Cliffs used as communal roosts by Andean condors protect the birds from weather and predators.

ABSTRACT: The quality and availability of resources influence the geographical distribution of species. Social species need safe places to rest, meet, exchange information and obtain thermoregulatory benefits, but those places may also serve other important functions that have been overlooked in research. We use a large soaring bird that roosts communally in cliffs, the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus), as a model species to elucidate whether roost locations serve as a refuge from adverse weather conditions (climatic refuge hypothesis, CRH), and/or from predators or anthropogenic disturbances (threats refuge hypothesis, TRH). The CRH predicts that communal roosts will face in the opposite direction from where storms originate, and will be located in climatically stable, low precipitation areas. The TR

SUBMITTER: Lambertucci SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3691149 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature