Publications

flight performance during hunting excursions in eleonora's falcon falco eleonorae.	among birds, falcons are high-performance flyers, in many cases adapted for aerial hunting and hence suitable targets for investigating limits to flight performance. using an optical range finder, we measured flight tracks of eleonora's falcon (falco eleonorae), a species breeding in the mediterranean region and specialised for hunting autumn passage bird migrants, when commuting between their nesting colony and offshore hunting areas (straight transportation flight) and when searching for prey ...	1999	10393818
the role of forensic geoscience in wildlife crime detection.	the increase in both automation and precision in the analysis of geological materials has had significant impact upon forensic investigations in the last 10 years. there is however, a fundamental philosophical difference between forensic and geological enquiry. this paper presents the results of forensic geoscientific investigations of three cases of wildlife crime. two cases involve the analysis of soils recovered after incidents of illegal badger baiting in the united kingdom. the third case i ...	2006	16875791
cadmium, lead, and mercury levels in feathers of small passerine birds: noninvasive sampling strategy.	bird feathers have been widely used as a nondestructive biological material for monitoring heavy metals. sources of metals taken up by feathers include diet (metals are incorporated during feather formation), preening, and direct contact with metals in water, air, dust, and plants. in the literature, data regarding the origin of trace elements in feathers are not univocal. only in the vast literature concerning mercury (as methyl mercury) has endogenous origin been determined. in the present stu ...	2008	18386944
all across africa: highly individual migration routes of eleonora's falcon.	eleonora's falcon (falco eleonorae) is a rare raptor species that delays its breeding period until late summer to feed its young with passerines at the peak of autumn migration. since the 1950s, this slender winged falcon has been believed to migrate along a historical route via the red sea to its main wintering area in madagascar. in our study, we used satellite telemetry to investigate the real migration route of eleonora's falcons and found that the species displayed a highly individual migra ...	2008	18765348
weather conditions promote route flexibility during open ocean crossing in a long-distance migratory raptor.	weather conditions are paramount in shaping birds' migratory routes, promoting the evolution of behavioural plasticity and allowing for adaptive decisions on when to depart or stop during migration. here, we describe and analyze the influence of weather conditions in shaping the sea-crossing stage of the pre-breeding journey made by a long-distance migratory bird, the eleonora's falcon (falco eleonorae), tracked by satellite telemetry from the wintering grounds in the southern hemisphere to the ...	2011	20878530
prevalence of neutralizing antibodies to west nile virus in eleonora's falcons in the canary islands.	birds are the major amplifying host for west nile virus (wnv), a flavivirus that may affect humans and transmitted by bloodsucking vectors. eleonora's falcons (falco eleonorae) migrate to the canary islands annually from wnv-endemic regions. to investigate the possible role of eleonora's falcons in the circulation of wnv, we measured wnv-specific antibodies in 81 falcons captured in 2006. none of the nestlings but 14.8% of the adults had wnv-neutralizing antibodies. rt-pcr did not detect flavivi ...	2010	20966288
antioxidant machinery differs between melanic and light nestlings of two polymorphic raptors.	colour polymorphism results from the expression of multiallelic genes generating phenotypes with very distinctive colourations. most colour polymorphisms are due to differences in the type or amount of melanins present in each morph, which also differ in several behavioural, morphometric and physiological attributes. melanin-based colour morphs could also differ in the levels of glutathione (gsh), a key intracellular antioxidant, because of the role of this molecule in melanogenesis. as gsh inhi ...	2010	20976228
permanent genetic resources added to molecular ecology resources database 1 may 2009-31 july 2009.	this article documents the addition of 512 microsatellite marker loci and nine pairs of single nucleotide polymorphism (snp) sequencing primers to the molecular ecology resources database. loci were developed for the following species: alcippe morrisonia morrisonia, bashania fangiana, bashania fargesii, chaetodon vagabundus, colletes floralis, coluber constrictor flaviventris, coptotermes gestroi, crotophaga major, cyprinella lutrensis, danaus plexippus, fagus grandifolia, falco tinnunculus, fle ...	2009	21564933
low prevalence of blood parasites in a long-distance migratory raptor: the importance of host habitat.	the low prevalence of blood parasites in some bird species may be related to the habitats they frequent, the inexistence of the right host-parasite assemblage or the immunological capacity of the host. here, we assess the parasite load of breeding populations of eleonora's falcon (falco eleonorae), a medium-sized long-distance migratory raptor that breeds on small isolated islets throughout the mediterranean basin and overwinters in inland madagascar.	2015	25889120
plastic mistaken for prey by a colony-breeding eleonora's falcon (falco eleonorae) in the mediterranean sea, revealed by camera-trap.	discarded plastic is known to be harmful for marine animals through ingestion and entanglement. here we report the first documentation of eleonora's falcons providing plastic waste to dependent nestlings. eleonora's falcons breed colonially on sea cliffs and islets in areas of the mediterranean sea and the canary islands in which they normally feed their nestlings exclusively with small migratory birds.	2016	26971232
assessing the seasonal and intrinsic variability of neurotoxic and cyto-genotoxic biomarkers in blood of free-living eleonoras' falcons.	in the present study we investigated seasonal and intrinsic variability of neurotoxic and cyto-genotoxic biomarkers in blood plasma and erythrocytes of free-living eleonoras' falcons, captured during the pre-breeding (may of 2017 and 2018) and breeding period (september of 2017) on the antikythira island (greece). specifically, blood samples of captured birds were prepared for the determination of cholinesterase (ches, i.e. acetylcholinesterase/ache and butyrylcholinesterase/ bche) activity, as ...	2020	32000341
habitat availability influences migration speed, refueling patterns and seasonal flyways of a fly-and-forage migrant.	despite our understanding of the principal factors that shape bird migration strategies, there is conflicting evidence regarding the role of habitat in shaping migration routes and schedules, including day and night activity and differences between autumn and spring. for fly-and-forage migrants, we predict that habitat characteristics might guide migration speed, route selection and migrating schedules.	2020	32082577