Literatuurstudie en formulering richtlijnen voor een ecologische inrichting van zonneparken in de provincies Groningen en Noord-Holland : Eindrapportage

De opwekking van duurzame – niet van fossiele brandstoffen afhankelijke – energie kent momenteel een sterke groei. De aanleg van zonneparken in landbouwgebieden zet extra druk op de toch al schaarse ruimte in het buitengebied. Daarnaast gaat de aanleg van zonneparken ten koste van het leefgebied van boerenlandvogels (akker- en weidevogels), soortsgroepen die toch al sterk onder druk staan. Bovendien zijn er zorgen over mogelijk bodembederf (bodemdegradatie en bodemerosie) als gevolg van zonneparken. Echter, door een ecologische inrichting en beheer van zonneparken zouden deze juist ook een groene plus op het leefgebied van akkervogels kunnen zetten, en zou de bodemkwaliteit juist ook verbeterd kunnen worden, met name in gebieden die momenteel lage natuurwaarden en door intensieve landbouw uitgeputte bodems kennen. Voor de provincies Groningen en Noord-Holland hebben we middels een literatuurstudie de kennis over effecten van zonneparken op biodiversiteit (met name boerenlandvogels) en bodemkwaliteit op een rij gezet. Aanbevelingen uit de literatuur voor meer ecologisch duurzame inrichting van zonneparken zijn vervat in een checklist

In this Issue

Aim: Molluscivorous shorebirds supposedly developed their present wintering distribution after the last ice age. Currently, molluscivorous shorebirds are abundant on almost all shores of the world, except for those in the Indo-West Pacific (IWP). Long before shorebirds arrived on the scene, molluscan prey in the IWP evolved strong anti-predation traits in a prolonged evolutionary arms race with durophagous predators including brachyuran crabs. Here, we investigate whether the absence of molluscivorous shorebirds from a site in Oman can be explained by the molluscan community being too well-defended. Location: The intertidal mudflats of Barr Al Hikman, Oman. Methods: Based on samples from 282 locations across the intertidal area the standing stock of the macrozoobenthic community was investigated. By measuring anti-predation traits (burrowing depth, size and strength of armour), the fraction of molluscs available to molluscivorous shorebirds was calculated. Results: Molluscs dominated the macrozoobenthic community at Barr Al Hikman. However, less than 17% of the total molluscan biomass was available to shorebirds. Most molluscs were unavailable either because of their hard-to-crush shells, or because they lived too deeply in the sediment. Repair scars and direct observations confirmed crab predation on molluscs. Although standing stock densities of the Barr Al Hikman molluscs were of the same order of magnitude as at intertidal mudflat areas where molluscivorous shorebirds are abundant, the molluscan biomass available to shorebirds was distinctly lower at Barr Al Hikman. Main conclusions: The established strong molluscan anti-predation traits against crabs precludes molluscan exploitation by shorebirds at Barr Al Hikman. This study exemplifies that dispersal of "novel" predators is hampered in areas where native predators and prey exhibit strongly developed attack and defence mechanisms, and highlights that evolutionary arms races can have consequences for the global distribution of species

Great Snipes in sub-Saharan Africa : Seasonal patterns of abundance, moult and body mass in relation to age and sex

Great Snipes Gallinago media spend about eight months per year in sub-Saharan Africa, but most aspects of their non-breeding ecology are poorly known. We analysed the seasonal pattern of appearance, flight feather moult (primaries and secondaries), and body mass in relation to age and sex, based on 3,247 birds collected by hunters in 1990–2000 in Benin, Gabon, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Adult males arrived in Africa from mid-August with a suspended flight feather moult. Adult females on average arrived somewhat later, and were about one month behind in the progress of flight feather moult. The adults of both sexes resumed moult immediately upon arrival. Flight feather moult was generally completed by the end of November in males, and end of December in females. Juvenile Great Snipes arrived later than adults and did not moult their flight feathers. The temporal pattern of occurrence at the different study sites suggests a general relocation of snipes from West Africa to Central Africa in October-December. Body masses did not differ between age groups and were generally low from August to February (155–170 g in males and 165–185 g in females). Males apparently departed northwards from late March to late April, and the females about two weeks later. Prior to departure, body mass increased on average with about 50 g (in both sexes), suggesting a departure fuel load of 31–33% above lean body mass. In periods of high and stable mass increase, fuel was deposited at rates of about 0.8–1.3 g/d (or 0.5–0.8% of lean body mass/d). The heaviest males and females had a total body mass of 242 and 250 g, respectively. This kind of traditional natural history data forms an important complement to the new type of data emerging from modern tracking techniques

Literatuurstudie en formulering richtlijnen voor een ecologische inrichting van zonneparken in de provincies Groningen en Noord-Holland : Eindrapportage

De opwekking van duurzame – niet van fossiele brandstoffen afhankelijke – energie kent momenteel een sterke groei. De aanleg van zonneparken in landbouwgebieden zet extra druk op de toch al schaarse ruimte in het buitengebied. Daarnaast gaat de aanleg van zonneparken ten koste van het leefgebied van boerenlandvogels (akker- en weidevogels), soortsgroepen die toch al sterk onder druk staan. Bovendien zijn er zorgen over mogelijk bodembederf (bodemdegradatie en bodemerosie) als gevolg van zonneparken. Echter, door een ecologische inrichting en beheer van zonneparken zouden deze juist ook een groene plus op het leefgebied van akkervogels kunnen zetten, en zou de bodemkwaliteit juist ook verbeterd kunnen worden, met name in gebieden die momenteel lage natuurwaarden en door intensieve landbouw uitgeputte bodems kennen. Voor de provincies Groningen en Noord-Holland hebben we middels een literatuurstudie de kennis over effecten van zonneparken op biodiversiteit (met name boerenlandvogels) en bodemkwaliteit op een rij gezet. Aanbevelingen uit de literatuur voor meer ecologisch duurzame inrichting van zonneparken zijn vervat in een checklist

Integrating biodiversity conservation in wider landscape management : Necessity, implementation and evaluation

Current conservation instruments, which for most species rely heavily on protected areas, are insufficient to halt biodiversity loss. Conservation initiatives in the wider landscape surrounding protected areas are needed to achieve the impact required for reversing negative biodiversity trends. Focussing on intensively used north-western European landscapes, we present a landscape-level conservation approach that coordinates, integrates and evaluates conservation management by different stakeholders in protected areas, farmland and public space. The starting point is the set of environmental conditions or the habitat characteristics that is needed to realize stable or positive biodiversity trends. Such sets are captured in Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that can be quantified easily over large areas. Integrated monitoring and evaluation of the relationships between KPIs, management and biodiversity need to be used to validate initial assumptions and continuously improve conservation effectiveness. Evaluation relies on trend monitoring in areas with and without conservation management and extrapolations to landscape-level biodiversity trends based on the total area on which conservation is being implemented. The relationships between biodiversity and KPIs can subsequently be used to develop biodiversity-based business models and to inspire and help stakeholders within and outside these focal areas to actively join the initiative

Habitat selection, diet and food availability of European Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria chicks in Swedish Lapland

Fennoscandian alpine tundra habitats support large numbers of breeding waders, but relatively little is known about their breeding ecology despite the fact that this habitat is threatened by climate change. We studied habitat selection, diet and prey availability of European (Eurasian) Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria chicks at the Vindelfj€allen Nature Reserve, Ammarn€as, Sweden. Information from 22 chicks tracked using radio-transmitters was analysed. By analysing 149 faecal samples, four main prey taxa were identified, Coleoptera (40%), Bibionidae (31%), Hymenoptera (13%) and Tipulidae (10%). We found that chicks switched from feeding on Tipulidae to feeding on Bibionidae as they grew, and that this switch coincided with a shift from the use of the habitat where Tipulidae were abundant (alpine meadow/heathland) to the use of the habitat were Bibionidae were abundant (Willow shrub). Although chicks track food availability to some extent, the link between prey availability and habitat use was not perfect, indicating that additional factors other than food abundance, such as shelter from predators, determine habitat selection. Bibionidae are an important prey for Golden Plover chicks as it is the only prey group that has a late summer flush in abundance, in contrast to the general decline of total arthropod biomass during the chick-rearing period. However, Bibionidae imagoes only occurred in 2011 and were virtually absent in 2013, which relates to the species’ ecology with 2- to 5-year cycles in mass occurrence. Extreme annual variation in an essential food source such as Bibionidae imagoes might have an important effect on the condition and survival of Golden Plover chicks, an important subject for future studies. The foraging conditions for Golden Plover chicks in Fennoscandia appear to be different to those in the UK, where the chicks rely mainly on a Tipulidae flush only

Migratory connectivity and population-specific migration routes in a long-distance migratory bird

Knowledge about migratory connectivity, the degree to which individuals from the same breeding site migrate to the same wintering site, is essential to understand processes affecting populations of migrants throughout the annual cycle. Here, we study the migration system of a long-distance migratory bird, the Montagu’s harrier Circus pygargus, by tracking individuals from different breeding populations throughout northern Europe. We identified three main migration routes towards wintering areas in sub-Saharan Africa. Wintering areas and migration routes of different breeding populations overlapped, a pattern best described by ‘weak (diffuse) connectivity’. Migratory performance, i.e. timing, duration, distance and speed of migration, was surprisingly similar for the three routes despite differences in habitat characteristics. This study provides, to our knowledge, a first comprehensive overview of the migration system of a Palaearctic-African long-distance migrant. We emphasize the importance of spatial scale (e.g. distances between breeding populations) in defining patterns of connectivity and suggest that knowledge about fundamental aspects determining distribution patterns, such as the among-individual variation in mean migration directions, is required to ultimately understand migratory connectivity. Furthermore, we stress that for conservation purposes it is pivotal to consider wintering areas as well as migration routes and in particular stopover sites

Chapter Four - Integrating biodiversity conservation in wider landscape management: Necessity, implementation and evaluation

Current conservation instruments, which for most species rely heavily on protected areas, are insufficient to halt biodiversity loss. Conservation initiatives in the wider landscape surrounding protected areas are needed to achieve the impact required for reversing negative biodiversity trends. Focussing on intensively used north-western European landscapes, we present a landscape-level conservation approach that coordinates, integrates and evaluates conservation management by different stakeholders in protected areas, farmland and public space. The starting point is the set of environmental conditions or the habitat characteristics that is needed to realize stable or positive biodiversity trends. Such sets are captured in Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that can be quantified easily over large areas. Integrated monitoring and evaluation of the relationships between KPIs, management and biodiversity need to be used to validate initial assumptions and continuously improve conservation effectiveness. Evaluation relies on trend monitoring in areas with and without conservation management and extrapolations to landscape-level biodiversity trends based on the total area on which conservation is being implemented. The relationships between biodiversity and KPIs can subsequently be used to develop biodiversity-based business models and to inspire and help stakeholders within and outside these focal areas to actively join the initiative

Convergent patterns of long-distance nocturnal migration in noctuid moths and passerine birds

Vast numbers of insects and passerines achieve long-distance migrations between summer and winter locations by undertaking high-altitude nocturnal flights. Insects such as noctuid moths fly relatively slowly in relation to the surrounding air, with airspeeds approximately one-third of that of passerines. Thus, it has been widely assumed that windborne insect migrants will have comparatively little control over their migration speed and direction compared with migrant birds. We used radar to carry out the first comparative analyses of the flight behaviour and migratory strategies of insects and birds under nearly equivalent natural conditions. Contrary to expectations, noctuid moths attained almost identical ground speeds and travel directions compared with passerines, despite their very different flight powers and sensory capacities. Moths achieved fast travel speeds in seasonally appropriate migration directions by exploiting favourably directed winds and selecting flight altitudes that coincided with the fastest air streams. By contrast, passerines were less selective of wind conditions, relying on self-powered flight in their seasonally preferred direction, often with little or no tailwind assistance. Our results demonstrate that noctuid moths and passerines show contrasting risk-prone and risk-averse migratory strategies in relation to wind. Comparative studies of the flight behaviours of distantly related taxa are critically important for understanding the evolution of animal migration strategies