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Research Project Title
Understanding vulture movement and population monitoring in Tanzania
Research Purpose:
Other -(Specify)
Principle Investigator:
corinnejkendall@gmail.com
Introduction
African vultures have declined by up to 90% in the past 30 years, with most species classified as Critically Endangered by IUCN. As wide-ranging species operating at a landscape scale, with a vital role in the ecosystem, vultures can act as early warning systems for other conservation issues, especially linked to poisoning and other illegal activities. Work on vultures can contribute meaningfully to the conservation of all species susceptible to these shared threats, such as carnivores and elephants. Since 2013, North Carolina Zoo researchers have been committed to vulture conservation in Tanzania. Our goal is to conserve vulture populations by reducing poisoning and improving our understanding of the population status and threats to vultures to inform conservation efforts and mitigation strategies. We use population monitoring and real-time telemetry data to detect and address poisoning and track the impact to vultures over time as well as build capacity of rangers in detecting and addressing poisoning, and training communities in the hazards of pesticide use in human-wildlife conflict driven poisoning. Our data have underpinned the development of Tanzania's first national vulture action plan. To ensure we have the most impact with our conservation and monitoring efforts, we form strong collaborative partnerships with organizations working on the ground in focal areas, such as wildlife authorities and partner conservation NGOs. Continued vulture monitoring and subsequent conservation efforts is not only critical for vultures but can benefit a range of other highly threatened species e.g., elephants and lions. This permit renewal is to enable us to continue these monitoring efforts to inform further mitigation and intervention strategies and measure the impacts of these on vulture population declines.
Problem Statment
Vultures in Africa are in severe decline. Given their important ecological and conservation significance, such as rapid waste disposal, disease removal, nutrient cycling, carbon emission reduction and carnivore population mediation, the costs of losing vultures could have disastrous consequences to ecosystems, wildlife and humans. This is shown in India where 99% declines of three vultures species resulted in 500,000 human deaths from the contamination of water and the environment without the vultures rapid cleaning up of carcasses. The costs to control this environmental and health catastrophe are billions of US dollars. Our long-term monitoring data in southern Tanzania have shown that instead of a 5% natural adult mortality rate, vultures in Tanzania have a 25% mortality rate (or 75% survival). Generally, vulture populations are only stable or growing with 90% or greater survival. The declines in Tanzania are therefore not sustainable. The main threat is poisoning, linked to livestock-carnivore conflict, where vultures are not deliberately targeted but are unintended victims of their own efficient scavenging abilities. This is particularly a problem in southern Tanzania, where there is increasing pressure on protected area boundaries from (agro-)pastoralists. It is also a dynamic threat. Vultures are also targeted by poachers to avoid detection by rangers and for an increasing demand of vulture body parts in belief-based use. Northern Tanzania seems to be a particular hotspot for belief-based poisoning. It is critical to continue to monitor the poisoning threat and spatio-temporal shifts, as well as to track the trends in the population status as conversation efforts are ramped up through the implementation of the vulture action plan. Vulture conservation needs overlap heavily with those of other species, particularly carnivores and elephants. Data collected on vultures can provide a landscape level view of ecosystem health, potentially highlighting broader issues that may be missed when working on a site-by-site basis. Vulture research is thus of great value to the protected areas in Tanzania.
General Research Objective
The main objective of this study is to continue to use systematic monitoring of vulture populations via road surveys for abundance estimates, and via movement studies, to provide important information about foraging ecology, mortality factors, rates, and the changing dynamics of poisoning hotspots. The long-term monitoring data serves as a baseline to measure the impact of implementing the vulture action plan.
Other Details
Clearance# Clearance Date Permit# Permit Date Commencement Date Completion Date
None CST00000214-2023-2024-01210 Oct. 28, 2024, midnight Jan. 2, 2025 Jan. 1, 2026
Priority Research Theme & Areas
Priority Research Theme Research Area
WILDLIFE POPULATION MONITORING Wildlife population monitoring methods - Priority ( M )
HUMAN-WILDLIFE INTERACTIONS Livestock predation - Priority ( H )
WILDLIFE ECOLOGY AND ECOLOGICAL INTERACTIONS Migratory routes, corridors, buffer zones and dispersal areas - Priority ( H )
WILDLIFE POPULATION MONITORING Population monitoring of Rare, endemic and endangered species - Priority ( M )
Project Location
Region Wildlife Area District Species

Pwani

Morogoro

Katavi

Iringa

Mbeya

Singida

Ruaha

Mikumi

Tarangire

Katavi

Nyerere

Ugalla River

Selous

Rungwa

Ugalla

Maswa

Kizigo

Lwafi

Muhesi

Lukwika- Lumesule

Rukwa

Lukwati

Piti

Wami Mbiki

Lunda Mkwambi

Mlele

Rungwa River

Inyonga

Wembere

Ipole

Makame

Makao

Pawaga - Idodi

Ngarambe -Tapika

Waga

Mpimbwe

Morogoro

Kilombero

Mlele

Mpanda

Iringa

Mbarali

Chunya

Singida

Manyoni

Project Researchers
Researcher Role
Corinne Kendall Principal Investigator
Msafiri Mgumba Co-researcher
Masai Laizer Co-researcher
Plakizia Msalilwa Co-researcher
Claire Bracebridge Co-researcher
George Lohay referee
Wiston Mtandamo referee
Reseach Objectives
Sn Objective Methods Description
1 Establish ground and aerial nest monitoring to monitor occupancy and fledgling success, for both tree nesting and cliff nesting vultures in key selected areas.
Other Both nests from tagged vultures and from an AI model that has been built to pull out nests from SRF aerial census survey photos can be used to look at number of nests and occupancy across the more wooded landscape of Tanzania
2 Investigate the impact that a community training on the risk of use of pesticides to human, domestic animal and wildlife health has had on the attitude towards pesticide use and wildlife poisoning and if there is corresponding behaviour change.
Questionaire Conduct HH interviews with approximately 1300 HH (to compare to the baseline of 2024)
3 Continue to expand the movement study by attaching satellite units to vultures in both current study landscapes to further enhance understanding of population ranges and poisoning threats
Other Attach satellite tags to vultures
4 Continue monitoring population status and trends of vultures in Tanzania via established standardised road transects in Ruaha, Katavi and Nyerere
Other Road transects counts of vultures using standardized and repeatable routes
5 Evaluate the role of ecosystem services of vultures by investigating how vulture activity at carcasses affects arthropod and microbe communities, which can spread disease. This is a MSc student project that started in September 2024.
Other Decomposition and scavenging at experimental carcasses monitored by camera traps and sweep netting
6 Provide training to rangers and key community stakeholders in protocols for collecting samples and data as well as proper clean-up at a poisoning event.
Other Indoor teaching and outdoor group work with practicals
Reseach Attachments
Attachment Name Attachment
Full Proposal Kendall_and_Bracebridge_Vultures_ResearchProposal_2024.pdf