Pedro P. Olea

• Professor
• Professor (Associate) Profesor Titular at Autonomous University of Madrid

Managing threatened species to reduce their extinction risk, is a widely used, yet challenging, means of halting biodiversity loss. Species show complex spatial patterns of extinction risk, due to spatial variation in both threats and vulnerability across their ranges. Conservation practitioners, however, rarely consider this spatial variation and...

Transhumance is a traditional livestock practice based on the movement of livestock between winter and summer pastures with importance placed on biodiversity conservation. We analyzed the transhumant activity of sheep and cows in the uplands of the Cantabrian Mountains, NW Spain, and its influence on the ecology and management of the griffon vultur...

The Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM–GBF) envisions a world living in harmony with nature by 2050, with 23 intermediate targets to be achieved by 2030. However, aligning international policy and national and local implementation of effective actions can be challenging. Using steppe birds, one of the most threatened vertebrate grou...

Vultures provide the key ecosystem service of quickly removing carrion, so they have recently been assumed to be top scavengers. To challenge the concept of top scavenger (i.e. the most influential in the scavenging community and process), between 2012 and 2019, we recorded the consumption of 45 equine carcasses available for two different avian sc...

The imperative of coordinated multilateral efforts to prevent the extinction of the Andean Condor was recently emphasized (1). Accordingly, Bolivia has marked a milestone by approving the Law 1525 on November 9, 2023, which provides a legal framework to protect this species, and incorporates serious wildlife crimes into the Bolivian Penal Code (i.e...

Cyclic rodent populations exhibit pronounced changes in body mass associated with the population cycle phase, long-known as Chitty effect. Although Chitty effect is a common epiphenomenon in both America and Europe, there is still incomplete evidence about the generality of these patterns across the entire range of most species. Moreover, despite d...

The cryptic nature of wildlife crimes, such as poaching, challenges the effective monitoring of their impacts on biodiversity, thus jeopardizing the adequate addressing of this critical threat. Official databases serve as the main sources of information for delineating strategies and actions against wildlife crimes. However, their reliability requi...

key words rookeries Corvus frugilegus colony Spanish Rook population variation coefficient breeding ABSTRACT While numerous censuses are conducted in Rook (Corvus frugi-legus) populations, there is still a lack of comprehensive evaluations regarding the methodologies employed and factors influencing population estimates. Here, we assess patterns of...

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF) envisions a world living in harmony with nature by 2050, with 23 intermediate targets to be achieved by 2030. However, aligning international policy and local implementation of effective actions can be challenging. Using steppe birds, one of the most threatened vertebrate groups in Europe,...

Monitoring compliance with environmental laws is essential to overcoming possible implementation shortfalls jeopardizing their effectiveness. Besides improving our ecological understanding of wildlife, remote tracking technologies also allow us to take advantage of such ecological knowledge to use wildlife as sentinels of compliance with law. We il...

Partiendo de las pioneras reflexiones de González Bernáldez a finales de los años 1980 sobre las consecuencias ambientales de la intensificación y el abandono agrarios, revisamos los cambios que la agricultura española ha experimentado hasta el presente en materia ambiental e identificamos algunos de los desafíos futuros. En primer lugar, repasamos...

Patterns of variation in the size of vulture foraging groups, and their ecological causes and consequences, remain little explored despite strong links with the carrion recycling service that this key functional group provides. We documented the group size-frequency pattern of Andean condors Vultur gryphus gathered to feed on 42 equine carcasses ex...

In simplified agricultural landscapes, some rodent species such as the common vole (Microtus arvalis) can reach high abundances and become agricultural pests. Crop field margins are a key structural element and, therefore, expected to play a key role in vole abundance, even within the demographic cycles that govern vole population dynamics. Here, w...

In the Anthropocene, many species are rapidly shifting their ranges in response to human-driven habitat modifications. Studying patterns and genetic signatures of range shifts helps to understand how species cope with environmental disturbances and predict future shifts in the face of global environmental change. We investigated the genetic signatu...

Illegal wildlife poisoning is a global threat for biodiversity, yet the magnitude of its impact on ecosystems is largely underestimated as most of poisoning episodes remain undetected. Here, we conducted a large-scale field experiment to better understand the real dimension of the illegal wildlife poisoning in terms of composition and number of spe...

Enforcement is critical to guarantee the effectiveness of environmental laws for nature conservation. Erroneously assuming an equivalence between the formal implementation of environmental legislation on paper and its practical enforcement in reality can result in biased conclusions with potential to ill-inform conservation actions and influence st...

Micromammals have historically been recognized as highly contentious species in terms of maintenance and transmission of zoonotic pathogens to humans. Limited information is currently available on the epidemiology and potential public health significance of intestinal eukaryotes in wild micromammals. We examined 490 faecal samples, grouped in 155 p...

Bromadiolone is an anticoagulant rodenticide (AR) commonly used as a plant protection product (PPP) against rodent pests in agricultural lands. ARs can be transferred trophically to predators/scavengers when they consume intoxicated live or dead rodents. ARs exposure in weasels Mustela nivalis, small mustelids specialized on rodent predation, is po...

Unravelling how biodiversity is maintained despite species competition for shared resources has been a central question in community ecology, and is gaining relevance amidst the current biodiversity crisis. Yet, we have still a poor understanding of the mechanisms that regulate species coexistence and shape the structure of assemblages in highly co...

La dispersión es un proceso esencial en la vida de las especies. Este rasgo de "historia de vida" determina cómo los individuos explotan los recursos en ambientes cambiantes implicando profundas consecuencias en su supervivencia y reproducción, en la estructura y dinámica de las poblaciones y en las comunidades. Debido a ello, la dispersión ha reci...

Species assemblages often have a non‐random nested organization, which in vertebrate scavenger (carrion‐consuming) assemblages is thought to be driven by facilitation in competitive environments. However, not all scavenger species play the same role in maintaining assemblage structure, as some species are obligate scavengers (i.e., vultures) and ot...

Conservation regulations are instrumental for effective nature preservation, but several compliance and implementation failures jeopardize the achievement of their objectives, with strong potential to erode their legitimacy. Understanding how such deficits impact on stakeholders' perceptions is a matter of concern in pursuing truly effective tools....

The next reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the period 2021- 2027 (currently extended to 2023-2030) requires the approval by the European Commission of a Strategic Plan with environmental objectives for each Member State. Here we use the best available scientific evidence on the relationships between agricultural practices and bi...

Although roads are widely seen as dispersal barriers, their genetic consequences for animals that experience large fluctuations in population density are poorly documented. We developed a spatially paired experimental design to assess the genetic impacts of roads on cyclic voles ( Microtus arvalis ) during a high-density phase in North-Western Spai...

Supporting Information.

The common vole (Microtus arvalis) is a major agricultural pest in Europe and a reservoir for several zoonotic agents, such as Leptospira spp. and Tula orthohantavirus (TULV). However, little is known about the occurrence of these pathogens in voles from Spain where the species has largely expanded its distribution range in the last decades causing...

Coxiella burnetii, the causal agent of human Q fever and animal Coxiellosis, is a zoonotic infectious bacterium with a complex ecology that results from its ability to replicate in multiple (in)vertebrate host species. Spain notifies the highest number of Q fever cases to the ECDC annually and wildlife plays a relevant role in C. burnetii ecology i...

Food is a primary factor driving animal population dynamics. Low quality food (e.g. poisoned carrion) has caused large declines of Asian and African vulture populations pushing some species to the brink of extinction. Although Europe emerges as a stronghold for the guild, European vultures face potential food shortages due to sanitary restrictions...

Vertebrate scavenger communities vary in species composition across the globe. They include a wide array of species with diverse ecological strategies and life histories that support essential ecosystem functions, such as carrion removal. While previous studies have mostly focussed on how community aspects such as species richness and composition a...

Significance Pesticides and other toxic substances (e.g. lead ammunition, veterinary drugs) have caused the decline of many animal populations, highlighting the serious threat that wildlife poisoning poses for biodiversity conservation. While compelling evidence demonstrates the harmful effects of poisoning on individuals, its impact on populations...

El uso ilegal del veneno es una de las principales amenazas para la conservación de especies, particularmente de carroñeros y depredadores. Aunque no existe información fiable sobre el impacto real del veneno en España, entre 1992 y 2013 se ha estimado que podrían haber muerto unos 185.000 animales entre aves y mamíferos. A pesar del elevado número...

The organization of ecological assemblages has important implications for ecosystem functioning, but little is known about how scavenger communities organize at the global scale. Here, we test four hypotheses on the factors affecting the network structure of terrestrial vertebrate scavenger assemblages and its implications on ecosystem functioning....

Vertebrate scavenger communities vary in species composition across the globe, and include a wide array of species with diverse ecological strategies and life-histories that support essential ecosystem functions, such as carrion removal. While previous studies have mostly focussed on how community aspects such as species richness and composition af...

The role of glacial refugia in shaping contemporary species distribution is a long‐standing question in phylogeography and evolutionary ecology. Recent studies are questioning previous paradigms on glacial refugia and postglacial recolonization pathways in Europe, and more flexible phylogeographic scenarios have been proposed. We used the widesprea...

PDF of submitted version available for free at: http://publish.illinois.edu/maxallen/files/2019/06/Sebastian-Gonzalez-et-al.-MS.pdf Understanding the distribution of biodiversity across the Earth is one of the most challenging questions in biology. Much research has been directed at explaining the species latitudinal pattern showing that communi...

Carrion, or dead animal matter, is an inherent component of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems worldwide, and is exploited by a wide diversity of organisms from different trophic levels, including microbes, arthropods and vertebrates. Further, carrion consumption by scavengers, i.e. scavenging, supports key ecosystem functions and services such as...

Carrion, dead animal matter, is an inherent component of the all aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, playing a central role in their functioning. Yet, unlike dead plant matter, the study of the decomposition of dead animals has received little attention in the fields of ecology, wildlife conservation and environmental management. In this introducto...

In this chapter we draw a general synthesis of the emerging and understudied field of carrion ecology, summarizing the main conclusions of the book and highlight some key questions identified by the chapters’ authors as the most relevant to answer in this field in the near future. Finally, we identify some challenges scavengers and scavenging proce...

Understanding how species respond to disturbance in human-modified ecosytems is critical for management and conservation of biodiversity in the Anthropocene. In agroecosystems, human disturbances severely modify the habitat of species, particularly for those that live in burrows. The common vole Microtus arvalis (Pallas, 1778) is a semi-fossorial m...

Law enforcement and integration of environmental issues into other policies able to affect species and ecosystems are cornerstones for the effective protection of biodiversity. We illustrate the necessity of monitoring and improving such enforcement and integration through the example of the European sanitary policies for managing livestock carcass...

Integrating indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) and scientific knowledge (SK) in the evaluation of ecosystem services has been recommended by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. We examined the similarities and contradictions between shepherds’ ILK and SK on the scavenging service provided by verte...

Integrating environmental concerns into sectoral policies is a priority for sustainable development. Despite environmental policy integration being established in Europe in 1998, major weaknesses still limit its effectiveness, such as poor coordination at national and subnational levels. We use the integration of scavenger conservation into sanitar...

Abiotic and biotic factors modulate carcass consumption by scavengers, affecting ecosystem functioning. Habitat structure is arguably a key factor influencing scavenging, but its role remains poorly understood, particularly at small spatial scales. We examine how habitat characteristics at landscape (50–1000 m radius) and local (≤10 m radius) scale...

Understanding the mechanisms that organize biodiversity is central in ecology and conservation. Beta diversity links local (alfa) and regional (gamma) diversity, giving insight into how communities organize spatially. Metacommunity ecology provides the framework to interpret regional and local processes interacting to shape communities. However, th...

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is gaining relevance at both political and scientific grounds, providing scientific assessments for policy-makers to enhance capacity-building on issues that challenge biodiversity conservation such as pollination crisis or land degradation. Many other cons...

Concerns raised two decades ago about the lack of commitment of European sanitary policies with scavenger conservation triggered a long policy-making process that has advanced the integration of conservation biodiversity and public health. However, the lack of homogeneous criteria to designate Scavenger Feeding Zones (SFZs, i.e. where fallen stock...

La comadreja Mustela nivalis es un pequeño carnívoro especializado en el consumo de micromamíferos. En la Península Ibérica hay muy poca información sobre esta especie, siendo especialmente interesante el estudio de su papel en la regulación de la dinámica poblacional de los micromamíferos. Algunas especies alcanzan eventualmente elevadas densidade...

La comadreja Mustela nivalis es el más pequeño de los carnívoros Ibéricos y uno de los más desconocidos. Pese a mostrar una amplia distribución según el Atlas y Libro Rojo de Mamíferos Terrestres de España (SECEM, 2007), se desconoce si la ausencia de registros en algunas áreas del país podría deberse a su dificultad de detección más que a una ause...

It is known that the garden dormouse Eliomys quercinus includes meat in its diet, however, it is unclear if scavenging is a widespread behaviour, as it is difficult to observe in the wild. Here, we document scavenging behaviour for the species based on direct evidence. We captured five garden dormice with live traps using dead baits, which were par...

Aim Recent works on biodiversity–ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships highlight abundance fluctuations of common species as more important for delivering ecosystem services than changes in species richness and composition in real‐world ecosystems. However, evidence on BEF relationships in natural ecosystems is still limited, especially for lar...

Media files on the paper "Mapping the spatio-temporal risk of lead exposure in apex species for more effective mitigation" (Mateo-Tomás et al. 2016. Proc R Soc B DOI:10.1098/rspb.2016.0662). From the European Commission portal "Science for Environment Policy", a free news and information service providing info on quality environmental research for...

Several wild species are potential hosts of Coxiella burnetii, the causal agent of Q fever in humans and other mammals. Yet, those that present wide geographic distribution ranges, are abundant, reach high population densities, are gregarious and live in humanized environments are most prone to be relevant reservoirs. Accordingly, previous studies...

Effective mitigation of the risks posed by environmental contaminants for ecosystem integrity and human health requires knowing their sources and spatiotemporal distribution. We analysed the exposure to lead (Pb) in griffon vulture Gyps fulvus—an apex species valuable as biomonitoring sentinel. We determined vultures' lead exposure and its main sou...

The intensification of agriculture has increased production at the cost of environment and biodiversity worldwide. To increase crop yield in dry cereal systems, vast farmland areas of high conservation value are being converted into irrigation, especially in Mediterranean countries. We analyze the effect of irrigation-driven changes on the farm bio...

Because human activities are pushing the global ecosystem toward an irreversible state shift (Barnosky et al. 2012), there is a growing urgency for scientists to provide and effectively communicate solutions to large-scale environmental problems. The emergence of Digital Earth technologies – virtual representations of the Earth known as virtual glo...

Disentangling the processes that shape the organization of ecological assemblages and its implications for species coexistence is one of the foremost challenges of ecology. Although insightful advances have recently related community composition and structure with species coexistence in mutualistic and antagonistic networks, little is known regardi...

Species distribution models (SDMs) are increasingly used to predict species ranges and their shifts under future scenarios of global environmental change (GEC). SDMs are thus incorporating key drivers of GEC (e.g. climate, land use) to improve predictions of species' habitat suitability (i.e. as an indicator of species occurrence). Yet, most SDMs i...

Infographics to disseminate the work and main results of our paper: Mateo-Tomás, P., Olea, P.P. 2015. Livestock-driven land use change to model species distributions: Egyptian vulture as a case study. Ecological Indicators 57:331-340. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.05.017.

Infografía para difundir el trabajo realizado y los principales resultados del artículo: Mateo-Tomás, P., Olea, P.P. 2015. Livestock-driven land use change to model species distributions: Egyptian vulture as a case study. Ecological Indicators 57:331-340. DOI:10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.05.017.

Infografía para difundir el trabajo realizado y los principales resultados del artículo "From regional to global patterns in vertebrate scavenger communities subsidized by big game hunting" Diversity and Distributions. DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12330

Media file. Infographics to disseminate the work and main results of our paper: "From regional to global patterns in vertebrate scavenger communities subsidized by big game hunting" Diversity and Distributions. DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12330

Aim Anthropogenic food subsidies are increasingly present in ecosystems, but their impacts remain poorly understood. Big game hunting is a growing activity that annually subsidizes ecosystems with tonnes of carrion world‐wide. By feeding on carrion, scavengers support key ecosystem functions and services, becoming key vectors to transfer the impact...

Agricultural intensification has strongly affected the environment in last decades. Intensification by irrigation is a common transformation worldwide, particularly in Mediterranean countries, but its effects on biodiversity have rarely been studied. We evaluated the effects of farming system and habitat structure on arthropod abundance, richness,...

The severe impact of agriculture on species’ abundance and diversity is widely recognized. However, its effects on the physiology of wild animal populations are poorly known. We analyzed faecal glucocorticoids levels in wild common voles (Microtus arvalis) living in a farmland landscape to test whether living in degraded habitats, such as crops, is...

Populations at the rear edge of the species’ range are often at a high risk of extinction due to their isolation, fragmentation and small population sizes. However, these populations also play a relevant role in the conservation of biodiversity since they may represent a valuable genetic resource. The endangered Cantabrian Capercaillie (Tetrao urog...

The assessment of a species’ habitat is a crucial issue in ecology and conservation. While the collection of habitat data has been boosted by the availability of remote sensing technologies, certain habitat types have yet to be collected through costly, on-ground surveys, limiting study over large areas. Cliffs are ecosystems that provide habitat f...

The assessment of a species' habitat is a crucial issue in ecology and conservation. While the collection of habitat data has been boosted by the availability of remote sensing technologies, certain habitat types have yet to be collected through costly, on-ground surveys, limiting study over large areas. Cliffs are ecosystems that provide habitat f...