Population Dynamics of the Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca) in Hungary between 2001 and 2009

作者：Marton Horvath^*; Ivan Demeter; Imre Fater; Gabor Firmanszky; Andras Kleszo; Andras Kovacs; Tamas Szitta; Imre Toth; Tamas Zalai; Janos Bagyura

来源：Acta Zoologica Bulgarica, 2011, 61-70.

• population dynamics
• breeding success
• agriculture
• raptor
• Hungary

The Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca SAVIGNY 1809) reaches the western border of its range in the Carpathian Basin, which is the largest known population outside Russia and Kazakhstan. An increasing trend of this population in Hungary and also in the nearby areas of Slovakia has been reported since the 1980's, when the number of breeding pairs supposedly reached the historical minimum. In this study we evaluated the dynamics of the Hungarian Imperial Eagle population between 2001 and 2009. As a result of the continuous increase of the population the monitoring program revealed 105 nesting pairs by 2009. While an expansion of the breeding area towards lowland agricultural habitats was observed, the ratio of pairs inhabiting the historical mountainous breeding habitats decreased from 50 % to only 15 % during the study period. The frequency of the two- and three-chick broods in respect to single-chick broods increased in comparison to the 1980-2000 period showing a higher average annual productivity of the population (1.15 fledglings per nesting pair). Besides the favourable changes in population trend and productivity, the area expansion in the recently occupied lowland habitats also raised several new threats to the population, such as the increased number of illegal poisoning incidents and more frequent collisions with vehicles.

• 出版日期2011-7