Olivier Combreau, Mimi Kessler, Sultan Al Woseamer, Abdullah AlKulaib, Robert J. Burnside
{"title":"The importance of royal reserves in rebuilding long migrant wintering Asian Houbara populations in Saudi Arabia","authors":"Olivier Combreau, Mimi Kessler, Sultan Al Woseamer, Abdullah AlKulaib, Robert J. Burnside","doi":"10.1016/j.jnc.2025.127004","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Over the past seventy years, the range of the Asian Houbara (<em>Chlamydotis macqueenii;</em> globally Vulnerable (VU) has contracted. In the Arabian Peninsula, where the species is a favored target of falconry, populations of both the resident breeding and winter migrant forms of the species are nearly extirpated. To sustainably restore Houbara populations to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a newly formed Royal Order Foundation named the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Houbara Conservation Foundation is poised to provide expertise and coordinate conservation activities among stakeholders. Action to re-establish wintering populations in Saudi Arabia must consider genetic factors underpinning the Houbara’s migratory behavior and emphasize protection of the few migrant individuals that still reach the Kingdom’s borders. Restoration of wintering Houbara to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will require not only coordinated efforts of countries along their migratory pathway, but also between land managers across areas of the north and the east of the country through which migrant Houbara funnel into the peninsula. Recent expansion of the Kingdom’s protected area network through the establishment of a network of Royal Reserves, as well as a new environmental police force open new possibilities for collaborative management of this species and restoration of overwintering populations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54898,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Nature Conservation","volume":"87 ","pages":"Article 127004"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal for Nature Conservation","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1617138125001815","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Over the past seventy years, the range of the Asian Houbara (Chlamydotis macqueenii; globally Vulnerable (VU) has contracted. In the Arabian Peninsula, where the species is a favored target of falconry, populations of both the resident breeding and winter migrant forms of the species are nearly extirpated. To sustainably restore Houbara populations to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a newly formed Royal Order Foundation named the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Houbara Conservation Foundation is poised to provide expertise and coordinate conservation activities among stakeholders. Action to re-establish wintering populations in Saudi Arabia must consider genetic factors underpinning the Houbara’s migratory behavior and emphasize protection of the few migrant individuals that still reach the Kingdom’s borders. Restoration of wintering Houbara to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will require not only coordinated efforts of countries along their migratory pathway, but also between land managers across areas of the north and the east of the country through which migrant Houbara funnel into the peninsula. Recent expansion of the Kingdom’s protected area network through the establishment of a network of Royal Reserves, as well as a new environmental police force open new possibilities for collaborative management of this species and restoration of overwintering populations.
期刊介绍:
The Journal for Nature Conservation addresses concepts, methods and techniques for nature conservation. This international and interdisciplinary journal encourages collaboration between scientists and practitioners, including the integration of biodiversity issues with social and economic concepts. Therefore, conceptual, technical and methodological papers, as well as reviews, research papers, and short communications are welcomed from a wide range of disciplines, including theoretical ecology, landscape ecology, restoration ecology, ecological modelling, and others, provided that there is a clear connection and immediate relevance to nature conservation.
Manuscripts without any immediate conservation context, such as inventories, distribution modelling, genetic studies, animal behaviour, plant physiology, will not be considered for this journal; though such data may be useful for conservationists and managers in the future, this is outside of the current scope of the journal.