IbisPub Date : 2026-03-22Epub Date: 2025-10-28DOI: 10.1111/ibi.70003
Maurizio Sarà, Rosario Mascara
{"title":"Breeding in natural nesting sites can improve the resilience of local Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) populations to environmental changes","authors":"Maurizio Sarà, Rosario Mascara","doi":"10.1111/ibi.70003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.70003","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The identification of key habitats of threatened species and of extrinsic environmental factors that influence their resilience to human-induced environmental changes are the foundation for the definition of conservation objectives. Using the presence and numerical abundance data collected in a long-term survey (2000–24) of breeding colonies of Lesser Kestrel <i>Falco naumanni</i> in Sicily (southern Italy), we defined occupancy patterns (on a focal sample of 99 colonies) and estimated population size (on a regional sample of 198 colonies). Each colony was categorized according to covariates based on its landscape (lowland, highland) and location in natural (cliffs) or artificial (buildings) sites. Occupancy modelling highlighted the prevalence of higher, annually variable colonization rates compared with low, annually constant local colony extinction rates. The colonization rates of the natural highland sites have a magnitude equivalent to those of local extinction rates of the artificial lowland sites, implying that local extinction in lowland colonies is compensated by colonization of cliffs in highlands. Furthermore, highland natural sites tend to have higher occupancy rates than colonies located elsewhere on the island. Since 2000, the Sicilian population increased to a peak of 1365 estimated pairs in 2011, then decreased, halving in 2019. From 2020 to 2024, a new numerical growth is taking place, mainly in the highland population. The lowland population is currently limited by the collapse of the buildings in which they nest and by drought and heatwaves that reduce offspring survival, while the cliffs of the cooler and wetter highland are buffering the overall population decline. These findings suggest concrete conservation actions to halt the species' decline in the island. Installing thermally insulated nestboxes can mitigate the loss of lowland breeding sites and reinforce the highland population.</p>","PeriodicalId":13254,"journal":{"name":"Ibis","volume":"168 2","pages":"465-478"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ibi.70003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147570235","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IbisPub Date : 2026-03-22Epub Date: 2025-10-16DOI: 10.1111/ibi.70002
Federica Rossetto, Nicolas Mathevon, Paola Laiolo
{"title":"Using acoustic indices to detect interspecific bird interactions and behaviour","authors":"Federica Rossetto, Nicolas Mathevon, Paola Laiolo","doi":"10.1111/ibi.70002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.70002","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Communication networks and acoustic interactions play a crucial role in shaping animal communities by mediating information exchange between individuals. These interactions contribute to the biophonic component of the soundscape—the acoustic environment of a place—which is increasingly analysed to understand ecosystem structure and functioning. However, soundscape analysis has rarely been applied to investigate the dynamics of information exchange within and between species. In this study, we tested whether two acoustic indices, Acoustic Entropy and Acoustic Complexity, could effectively reflect intra- and interspecies responses to playback experiments in a forest bird community. Our results indicate that, in the absence of non-biotic background noise, playback elicited vocalizations that altered the soundscape sufficiently to be reflected in acoustic index values. These changes in the indices also reflect the number of bird species responding to playback. However, this effect was observed only in experiments conducted under low-noise conditions, outside the breeding period, and when alarm calls were broadcast—conditions where the acoustic background is likely to be lower. In contrast, under conditions where the acoustic background is likely to be higher, the indices were unable to detect changes in bird acoustic behaviour elicited through playback. Our study highlights that acoustic indices may be a promising tool for investigating the acoustic networks emerging from homo- and heterospecific communication within an ecosystem, provided that precautions are taken regarding the experimental environment, ensuring that the acoustic background is not excessively high.</p>","PeriodicalId":13254,"journal":{"name":"Ibis","volume":"168 2","pages":"541-553"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ibi.70002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147566482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IbisPub Date : 2026-03-22Epub Date: 2026-01-30DOI: 10.1111/ibi.70027
Simon B. Z. Gorta, Peter Allen, Richard T. Kingsford, Alex J. Berryman, Jeff Davies, Mick Roderick, Rohan H. Clarke
{"title":"Environmental drivers of gadfly petrel vagrancy in the Southwest Pacific","authors":"Simon B. Z. Gorta, Peter Allen, Richard T. Kingsford, Alex J. Berryman, Jeff Davies, Mick Roderick, Rohan H. Clarke","doi":"10.1111/ibi.70027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.70027","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Seabirds are important indicators of ecological change. Their vulnerability to marine and terrestrial environmental disturbances is well documented, with seabirds now among the most threatened birds globally. Coupled with their capacity for far-ranging movements, incidences of vagrancy (individuals outside their regular, known geographical range) in seabirds can be a novel, early indicator of environmental change. We collated a comprehensive dataset of vagrancy in gadfly petrels (<i>Pterodroma</i> spp.) across the Southwest Pacific to investigate potential drivers of vagrancy in this group. Our dataset included 115 records of 10 taxa of Pacific-breeding gadfly petrel vagrants in the Southwest Pacific. Of these taxa, eight were more likely to occur as vagrants during neutral phases of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation and seven were less likely to occur during El Niño events. More directly, increasing poleward vagrancy in Collared <i>P. brevipes</i>, Kermadec <i>P. neglecta</i> and, potentially, White-necked Petrels <i>P. cervicalis</i> was associated with warmer-than-average sea-surface temperatures and may reflect expanded foraging ranges in response to ocean warming. Prospecting at potential breeding sites was recorded for 23% of vagrant records. This highlights the ecological plasticity necessary to establish new populations, providing potential opportunities for conservation support for population establishment, especially for threatened taxa. Our findings underscore the potential for vagrancy events to provide insight when assessing seabirds as indicators of environmental change.</p>","PeriodicalId":13254,"journal":{"name":"Ibis","volume":"168 2","pages":"616-632"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147570297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IbisPub Date : 2026-03-22Epub Date: 2025-12-03DOI: 10.1111/ibi.70021
Jorge García-Macía, Carlos A. Torralvo, Gonçalo Elias, João F. Tomás, Miguel A. Ferrer, Virginia Morandini
{"title":"Climate, habitat availability and human activity shape the wintering distribution of an increasing migratory piscivorous raptor within the Mediterranean basin","authors":"Jorge García-Macía, Carlos A. Torralvo, Gonçalo Elias, João F. Tomás, Miguel A. Ferrer, Virginia Morandini","doi":"10.1111/ibi.70021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.70021","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Ongoing global change, including climate warming, biodiversity loss and land-use shifts, is altering the distribution and population dynamics of many taxa. The Osprey <i>Pandion haliaetus</i> is a monotypic, piscivorous raptor that is currently shifting migratory behaviour and distribution patterns due to environmental changes. The species' migration across the Western Palaearctic has shortened, with the western Mediterranean basin becoming an increasingly important wintering area. In this study, we used a long-term dataset of field surveys (five wintering seasons between 2015 and 2024) and applied Species Distribution Models at a regional scale (50 × 50-km cells) to understand the processes governing spatial and temporal variation in wintering occupancy and abundance of the species within the Iberian Peninsula. In particular, we investigated the climatic, habitat-related and anthropogenic drivers of the wintering presence and density of the species. Our models suggested that structural landscape variables such as wetlands, continental water bodies and human footprint positively influenced the initial occupancy and/or abundance within Iberia, while seasonal climate variables, especially winter temperature but also cumulated precipitation, highly determined the inter-annual recruitment and disappearance within the cells. Ospreys were distributed nearer fish farms than expected for a random distribution, involving an ecological trade-off as these infrastructures provide superabundant and predictable food for piscivorous birds but are an increasing mortality risk in the region. Altogether, our results suggest that southwestern Iberia may become a key wintering stronghold for European Ospreys under future climate scenarios, with important implications for conservation and management.</p>","PeriodicalId":13254,"journal":{"name":"Ibis","volume":"168 2","pages":"687-700"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147562739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IbisPub Date : 2026-03-22Epub Date: 2026-02-05DOI: 10.1111/ibi.70028
Timo Keuning, Evy Gobbens, Ran Nathan, Allert I. Bijleveld
{"title":"Storm events will simultaneously reduce foraging opportunities and affect movements of Red Knots (Calidris canutus) in the intertidal Wadden Sea","authors":"Timo Keuning, Evy Gobbens, Ran Nathan, Allert I. Bijleveld","doi":"10.1111/ibi.70028","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.70028","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Intertidal systems provide important wintering areas for migratory shorebirds, where they can both forage and roost. In the light of climate change, extreme wind speeds are predicted to occur more frequently in northwestern Europe and pose a threat to shorebirds. Because strong winds can cause ‘wind set-up’ with increased water levels, increased wind speeds can affect the availability of intertidal foraging habitat of shorebirds. However, knowledge on the effects of storms on shorebirds in intertidal areas is currently limited. Using a state-of-the-art reverse-GPS system, WATLAS, we studied the effect of wind speed and direction on habitat availability and movements of Red Knots <i>Calidris canutus islandica</i> wintering in the intertidal Dutch Wadden Sea, a major site along the flyway. Specifically, we investigated how wind speed and direction affected maximal displacement, foraging-site selection during low tide and roost-site selection. Habitat availability was calculated by the difference in the proportion of exposed mudflat between the predicted astronomical tide and the realized tide that includes the ‘wind set-up’. Food availability was measured as the density and biomass of benthic invertebrate prey living in the exposed mudflats and are therefore potentially available to foraging shorebirds. We found a maximum decrease in mudflat availability of 50% during strong northwesterly winds and a maximum decrease in available benthic prey of 44% during strong westerly winds. Under these circumstances with strong winds, Red Knots roosted closer to the foraging grounds. However, with tailwinds (> 1 m/s) or water levels above 108 cm (Amsterdam Ordnance Datum) birds nonetheless flew to a more distant roost. We conclude that strong westerly winds limit mudflat and food availability for Red Knots and affect movement costs through foraging and roosting decisions. These wind-driven effects are likely to increase energetic costs while reducing opportunities for food intake, thereby reshaping energy balances. The predicted increase in strong westerly winds with the climate crises could intensify these effects, leading to more frequent and prolonged reductions in foraging opportunities, and probably posing growing challenges for shorebirds in this important UNESCO World Heritage Site and globally in intertidal areas.</p>","PeriodicalId":13254,"journal":{"name":"Ibis","volume":"168 2","pages":"633-648"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ibi.70028","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147563139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IbisPub Date : 2026-03-22Epub Date: 2025-11-05DOI: 10.1111/ibi.70005
Roni Ostreiher, Roger Mundry, Aviad Heifetz
{"title":"Sex-biased dispersal in the Arabian babbler (Argya squamiceps)","authors":"Roni Ostreiher, Roger Mundry, Aviad Heifetz","doi":"10.1111/ibi.70005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.70005","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Sex-biased dispersal plays a central role in shaping social structure and reproductive strategies in many bird species. In the Arabian Babbler <i>Argya squamiceps</i>, a cooperatively breeding species with pronounced male philopatry, dispersal occurs individually or in kin-based same-sex coalitions. We investigated sex differences in dispersal using 17 years of longitudinal field observations encompassing 64 dispersal events involving 156 individuals. We tested seven predictions, comparing females and males in (1) age at dispersal, (2) coalition size, (3) likelihood of dispersing alone, (4) dispersal distance, (5) duration of the transience period, (6) likelihood of encountering aggression upon joining a new group and (7) natal group size. Females dispersed at a younger age, in smaller coalitions and from smaller natal groups than males. Females also tended to disperse more often alone, and to further-away groups, though not significantly. No significant sex differences were found in transience periods, or likelihood of encountering aggression upon joining a new group. These patterns suggest that females are in more urgent need to disperse, probably because of limited reproductive opportunities within their natal groups and their subordinate position in the social hierarchy. Although we did not directly measure dispersal costs, our findings suggest that females may incur greater cumulative costs. A feedback dynamic may occur, where female-biased dispersal reinforces male philopatry, amplifying sex differences. Our results highlight the complex interplay between reproductive constraints, social organization and sex-specific dispersal strategies in cooperative breeders, and underscore the value of long-term behavioural data in understanding the evolutionary dynamics of sex-biased dispersal.</p>","PeriodicalId":13254,"journal":{"name":"Ibis","volume":"168 2","pages":"604-615"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ibi.70005","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147563411","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A systematic review of interspecific breeding in woodpeckers","authors":"Antonii Bakai, Jérôme Fuchs, Gerard Gorman, Dominika Sajdak, Łukasz Kajtoch","doi":"10.1111/ibi.70014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.70014","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Hybridization is a common phenomenon in birds. Woodpeckers (Picidae) are no exception, as approximately 20% of species are known to hybridize and, for many others, interspecific mating is suspected. However, the mechanisms and consequences (phenotypic and genetic) of hybridization are understood for only a fraction of woodpecker species. Here, we conduct a systematic review on the literature that deals with hybridization in woodpeckers and examine the available geographical and genetic data. According to the published data, most woodpeckers that hybridize inhabit the Neotropics, followed by the Nearctic and the Palaearctic. Hybridization appears to be less common in the Afrotropic and Indotropic regions. Indeed, it seems that the irregular distribution of woodpecker hybridization is determined by geo-climatic constraints and is most likely biased by evolutionary history. As expected, hybrids are usually found among closely related congeneric pairs of species, although members of 60% of hybridizing woodpecker pairs do not seem to be closest relatives of each other. Closely related woodpeckers show similarities in their respective reproductive biology, ecology and ethology, and so had less time for genetic incompatibilities to build up. Hybridization plays a substantial role in woodpecker evolution and ecology; therefore, this phenomenon deserves further study using genomics and citizen science.</p>","PeriodicalId":13254,"journal":{"name":"Ibis","volume":"168 2","pages":"415-430"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147562763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IbisPub Date : 2026-03-22Epub Date: 2025-12-25DOI: 10.1111/ibi.70024
Katarzyna Janas, Tomasz D. Mazgajski, Przemysław Chylarecki, Szymon M. Drobniak, Magdalena Kowalewska-Groszkowska, Anna Dubiec
{"title":"Assessing ornamental function of the white wing stripe in the Great Tit (Parus major)","authors":"Katarzyna Janas, Tomasz D. Mazgajski, Przemysław Chylarecki, Szymon M. Drobniak, Magdalena Kowalewska-Groszkowska, Anna Dubiec","doi":"10.1111/ibi.70024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.70024","url":null,"abstract":"<p>One of the key puzzles in evolutionary ecology is why some animals display multiple sexual ornaments. To tackle this question in species with complex plumage patterns, it is necessary to know which colour patches are sexually selected, yet the role of less conspicuous ornaments is under-studied. Here, we investigated the potential ornamental role of the so far unstudied wing stripe of the Great Tit <i>Parus major</i>. We analysed spectral characteristics of the white dot and adjacent grey area of the greater coverts, jointly forming the conspicuous white wing stripe. We also measured other ornamental traits: the melanin-based cap and tie and the carotenoid-based breast plumage. We aimed to examine sexual dichromatism within the wing stripe, identify its position in the correlation structure of other Great Tit colour traits and examine assortative mating based on analysed traits. We found that all analysed greater covert characteristics were more elaborate in males. However, visual models indicated that the noticeable contrast was present only within the grey part of the outer vane and not within the dot. Further, we observed a positive within-pair correlation of the ultraviolet chroma of white dots and the grey part of greater coverts, which may hint to non-random mate choice based on these traits. Our finding suggests that the Great Tit wing stripe, together with the adjacent grey part of the greater coverts, might belong to the multicomponent sexual signal.</p>","PeriodicalId":13254,"journal":{"name":"Ibis","volume":"168 2","pages":"659-673"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147568979","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IbisPub Date : 2026-03-22Epub Date: 2025-11-25DOI: 10.1111/ibi.13456
Paula M. Cimprich, Joseph Grzybowski, Jeffrey Kelly
{"title":"Personal and neighbourhood information are drivers in breeding dispersal departure decisions of a territorial migratory songbird","authors":"Paula M. Cimprich, Joseph Grzybowski, Jeffrey Kelly","doi":"10.1111/ibi.13456","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.13456","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Mechanisms driving breeding dispersal are complex but are of high interest because dispersal strongly links individual fitness to population dynamics. We examine the relative importance of personal information, neighbourhood effects and structural habitat characteristics in determining an individual's propensity for breeding dispersal. We attempted to identify relevant cues for breeding dispersal of a North American territorial migratory bird species, the Black-capped Vireo <i>Vireo atricapilla</i>. We colour-marked and radiotagged males in Southwestern Oklahoma, and used a conditional inference tree analysis to evaluate 11 variables that individuals could use as predictors of dispersal. We used the correlation between arrival date and habitat structure to determine habitat preference. Breeding dispersal propensity among Black-capped Vireos depended mostly on their personal breeding experience, but also on reproductive information gleaned from their neighbours. Older and younger age-classes that reproduced successfully did not disperse, but younger age-class individuals that failed to reproduce were more likely to disperse than older individuals within the breeding season. Dispersal events among young males were significantly related to the proportion of their neighbours that successfully reproduced, with more dispersal from neighbourhoods of fewer, less successful neighbours. Vegetation structure within a territory was not identified as a significant cue. However, in this Oklahoma population, Black-capped Vireos of different ages were spatially segregated into habitats of differing structure, which may further influence neighbourhood quality and the degree to which age-group participates in breeding dispersal. Our results indicate localized, neighbourhood effects are important to breeding dispersal, which has implications for the establishment of new populations or a stabilization of a population within a metapopulation. Future studies focused on the spatio-temporal aspects of breeding dispersal would be valuable. Especially useful for future research will be studies of the search behaviours of dispersing individuals and processes involved in selecting new habitat after leaving their initial territory.</p>","PeriodicalId":13254,"journal":{"name":"Ibis","volume":"168 2","pages":"588-603"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147569067","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IbisPub Date : 2026-03-22Epub Date: 2025-10-21DOI: 10.1111/ibi.13459
Vikram Malhi, Gino Brignoli, Jane Hallam, Peter Njoroge, Luc Lens, Marius Somveille, Julia J. Day
{"title":"Species characteristics predict the effectiveness of avian survey methods in an Afromontane sky-island","authors":"Vikram Malhi, Gino Brignoli, Jane Hallam, Peter Njoroge, Luc Lens, Marius Somveille, Julia J. Day","doi":"10.1111/ibi.13459","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.13459","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Biodiversity conservation requires effective monitoring of ecological communities in remote locations, where limited accessibility often restricts survey efforts. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is becoming an established method for measuring biodiversity, facilitated by the increased accessibility of autonomous recording units. Comparing the performance of PAM and traditional survey methods can provide insights into how species characteristics such as foraging strata, vocal behaviour and taxonomy influence the detection ability of each method. Here, avian species occurrences were collected using PAM and point count surveys (PCS) across three forest fragments in the Taita Hills, an Afromontane sky-island in southeastern Kenya. These montane forests contain high species-richness and endemism, but they have been severely fragmented and degraded as a result of deforestation, making comprehensive monitoring critical for conservation. We grouped detected species into clusters based on their foraging strata, using partitioning around medoid cluster analysis. From 25 survey sites, PAM and PCS detected 60 and 57 species, respectively, indicating that PAM is as effective as PCS for surveying montane tropical birds. However, species that primarily foraged on the ground and secondarily used the understorey, and species that primarily used the understorey and secondarily used the canopy, were more likely to be recorded by PAM than by PCS. Species that only used the understorey were more likely to be recorded by PCS. Investigation of broad taxonomic groupings showed that PAM was 20% more likely to record non-passerines than PCS, while passerines were equally likely to be recorded by either method. This study highlights how species characteristics, such as foraging strata and taxonomic group, influence the performance of surveying methods. By identifying which species are best monitored by each method, this study can inform more targeted monitoring strategies, improving accuracy and supporting biodiversity management efforts to mitigate ongoing species loss.</p>","PeriodicalId":13254,"journal":{"name":"Ibis","volume":"168 2","pages":"520-540"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ibi.13459","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147567514","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}