Olivier Duriez

Université de Montpellier | UM1 · Centre d’Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive (CEFE)

As part of a long-term monitoring program, more than 80 Mediterranean ospreys Pandion haliaetus (both adults and juveniles) were tagged with GPS-GSM transmitters and tracked to study their spatiotemporal behaviour. Here we document the peculiar and unexpected migration movements performed by three inexperienced (juvenile/immature) individuals, who...

L'aigle de Bonelli Aquila fasciata est en déclin sur l'ensemble de son aire distribution et compte, en 2021, 42 couples présents en France sur le pourtour méditerranéen. Il fait l'objet de Plans nationaux d'action depuis 1999 dont l'un des objectifs est la meilleure connaissance des domaines vitaux des couples. Nous avons analysé par la méthode des...

In this study, we compared the vulture population’ seasonal food requirements in the Grands Causses (France) for the year 2020 to the edible biomass made available by livestock owners on individual supplementary feeding stations. The vulture population’s food requirements were evaluated with the modelling of their energy expenditure budget. Individ...

Context Soaring birds depend on atmospheric uplifts and are sensitive to wind energy development. Predictive modelling is instrumental to forecast conflicts between human infrastructures and single species of concern. However, as multiple species often coexist in the same area, we need to overcome the limitations of single species approaches. Obje...

The impact of bird mortality by collision on windfarms has often been evaluated at the individual level, but rarely at the population level. The Lesser kestrel Falco naumanni is an endangered short‐lived migratory raptor, susceptible to collision with wind turbines. We evaluated the impacts of windfarm turbine collisions on the demography of the la...

Letter to the editor: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1fKAc1R~eOy0I

Evolutionary context matters when moving species. Reintroductions that are not consistent with the evolutionary history of a species, and that will likely alter the species’ future evolution, could prove detrimental to conservation. For osprey conservation, translocation programs that move individuals without accounting for local adaptations betwee...

Wind turbines and power lines can cause bird mortality due to collision or electrocution. The biodiversity impacts of energy infrastructure (EI) can be minimised through effective landscape-scale planning and mitigation. The identification of high-vulnerability areas is urgently needed to assess potential cumulative impacts of EI while supporting t...

Protected areas are the cornerstones of biodiversity conservation. Evaluating the effectiveness of PAs for protecting peculiar habitats and sensitive species is of paramount importance to ultimately assess their long-term effects on biological communities. We evaluated the importance of the PAs network at intercontinental scale, across Europe and A...

Over millennia, human intervention has transformed European habitats mainly through extensive livestock grazing. “Dehesas/Montados” are an Iberian savannah-like ecosystem dominated by oak-trees, bushes and grass species that are subject to agricultural and extensive livestock uses. They are a good example of how large-scale, low intensive transform...

Although vulture feeding stations are a widely used tool for vulture conservation in many regions worldwide, there has been some confusion about their functions and this is reflected in the range of terminology used. The origin of food supply at provisioning sites (both for in situ and ex situ situations) and the goals of feeding station managers (...

Bio-logging devices play a fundamental and indispensable role in movement ecology studies, particularly in the wild. However, researchers are becoming increasingly aware of the potential effects that attaching devices can have on animals, particularly on their behaviour, energy expenditure and survival. The way a device is attached to an animal's b...

Flying over the open sea is energetically costly for terrestrial birds. Despite this, over-water journeys of many birds, sometimes hundreds of kilometres long, are uncovered by bio-logging technology. To understand how these birds afford their flights over the open sea, we investigated the role of atmospheric conditions, specifically wind and uplif...

Animals' movements integrate multiple factors, such as motion and navigational abilities, the motivational and internal states of the individuals, and environmental conditions. We studied Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus) from two populations (Causses and Pyrenees, France) to determine whether they adapt their movements (foraging and home range) and t...

Vultures and condors are among the most threatened avian species in the world due to the impacts of human activities. Negative perceptions can contribute to these threats as some vulture species have been historically blamed for killing livestock. This perception of conflict has increased in recent years, associated with a viral spread of partial a...

1. Long-distance migrations are among the most physically demanding feats animals perform. Understanding the potential costs and benefits of such behaviour is a fundamental question in ecology and evolution. A hypothetical cost of migration should be outweighed by higher productivity and/or higher annual survival, but few studies on migratory speci...

Soaring birds use the energy available in the environment in the form of atmospheric uplifts, to subsidize their flight. Their dependence on soaring opportunities makes them extremely sensitive to anthropogenic wind energy development. Predictive modelling is now considered instrumental to forecast the impact of wind farms on single species of conc...

We used both satellite tracking and carbon, nitrogen and sulphur stable isotopic analysis (SIA) to infer wintering ecology and habitat use of the Corsican osprey Pandion haliaetus population. A control sample of feathers from 75 individuals was collected within the osprey's northern hemisphere breeding range, to assess the SIA variability across ha...

Post‐release mortality and movements are critical factors of translocation failure. Yet, survival and movement reflect different demographic and behavioral processes and may therefore have contrasted responses to management, although they are often very difficult to disentangle in animal populations. To provide guidance in animal translocations, we...

Timing of activity can reveal an organism's efforts to optimize foraging either by minimizing energy loss through passive movement or by maximizing energetic gain through foraging. Here, we assess whether signals of either of these strategies are detectable in the timing of activity of daily, local movements by birds. We compare the similarities of...

Timing of activity can reveal an organism's efforts to optimize foraging either by minimizing energy loss through passive movement or by maximizing energetic gain through foraging. Here, we assess whether signals of either of these strategies are detectable in the timing of activity of daily, local movements by birds. We compare the similarities of...

The open sea is considered an ecological barrier to terrestrial bird movement. However, over-water journeys of many terrestrial birds, sometimes hundreds of kilometers long, are being uncovered by bio-logging technology. To understand how these birds afford their flights over the open sea, we investigated the role of atmospheric conditions in subsi...

Background Global positioning systems (GPS) and altimeters are increasingly used to monitor vertical space use by aerial species, a key aspect of their ecological niche, that we need to know to manage our own use of the airspace, and to protect those species. However, there are various sources of error in flight height data (“height” above ground,...

Presentation Talk Journal Club "Optic flow cues help explain altitude control over sea in freely flying gulls"

The head-neck system of birds is a highly complex structure that performs a variety of demanding and competing tasks. Morphofunctional adaptations to feeding specializations have previously been identified in the head and neck, but performance is also influenced by other factors such as its phylogenetic history. In order to minimize the effects of...

For studies of how birds control their altitude, seabirds are of particular interest because they forage offshore where the visual environment can be simply modelled by a flat world textured by waves then generating only ventral visual cues. This study suggests that optic flow, i.e. the rate at which the sea moves across the eye's retina, can expla...

Disentangling individual-and population-level variation in migratory movements is necessary for understanding migration at the species level. However, very few studies have analyzed these patterns across large portions of species' distributions. We compiled a large telemetry dataset on the globally endangered Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus...

Background Global positioning systems (GPS) and altimeters are increasingly used to monitor vertical space use by aerial species, a key aspect of their niche that we need to know to understand their ecology and conservation needs, and to manage our own use of the airspace. However, there are various sources of error in flight height data (“height”...

Diclofenac (NSAID) for veterinary use, the same that previously reduced south Asian Gyps vulture populations by nearly 99% in the late 1990s, was approved in Spain in 2013 for cattle, swine and horses. We assessed its availability and the potential exposure to European Griffon Gyps fulvus, Cinereous Aegypius monachus, Egyptian Neophron percnopterus...

Scavenging is a key process in the ecosystems. Studying foraging movements of obligate scavengers such as vultures can contribute to a better understanding of the scavenging-related patterns and processes. Here we review methods that can be used to track foraging vultures in the field. Yet, in order to track, vultures need to be trapped and tagged...

Human-wildlife conflicts are often partly due to biased human perceptions about the real damage caused by wildlife. While Griffon Vultures Gyps fulvus are obligate scavengers, 156 complaint reports about vultures attacking livestock were officially recorded over eight years (2007–2014) in France. We investigated whether this conflict could be expla...

For studies of how flying animals control their flight, seabirds are of particular interest to track with a biologger because they forage offshore where the visual environment can be simply modeled by a flat world textured by waves. This study suggests that optic flow can explain gull's altitude control over seas. In particular, a new flight model...

Soaring flight is a remarkable adaptation to reduce movement costs by taking advantage of atmospheric uplifts. The movement pattern of soaring birds is shaped by the spatial and temporal availability and intensity of uplifts, which result from an interaction of local weather conditions with the underlying landscape structure. We used soaring flight...

Raptors are usually considered to be mainly visually dependent, and the use of other sensory modalities has rarely been studied in these birds. Here, we investigated experimentally which senses (vision and/or olfaction) Turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) and Southern caracaras (Caracara plancus) use to find hidden food. First, two identical stainless...

In the 21st century, nature-based tourism has often reached the magnitude of mass-tourism. Even if it generates substantial revenues which may contribute to enhanced conservation, this industry is based on finite resources, such as accessible places rich in scenic beauty or charismatic wildlife. This is very much the case for the UNESCO site of Scan...

Most large raptors on migration avoid crossing the sea because of the lack of atmospheric convection over temperate seas. The osprey Pandion haliaetus is an exception among raptors, since it can fly over several hundred kilometres of open water. We equipped five juvenile ospreys with GPS-Accelerometer-Magnetometer loggers. All birds were able to fi...

L'impact des surmortalités par collision avec des éoliennes a souvent été évalué au niveau des individus, mais rarement au niveau des populations. Le faucon crécerellette Falco naumanni est un petit rapace menacé et son mode de chasse le rend susceptible aux collisions avec les éoliennes. Nous avons évalué l'impact démographique d'un parc éolien de...

Vultures are thought to form networks in the sky, with individuals monitoring the movements of others to gain up-to-date information on resource availability. While it is recognized that social information facilitates the search for carrion, how this facilitates the search for updrafts, another critical resource, remains unknown. In theory, birds c...

Many large birds rely on thermal soaring flight to travel cross-country. As such, they are under selective pressure to minimise the time spent gaining altitude in thermal updrafts. Birds should be able to maximise their climb rates by maintaining a position close to the thermal core through careful selection of bank angle and airspeed; however, the...

Afin de comprendre l'impact des parcs éoliens sur les comportements des grands rapaces et les risques de collision, l'association BECOT coordonne un suivi télémétrique par balises GPS déployées sur les aigles royaux Aquila chrysaetos du sud du massif central. Un mâle adulte territorial est équipé d'une balise GPS depuis février 2014 dans le départe...

Some protected species have benefited from human activities to a point where they sometimes raise concerns. However, gaps in knowledge about their human-related behaviour hamper effective management decisions. We studied non-breeding common ravens Corvus corax that aggregated and predated livestock in the surroundings of a landfill. Combining sever...

Genetic variability and population structure in osprey were studied using DNA microsatellite markers. Special emphasis was placed on the subspecies living in the Afro-Palearctic (Pandion haliaetus haliaetus). For comparative purposes, American osprey subspecies (P. h. carolinensis, P. h. ridgway) and Indo/Australian subspecies (P. h. cristatus) wer...

The development of migratory behaviour is a continuous process which is not only determined by genes, but also moulded by individual differences based on life-history variations occurring at each ontogenetic stage. Assessing consistency and plasticity in migratory traits between long distance (LDM) and short distance migratory (SDM) populations wit...

Birds, particularly raptors, are believed to forage primarily using visual cues. However, raptor foraging tactics are highly diverse - from chasing mobile prey to scavenging - which may reflect adaptations of their visual systems. To investigate this, we studied the visual field configuration of 15 species of diurnal Accipitriformes that differ in...

Evidence that bird odour can encode social information that can be used in chemical communication is growing, but is restricted to a few taxonomic groups. Among birds, diurnal raptors (i.e. birds from the Accipitriformes and Falconiformes order) have always been considered as mainly relying on their visual abilities. Although they seem to have a fu...

Diurnal raptors (birds of the orders Accipitriformes and Falconiformes), renowned for their extraordinarily sharp eyesight, have fascinated humans for centuries. The high visual acuity in some raptor species is possible due to their large eyes, both in relative and absolute terms, and a high density of cone photoreceptors. Some large raptors, such...

Au vu de leurs adaptations morphologiques et comportementales, les vautours sont des carnivores stricts considérés comme des nécrophages obligatoires, a priori inaptes morphologiquement à la capture de proies vivantes. Dès lors, ils engendrent généralement peu de conflits avec l'élevage, même si depuis une vingtaine d'années quelques cas d'interven...

Disturbance of wildlife by ecotourism has become a major concern in the last decades. In the Mediterranean, sea-based tourism and related recreational activities are increasing rapidly, especially within marine protected areas (MPAs) hosting emblematic biodiversity. We investigated the impact of ecotourism in the Scandola MPA (UNESCO World Heritage...

Ecology and conservation of Osprey in the Mediterra- nean basin. The peculiarities of ecology and behaviour of the vulnerable Osprey population in the Mediterranean basin was stu- died in order to propose sound conservation actions. A large scale phylogeographic analysis revealed the existence of four different lineages : one in America pooling...