Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T13:11:32.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Electric infrastructure poses a significant threat at congregation sites of the globally threatened Steppe Eagle Aquila nipalensis in Saudi Arabia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2021

MOHAMMED SHOBRAK Open the ORCID record for MOHAMMED SHOBRAK [Opens in a new window] ,
SAHEEM ALASMARI ,
ABDULAZIZ ALQTHAMI ,
FAHAD ALQTHAMI ,
ABDOULRAHMAN AL-OTAIBI ,
MOHAMMAD AL ZOUBI ,
LAITH EL MOGHRABI ,
SHARIF JBOUR ,
NABEGH GHAZAL ASSWAD  and
STEFFEN OPPEL Open the ORCID record for STEFFEN OPPEL [Opens in a new window]
...Show all authors
MOHAMMED SHOBRAK*
Affiliation:
Biology Department, Science College, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif21944, Saudi Arabia.
SAHEEM ALASMARI
Affiliation:
National Centre for Wildlife, P.O. Box 61681, Riyadh11575, Saudi Arabia.
ABDULAZIZ ALQTHAMI
Affiliation:
National Centre for Wildlife, P.O. Box 61681, Riyadh11575, Saudi Arabia.
FAHAD ALQTHAMI
Affiliation:
National Centre for Wildlife, P.O. Box 61681, Riyadh11575, Saudi Arabia.
ABDOULRAHMAN AL-OTAIBI
Affiliation:
National Centre for Wildlife, P.O. Box 61681, Riyadh11575, Saudi Arabia.
MOHAMMAD AL ZOUBI
Affiliation:
Royal Society for Conservation of Nature (RSCN) / BirdLife Jordan, P.O. Box 1215, Jubeiha11941, Jordan.
LAITH EL MOGHRABI
Affiliation:
BirdLife Middle East, P.O. Box 2295, Amman11953, Jordan.
SHARIF JBOUR
Affiliation:
BirdLife Middle East, P.O. Box 2295, Amman11953, Jordan.
NABEGH GHAZAL ASSWAD
Affiliation:
BirdLife Middle East, P.O. Box 2295, Amman11953, Jordan.
STEFFEN OPPEL
Affiliation:
Royal Society for Protection of Birds (RSPB) / BirdLife UK, RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, United Kingdom.
VOLEN ARKUMAREV
Affiliation:
Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) / BirdLife Bulgaria, Yavorov Complex, bl. 71, vh. 4, P.O. Box 50, Sofia1111, Bulgaria
STOYAN C. NIKOLOV
Affiliation:
Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) / BirdLife Bulgaria, Yavorov Complex, bl. 71, vh. 4, P.O. Box 50, Sofia1111, Bulgaria
*
*Author for correspondence; email: m.shobrak@tu.edu.sa
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Saudi Arabia is the fastest growing electricity consumer in the Middle East, with a rapidly expanding network of powerlines. Bird mortality through electrocution and collision has been recorded in the country, but so far there is little information as to how much the electricity infrastructure affects globally threatened raptor populations that migrate to Saudi Arabia. In 2019, the world’s largest wintering congregation of Steppe Eagles Aquila nipalensis was discovered near a rubbish dump in central Saudi Arabia. We evaluated whether powerlines in the vicinity of this, and another congregation site, caused mortality of large birds. In November 2019, we surveyed powerlines within 6 km of two focal rubbish dumps at Al Qunfudhah (12.4 km) and Ushaiqer (2 km). We found 52 carcasses of five species, of which 85% were Steppe Eagles. Based on the age of these carcasses, we coarsely extrapolate that 14.4 km of powerlines near these two congregation sites may kill 94–240 Steppe Eagles per winter, representing up to 0.3% of their global population. We call for the urgent safeguarding of powerlines that cause mortality near known Steppe Eagle congregation sites, and the adoption and implementation of regulations that ensure that future infrastructure is constructed with designs that are safe for birds.

Keywords

electrocutioncollisionpowerlineshuman-induced mortalityraptorsSteppe Eaglebirds
Type
Research Article
Information
Bird Conservation International , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , June 2022 , pp. 313 - 321
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of BirdLife International

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AEWA (2012) Guidelines on how to avoid or mitigate impact of electricity power grids on migratory birds in the African-Eurasian Region. Bonn, Germany: United Nations Environment Programme.Google Scholar
Angelov, I., Hashim, I. and Oppel, S. (2013) Persistent electrocution mortality of Egyptian Vultures Neophron percnopterus over 28 years in East Africa. Bird Conserv. Internatn. 23: 1–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baradieh, K. I. (2015) The Development of Power Systems in Saudi Arabia. Technical Report. Dhahran, Saudi Arabia: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals Department of Electrical Engineering.Google Scholar
Bayle, P. (1999) Preventing birds of prey problems at transmission lines in western Europe. J. Raptor Res. 33: 43–48.Google Scholar
Bernardino, J., Bevanger, K., Barrientos, R., Dwyer, J. F., Marques, A. T., Martins, R. C., Shaw, J. M., Silva, J. P. and Moreira, F. (2018) Bird collisions with power lines: State of the art and priority areas for research. Biol. Conserv. 222: 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bevanger, K. (1998) Biological and conservation aspects of bird mortality caused by electricity power lines: a review. Biol. Conserv. 86: 67–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BirdLife International (2020) Species factsheet: Aquila nipalensis. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/steppe-eagle-aquila-nipalensisGoogle Scholar
Buechley, E. R., Oppel, S., Beatty, W. S., Nikolov, S. C., Dobrev, V., Arkumarev, V., Saravia, V., Bougain, C., Bounas, A., Kret, E., Skartsi, T., Aktay, L., Aghababyan, K., Frehner, E. and Şekercioğlu, Ç. H. (2018) Identifying critical migratory bottlenecks and high-use areas for an endangered migratory soaring bird across three continents. J. Avian Biol. 49: e01629.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chevallier, C., Hernández-Matías, A., Real, J., Vincent-Martin, N., Ravayrol, A. and Besnard, A. (2015) Retrofitting of power lines effectively reduces mortality by electrocution in large birds: an example with the endangered Bonelli’s eagle. J. Appl. Ecol. 52: 1465–1473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chite, P. and Ahmad, A. (2017) Solar power in Saudi Arabia: plans vs potential. Available at: https://scholarworks.aub.edu.lb/bitstream/handle/10938/10463/20170222_ksa_solarpower.pdf?sequence=1Google Scholar
Costantini, D., Gustin, M., Ferrarini, A. and Dell’Omo, G. (2017) Estimates of avian collision with power lines and carcass disappearance across differing environments. Anim. Conserv. 20: 173–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Demerdzhiev, D. A. (2014) Factors influencing bird mortality caused by power lines within special protected areas and undertaken conservation efforts. Acta Zool. Bulg. 66: 411–423.Google Scholar
Eccleston, D. T. and Harness, R. E. (2018) Raptor electrocutions and power line collisions. Pp. 273–302 in Sarasola, J. H., Grande, J. M. and Negro, J. J., eds. Birds of prey: Biology and conservation in the XXI century. New York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Global Transmission Report (2017) National Grid SA: Taking measures to adapt Saudi Arabia’s grid to changing energy mix. Available at: https://www.globaltransmission.info/archive.php?id=30452Google Scholar
Guil, F., Colomer, M.À, Moreno-Opo, R. and Margalida, A. (2015) Space–time trends in Spanish bird electrocution rates from alternative information sources. Global Ecol. Conserv. 3: 379–388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guil, F., Fernández-Olalla, M., Moreno-Opo, R., Mosqueda, I., Gómez, M. E., Aranda, A., Arredondo, A., Guzmán, J., Oria, J., González, L. M. and Margalida, A. (2011) Minimising mortality in Endangered raptors due to power lines: The importance of spatial aggregation to optimize the application of mitigation measures. PLoS ONE 6(11): e28212.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kamp, J., Koshkin, M. A., Bragina, T. M., Katzner, T. E., Milner-Gulland, E., Schreiber, D., Sheldon, R., Shmalenko, A., Smelansky, I. and Terraube, J. (2016) Persistent and novel threats to the biodiversity of Kazakhstan’s steppes and semi-deserts. Biodiv. Conserv. 25: 2521–2541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karyakin, I. V. and Novikova, L. M. (2006) The Steppe Eagle and power lines in Western Kazakhstan. Does coexistence have any chance? Rapt. Conserv. 6: 48.Google Scholar
Karyakin, I., Nikolenko, E. and Shnayder, E. (2018) Status of the Steppe Eagle in the world: “white spots” in distribution, population numbers, ecology and threats . Pp. 81–84 in Eagles of Palearctic: Study and conservation. Vol. 1. Altai Kray, Russia: Russian Raptor Research and Conservation Network.Google Scholar
Keijmel, M., Babbington, J., Roberts, P., McGrady, M. and Meyburg, B.-U. (2020) The world’s largest gathering of Steppe Eagles Aquila nipalensis discovered in central Saudi Arabia. Sandgrouse 42: 59–68.Google Scholar
Lasch, U., Zerbe, S. and Lenk, M. (2010) Electrocution of raptors at power lines in Central Kazakhstan. Waldökologie, Landschaftsforschung und Naturschutz 9: 95–100.Google Scholar
Lehman, R. N., Kennedy, P. L. and Savidge, J. A. (2007) The state of the art in raptor electrocution research: A global review. Biol. Conserv. 136: 159–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levin, A. and Kurkin, G. (2013) The scope of death of eagles on power lines in Western Kazakhstan. Rapt. Conserv. 27:240–244.Google Scholar
Loss, S. R., Will, T. and Marra, P. P. (2014) Refining estimates of bird collision and electrocution mortality at power lines in the United States. PLOS ONE 9: e101565.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meyburg, B. U. and Boesman, P. (2016) Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis). P. 194 in Hoyo, J. del, Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christiea, D. A. and Juana, E., eds. Handbook of the birds of the world alive: Barcelona: Lynx Edicions.Google Scholar
Meyburg, B.-U., Meyburg, C. and Paillat, P. (2012) Steppe Eagle migration strategies—revealed by satellite telemetry. British Birds 105:5 06.Google Scholar
Phipps, W. L., López-López, P., Buechley, E. R., Oppel, S., Álvarez, E., Arkumarev, V., Bekmansurov, R., Berger-Tal, O., Bermejo, A., Bounas, A., Alanís, I. C., de la Puente, J., Dobrev, V., Duriez, O., Efrat, R., Fréchet, G., García, J., Galán, M., García-Ripollés, C., Gil, A., Iglesias-Lebrija, J. J., Jambas, J., Karyakin, I. V., Kobierzycki, E., Kret, E., Loercher, F., Monteiro, A., Morant Etxebarria, J., Nikolov, S. C., Pereira, J., Peške, L., Ponchon, C., Realinho, E., Saravia, V., Sekercioğlu, C. H., Skartsi, T., Tavares, J., Teodósio, J., Urios, V. and Vallverdú, N. (2019) Spatial and temporal variability in migration of a soaring raptor across three continents. Front. Ecol. Evol. 7: https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00323CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ponce, C., Alonso, J. C., Argandoña, G., García Fernández, A. and Carrasco, M. (2010) Carcass removal by scavengers and search accuracy affect bird mortality estimates at power lines. Anim. Conserv. 13: 603–612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaub, M., Aebischer, A., Gimenez, O., Berger, S. and Arlettaz, R. (2010) Massive immigration balances high anthropogenic mortality in a stable eagle owl population: Lessons for conservation. Biol. Conserv. 143: 1911–1918.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shobrak, M. (2011) Bird flyways and stopover conservation sites in the Arabian Peninsula. Zool. Middle East 54: 27–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shobrak, M. (2012) Electrocution and collision of birds with power lines in Saudi Arabia. Zool. Middle East 57: 45–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shobrak, M., Al Husaini, K. and Suhaibani, A. (2009) Bird electrocution in Saudi Arabia. Phoenix 25: 5–6.Google Scholar
Shobrak, M., Alasmari, S., Alqthami, A., Alqthami, F., Al-Otaibi, A., Zoubi, M. A., Moghrabi, L. E., Jbour, S., Arkumarev, V., Oppel, S., Asswad, N. G. and Nikolov, S. C. (2020) Congregations and threats of migratory Egyptian Vultures Neophron percnopterus along the southwest coast of Saudi Arabia. Sandgrouse 42: 248–258.Google Scholar