Declines and conservation of Himalayan Galliformes

PhD ThesisThe Greater Himalaya has been identified as a key conservation region that supports high levels of biodiversity but has exceptionally high proportions of threatened species. One taxonomic group that is thought to be of particular concern is the bird order Galliformes. The Greater Himalaya is home to 24 species of resident Galliformes with a variety of ecological characteristics, geographical distribution patterns and abundance levels. Our current knowledge of South Asian Galliformes and Himalayan species in particular, contains many gaps. For example, it is suspected that many Himalayan Galliformes have undergone marked population declines but as to what extent they have declined and even the current status of some species is not fully known. There is a similar paucity of knowledge regarding both the distributions of the rarest of Himalayan Galliformes species and how well the current protected area network represents such distributions. Here I provide new insights into the distribution of the rarest Himalayan Galliform, the Critically Endangered Himalayan Quail (Orphrysia superciliosa) by using two proxy species with similar habitat preferences to create an environmental niche model. I show that by calculating an estimate of extinction likelihood, we have good reason to believe that the Himalayan quail to be extant and that recent searches in Nepal would be better targeted in North East India. Moving from single species to multiple species, I then examine long-term population changes across all Himalayan Galliformes by using changes in geographic range size as a proxy. I show that population changes for this suite of species both within and outside the Himalaya can help us to set conservation priorities and baselines. In addition, it can help us to identify species that have undergone large population changes that are not reflected in contemporary IUCN Red List statues. Species with small geographic ranges are currently top priorities for conservation efforts because they are thought to be at a greater risk of extinction. However, because it is also easier to track long term population changes over smaller spatial scales, concern exists that we may have underestimated the declines and therefore the extinction risk of more i widespread species. I show that across the entire Galliformes taxon, geographic range size does not predict the rate of geographic range decline. Finally, I move from population declines across all Galliformes to distributions of Himalayan Galliformes and assess how well the current protected area network represents such species. Using a combination of species distribution modelling and spatial prioritisation software, I show that the current protected area network in the greater Himalayas could be improved to offer better coverage for Himalayan Galliformes. I conclude by discussing the generality of my results and how they can be applied to other taxa and localities. Finally I make a series of recommendations for future Galliformes research and conservation within the Himalaya

Evaluation of the Ecosystem Services of the Central Marsh in Southern Iraq

Ecosystems provide humans with services that include benefits from food, fresh water, climate regulation, and socio-economic assets. The Mesopotamian marshlands are among the largest wetlands in the Middle East and they provide various benefits. However, ecosystem services of the Marshlands are consistently undervalued in national economic analysis and decision making. This study focusses on the Central Marshes, the first National Park in Iraq, and is the first attempt at valuing a series of ecosystem services from a valuable natural ecosystem in Iraq. We adopted the Toolkit for Ecosystem Services Site-Based Assessment (TESSA) for the determination of biophysical and economic values of services at the site level. Data on key ecosystem services (as determined by 30 interviews with residents of the Marshes) included the trading of fish, harvested plants, water buffalo milk, and fodder were collected across six months in 2014. We valued the ecosystem services within the CM (40,000 ha) over a 6-month period to have a total value of 860,078.23 USD. This estimated total value was the sum of 86,637.25 USD from harvested plants, 551,334.80 USD from trading fish, 167, 303.70 USD from trading water buffalo milk, and 54,804.00 USD from trading fodder. The average income per individual in Iraq in 2014 was 6720 USD (World Bank data - https://data.worldbank.org/country/iraq): thus, the CM provided an average salary for 256 people. Our results provided greater understanding of the ecosystem services contributed by the Central Marshes and has highlighted the crucial role of nature in supporting sustainable well-being for humans living in the area. In addition, the results can be used to enhance local policy, to aid management plans of the National park, and to estimate lost and damage that could result from impact of climate change on the area

Pollution threatens water quality in the Central Marshes of Southern Iraq

تلوث المياه مشكلة يمكن أن تتفاقم بسبب الجفاف مع زيادة تراكيز المواد غير المرغوب فيها. توفر الاهوار الطبيعية إمكانية تحسين جودة المياه وهنا نقدم أدلة على هذه الخدمة بناءً على تدفق المياه من نهر الفرات (الذي عانى من انخفاض كبير في التدفق) إلى الأهوار في جنوب العراق. تم إنشاء سدة ترابية في عام 2010 على نهر الفرات لمنع المياه التي يقل ارتفاعها عن 1.7 متر من المرور من محافظة ذي قار (الجبايش) إلى محافظة البصرة (المدَينه) كاستجابة للجفاف الشديد الذي واجه المنطقة في عامي 2009 و 2010. ونتيجة لذلك ، أصبحت الاهوار الوسطى في الجبايش موقعا نهائيا (بدون منفذ) الى كل مياه نهر الفرات التي تاتي من غرب العراق محملة بمختلف الملوثات والنفايات الزراعية. تم اختبار قدرة الاهوار الوسطى على العمل كبالوعة لتقليل تراكم العناصر الغذائية (NO2 ، NO3 ، PO4) ، والملوحة ، والأيونات الرئيسة ، والمعادن الثقيلة (Cu ، Ni ، Pb ، Cd ، Zn) في نهر الفرات. قسمت منطقة الدراسة إلى أربع مناطق أفقية (النهر وثلاث مناطق داخل الهور) وأجريت ثمانية مسوحات ميدانية من تشرين الثاني 2013 إلى حزيران 2014 لجمع عينات المياه باستخدام منهجية الخط المستقيم (transect line methodology). كانت الملوحة والأيونات الرئيسية أعلى بشكل معنوي داخل الهور مقارنة بالنهر. ومع ذلك ، لم يتم العثور على اختلافات بين قيم المغذيات في النهر والهور مما يشير إلى أن دور الهور للعمل كبالوعة لهذه المواد كان محدودا  وان تراكم الملوثات وتركيزها كان اكثر في داخل الهور منه الى المناطق القريبة للنهر. لذلك فإن التراكم طويل الأمد يشكل تحديًا كبيرًا يواجه الهور في ظل ظروف شحة المياه في نهر الفرات ، وهذا يتطلب اهتمامًا عاجلاً ، خاصة بالنظر إلى مكانة الموقع كموقع للتراث العالمي (لخدمات النظم الطبيعية المقدمة للسكان المحليين) وكمنطقة تنوع بيولوجي مهمة. ملف ملحقWater pollution is an issue that can be exacerbated by drought as increased concentrations of unwanted substances are a consequence of lower water levels. Polluted water that flows into natural marshlands leads to the deposition of pollutants in the interior of the marsh. Here we present evidence that the interior of the Central Marsh (CM) in southern Iraq suffers from higher levels of pollution than areas closer to the source of water entering the marsh (the Euphrates River). A 1.7m embankment that halts the flow of the Euphrates is only infrequently breached and so the CM is effectively the terminal destination of the waters (and their associated pollutants and agricultural waste) flowing from the West of Iraq. A range of water quality metrics were measured where the Euphrates enters the CM and at increasing distances into the interior of the CM. The following measures were taken:  NO2, NO3, PO4 , Salinity, Major ions, and Heavy Metals (Cu, Ni, Pb, Cd, Zn). The area of study was divided into four horizontal zones (the river and three zones inside the marsh) and eight field surveys were carried out from November 2013 to June 2014 to collect water samples by using a transect line methodology.  Salinity and major ions (Na, K, Cl, Ca, and Mg) were significantly higher inside the marsh compared with levels in the river water immediately before it entered the CM.  These findings indicate  the increased risk of these pollutants to humans and wildlife living in and using the CM.  This issue  requires urgent attention, especially to the status of the CM as a World Heritage site (for the ecosystem services provided to local people) as an Important Biodiversity Area. The reported declines in water quantity in the Euphrates over recent decades will likely further exacerbate the problems we report. Supplement fil

Exclusion of Polymorphisms in Carnosinase Genes (CNDP1 and CNDP2) as a Cause of Diabetic Nephropathy in Type 1 Diabetes: Results of Large Case-Control and Follow-Up Studies

OBJECTIVES— Recently, an association was found between diabetic nephropathy and the D18S880 microsatellite, located in the carnosinase gene (CNDP1) on chromosome 18q. Alleles of this microsatellite encode for a variable number of leucine residues (from four to seven) in the leader peptide of the carnosinase precursor. The frequency of subjects homozygous for the five leucines was higher in control subjects than in case subjects in studies focusing on type 2 diabetic patients. To test whether this finding can be extended to type 1 diabetic patients, we carried out a comprehensive study on association between diabetic nephropathy and the D18S880 microsatellite and 21 additional SNPs that tagged the genomic region containing CNDP1 and CNDP2

Developmental history, energetic state and choice impulsivity in European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris

Impulsivity—the extent to which a reward is devalued by the amount of time until it is realized—can be affected by an individual’s current energetic state and long-term developmental history. In European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), a previous study found that birds that were lighter for their skeletal size, and birds that had undergone greater shortening of erythrocyte telomeres over the course of development, were more impulsive as adults. Here, we studied the impulsivity of a separate cohort of 29 starlings hand-reared under different combinations of food amount and begging effort. The task involved repeated choice between a key yielding one pellet after 3 s and another key yielding two pellets after 8 s. Impulsivity was operationalised as the proportion of choices for the short-delay option. We found striking variation in impulsivity. We did not replicate the results of the previous study concerning developmental telomere attrition, though combining all the evidence to date in a meta-analysis did support that robustness of that association. We also found that early-life conditions and mass for skeletal size interacted in predicting impulsivity. Specifically, birds that had experienced the combination of high begging effort and low food amount were less impulsive than other groups, and the usual negative relationship between impulsivity and body mass was abolished in birds that had experienced high begging effort. We discuss methodological differences between our study and studies that measure impulsivity using an adjusting-delay procedure

Evaluating the cyclic ratio schedule as an assay of feeding behaviour in the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

The cyclic ratio (CR) schedule is a behavioural assay developed to study feeding in rats, in which the number of operant responses required to obtain food reward (the ratio requirement) increases and then decreases in a repeating cycle. In a recent study, we used the CR schedule with European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) to investigate the effects of an early-life manipulation on adult feeding behaviour. As this was the first time the CR schedule had been used with any bird species, a more in-depth evaluation is warranted. Here, we performed a fuller CR experiment with the same birds as the prior study, a year later. First, we examine the individual consistency of feeding behaviour between experimental sessions and also between CR schedules comprising different ratio requirement progressions. We found that between-session consistency was poor to moderate, and that a geometric ratio progression provided greater between-session consistency than an arithmetic ratio progression. Second, we tried to replicate some of the canonical findings from rats working on CR schedules. In contrast to findings from rats, we found that defence of feeding rates did not increase when starlings were acutely food deprived. However, as in rats, we found that the post-reinforcement pause increased linearly with the upcoming ratio requirement, suggesting that starlings were able to learn the cyclic nature of the schedule. Third, we compared the results from the present study concerning the impacts of our early-life treatment with those from our earlier study. We found that the majority of our previous findings were replicated in the same individuals one year on, reinforcing our previous conclusion that the early-life manipulation had canalised our birds into two groups with different patterns of feeding rate defence

Time perception and patience: individual differences in interval timing precision predict choice impulsivity in European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris

Impulsivity, in the sense of the extent rewards are devalued as the time until their realization increases, is linked to various negative outcomes in humans, yet understanding of the cognitive mechanisms underlying it is limited. Variation in the imprecision of interval timing is a possible contributor to variation in impulsivity. We use a numerical model to generate predictions concerning the effect of timing imprecision on impulsivity. We distinguish between fixed imprecision (the imprecision that applies even when timing the very shortest time intervals) and proportional imprecision (the rate at which imprecision increases as the interval becomes longer). The model predicts that impulsivity should increase with increasing fixed imprecision, but decrease with increasing proportional imprecision. We present data from a cohort of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris, n = 28) in which impulsivity had previously been measured through an intertemporal choice paradigm. We tested interval timing imprecision in the same individuals using a tri-peak temporal reproduction procedure. We found repeatable individual differences in both fixed and proportional imprecision. As predicted, birds with greater proportional imprecision in interval timing made fewer impulsive choices, whilst those with greater fixed imprecision tended to make more. Contradictory observations in the literature regarding the direction of association between timing imprecision and impulsivity might be clarified by distinguishing between fixed and proportional components of imprecision

Early-life begging effort reduces adult body mass but strengthens behavioural defence of the rate of energy intake in European starlings

Animals require strategies for coping with periods when food is scarce. Such strategies include storing fat as a buffer, and defending the rate of energy intake by changing foraging behaviour when food becomes difficult to obtain. Storage and behavioural defence may constitute alternative strategies for solving the same problem. We would thus expect any developmental influences that limit fat storage in adulthood to also induce a compensatory alteration in adult foraging behaviour, specifically when food is hard to obtain. In a cohort of hand-reared European starlings, we found that higher manipulated early-life begging effort caused individuals to maintain consistently lower adult body mass over a period of two years. Using an operant foraging task in which we systematically varied the costs of obtaining food, we show that higher early-life begging effort also caused stronger behavioural defence of the rate of energy intake when food was more costly to obtain. Among individuals with the same developmental history, however, those individuals who defended their rate of energy intake most strongly were also the heaviest. Our results are relevant to understanding why there are marked differences in body weight and foraging behaviour even among individuals inhabiting the same environment

Conservation of Galliformes in the Greater Himalaya: Is there a need for a higher-quality evidence-base?

Global biodiversity is at a heightened risk of extinction and we are losing species faster than at any other time. It is important to understand the threats that drive a species towards extinction in order to address those drivers. In this paper, we assess our knowledge of the threats faced by 24 Himalayan Galliformes species by undertaking a review of the threats reported in the published literature and the supporting evidence that the threat is having an impact on the species’ populations. Only 24 papers were deemed suitable to be included in the study. We found that biological resource use and agriculture and aquaculture are the predominant threats to the Galliformes in the Greater Himalaya but the evidence available in the studies is quite poor as only one paper quantified the impact on species. This study shows that major gaps exist in our understanding of threats to species, and it is imperative to fill those gaps if we want to prevent species from going extinct

Food insecurity increases energetic efficiency, not food consumption: an exploratory study in European starlings

Food insecurity—defined as limited or unpredictable access to nutritionally adequate food—is associated with higher body mass in humans and birds. It is widely assumed that food insecurity-induced fattening is caused by increased food consumption, but there is little evidence supporting this in any species. We developed a novel technology for measuring foraging, food intake and body mass in small groups of aviary-housed European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). Across four exploratory experiments, we demonstrate that birds responded to 1–2 weeks of food insecurity by increasing their body mass despite eating less. Food-insecure birds therefore increased their energetic efficiency, calculated as the body mass maintained per unit of food consumed. Mass gain was greater in birds that were lighter at baseline and in birds that faced greater competition for access to food. Whilst there was variation between experiments in mass gain and food consumption under food insecurity, energetic efficiency always increased. Bomb calorimetry of guano showed reduced energy density under food insecurity, suggesting that the energy assimilated from food increased. Behavioural observations of roosting showed inconsistent evidence for reduced physical activity under food insecurity. Increased energetic efficiency continued for 1–2 weeks after food security was reinstated, indicating an asymmetry in the speed of the response to food insecurity and the recovery from it. Future work to understand the mechanisms underlying food insecurity-induced mass gain should focus on the biological changes mediating increased energetic efficiency rather than increased energy consumption