title: Supplanting ecosystem services provided by scavengers raises greenhouse gas emissions.
abstract: Global warming due to human-induced increments in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG) is one of the most debated topics among environmentalists and politicians worldwide. In this paper we assess a novel source of GHG emissions emerged following a controversial policy decision. After the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Europe, the sanitary regulation required that livestock carcasses were collected from farms and transformed or destroyed in authorised plants, contradicting not only the obligations of member states to conserve scavenger species but also generating unprecedented GHG emission. However, how much of this emission could be prevented in the return to traditional and natural scenario in which scavengers freely remove livestock carcasses is largely unknown. Here we show that, in Spain (home of 95% of European vultures), supplanting the natural removal of dead extensive livestock by scavengers with carcass collection and transport to intermediate and processing plants meant the emission of 77,344 metric tons of CO2 eq. to the atmosphere per year, in addition to annual payments of ca. $50 million to insurance companies. Thus, replacing the ecosystem services provided by scavengers has not only conservation costs, but also important and unnecessary environmental and economic costs.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Aplicada, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Avda. de la Universidad, s/n, 03202 Elche, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Zebensui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Morales-Reyes
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Aplicada, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Avda. de la Universidad, s/n, 03202 Elche, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pérez-García
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Aplicada, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Avda. de la Universidad, s/n, 03202 Elche, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Marcos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moleón
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Aplicada, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Avda. de la Universidad, s/n, 03202 Elche, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Botella
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Sistemas Físicos, Químicos y Naturales, Área de Ecología, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Ctra. de Utrera, km 1, 41013 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carrete
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Aplicada, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Avda. de la Universidad, s/n, 03202 Elche, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lazcano
authors.affiliation: Vertebrate Biology and Conservation Group, University Complutense of Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Rubén
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moreno-Opo
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Animal Production (Division of Wildlife), Faculty of Life Sciences and Engineering, University of Lleida, 25198 Lleida, Spain [2] Division of Conservation Biology, Institute of Ecology and Evolution. University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 6, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Margalida
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología de la Conservación, Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, C/Americo Vespucio, s/n, La Cartuja, 41092 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Donázar
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Aplicada, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Avda. de la Universidad, s/n, 03202 Elche, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Zapata
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution / Q000032:analysis*; D000818:Animals; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis*; D017753:Ecosystem; D020387:Food Chain; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D058751:Livestock; D012499:Sanitation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide