Taking advantage of rubbish dumps: Effects on the health of scavenger birds

PLAZA PABLO IGNACIO; LAMBERTUCCI SERGIO

Congreso; Ornithological Congress of the Americas; 2017

Organic waste is an important food source, which can be used by different bird species. However, it can produce both positive and negative effects on individuals and populations. In North West Patagonia, Black vultures (Coragyps atratus) use rubbish as food resource. In this study, we evaluate the effects produced by this kind of foraging strategy in Black vultures health. Particularly, we focused on poisoning and emerging pathogens. We sampled 57 Black vultures in the rubbish dump of Villa la Angostura city (Neuquén province) and compared them with 53 from a more pristine area of the Patagonian steppe. We sampled blood for evaluation of biochemical parameters and lead levels and cloacae and oropharynx swallows for bacterial isolates. We found a higher prevalence (16%: 9/57) of pathogenic bacteria in individuals captured in the rubbish dump than individuals captured in the steppe (7.5% 4/53). From the birds that we were able to estimate lead, the individuals captured in the rubbish dump (n=16) have a mean of lead in blood of 51.4 ug/dl compared with 7.06 ug/dl in individual trapped in the steppe (n=15). Our results suggest that taking advantage of dumps can expose bird species to toxics and pathogens, which may alter their health status. In addition, Black vultures can act as carriers of pathogens acquired in dumps, to other species of birds such as the Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus) and the Turkey vulture (Catarthes aura) when interacting in pristine sites.