A high proportion of the world population of the spoon-billed sandpiper occurs at Tiaozini, China, during the post-breeding Moult

The Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea breeds in arctic and subarctic Russia and migrates to winter on coastal mudflats in south-east Asia. Its world population is probably about 700 individuals. We report Lincoln-Petersen closed-population estimates of the number of Spoon-billed Sandpipers at Tiaozini, a coastal site in Jiangsu Province, China, based upon resightings and scan surveys of individually-marked leg-flagged birds. Surveys were conducted in September-October, when adult Spoon-billed Sandpipers are moulting their primary feathers and long-distance movements are unlikely. We estimated that 220 birds were present at Tiaozini in 2017 and 224 in 2018. Nearly all of them were adults (one-year old or older), so about 40% of the world population of this age class was estimated to be present. Hence, protection of the mudflats and roost sites at Tiaozini is of global importance for the conservation of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper.Non

New estimates of the size and trend of the world population of the spoon-billed sandpiper using three independent statistical models

A single formal estimate of the size of the world population of the Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea has been published. This used a Lincoln-Petersen method, which combined a global mark-resighting analysis with a scan survey to estimate the proportion of birds with individual marks observed at a post-breeding moult and migration stopover site in Jiangsu Province, China. We report nine further repetitions of this procedure, which we call Method A, giving ten world population estimates in all, during the 6-year period 2014–2019. Four of these estimates use scan surveys from Jiangsu in the post-breeding adult moult period and six are from the non-breeding season (November–February) at three widely-separated sites in Bangladesh, Myanmar and South China. The weighted mean world population size at the end of the breeding season, based upon all ten surveys, was 490 mature individuals (95% C.L. 360–620) and 773 individuals of all ages (95% C.L. 569–978), which is similar to the single previous Method A estimate (420 mature individuals), but considerably more precise. We also report results from two independent but low-precision methods: one based upon published non-breeding season counts and the non-breeding season localities of satellite-tagged birds (Method B) and the other based upon mark-recapture analysis of birds marked as unfledged chicks and recaptured as migrating juveniles (Method C). These two methods gave estimates within the range 471 to 922 mature individuals, depending upon assumptions. The trend of Method A population size estimates with time during the short study period was a decline at a mean rate of 8% per year, but this did not differ significantly from zero (no change). The precision of this estimate of population trend was low, but its rate is of similar magnitude to the 9% per year decline during 2009–2016, derived from surveys of the local population at the most important known non-breeding season site in Myanmar. Hence, although the rapid population decline indicated by surveys of breeding populations observed prior to 2009 (mean 26% decline per year) has probably slowed as a result of conservation efforts, our results indicate that the species should continue to be listed as Critically Endangered.We thank the students of Nanjing Normal University who have helped in the ringing of Spoon-billed Sandpipers and other shorebirds in Jiangsu Province, China: Zhao Fangzheng, Ge Xiaohui, Hu Dongfang, Liu Wei, Zhang Yi, Chen Peng, Tai Deyun, Wu Yuhao, Xu Xue, Yao Wenjia, Wang Hao, Qian Nven; We thank the researchers from the Jiangsu Academy of Forestry: Ding Jingjing, Wang Xuan. We are grateful to the China Bird Banding Center, which supports the banding programme in China. Data collection was partly supported by The Biodiversity Investigation and Assessment program (2019–2023) of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China. Research and conservation work by BirdsRussia in Chukotka and Kamchatka was supported by RSPB, NABU, MHS, WWT, Chukotka administration and many other funding sources. The work of E. Lappo was partly supported by Basic Research Program (budgetary funds), project No.0148-2019-0007. Russian authors are thankful to all BirdsRussia team members, including numerous volunteers from abroad, who helped with nest searching and supported the catching and individual marking of birds. Svetlana and Roman Belogorodtsevy and other people of Meinypil’gyno are thanked for their help during our fieldwork. Richard Hearn, Kane Brides and Pyae-Phyo Aung made valuable contributions to the fieldwork. We thank all the surveyors and photographers who have undertaken surveys or sent in records of marked birds and Vivian Fu, Ding Li Yong and Paul Insua-Cao for detailed advice on past survey locations. We thank Nicola Crockford and Christoph Zöckler for advice and comments. We are grateful to Paul Howey of Microwave Telemetry Inc. for developing the miniature satellite tags used in this study and responding to our requests for variations of the design. We thank the (Animal Welfare) Ethics Advisory Committee of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds for scrutinising our application to attach satellite tags to Spoon-billed Sandpipers

Post-breeding migration of adult spoon-billed sandpipers

Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpipers Calidris pygmaea migrate from their breeding grounds in arctic and subarctic Russia along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway to winter in coastal habitats in south-east Asia. To describe the use of migration stopover and wintering sites during the post-breeding migration, we tracked six adults equipped with solar-powered Platform Transmitting Terminals (PTTs) on the breeding grounds and a further seven adults tagged at a post-breeding moulting site in Jiangsu Province, China. We identified 28 clusters of sites in all, of which nine appeared to be of special importance for refuelling for onward migration, or the post-breeding moult of flight feathers. In particular, we identified three sites in Russia that were used by tagged birds for prolonged periods of time prior to long migratory movements to the moulting grounds (Perevalochni Bay, Moroshechnaya River and Tyk Bay), three sites used during the period of flight feather moult (Rongmae Mudflat in DPRK; Tiaozini and Yangkou in Jiangsu Province, China) and three stopover sites used for long periods followed by long onward flights after the moult of flight feathers (Shanghai Chongming Donglin and Nandu Estuary, Leizhou in China and Ha Nam Island in Vietnam). In addition, wintering areas of eight tagged birds were identified, of which three were in China (Xitou Yangxi, Guankoudu Zhaoan and Xichang Hepu), one in Vietnam (Ha Nam Island), one in Myanmar (Gulf of Mottama), two in Bangladesh (Jahajja Char North and an area nearby) and one in Indonesia (Northern Sumatra). Ten of the 28 stopover and wintering sites identified have statutory protection.The work of E. Lappo was partly supported by Basic Research Program (budgetary funds), Project Number АААА-А19-119022190168-8

Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) Plantations Provide Additional Habitats for Vascular Plant Species in Agricultural Mosaic Landscapes

Increasing loss of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes is often debated in the bioenergy context, especially with respect to non-traditional crops that can be grown for energy production in the future. As promising renewable energy source and additional landscape element, the potential role of short rotation coppice (SRC) plantations to biodiversity is of great interest. We studied plant species richness in eight landscapes (225 km2) containing willow and poplar SRC plantations (1,600 m2) in Sweden and Germany, and the related SRC α-diversity to species richness in the landscapes (γ-diversity). Using matrix variables, spatial analyses of SRC plantations and landscapes were performed to explain the contribution of SRC α-diversity to γ-diversity. In accordance with the mosaic concept, multiple regression analyses revealed number of habitat types as a significant predictor for species richness: the higher the habitat type number, the higher the γ-diversity and the lower the proportion of SRC plantation α-diversity to γ-diversity. SRC plantation α-diversity was 6.9 % (±1.7 % SD) of species richness on the landscape scale. The contribution of SRC plantations increased with decreasing γ-diversity. SRC plantations were dominated more by species adapted to frequent disturbances and anthropo-zoogenic impacts than surrounding landscapes. We conclude that by providing habitats for plants with different requirements, SRC α-diversity has a significant share on γ-diversity in rural areas and can promote diversity in landscapes with low habitat heterogeneity and low species pools. However, plant diversity enrichment is mainly due to additional species typically present in disturbed and anthropogenic environments.peerReviewe