Artificial irrigation ponds and sea coast as foraging habitat for larids breeding in protected wetlands

2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (9) ◽  
pp. 831 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Sebastián-González ◽  
Francisco Botella ◽  
Otso Ovaskainen ◽  
Antonio Delgado ◽  
José Antonio Sánchez-Zapata
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Marine Habitats ◽  
Freshwater Habitats ◽  
Foraging Niche ◽  
Conservation Concern

Questions related to the preservation of foraging sites of breeding birds have received little attention, although they can be of major importance for population persistence. Here, we used stable isotopes and field observations to evaluate the relative importance of man-made irrigation ponds as foraging areas for a larid community of conservation concern. We also studied the habitat preferences of the bird species and determined whether pairs of species co-occurred or avoided each other while foraging. Six species used marine habitats preferentially, whereas three species preferred freshwater habitats, the latter being provided mainly by irrigation ponds. Larids foraged preferentially in large and vegetated ponds located close to the breeding areas, and avoided sandy areas at the coast. We propose that the European Union subsidies related to the creation and alteration of irrigation ponds should be linked to management strategies that maximise pond quality for waterbirds. A third of the species pairs examined showed strong support for the species co-occurring more often than expected by random. Our study showed that larids breeding in mixed colonies segregate spatially in their foraging niche between marine and freshwater environments. Both breeding and foraging habitats need to be addressed when analysing larid population dynamics and conservation strategies.

scholarly journals Beyond pattern to process: current themes and future directions for the conservation of woodland birds through restoration plantings

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donna J. Belder ◽  
Jennifer C. Pierson ◽  
Karen Ikin ◽  
David B. Lindenmayer
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Loss ◽  
Resource Availability ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Knowledge Gaps ◽  
Woodland Birds ◽  
Conservation Concern

Habitat loss as a result of land conversion for agriculture is a leading cause of global biodiversity loss and altered ecosystem processes. Restoration plantings are an increasingly common strategy to address habitat loss in fragmented agricultural landscapes. However, the capacity of restoration plantings to support reproducing populations of native plants and animals is rarely measured or monitored. This review focuses on avifaunal response to revegetation in Australian temperate woodlands, one of the world’s most heavily altered biomes. Woodland birds are a species assemblage of conservation concern, but only limited research to date has gone beyond pattern data and occupancy trends to examine whether they persist and breed in restoration plantings. Moreover, habitat quality and resource availability, including food, nesting sites and adequate protection from predation, remain largely unquantified. Several studies have found that some bird species, including species of conservation concern, will preferentially occupy restoration plantings relative to remnant woodland patches. However, detailed empirical research to verify long-term population growth, colonisation and extinction dynamics is lacking. If restoration plantings are preferentially occupied but fail to provide sufficient quality habitat for woodland birds to form breeding populations, they may act as ecological traps, exacerbating population declines. Monitoring breeding success and site fidelity are under-utilised pathways to understanding which, if any, bird species are being supported by restoration plantings in the long term. There has been limited research on these topics internationally, and almost none in Australian temperate woodland systems. Key knowledge gaps centre on provision of food resources, formation of optimal foraging patterns, nest-predation levels and the prevalence of primary predators, the role of brood parasitism, and the effects of patch size and isolation on resource availability and population dynamics in a restoration context. To ensure that restoration plantings benefit woodland birds and are cost-effective as conservation strategies, the knowledge gaps identified by this review should be investigated as priorities in future research.

scholarly journals Habitat Preferences of the Grey Parrot in Heterogeneous Vegetation Landscapes and Their Conservation Implications

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon A. Tamungang ◽  
Mathias A. Onabid ◽  
Taku Awa ◽  
Victor S. Balinga
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Vegetation Types ◽  
Activity Intensity ◽  
Conservation Implications ◽  
Grey Parrot ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Sustainable Conservation ◽  
Heterogeneous Vegetation

The wild Grey Parrot Psittacus erithacus Linnaeus suffers from many habitat use challenges in the wake of extensive deforestation in its endemic range of West and Central African rainforests. To determine effects of these challenges on the bird species, seasonal densities of the Grey Parrot were determined using line transects in major heterogeneous vegetation types in the Korup Rainforest, south-western Cameroon. Results of the study highlight habitat preferences of this species on a seasonal base and under different situations of human activity intensity in the landscape. This information can be used to understand the causes of changes in the distribution and abundance of endangered species and also to determine sustainable conservation strategies. It is concluded that the parrot needs diverse vegetation types for survival in the wild state, as it depends on specific tree species for specific habitat resources such as food, roosts, security, and nests at specific periods of the year. Hence, the continuous survival of the Grey Parrot in the range states is not certain, if sustainable measures are not taken to conserve the parrot and its habitat resources both in and outside protected areas.

scholarly journals Assessing the bird guild patterns in heterogeneous land use types around Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asha Sohil ◽  
Neeraj Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Ecological Integrity ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Feeding Guilds ◽  
Guild Structure ◽  
Jammu And Kashmir

Abstract Land-use sprawl in the Himalayas has caused the conversion of natural habitat into human-modified habitats, thus degrading ecosystem health. Adaptation of birds to changing physical environment can be well understood by analyzing their habitat preferences, and foraging dynamics explored to a limited extent in the Himalayan region, as yet. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of avian guild structure, we used multivariate statistical techniques to classify bird species according to their similarities in foraging patterns and habitat preferences. Observations based on habitat and diet affinities accounted for rich avian diversity with a total of 208 bird species (about 15% of country’s avifauna) recorded from six different sites during 1 year survey. Unweighted pair-group average cluster analysis performed on the families revealed ten feeding and fifteen habitat guilds among 63 bird families observed. Subtropical forests harbored more species followed by urban forests and agricultural landscapes. Insectivorous and omnivorous outnumbered other feeding guilds in the study area. Bird assemblages were richer in protected areas and semi-disturbed landscapes and did not show significant variation between the seasons. Results of the study revealed that different functional groups of birds behaved differently, primarily induced by choice of food. The site heterogeneity favored avifaunal persistence by providing favorable foraging, roosting, and nesting opportunities to birds. Composition of avian guilds indicated level of intactness and ecological integrity of ecosystems studied. This outcome thus sets the background for long-term analysis of bird-habitat relationship and their foraging dynamics. The study has the relevance for decision-makers to integrate avian guild structure as an essential ingredient in formulating conservation strategies.

scholarly journals Striking centennial-scale changes in the population size of a threatened seabird

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1919) ◽  
pp. 20192234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew P. Duda ◽  
Gregory J. Robertson ◽  
Joeline E. Lim ◽  
Jennifer A. Kissinger ◽  
David C. Eickmeyer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Colony Size ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Population Cycles ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Anthropogenic Activity ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressures ◽  
Temporal Perspective ◽  
The Past ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Conservation Concern

Many animal populations are under stress and declining. For numerous marine bird species, only recent or sparse monitoring data are available, lacking the appropriate temporal perspective needed to consider natural, long-term population dynamics when developing conservation strategies. Here, we use a combination of established palaeoenvironmental approaches to examine the centennial-scale dynamics of the world's largest colony (representing approx. 50% of the global population) of the declining and vulnerable Leach's Storm-petrel ( Hydrobates leucorhous ). By reconstructing the last approximately 1700 years of the colony's population trends, we corroborate recent surveys indicating rapid declines since the 1980s. More surprisingly, however, was that the colony size was smaller and has changed strikingly in the past, even prior to the introduction of human stressors. Our results challenge notions that very large colonies are generally stable in the absence of anthropogenic pressures and speak to an increasingly pressing need to better understand inter-colony movement and recruitment when inferring range- and species-wide trends. While the recently documented decline in storm-petrels clearly warrants conservation concern, we show that colony size was consistently much lower in the past and changed markedly in the absence of major anthropogenic activity. In response, we emphasize the need for enlarged protected area networks to maintain natural population cycles, coupled with continued research to identify the driver(s) of the current global seabird decline.

scholarly journals Modelling the European Union Sustainability Transition: A Soft-Linking Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6303
Author(s):  
Andrea M. Bassi ◽  
Valeria Costantini ◽  
Elena Paglialunga
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Computable General Equilibrium ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Evaluation Process ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Intrinsic Complexity

The European Green Deal (EGD) is the most ambitious decarbonisation strategy currently envisaged, with a complex mix of different instruments aiming at improving the sustainability of the development patterns of the European Union in the next 30 years. The intrinsic complexity brings key open questions on the cost and effectiveness of the strategy. In this paper we propose a novel methodological approach to soft-linking two modelling tools, a systems thinking (ST) and a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, in order to provide a broader ex-ante policy evaluation process. We use ST to highlight the main economic feedback loops the EGD strategy might trigger. We then quantify these loops with a scenario analysis developed in a dynamic CGE framework. Our main finding is that such a soft-linking approach allows discovery of multiple channels and spillover effects across policy instruments that might help improve the policy mix design. Specifically, positive spillovers arise from the adoption of a revenue recycling mechanism that ensures strong support for the development and diffusion of clean energy technologies. Such spillover effects benefit not only the European Union (EU) market but also non-EU countries via trade-based technology transfer, with a net positive effect in terms of global emissions reduction.

Nest cameras do not affect nest survival in a meadow-nesting shorebird

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
VOLKER SALEWSKI ◽  
LUIS SCHMIDT
Keyword(s):  
Nest Survival ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Survival Models ◽  
Northern Germany ◽  
Term Study ◽  
Long Term Study ◽  
Limosa Limosa ◽  
Study Sites

Summary Identifying the fate of birds’ nests and the causes of breeding failure is often crucial for the development of conservation strategies for threatened species. However, collecting these data by repeatedly visiting nests might itself contribute to nest failure or bias. To solve this dilemma, automatic cameras have increasingly been used as a time-efficient means for nest monitoring. Here, we consider whether the use of cameras itself may influence hatching success of nests of the Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa at two long-term study sites in northern Germany. Annually between 2013 and 2019, cameras were used to monitor godwit nests. In 2014 and 2019, nests were randomly equipped with cameras or not, and nest survival checked independently of the cameras. Nest-survival models indicated that survival probabilities varied between years, sites and with time of the season, but were unaffected by the presence of cameras. Even though predation is the main cause of hatching failure in our study system, we conclude that predators did not learn to associate cameras with food either when the cameras were initially installed or after they had been used for several years. Cameras were thus an effective and non-deleterious tool to collect data for conservation in this case. As other bird species may react differently to cameras at their nests, and as other sets of predators may differ in their ability to associate cameras with food, the effect of cameras on breeding success should be carefully monitored when they are used in a new study system.

scholarly journals Endemic Cyprus Scops Owl Otus cyprius Readily Breeds in Artificial Nest Boxes

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1775
Author(s):  
Savvas Iezekiel ◽  
Reuven Yosef ◽  
Constantinos Themistokleus ◽  
Dimitrios E. Bakaloudis ◽  
Christos G. Vlachos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Laying Date ◽  
Artificial Nests ◽  
Breeding Parameters ◽  
Island Endemic ◽  
Nest Boxes ◽  
Ecological Requirements ◽  
Old Trees

As is well-known, endemic island bird species are especially vulnerable to extinction from anthropogenic environmental change and reduced fitness compared with mainland taxa. The Cyprus Scops Owl, Otus cyprius, is a recently recognized island endemic species whose ecology and breeding biology have not been studied. It nests mainly in holes in trees and buildings, so the felling of old trees, modern architectural practices, and the renovation of old houses in villages may reduce nest site availability. Its population trend is also unknown. Therefore, to better determine its ecological requirements and habitat preferences we placed nest boxes in rural areas adjacent to the forest, in the forest, and in the ecotone between them, and used breeding success as our indicator of habitat suitability. We found that breeding parameters like laying date, clutch size, length of the incubation period, hatching day, hatching success, and number of nestlings did not differ between the three habitats. Despite the low level of nest box occupancy rate (5–11%) the endemic Cyprus Scops Owl readily breeds in artificial nests. Therefore, although we are unaware of any current threats to the Cyprus Scops Owl, we recommend that its conservation be prioritized, including studies, monitoring, habitat conservation, and the provision of nest boxes.

scholarly journals Efficiency and Persistence of Movento® Treatment against Myzus persicae and the Transmission of Aphid-Borne Viruses

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 2747
Author(s):  
Thomas Armand ◽  
Luâna Korn ◽  
Elodie Pichon ◽  
Marlène Souquet ◽  
Mélissandre Barbet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sugar Beet ◽  
Myzus Persicae ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Plant Protection ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Plant Protection Products ◽  
Viral Transmission ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Low Efficiency ◽  
The Impact

Neonicotinoids are widely used to protect fields against aphid-borne viral diseases. The recent ban of these chemical compounds in the European Union has strongly impacted rapeseed and sugar beet growing practices. The poor sustainability of other insecticide families and the low efficiency of prophylactic methods to control aphid populations and pathogen introduction strengthen the need to characterize the efficiency of new plant protection products targeting aphids. In this study, the impact of Movento® (Bayer S.A.S., Leverkusen, Germany), a tetrameric acid derivative of spirotetramat, on Myzus persicae and on viral transmission was analyzed under different growing temperatures. The results show (i) the high efficiency of Movento® to protect rapeseed and sugar beet plants against the establishment of aphid colonies, (ii) the impact of temperature on the persistence of the Movento® aphicid properties and (iii) a decrease of approximately 10% of the viral transmission on treated plants. These observations suggest a beneficial effect of Movento® on the sanitary quality of treated crops by directly reducing primary infections and indirectly altering, through aphid mortality, secondary infections on which the spread of disease within field depends. These data constitute important elements for the future development of management strategies to protect crops against aphid-transmitted viruses.

scholarly journals Habitat Protection Indexes - new monitoring measures for the conservation of coastal and marine habitats

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy A Kumagai ◽  
Fabio Favoretto ◽  
Sara Pruckner ◽  
Alex David Rogers ◽  
Lauren V Weatherdon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Sustainable Development Goal ◽  
Development Goal ◽  
Habitat Protection ◽  
Marine Habitats ◽  
Freshwater Habitats ◽  
National Jurisdiction ◽  
Global Biodiversity ◽  
Do So

A worldwide call to implement habitat protection aims to halt biodiversity loss. To monitor the extent of coastal and marine habitats within protected areas (PAs) in a standardized, open source, and reproducible way, we constructed the Local and the Global Habitat Protection Indexes (LHPI and GHPI, respectively). The LHPI pinpoints the jurisdictions with the greatest opportunity to expand their own PAs, while the GHPI showcases which jurisdictions contribute the most in area to the protection of these habitats globally. Jurisdictions were evaluated to understand which have the highest opportunity to contribute globally to the protection of habitats by meeting a target of 30% coverage of PAs with Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ) having the greatest opportunity to do so. While we focus on marine and coastal habitats, our workflow can be extended to terrestrial and freshwater habitats. These indexes are useful to monitor aspects of Sustainable Development Goal 14 and the emerging post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, to understand the current status of international cooperation on coastal and marine habitats conservation.

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