scholarly journals Application of lidar for critical endangered bird species conservation on the island of Kauai, Hawaii

Ecosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey A. Fricker ◽  
Lisa H. Crampton ◽  
Erica M. Gallerani ◽  
Justin M. Hite ◽  
Richard Inman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Conservation ◽  
Bird Species

scholarly journals Testing the Likeable, Therefore Abundant Hypothesis: Bird Species Likeability by Urban Residents Varies Significantly with Species Traits

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 487
Author(s):  
Lillian Collins ◽  
Grant D. Paton ◽  
Sara A. Gagné
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Bird Community ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Community Change ◽  
Habitat Availability ◽  
Urban Residents ◽  
Behavioral Traits

The urbanization of landscapes filters bird communities to favor particular species traits, driven in part by the changes that homeowners make to the amount and quality of habitat in yards. We suggest that an ultimate driver of these proximate mechanisms underlying bird community change with respect to urbanization is the likeability of species traits by urban residents. We hypothesize that bird species likeability, modulated by species traits, influences the degree to which homeowners alter the availability and quality of habitat on their properties and thereby affects species population sizes in urbanized landscapes. We refer to this new hypothesis as the Likeable, therefore Abundant Hypothesis. The Likeable, therefore Abundant Hypothesis predicts that (1) bird species likeability varies with species morphological and behavioral traits, (2) homeowners use trait-based likeability as a motivator to modify habitat availability and quality on their properties, and (3) residential habitat availability and quality influences species populations at landscape scales. We tested the first prediction of the Likeable, therefore Abundant Hypothesis using a survey of 298 undergraduate students at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte who were asked to rank their preferences for 85 forest generalist and edge/open country songbird species grouped according to 10 morphological and behavioral traits. Survey respondents preferred very small, primarily blue or black species that are insectivorous, aerial or bark foragers, residents, and culturally unimportant. On the other hand, respondents disliked large or very large, primarily yellow or orange species that forage on the ground and/or forage by flycatching, are migratory, and are culturally important. If the Likeable, therefore Abundant Hypothesis is true, natural resource managers and planners could capitalize on the high likeability of species that are nevertheless negatively affected by urbanization to convince homeowners and residents to actively manage their properties for species conservation.

scholarly journals The Occurence of Ecological Traps in Bird Populations: Is our Knowledge Sufficient? A Review

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 36-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petr Suvorov ◽  
Jana Svobodová
Keyword(s):  
Exotic Species ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Ecological Trap ◽  
Native Communities ◽  
Bird Populations ◽  
Suburban Areas ◽  
Arable Fields ◽  
Insufficient Time

ABSTRACT Anthropogenic changes in a landscape create new cues for birds, which must permanently adapt to these. If landscape changes occur too quickly, individuals have insufficient time to develop adequate reactions. They may, therefore, preferentially nest in low-quality habitats, which can lead to diminished nesting success and to reduction of their population size. This is usually termed the ecological trap hypothesis. We reviewed 38 studies investigating this phenomenon and analysed whether relationships exist between ecological trap occurrence and geographical region, habitat type, and/or life strategies of bird species. Ecological traps were most often associated with the presence of exotic species. Exotic species can modify environmental conditions in ways to which native communities are not adapted. They have been mainly detected in open habitats. Such open habitats as arable fields and meadows are under greater human pressure, and rapid changes probably occur there more frequently. Although more studies from North America were investigated, the hypothesis was supported more frequently in European studies. This is possibly due to higher human population density and, hence, more frequent habitat changes. Our results show that an ecological trap is not likely associated with migration. Ground nests suffered fewer consequences of such traps than did other nest types. Although the implications of the ecological trap hypothesis in species conservation are undisputable, a more detailed approach is still needed. For instance, some habitat types, such as suburban areas, have been neglected in the context of ecological traps, as has been the phenomenon’s appearance in pristine habitats.

scholarly journals The effects of using different species conservation priority lists on the evaluation of habitat importance within Hungarian grasslands

2007 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
PÉTER BATÁRY ◽  
ANDRÁS BÁLDI ◽  
SAROLTA ERDŐS
Keyword(s):  
Conservation Status ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Great Plain ◽  
Conservation Priority ◽  
Threat Status ◽  
Bern Convention ◽  
Conservation Values ◽  
Declining Species ◽  
Eastern European Countries

Many bird species of conservation importance inhabit the grasslands of the Hungarian Great Plain. Although extensive grazing management usually supports more bird species than intensive management, the conservation priority is to protect rare or declining species. Therefore, the conservation status of species must also be included in assessments of the value of different habitats. We used territory mapping to count birds in 21 extensively and intensively grazed field pairs on the Hungarian Great Plain, and subsequently adjusted site scores depending on which species appeared on various lists of priority taxa. We investigated differences in conservation scores of two global conservation lists (the Bonn Convention and another based on values of eight biological characteristics), two West Europe based lists (Bird Directive and CORINE), three continental lists (European Threat Status, SPEC and Bern Convention) and two Hungarian lists (protected species of Hungary and an alternative based on the specifics of Hungarian populations). Extensively managed fields had higher conservation values under seven of the nine priority lists: only the two West Europe based lists showed opposite trends in more than half the study areas. Since both West Europe based lists cover many central and eastern European countries, there is an urgent need to revise these lists, especially the Bird Directive list that gives serious legal responsibilities to countries.

scholarly journals Identifying charismatic bird species and traits with community science observations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Stoudt ◽  
Benjamin R Goldstein ◽  
Perry de Valpine
Keyword(s):  
Species Conservation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Digital Data ◽  
Color Contrast ◽  
Specific Effects ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Community Science ◽  
Google Search ◽  
The Impact

Identifying which species are perceived as charismatic can improve the impact and efficiency of conservation outreach, as charismatic species receive more conservation funding and have their conservation needs prioritized. Sociological experiments studying animal charisma have relied on stated preferences to find correlations between hypothetical "willingness to pay" or "empathy" for a species' conservation and species' size, color, and aesthetic appeal. Recognizing the increasing availability of digital records of public engagement with animals that reveal preferences, an emerging field of "culturomics" uses Google search results, Wikipedia article activities, and other digital modes of engagement to identify charismatic species and traits. In this study, we take advantage of community science efforts as another form of digital data that can reveal observer preferences. We apply a multi-stage analysis to ask whether opportunistic birders contributing to iNaturalist engage more with larger, more colorful, and rarer birds relative to a baseline, from eBird contributors, approximating unbiased detection. We find that body mass, color contrast, and range size all predict overrepresentation in the opportunistic dataset. We also find evidence that, across 473 modeled species, 52 species are significantly overreported and 158 are significantly underreported, indicating a wide variety of species-specific effects. Understanding which birds are charismatic can aid conservationists in creating impactful outreach materials and engaging new naturalists. The quantified differences between two prominent community science efforts may also be of use for researchers leveraging the data from one or both of them to answer scientific questions of interest.

scholarly journals Reassessment of the conservation status and protected area coverage of Taiwanese birds: How distribution modelling can help species conservation

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
TSAI-YU WU ◽  
BRUNO A. WALTHER ◽  
YI-HSIU CHEN ◽  
RUEY-SHING LIN ◽  
PEI-FEN LEE
Keyword(s):  
Protected Area ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Area Coverage ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Multiple Discriminant Analysis ◽  
Breeding Bird ◽  
Entire Study ◽  
Distribution Ranges

SummaryTaiwan has 145 breeding bird species, but so far no comprehensive attempt has been made to model their distributions. For the first time, we bring together various datasets to model the distributions of the 116 bird species with sufficient sampling coverage. We improved on previous limited modelling efforts by using ensemble modelling, based on five well-performing modelling approaches: multiple discriminant analysis, logistic regression, genetic algorithm for rule-set production, ecological niche factor analysis and maximum-entropy. We then used these ensemble models to improve our knowledge of the status of each bird species by (1) calculating each species’s coverage of Taiwan, (2) calculating each species’s coverage by Taiwan’s protected area network, and (3) comparing these two conservation-relevant measures with already established measures to highlight those species whose status may need to be reassessed. We categorised each species’s coverage of the entire study area as measured by their modelled distributions into four quartiles, thus establishing a new measure of rarity called ‘range quartile’ which we used to highlight the 22 species with a limited distribution on mainland Taiwan. We also calculated that overall, 29.8% of the distribution ranges of the 116 modelled species are covered by Taiwanese protected areas. We then identified those species whose status may need to be reassessed because of possible conflicts between the respective conservation-relevant measures. Thus we identified 10 species which are first-quartile species < 5% of whose distributions are protected, of which only five are considered threatened. We also identified another 12 species with limited distributions, 30 species with limited protection and 19 species whose status may need to be reassessed for various reasons. We recommend that range quartile and protected area coverage be incorporated into future assessments of the conservation status and protected area coverage of Taiwanese birds.

scholarly journals Rangeland Land-Sharing, Livestock Grazing’s Role in the Conservation of Imperiled Species

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4466
Author(s):  
Sheila Barry ◽  
Lynn Huntsinger
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Structure ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Riparian Wetlands ◽  
Land Sharing ◽  
Threatened And Endangered Species ◽  
Terrestrial Habitats ◽  
Imperiled Species

Land sharing, conserving biodiversity on productive lands, is globally promoted. Much of the land highest in California’s biodiversity is used for livestock production, providing an opportunity to understand land sharing and species conservation. A review of United States Fish and Wildlife Service listing documents for 282 threatened and endangered species in California reveals a complex and varied relationship between grazing and conservation. According to these documents, 51% or 143 of the federally listed animal and plant species are found in habitats with grazing. While livestock grazing is a stated threat to 73% (104) of the species sharing habitat with livestock, 59% (85) of the species are said to be positively influenced, with considerable overlap between species both threatened and benefitting from grazing. Grazing is credited with benefiting flowering plants, mammals, insects, reptiles, amphibians, fish, crustaceans, and bird species by managing the state’s novel vegetation and providing and maintaining habitat structure and ecosystem functions. Benefits are noted for species across all of California’s terrestrial habitats, except alpine, and for some aquatic habitats, including riparian, wetlands, and temporary pools. Managed grazing can combat anthropomorphic threats, such as invasive species and nitrogen deposition, supporting conservation-reliant species as part of land sharing.

scholarly journals A GIS-based policy support tool to determine national responsibilities and priorities for biodiversity conservation

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0243135
Author(s):  
Yu-Pin Lin ◽  
Dirk S. Schmeller ◽  
Tzung-Su Ding ◽  
Yung Chieh Wang ◽  
Wan-Yu Lien ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Policy Support ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Conservation Priorities ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
National Responsibility

Efficient biodiversity conservation requires that limited resources be allocated in accordance with national responsibilities and priorities. Without appropriate computational tools, the process of determining these national responsibilities and conservation priorities is time intensive when considering many species across geographic scales. Here, we have developed a computational tool as a module for the ArcGIS geographic information system. The ArcGIS National Responsibility Assessment Tool (NRA-Tool) can be used to create hierarchical lists of national responsibilities and priorities for global species conservation. Our tool will allow conservationists to prioritize conservation efforts and to focus limited resources on relevant species and regions. We showcase our tool with data on 258 bird species and various biophysical regions, including Environmental Zones in 58 Asian countries and regions. Our tool provides a decision support system for conservation policy with attractive and easily interpretable visual outputs illustrating national responsibilities and priorities for species conservation. The graphical output allows for smooth integration into assessment reports, such as the European Article 17 report, the Living Planet Index report, or similar regional and global reports.

scholarly journals Watching sexy displays improves hatching success and offspring growth through maternal allocation

2010 ◽  
Vol 277 (1699) ◽  
pp. 3453-3460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adeline Loyau ◽  
Frédéric Lacroix
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Insemination ◽  
Hatching Success ◽  
Visual Stimulation ◽  
Sperm Quality ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Territory Quality ◽  
Maternal Allocation ◽  
Stimulation Of

Male attractiveness can have tremendous effects on the fitness of his offspring via good genes, but also via enhanced maternal allocation of resources. Yet the proximate mechanisms influencing differential maternal allocation in relation to male sexiness are poorly known. Here, we studied the importance of visual stimulation for maternal allocation in the Houbara bustard, a vulnerable bird species bred in captivity to support wild populations. Artificial insemination allowed controlling for potential confounding factors, such as a male's territory quality, social interactions or sperm quality/quantity, probably linked to mate attractiveness. We show that artificially inseminated females stimulated by highly displaying males increased their hatching success, owing to increased fertilization success. The females also increased the allocation of maternal androgens in their eggs, leading to an increase of circulating testosterone and growth rate in chicks. Hence, visual stimulation of the females can promote differential maternal allocation and favour offspring fitness. Our results further suggest that using artificial insemination for species conservation without appropriate stimulation of the breeding females probably has negative impacts on their breeding performance and therefore on population viability.

Effectiveness of direct payments to increase reproductive success of sandbar-nesting river birds in Cambodia

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 495-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREA H. CLAASSEN ◽  
KO SOK ◽  
TODD W. ARNOLD ◽  
FRANCESCA J. CUTHBERT
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Nest Success ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Species Conservation ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Chick Survival ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Nest Protection ◽  
Direct Payments

SummaryDirect payments to communities or individuals have gained traction as a tool for species conservation; however, few studies have evaluated their effectiveness. From 2010 to 2014, we monitored nests and implemented a direct payment nest protection programme for six sandbar-nesting bird species on the Mekong River, Cambodia, and tested if nest protection improved reproductive success. Nests were guarded by community members; additionally, exclosures were used to protect nests of River Tern Sterna aurantia, the species of highest conservation concern. We investigated factors affecting nest and chick survival, and probability of nest failure due to egg harvest or predation. Nesting later in the season generally resulted in lower nest and chick survival. Nest protection improved survival rates of River Tern nests and chicks, and Small Pratincole Glareola lactea nests. River Tern nest success was 60% for exclosed (and guarded) nests, 29% for guarded (but unexclosed) nests, and 5% for unprotected nests. River Tern fledging success was 82% for exclosed chicks, 40% for chicks that were guarded only, and 2% for unprotected chicks. Small Pratincole nest success was 21% for guarded and 6% for unguarded nests. Egg harvest by humans was lower among protected nests and declined during the study. Nest predation by animals increased during the study despite nest guarding; however, predator exclosures effectively protected nests and chicks. Additional predator control measures could further improve reproductive success of sandbar-nesting birds. Overall, nest protection involving direct payments was highly effective, but required diligent use of nest exclosures, frequent monitoring, and strong community relationships.

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