Roberto Vento

Mrs. Roberto Vento

Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare, University of Palermo, Palermo, Sicilia, Italy
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Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

4Years (2023-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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14 February 2023 in Animals
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
RBRosario Balestrieri
Rosario Balestrieri
RVRoberto Vento
Roberto Vento
AVAndrea Viviano
Andrea Viviano
Emiliano MoriEmiliano Mori
Emiliano Mori
CGClaudia Gili
Claudia Gili
FMFlavio Monti
Flavio Monti
Reporting on uncommon wide animal movements could help in depicting potential carry-over effects at the population level, particularly in an era of rapid climate and environmental changes. The razorbill (Alca torda, Linnaeus 1758) is a regular passage migrant and winter visitor to Italian seas, but with sporadic presences usually involving small numbers of individuals. Irruptions have been occasionally documented, with the last records of an unusually large number dating back to 1982. However, in the past, irruptions have only been locally reported and poorly described. Here we report on an unprecedented massive irruption of hundreds of razorbills which occurred in the central Mediterranean Sea in November-December 2022. Using citizen science platforms and photos/videos shared on social networking sites (SNSs), we estimated the relative magnitude of the irruption and described the spatial distribution of birds at sea, as well as report cases of stranded individuals. We collected a total of 267 records, both from Italy and from neighboring countries. We also discuss the likely factors affecting razorbill irruption and stress the importance of open social platforms and data sharing to aid in the early detection and estimation of such events at a wide-scale, as well as for the monitoring of the mortality of the irrupted species.