Antônio Coimbra de Brum, Júlia Victória Grohmann Finger, Richard G. Lathrop, Stephanie Feigin, Joseph Smith, Lawrence Joseph Niles, Maria Virginia Petry
{"title":"Northward migration of Red Knots Calidris canutus rufa and environment connectivity of southern Brazil to Canada","authors":"Antônio Coimbra de Brum, Júlia Victória Grohmann Finger, Richard G. Lathrop, Stephanie Feigin, Joseph Smith, Lawrence Joseph Niles, Maria Virginia Petry","doi":"10.1017/s0959270923000308","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959270923000308","url":null,"abstract":"<p>During their northward migration, Red Knots <span>Calidris canutus rufa</span> stop at the Lagoa do Peixe National Park in the extreme south of Brazil to build up fat reserves for their journey to their Canadian breeding grounds. We tracked five Red Knots with PinPoint Argos-75 GPS transmitters to investigate differences in migration strategies from this stopover. Tracked birds used two different routes: the Central Brazil route and the Brazilian Atlantic Coast route. One bird flew 8,300 km straight from Lagoa do Peixe to the Delaware Bay (USA). Another bird stopped in Maranhão (north-east Brazil) and a third one used a yet unknown environment for the species, the mouth of the Amazon River at Baía Santa Rosa, Brazil. These two birds made short flights, covering stretches of 1,600 km to 3,600 km between stop-overs, where they stayed from 4 to 18 days. Our study highlights the occurrence of intrapopulation variation in migratory strategies and reveals the connectivity of environments that are essential for the viability of <span>rufa</span> Red Knot populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":9275,"journal":{"name":"Bird Conservation International","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139474647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Vibhu Prakash, Hemant Bajpai, Soumya S. Chakraborty, Manan Singh Mahadev, John W. Mallord, Nikita Prakash, Sachin P. Ranade, Rohan N. Shringarpure, Christopher G. R. Bowden, Rhys E. Green
{"title":"Recent trends in populations of Critically Endangered Gyps vultures in India","authors":"Vibhu Prakash, Hemant Bajpai, Soumya S. Chakraborty, Manan Singh Mahadev, John W. Mallord, Nikita Prakash, Sachin P. Ranade, Rohan N. Shringarpure, Christopher G. R. Bowden, Rhys E. Green","doi":"10.1017/s0959270923000394","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959270923000394","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper reports results from the eighth of a series of road transect surveys of <span>Gyps</span> vultures conducted across northern, central, western, and north-eastern India since the early 1990s. Populations of the White-rumped Vulture <span>Gyps bengalensis</span>, Indian Vulture <span>G. indicus</span>, and Slender-billed Vulture <span>G. tenuirostris</span> declined rapidly, beginning in the mid-1990s. The principal cause of the declines was poisoning due to widespread veterinary use of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) diclofenac on cattle. The results of the current survey suggest that, while populations of all three species of vulture remain at a low level with no signs of recovery, they appear to have been approximately stable since veterinary use of diclofenac was banned in the mid-2000s. Population trends in India, where the illegal use of diclofenac and legal use of other toxic NSAIDs continues, are compared with more positive trends in Nepal, where the veterinary use of toxic NSAIDs appears to have been reduced to a low level.</p>","PeriodicalId":9275,"journal":{"name":"Bird Conservation International","volume":"207 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139084274","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Toka Mosikidi, Nicholas Le Maitre, Sandy-Lynn Steenhuisen, Vincent Ralph Clark, Kyle Smith Lloyd, Aliza Le Roux
{"title":"Passive acoustic monitoring detects new records of globally threatened birds in a high-elevation wetland (Free State, South Africa)","authors":"Toka Mosikidi, Nicholas Le Maitre, Sandy-Lynn Steenhuisen, Vincent Ralph Clark, Kyle Smith Lloyd, Aliza Le Roux","doi":"10.1017/s0959270923000345","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959270923000345","url":null,"abstract":"Summary Wetlands act as islands of high biodiversity within the ecological landscape and provide crucial ecosystem services to society. Anthropogenic activities are driving wetland degradation and it has become increasingly rare to find wetlands that do not show signs of biodiversity loss or alteration. The exacerbated loss of biodiversity in wetlands has a negative impact on the local economy and ecosystem services provided by these systems. We responded to the South African National Biodiversity Assessment (NBA) call to document wetland biodiversity against the backdrop of sustained wetland degradation in southern Africa. We monitored the soundscape of a high-elevation wetland in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park (GGHNP) from June 2019 to December 2020 across 24 localities using a rolling grid layout. We detected 35.9% of the avian species previously recorded from ad hoc sightings in the GGHNP of which 68.1% are wetland obligate species. We contributed an additional 10.2% new species records to the avian diversity of the GGHNP, including 24 species that are considered threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Our remote monitoring technique enabled the first ever continuous monitoring using remote acoustic equipment for a high-elevation wetland in South Africa, thus providing a valuable contribution to the NBA call.","PeriodicalId":9275,"journal":{"name":"Bird Conservation International","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139057321","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Relationship between age and method of population estimation and the impact of changes in range-size maps on the IUCN Red List assessments of birds","authors":"David A. Wiedenfeld, Marcelo F. Tognelli","doi":"10.1017/s0959270923000291","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959270923000291","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Population size is one component of several criteria in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species (Red List). For these criteria, the quality of the population estimation can therefore have significant impact on the assessed status. To evaluate population estimate quality, we selected 473 species of land birds from the Americas considered by the Red List to be “Critically Endangered”, “Endangered”, or “Vulnerable” at the end of 2021, of which 414 (88%) had a population size estimate. For these species, we determined the age of the estimate and how the population estimate was derived, grouped into eight categories. For 87 species (18%) the population estimate was derived by sampling a small area and extrapolating to the entire range of the species; for these, the population size estimate depends on the estimate of range size. For the subset of 22 of these with complete data, we compared range size estimates obtained from maps published by IUCN with maps produced using the methods of Huang et al. (2021) to see how range map differences could affect population size estimates and therefore Red List status. Potentially half of these species (11 of 22) could change status using the new maps. More than one-third of the population size estimates (38%, 161 species with a date of population estimate) were made in 2000 or earlier. A majority of the species, 63% (300 of 473 species), do not have population size estimates made using a scientific sampling method, although the majority since 2010 have been made using a sampling method, reflecting an effort by Red List assessors to include more scientific information. We encourage the ornithological community to work to obtain current, high quality population size and range estimates to improve the quality of Red List status assessments.</p>","PeriodicalId":9275,"journal":{"name":"Bird Conservation International","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138572785","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jan van der Winden, Peter W. van Horssen, Symen Deuzeman, Theunis Piersma
{"title":"Remnant Rhine delta population of Great Reed Warblers maintains high diversity in migration timing, stopping sites, and winter destinations","authors":"Jan van der Winden, Peter W. van Horssen, Symen Deuzeman, Theunis Piersma","doi":"10.1017/s0959270923000321","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959270923000321","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Many Afro-Palearctic songbird migrants have declined, with conservation efforts mainly focused on the restoration of breeding habitat. However, pressures outside the breeding season might play a role. This includes the possibility that local relict populations no longer maintain the original phenotypic variation in migration patterns, with a loss of flexibility. The Great Reed Warbler <span>Acrocephalus arundinaceus</span> kept stable population levels in central and eastern Europe, but was almost extinct in the western part of the breeding range. In the Rhine delta the population declined from 10,000 individuals around 1950, to fewer than 100 at present. Here we document migratory timing, routes, and destinations of members of this remnant songbird population. It turned out that the remaining adults still showed high diversity in migratory phenotypes. This is even true in each of the two last tiny subpopulations in the Netherlands (of 50 and 15 pairs). So, even very small populations maintain the possible adaptive phenotypic variation, and with hindsight this justifies the breeding habitat restoration efforts currently underway.</p>","PeriodicalId":9275,"journal":{"name":"Bird Conservation International","volume":"69 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138569765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evaluation of the limiting factors affecting the Seychelles Kestrel Falco araeus on Praslin Island (Seychelles) and considerations regarding a possible reintroduction of the species","authors":"Michele Barilari, Mattia Tonelli","doi":"10.1017/s0959270923000333","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959270923000333","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Seychelles Kestrel <span>Falco araeus</span> is an endemic species confined to the larger granitic islands in the Seychelles archipelago. It is classified as “Vulnerable” and became extinct on Praslin and La Digue islands in the 1970s, leading to an attempt of reintroduction in 1977. This reintroduction was not a success, with the last census reporting only four breeding pairs on Praslin Island. Studies on the Seychelles Kestrel are very limited and dated, and a lack of data on the biology and ecology of the species has made it difficult to make a thorough assessment of the cause of the current decline of the Praslin population. In order to determine the limiting factors on Praslin we investigated the following ecological parameters: nest-site availability, trophic availability, predatory pressure, and interspecific competition. Data were collected on Mahé and Praslin islands in three habitats (i.e. urban, suburban, and forest areas) and compared to determine if limiting factors differed among islands, habitats, and islands*habitat. We only found a significant difference in nest-site availability, with Praslin showing a marked lack of nesting cavities. Breeding pairs on Praslin are probably forced to nest in suboptimal sites. Indeed, the breeding success rate on Praslin is very low, and most of the nests there fail. The Seychelles Kestrel population on Praslin is in decline and cannot be sustained without human intervention. Such an intervention must take into account the ecological parameters highlighted in the present study.</p>","PeriodicalId":9275,"journal":{"name":"Bird Conservation International","volume":"67 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138565882","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The conservation status of the Nubian Bustard Nubotis nuba: a review and prognosis","authors":"N. J. Collar, Tim Wacher","doi":"10.1017/s095927092300028x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s095927092300028x","url":null,"abstract":"Summary Records of the Nubian Bustard <jats:italic>Nubotis nuba</jats:italic> range across the drier northern component of the Sahel zone in Africa from Mauritania through Mali, Niger, and Chad to Sudan. Reports of significant hunting pressure have caused it to be treated as IUCN “Near Threatened” for almost 40 years, but information relating to distribution and population trends remains scattered, anecdotal, and unevaluated. All accessible evidence bearing on its conservation is therefore assembled and reviewed here. The lack of records from Mauritania since 1984, Mali since 1974, and Sudan since 1988 suggests that populations there may now be very small and perhaps entirely extinguished. Records from Niger and Chad remain many, thanks largely to the assiduous reporting of observations on the West African Bird DataBase (WABDaB) by researchers involved in ungulate conservation. The national nature reserves of Aïr and Ténéré (RNNAT) and Termit and Tin-Toumma (RNNTT) in Niger and the Ouadi Rimé–Ouadi Achim Faunal Reserve (RFOROA) in Chad emerge as vital to the long-term survival of the Nubian Bustard, given the accumulating evidence in both countries of (1) widespread habitat degradation and conversion, as human populations and their livestock expand in numbers and range in the Sahel, and (2) intensifying persecution, as highly mobile and well-armed local poachers plus Gulf state hunters gain increasing vehicular access to the remotest regions, depleting all huntable wildlife (a Sahel-wide bird study, 2011–2019, encountered just 16 bustards of four species – none Nubian – in 487 observation days). Populations of Nubian Bustard must now be greatly fragmented and depleted, with many entirely lost, so targeted programmes to minimise disturbance, persecution, and damage to habitat in the three key reserves (including the exclusion of powerlines) are urgently needed. Ultimately however the survival of this and other endemic Sahelian species can only be secured via a huge programme of ecologically and economically sustainable management practices.","PeriodicalId":9275,"journal":{"name":"Bird Conservation International","volume":"166 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138495422","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Forest raptor nest selection traits in Mediterranean forest (Maamora, North Africa): conservation implications","authors":"Amalia Segura, Pelayo Acevedo","doi":"10.1017/S0959270923000266","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270923000266","url":null,"abstract":"Summary Forest raptor nest-site selection is mostly influenced by the quality of the habitat, food resources, and competition. Here, we identified common targets of trees selected as breeding sites and differences in selection traits, i.e. prey availability and intra- and interspecific competition, among Booted Eagle, Long-legged Buzzard, Black Kite, and Common Kestrel in a Mediterranean Cork Oak forest (private protected reserve of 25 km2). Using generalised linear mixed models we developed species-specific models describing nesting habitat selection. We tested the overlap in nesting habitat selection among species using environmental principal component analysis. The densities of forest raptor breeding pairs were high (3.1 pairs/km2) and the distance between occupied territories was short, strongly connected with food availability and competition. The results showed that all the species, with the exception of Common Kestrel, selected for nesting areas characterised by higher conspecific distance, highlighting the importance of conspecific competition. Booted Eagle and Black Kite selected areas with a high abundance of rabbits. The height of the nesting tree, the size and distance between surrounding trees, and the scrub cover were significant habitat characteristics for Booted Eagle and Long-legged Buzzard. Indeed, the environmental analyses showed a moderate nest site overlap between Black Kite and both Booted Eagle and Long-legged Buzzard, and a high overlap between Common Kestrel and both Booted Eagle and Long-legged Buzzard. Our study improves knowledge of the habitat requirements for nest selection and the potential competitive interactions between these raptor species in Mediterranean forests, and highlights the need for implementation of habitat management and conservation strategies.","PeriodicalId":9275,"journal":{"name":"Bird Conservation International","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46407169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on the relative abundance and conservation of Southern Black Korhaan Afrotis afra, a South African endemic","authors":"S. Evans","doi":"10.1017/S0959270923000230","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270923000230","url":null,"abstract":"Summary Southern Black Korhaan is “Vulnerable” to extinction and a South African endemic that is restricted to the area of the Northern Cape Province that is west of the Great Escarpment, and to the area south of the Great Escarpment in the Western Cape, and the western section of the Eastern Cape Province. The 1990, 2014, and 2020 land use land cover (LULC) databases prepared for South Africa were used to determine the LULC categories that best describe suitable habitat for the birds using beta regressions and data on the exact locality of the birds from BirdLasser. The South African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP) reporting rates were used to determine the change in the relative abundance of the birds between the first and second SABAP. Beta regression models were compiled using the bird’s reporting rate and the total surface area, and three other landscape metrics, of the per pentad LULC categories considered to be suitable habitat for them. These models and the SABAP reporting rates revealed that Southern Black Korhaan is adversely affected by the loss of, especially, its fynbos habitat to crop agriculture. In 2020, the area of suitable habitat available to the bird was estimated to be 2,035,526 ha on terrain with a slope of ≤4°. Southern Black Korhaan remains “Vulnerable” to extinction because of the continued decline of >30% in the size of its population over three generations (31 years). The cumulative effects of habitat fragmentation and loss on Southern Black Korhaan and other threatened taxa must be mitigated by conserving and, where appropriate, rehabilitating suitable habitat (e.g. Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve’s Corridors and Rehabilitation Project) in the protected areas, critical biodiversity areas, and ecosystem support areas identified in the provincial spatial conservation plans. Together these areas form a perforated landscape that ensures maximum connectivity between the remaining patches of indigenous habitat.","PeriodicalId":9275,"journal":{"name":"Bird Conservation International","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46014843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Frigatebirds Fregata: impacts of potential taxonomic change on population and conservation status","authors":"J. Croxall","doi":"10.1017/S0959270923000229","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270923000229","url":null,"abstract":"Summary Frigatebirds have been in taxonomic oblivion for nearly a century. A new genetic study by Martins et al. (2022) provides a stimulus and potential basis for a long-overdue modern review, which might lead to recognition of up to five new species-level taxa, two of which would be “Critically Endangered” globally and may already be effectively extinct. Even some of the more widespread frigatebird taxa are subject to multiple anthropogenic threats and, outside strictly protected and managed areas, may already be in serious decline. Seabird experts and organisations need urgently to review all available data relevant to frigatebird taxonomy and populations, collect additional material for genetic analysis, undertake new assessments of conservation status, and (in collaboration with appropriate regulatory authorities) propose and execute appropriate conservation and management actions.","PeriodicalId":9275,"journal":{"name":"Bird Conservation International","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45736994","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}