly birds and bats. However, the lack of long-term studies has hindered the assessment of the real effect of wind farms on mortality and disturbances. We show a case study in which we researched during the nestlin...

Bearded Vulture Survival estimation using multistate Cormack-Jolly-Seber models.

Since the early stages of wind energy development, there has been concern about the potential impact of wind farms on wildlife, particularly birds and bats. However, the lack of long-term studies has hindered the assessment of the real effect of wind farms on mortality and disturbances. We show a case study in which we researched during the nestlin...

We studied the abundance of red squirrels, a medium-sized forest rodent widely distributed throughout the Palearctic, in the cliffs of Maro-Cerro Gordo (south of Spain; Málaga-Granada), a protected space with a great marine influence. We investigated the abundance of squirrels in this area on two scales: 1) home range, as signs per square meter; an...

La creación de espacios protegidos es una de las herramientas más utilizadas para la conservación de la biodiversidad. Sin embargo, a menudo se desconoce la composición y estado de conservación inicial de algunos de los grupos faunísticos que albergan. En 2018 se aprobó la creación de un nuevo Parque Nacional en Andalucía, el Parque Nacional Sierra...

We studied the consumption of almonds by Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) in a nature park in southern Spain where the species coexists with the crop. For two years, we collected weekly samples of almonds consumed by the species and analyzed its spatial and temporal patterns. We also compared almonds consumed with the production of the crop to asses...

Climate crisis implies large-scale accelerated changes which research groups can’t tackle on their own. That’s why citizen science has become a tool with the potential to generate useful data that helps to reduce uncertainty about these dynamics. Citizen science is the scientific research that includes the collaboration of the non-specialized publi...

Between 2019 and 2022 we carried out a survey to update the distribution data of the red squirrel in the province of Málaga. Fifteen years after the last elaboration of the distribution atlas, it was likely that this forest species had expanded in step with the increase in forest mass in the province. The results show that the species has expanded...

The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is a bird of prey belonging to the group of vultures. Although in the past it occupied mountain systems in Asia, Europe and Africa, and its distribution in the Iberian Peninsula was widely distributed, its current distribution in Spain is limited to very specific mountain ranges, including the Aragonese Pyren...

In this study, we evaluated ocellated lizards’ predation of red-legged partridge nests in an olive grove in southern Spain over three consecutive years. The microhabitat characteristics of prey nests are analyzed through a comparison to successful nests. We found only 13 nests that were predated by lizards during the study period. This number was t...

Understanding the biogeography of species in space and time is essential for the development of evidence‐based conservation and management plans. In this paper we propose a biogeographical spatial modelling approach based on the favourability function, and developed under a fuzzy logic framework, to unravel the historical biogeography of the two Eu...

We analysed entry frequencies (raids) of wild boar in three different golf courses in the Costa del Sol (Málaga, Spain) during the 2020-2022 period. We compared raid frequencies during periods with COVID restrictions to the frequencies during times of normal access to the facilities. We used camera-trapping to monitor wild boar movement onto the go...

The Red-legged Partridge is endemic to the Mediterranean region. It is a resident species from southwestern Europe. Along its range, its abundance is characterized by low abundances in areas with wet climate such as the northern fringe of the Iberian Peninsula and the Atlantic coast of Portugal, France and the UK, and high abundances in areas with...

El águila imperial ibérica (Aquila adalberti) es una especie endémica de la península ibérica que está incluida en la categoría «en peligro de extinción» según el Catálogo Español de Especies Amenazadas. En el presente trabajo se emplea la regresión logística por pasos sobre un grupo de variables climáticas, topográficas, espaciales y humanas para...

The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is a vulture included in the Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species with the category "In Danger of Extinction". Although in the past its distribution in the Iberian Peninsula was very wide, its current distribution in Spain is limited to very specific mountain ranges. The aim of this study is to determine...

HortSost II es un proyecto interdisciplinar desarrollado en el campus de Teatinos de la Universidad de Málaga. Es la continuación de un primer proyecto centrado en el manejo sostenible de los recursos diversidad, agua y suelo mediante la aplicación del Internet de las cosas (IoT) en el huerto. En esta nueva etapa los esfuerzos se centran en la cons...

Simple Summary Today, governments and administrations strive to minimise issues associated with Feral Pigeon (Columba livia var. domestica) colonies in urban areas, primarily in large city centres. Scientific evidence has demonstrated that control measures are ineffective in the long term, and colonies recover rapidly. Moreover, very few studies ha...

Durante el periodo 2018-2021 muestreamos la presencia y uso por parte de la nutria de 20 puertos en el litoral entre Cádiz y Granada. El 55% resultó positivo, con un uso frecuente de algo más de la mitad, mientras que en el resto el uso es más esporádico. Las nutrias usan los embarcaderos y docks de motos de agua como lugares de alimentación y marc...

La presencia de nutrias en campos de golf se ha relacionado con el uso estacional de recursos durante el periodo estival. Durante el periodo 2018-2021 muestreamos un total de 46 campos de golf en la Costa del Sol (Málaga), realizando un seguimiento continuo mediante fototrampeo y búsquedas de rastros estacionales. Encontramos evidencias de presenci...

Los medios urbanos son nuevos hábitats en los que diferentes especies se adentran cada vez más. La disponibilidad de alimento subsidiado, las nuevas oportunidades y la falta o menor abundancia de competidores y depredadores son algunos de los factores causales. Por sus peculiaridades, los medios urbanos suponen uno de los retos para la conservación...

Desde que a finales de los años setenta se reintrodujo la ardilla en el Parque Natural de los Montes de Málaga, la especie ha colonizado parte de la zona oriental de la provincia y se ha extendido hacia el sur, ocupando la ciudad de Málaga. Durante 2021 muestreamos la presencia de la ardilla en diferentes sectores urbanos de la capital malagueña. S...

El conejo (Oryctolagus cuniculus) es una especie nativa de la península ibérica, ampliamente distribuida en todo el territorio. Pese a ser una especie muy prolífica, la fuerte presión cinegética y las enfermedades en las últimas décadas han mermado considerablemente sus poblaciones, alterando su distribución original. Esto ha conllevado que la UICN...

The Iberian hare (Lepus granatensis) is an important small game species endemic to the Iberian Peninsula for which the incidence of roadkill is unknown. We surveyed Iberian hare–vehicle accidents on road networks in southern Spain, focusing on roads that mainly run through favorable habitats for this species: Mediterranean landscapes with plots of...

INTRODUCCIÓN. Durante las últimas décadas, se ha confirmado el descenso del número de especies de aves vinculadas a las tierras de cultivo en varios países europeos (SEO/Birdlife 2019). Este descenso se ha atribuido en gran medida a los cambios en las técnicas agrícolas y a la intensificación de la producción (Eurostat 2015). La mayoría de los oliv...

Lepus granatensis is an Iberian Peninsula endemic species and one of the most important small game species. We surveyed Iberian hare-vehicle accidents in roads network in southern Spain, analysing the Mediterranean landscape, the main habitats of this species. We recorded roadkill of roads during 6-month, compared hare roadkill densities to hare hu...

We monitored the incidence of predation behavior in Eurasian otters ( Lutra lutra ) from urban ponds in southern Spain, following reports of the mustelids’ presence in various urban locations. In one of the case studies, 30 small common carp and 35 Koi fish were released in May 2017 and April 2018, respectively, into two different ponds. Otters ext...

A significant number of Baka Pygmies in Cameroon have been sedentarised in roadside villages, in contrast to their nomadic hunter-gatherer existence of the past. Although this change in lifestyle has had important consequences on health, most Baka villages still supplement their diets from forest products, especially wild meat. We used a combinatio...

Los mamíferos en la provincia de Málaga reúnen sesenta y cuatro especies, once marinas, treinta una terrestres y veintidós que han colonizado el medio aéreo. Una biodiversidad tan espectacular, casi la mitad de las especies que hay presentes en toda la Península Ibérica, sólo es posible gracias a la diversidad de ambientes existente la provincia. E...

European free–tailed bat fatalities at wind farms in southern Spain. Wind is increasingly used as a renewable energy all around the world. Although wind turbines help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the costs to wildlife cannot be overlooked. To date, monitoring programs and research have mainly focused on the impact of wind farms on birds but neg...

Linear infrastructure intrusions into natural ecosystems, such as motorways and high-speed railways, causes direct loss of habitat but also impacts fauna through collisions. Wildlife road mortality is well documented and extensive conservation legislation exists in many countries to minimise the negative impact of these infrastructures. However, al...

La comarca de la Costa del Sol Occidental es un destino turístico de sol y playa re- conocido a nivel mundial. No es tan conocido que los once municipios que cons- tituyen esta comarca natural de Málaga albergan una serie de espacios naturales protegidos que ofrecen importantes oportunidades para el turismo de naturaleza y de observación de fauna,...

La ardilla se expande en Málaga tras las introducciones de los años ochenta en los Montes de Málaga y en Sierra Almijara. Hemos analizado su presencia y abundancia en un espacio natural caracterizado por sus calas y acantilados marinos con rodales de pinar (Pinus halepensis). Durante la primavera de 2019 se muestrearon 384 ha de superficie usando c...

Actualmente, la caza en los países desarrollados se practica con carácter recreativo y a modo de esparcimiento. Su ejercicio está regulado por una legislación específica que tiene como finalidad compatibilizar la caza con la conservación de las poblaciones sometidas a aprovechamiento. En España, los cotos de caza deben ajustar su actividad cinegéti...

Analizamos los efectos del manejo del suelo sobre la comunidad de paseriformes en cincuenta parcelas de olivar de montaña (ubicados en laderas con cierta pendiente y una altitud superior a 900 msnm) de la Serranía de Ronda (Málaga) y con dos manejos diferentes (50% convencional y 50% con cubierta vegetal). Los censos se llevaron a cabo durante los...

In 2012 a video was uploaded to a social network in which a pair of otters were eating in a fishing port of southern Spain. We tried to find out if this was an isolated episode or something more habitual and if was still happening. Between 2017 and 2019 we visited this port looking for otters and their traces. We also carried out interviews with fi...

Between 2017 and 2018 we monitored the survival of two populations of carps released in two ponds in an urban park in the municipality of Benahavís (Málaga, Spain). The park was near to an area with otters (the Guadalmina River). Since these mustelids can use artificial ponds as pantries during the Mediterranean summer, we expected to find predatio...

The trade of bushmeat from rural areas to supply burgeoning cities is a major conservation and livelihood concern. Using a whole-city sampling strategy we mapped the distribution and numbers of meat outlets in the Kinshasa–Brazzaville metropolitan area, two neighboring capital cities in Central Africa. We show that both cities differ in the number...

1. A significant link between forest loss and fragmentation and outbreaks of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in humans has been documented. Deforestation may alter the natural circulation of viruses and change the composition, abundance, behaviour and possibly viral exposure of reservoir species. This in turn might increase contact between infected anima...

Currently, there are naturalized populations of feral pigeon (Columba livia var. domestica) worldwide with an estimated global population between 165 and 330 million individuals. Feral pigeons are adapted to urban environments, creating problems related to human health, damage to architectural structures, unpleasant soiling, and foul odors. Thus, l...

We analyzed the efficiency, effectiveness, catch rate by sex and age and selectivity of a series of cage traps used to control wild boars that caused damage in a Costa del Sol urban area (Benahavís, Málaga). Between 2015 and 2018 a total of 30 cage traps were used (three different models: minimum size 170x70x60 cm and different activation system)....

We analyzed the expansion of a Central European Red deer population introduced in a hunting estate (Benahavís, Málaga) in the decade of the eighties of the 20th century. The estate was requalified and urbanized in the nineties. Since then, these animals have coexisted with residents and both accidental and intentional escapes have been taking place...

Pest species cause significant ecological, social and economic impacts, and programs to control them usually target specific landscape features when pests use these to disperse. Roads or railways are often used by pest species as dispersal corridors, but little is known about the specific characteristics of these human infrastructures that facilita...

The Red squirrel is a species that came to populate historically the entire Iberian Peninsula. However, in Andalusia there are currently only two important populations: Sierra Nevada and Sierra de Cazorla y Segura. During the last decades these populations have naturally increased their distribution area without leaving the provincial limits. In th...

Protected areas (PAs) are currently the cornerstones for biodiversity conservation in many regions of the world. Within Africa's moist forest areas, however, numerous PAs are under significant threats from anthropogenic activities. Adequate technical and human resources are required to manage the wildlife within PAs satisfactorily. SMART (Spatial M...

Se ha estimado la densidad de jabalí en el término municipal de Mijas (Málaga) y su incidencia (daños ocasionados) en diferentes sectores del municipio durante los meses de junio a octubre de 2017. Para estimar la densidad se utilizó la técnica del fototrampeo sin identificación individual de ejemplares. Se obtuvieron 207 fotos de jabalíes en 98 es...

Hemos analizado las preferencias de hábitat de dos poblaciones de eslizón tridáctilo ibérico en dos sierras de la provincia de Málaga. Ambas poblaciones están situadas en un rango altitudinal (800-900 msnm) y climático (temperatura media anual 18ºC y precipitaciones anuales 500-600 mm) similar, pero sobre litologías diferentes. Una población se loc...

Aim of study: Monitoring and control the hunting activity is primordial to guarantee its sustainability. However, the governmental agencies responsible to manage hunting commonly are unable to adequately do this job because the thousands of small private hunting states, associated exclusively by political-administrative criteria. In this work, we p...

Gestión cinegética racional ligada a la praxis de la caza y la recolección. ¿Entelequia aristotélica o quimera? Desde los albores de su historia filogenética, el consumo de proteínas de origen animal ha tenido gran relevancia en la evolución de los humanos. La caza cooperativa representa una estrategia evolutiva estable a partir del momento en que...

Background: Numerous small and medium-sized mammal pests cause widespread and economically significant damage to crops all over the globe. However, most research on pest species has focused on accounts of the level of damage. There are fewer studies concentrating on the description of crop damage caused by pests at large geographical scales, or on...

We tested if releasing game birds may attract predators. If a ”calling effect” was found, high rates of mortality during the first days after a release could have an explanation. Further, we tested if the effect was the same for different predator species (generalist against more specialized). Our results suggest that there exists the calling effec...

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a contagious, severe and often lethal form of hemorrhagic fever in humans. The association of EVD outbreaks with forest clearance has been suggested previously but many aspects remained uncharacterized. We used remote sensing techniques to investigate the association between deforestation in time and space, with EVD out...

Measuring hunting sustainability across West/Central African forests remains a challenge. Long-term assessment of trends is crucial. Via hunter-reported surveys we collected offtake data in three villages near the Dja Biosphere Reserve (southeast Cameroon). During four months (March-June) in 2003, 2009 and 2016, we gathered information on hunters,...

Wind power, as an alternative to fossil fuels, is increasingly common, and is expanding worldwide. Wind farms cause mortality of flying animals through collision with moving rotor blades, and from electrocution on associated power lines. Avian mortality rates have been estimated from birds collected under turbines over varying time intervals. Howev...

Remote sensing and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) can be combined to advance conservation of remote tropical regions, e.g. Amazonia, where intensive in situ surveys are often not possible. Integrating TEK into monitoring and management of these areas allows for community participation, as well as for offering novel insights into sustainable...

El comercio ilegal de fauna es una de las principales causas que ponen en peligro la biodiversidad e intentar monitorizar su seguimiento a escala global entraña muchas dificultades. Por ello es de gran importancia cualquier información que los países puedan ofrecer con objeto de obtener una visión más precisa y así actuar en consecuencia. A partir...

We use data on game harvest from 60 Pygmy and non-Pygmy settlements in the Congo Basin forests to examine whether hunting patterns and prey profiles differ between the two hunter groups. For each group, we calculate hunted animal numbers and biomass available per inhabitant, P, per year (harvest rates) and killed per hunter, H, per year (extraction...

We present a flexible statistical modelling framework to deal with multivariate count data along with longitudinal and repeated measures structures. The covariance structure for each response variable is defined in terms of a covariance link function combined with a matrix linear predictor involving known matrices. To specify the joint covariance m...

We present a flexible statistical modelling framework to deal with multivariate count data along with longitudinal and repeated measures structures. The covariance structure for each response variable is defined in terms of a covariance link function combined with a matrix linear predictor involving known matrices. To specify the joint covariance m...

ABSTRACT 1. Ebola virus is responsible for the fatal Ebola virus disease (EVD). 2. Identifying the distribution area of the Ebola virus is crucial for understand- ing the risk factors conditioning the emergence of new EVD cases. Existing distribution models have underrepresented the potential contribution that res- ervoir species and vulnerable spe...

ABSTRACT 1. Ebola virus is responsible for the fatal Ebola virus disease (EVD). 2. Identifying the distribution area of the Ebola virus is crucial for understand- ing the risk factors conditioning the emergence of new EVD cases. Existing distribution models have underrepresented the potential contribution that res- ervoir species and vulnerable spe...

The presence of deer in urban environments is a recent phenomenon in the Iberian Peninsula. Deer are essentially forest species whose populations are currently expanding into many areas, and the newly exurban areas, between urban and forest habitats, seem to comprise very favourable habitat for them. For example, the existence of golf courses in ne...

Pygmy populations occupy a vast territory extending west-to-east along the central African belt from the Congo Basin to Lake Victoria. However, their numbers and actual distribution is not known precisely. Here, we undertake this task by using locational data and population sizes for an unprecedented number of known Pygmy camps and settlements (n =...

The blue duiker (Philantomba monticola) is an abundant and widely distributed ungulate in continental sub-Saharan Africa. High hunting pressure throughout its range may be particularly threatening to the persistence of island populations of the species. In this paper, we assessed offtake of blue duikers in Pico Basilé, Bioko Island, Equatorial Guin...

The blue duiker (Philantomba monticola) is an abundant and widely distributed ungulate in continental sub-Saharan Africa. High hunting pressure throughout its range may be particularly threatening to the persistence of island popula- tions of the species. In this study, we assessed offtake of blue duikers in Pico Basille, Bioko Island, Equatorial G...

The illegal wildlife trade is one of the main threats to biodiversity, and monitoring this at a global level presents severe challenges. Therefore, any information that countries can offer is of great value to obtain a more accurate vision of the species and volume traded. In the present study, we collected data from the largest seizures occurring...

We studied links between human malnutrition and wild meat availability within the Rainforest Biotic Zone in central Africa. We distinguished two distinct hunted mammalian diversity distributions, one in the rainforest areas (Deep Rainforest Diversity, DRD) containing taxa of lower hunting sustainability, the other in the northern rainforest-savanna...

We studied links between human malnutrition and wild meat availability within the Rainforest Biotic Zone in central Africa. We distinguished two distinct hunted mammalian diversity distributions, one in the rainforest areas (Deep Rainforest Diversity, DRD) containing taxa of lower hunting sustainability, the other in the northern rainforest-savanna...

We used data on number of carcasses of wildlife species sold in 79 bushmeat markets in a region of Nigeria and Cameroon to assess whether species composition of a market could be explained by anthropogenic pressures and environmental variables around each market. More than 45 mammal species from 9 orders were traded across all markets; mostly ungul...

We used data on carcass numbers of wildlife species sold in 79 bushmeat markets in a region of Nigeria and Cameroon to assess whether species composition of a market could be explained by anthropogenic pressures and environmental variables around each market. More than 45 mammal species from nine orders were traded across all markets; most were ung...

The presence of deer in urban environments is a recent phenomenon in the Iberian Peninsula. Deer are essentially forest species whose populations are currently expanding into many areas and the newly exurban areas, mixed between urban and forest habitats, seem to comprise very favourable habitat for them. For example, the existence of golf courses...

Wild animals are a primary source of protein (bushmeat) for people living in or near tropical forests. Ideally, the effect of bushmeat harvests should be monitored closely by making regular estimates of offtake rate and size of stock available for exploitation. However, in practice, this is possible in very few situations because it requires both o...

Placobdella costata is a leech specific to freshwater turtle Emys orbicularis. Both genera are native to North America and have co-evolved and undergone dispersion through the Palearctic. The leech is present throughout the Mediterranean area, always associated with E. orbicularis. Their only known presence in the Iberian Peninsula is in the north...

Surveys are very important tools for population monitoring, conservation and species management. Censuses aid in the sustainable harvesting of game species. Our aim in this study was to test whether some factors related to habitat and agricultural practices of olive cultivation may influence red-legged partridge abundance estimates. We investigated...

Capsule. Bird communities are better conserved in woody crop farms with mechanically managed herbaceous cover corridors. Aims. To determine the advantages of herbaceous cover corridors for the conservation of farmland birds. Methods. We studied birds in three vineyards subjected to different crop management schemes. Two vineyards had a herbaceous...

Bushmeat markets exist in many countries in West and Central Africa, and data on species sold can be used to detect patterns of wildlife trade in a region. We surveyed 89 markets within the Cross–Sanaga rivers region, West Africa. In each market, we counted the number of carcasses of each taxon sold. During a 6‐month period (7594 market days), 44 m...

Globally, tropical forests provide renewable products (timber and other non-timber goods) to its many inhabitants. For many indigenous communities in the forests of South America, Africa and Asia, wildlife and more particularly the meat from mammals, is an important source of animal protein, but also a source of income derived from the sale of the...

We followed a red fox culling campaign that employed traditional cable snares to control numbers in a hunting estate in the Serranía de Ronda (Andalusia, southern Spain). We assessed abundance and presence of carnivore species within the area where fox culling took place by means of faecal counts within regularly walked paths. Twenty animals of fou...

We have monitored the presence of roe deer in 25 municipalities in the occidental mountians of Málaga. We estimated roe deer abundance (pellet groups counts/km) and relative density (deer/km2) by means of distance sampling and defecation rate conversion. We also analyzed the relationships between roe deer abundance and habitat vegetation and covera...

We have monitored the presence of roe deer in 25 municipalities in the occidental mountians of Málaga. We estimated roe deer abundance (pellet groups counts/km) and relative density (deer/km2) by means of distance sampling and defecation rate conversion. We also analyzed the relationships between roe deer abundance and habitat vegetation and covera...

Red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) populations have significantly declined in the Iberian Peninsula (by > 50% between 1973 and 2002). This decline has been attributed to the drastic changes that have occurred in traditional agricultural landscapes, among other factors. This paper assesses the relationship between landscape change and the changes...