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Morrison CA, Butler SJ, Robinson RA, Clark JA, Arizaga J, Aunins A, Baltà O, Cepák J, Chodkiewicz T, Escandell V, Foppen RPB, Gregory RD, Husby M, Jiguet F, Kålås JA, Lehikoinen A, Lindström Å, Moshøj CM, Nagy K, Nebot AL, Piha M, Reif J, Sattler T, Škorpilová J, Szép T, Teufelbauer N, Thorup K, van Turnhout C, Wenninger T, Gill JA. Covariation in population trends and demography reveals targets for conservation action. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20202955. [PMID: 33653129 PMCID: PMC7934962 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.2955] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Wildlife conservation policies directed at common and widespread, but declining, species are difficult to design and implement effectively, as multiple environmental changes are likely to contribute to population declines. Conservation actions ultimately aim to influence demographic rates, but targeting actions towards feasible improvements in these is challenging in widespread species with ranges that encompass a wide range of environmental conditions. Across Europe, sharp declines in the abundance of migratory landbirds have driven international calls for action, but actions that could feasibly contribute to population recovery have yet to be identified. Targeted actions to improve conditions on poor-quality sites could be an effective approach, but only if local conditions consistently influence local demography and hence population trends. Using long-term measures of abundance and demography of breeding birds at survey sites across Europe, we show that co-occurring species with differing migration behaviours have similar directions of local population trends and magnitudes of productivity, but not survival rates. Targeted actions to boost local productivity within Europe, alongside large-scale (non-targeted) environmental protection across non-breeding ranges, could therefore help address the urgent need to halt migrant landbird declines. Such demographic routes to recovery are likely to be increasingly needed to address global wildlife declines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catriona A Morrison
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
| | - Simon J Butler
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
| | | | - Jacquie A Clark
- British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford IP24 2PU, UK
| | - Juan Arizaga
- Department of Ornithology, Aranzadi Sciences Society, Zorroagagaina 11, E20014 Donostia, Spain
| | - Ainars Aunins
- Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Latvia, Jelgavas iela 1, Riga, LV-1004, Latvia.,Latvian Ornithological Society, Skolas iela 3, Riga, LV-1010, Latvia
| | - Oriol Baltà
- Catalan Ornithological Institute, Nat-Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona, Pl. Leonardo da Vinci, 4-5 08019 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jaroslav Cepák
- Bird Ringing Centre, National Museum, Hornoměcholupská 34, CZ-10200 Praha 10, Czech Republic
| | - Tomasz Chodkiewicz
- Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wilcza 64, 00-679 Warszawa, Poland.,Polish Society for the Protection of Birds (OTOP), Odrowaza 24, 05-270 Marki, Poland
| | - Virginia Escandell
- Estudio y Seguimiento de Aves SEO/BirdLife, Melquíades Biencinto, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ruud P B Foppen
- Sovon Dutch Centre for Field Ornithology, PO Box 6521, 6503 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Department of Animal Ecology and Physiology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | | | - Magne Husby
- Nord University, Røstad, 7600 Levanger, Norway.,BirdLife Norway, Sandgata 30B, 7012 Trondheim, Norway
| | - Frédéric Jiguet
- Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO) UMR 7204, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France
| | - John Atle Kålås
- Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, PO Box 5685 Torgarden, NO-7485 Trondheim, Norway
| | - Aleksi Lehikoinen
- Finnish Museum of Natural History, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, PO Box 17, Finland
| | - Åke Lindström
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Charlotte M Moshøj
- Dansk Ornitologisk Forening, BirdLife Denmark, Vesterbrogade 138-140, DK-1620 København V, Denmark
| | - Károly Nagy
- MME BirdLife Hungary, Monitoring Centre, H-4401 Nyiregyháza 1. PO Box 286, Hungary
| | - Arantza Leal Nebot
- SEO/BirdLife, Ciencia Ciudadana, C/Melquiades Biencinto, 34 - 28053 Madrid, Spain
| | - Markus Piha
- Finnish Museum of Natural History - LUOMUS, PO Box 17, FI-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jiří Reif
- Institute for Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Benatska 2, 128 01 Praha 2, Czech Republic.,Department of Zoology and Laboratory of Ornithology, Faculty of Science, Palacky University, 771 46 Olomouc, Czech Republic.,Czech Society for Ornithology, Na Belidle 34, 150 00 Praha 5, Czech Republic
| | - Thomas Sattler
- Swiss Ornithological Institute, Seerose 1, CH-6204 Sempach, Switzerland
| | - Jana Škorpilová
- Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme, Czech Society for Ornithology, Na Bělidle, CZ-150 00 Prague 5, Czech Republic
| | - Tibor Szép
- University of Nyíregyháza & MME/BirdLife Hungary, Nyíregyháza, Hungary
| | | | - Kasper Thorup
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Chris van Turnhout
- Sovon Dutch Centre for Field Ornithology, PO Box 6521, 6503 GA Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Department of Animal Ecology and Physiology, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University, PO Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Thomas Wenninger
- Swedish Museum of Natural History, Bird Ringing Centre, Box 50007, S-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Jennifer A Gill
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
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Choi DY, Fish AC, Moorman CE, DePerno CS, Schillaci JM. Breeding-Season Survival, Home-Range Size, and Habitat Selection of Female Bachman's Sparrows. SOUTHEAST NAT 2021. [DOI: 10.1656/058.020.0112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Y. Choi
- Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607
| | - Alexander C. Fish
- Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607
| | - Christopher E. Moorman
- Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607
| | - Christopher S. DePerno
- Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607
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Santos TL, Fernandes C, Henley MD, Dawson DA, Mumby HS. Conservation Genetic Assessment of Savannah Elephants ( Loxodonta africana) in the Greater Kruger Biosphere, South Africa. Genes (Basel) 2019; 10:E779. [PMID: 31590388 PMCID: PMC6826889 DOI: 10.3390/genes10100779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2019] [Revised: 09/12/2019] [Accepted: 09/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Savannah elephant populations have been severely reduced and fragmented throughout its remaining range. In general, however, there is limited information regarding their genetic status, which is essential knowledge for conservation. We investigated patterns of genetic variation in savannah elephants from the Greater Kruger Biosphere, with a focus on those in previously unstudied nature reserves adjacent to Kruger National Park, using dung samples from 294 individuals and 18 microsatellites. The results of genetic structure analyses using several different methods of ordination and Bayesian clustering strongly suggest that elephants throughout the Greater Kruger National Park (GKNP) constitute a single population. No evidence of a recent genetic bottleneck was detected using three moment-based approaches and two coalescent likelihood methods. The apparent absence of a recent genetic bottleneck associated with the known early 1900s demographic bottleneck may result from a combination of rapid post-bottleneck population growth, immigration and long generation time. Point estimates of contemporary effective population size (Ne) for the GKNP were ~ 500-700, that is, at the low end of the range of Ne values that have been proposed for maintaining evolutionary potential and the current ratio of Ne to census population size (Nc) may be quite low (<0.1). This study illustrates the difficulties in assessing the impacts on Ne in populations that have suffered demographic crashes but have recovered rapidly and received gene flow, particularly in species with long generation times in which genetic time lags are longer. This work provides a starting point and baseline information for genetic monitoring of the GKNP elephants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa L Santos
- Bull Elephant Network Project, Conservation Science Group, David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QY, UK.
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S10 2TN, UK.
- cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Lisbon 1749-016, Portugal.
| | - Carlos Fernandes
- cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Lisbon 1749-016, Portugal.
| | - Michelle D Henley
- Applied Behavioural Ecology and Ecosystem Research Unit, University of South Africa, Florida Campus, Private Bag X6, Florida 1710, Johannesburg, South Africa.
- Elephants Alive, P.O. Box 960. Hoedspruit 1380, South Africa.
| | - Deborah A Dawson
- NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S10 2TN, UK.
| | - Hannah S Mumby
- Bull Elephant Network Project, Conservation Science Group, David Attenborough Building, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QY, UK.
- Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein, Johannesburg 2000, South Africa.
- Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Wallotstraße 19, Berlin 14193, Germany.
- School of Biological Sciences and Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
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6
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Fish AC, Moorman CE, DePerno CS, Schillaci JM, Hess GR. Predictors of Bachman's Sparrow Occupancy at its Northern Range Limit. SOUTHEAST NAT 2018. [DOI: 10.1656/058.017.0108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Alexander C. Fish
- Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695
| | - Christopher E. Moorman
- Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695
| | - Christopher S. DePerno
- Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695
| | | | - George R. Hess
- Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27607
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