Lead concentrations in blood from incubating common eiders (Somateria mollissima) in the Baltic Sea

Here we investigate if lead may be a contributing factor to the observed population decline in a Baltic colony of incubating eiders (Somateria mollissima). Body mass and blood samples were obtained from 50 incubating female eiders at the Baltic breeding colony on Christiansø during spring 2017 (n = 27) and 2018 (n = 23). All the females were sampled twice during early (day 4) and late (day 24) incubation. The full blood was analysed for lead to investigate if the concentrations exceeded toxic thresholds or changed over the incubation period due to remobilisation from bones and liver tissue. Body mass, hatch date and number of chicks were also analysed with respect to lead concentrations. The body mass (mean ± SD g) increased significantly in the order: day 24 in 2018 (1561 ± 154 g) Peer reviewe

Co‐developing guidance for conservation: An example for seabirds in the North‐East Atlantic in the face of climate change impacts

Conservation guidance—an authoritative source of information and recommendations explicitly supporting decision-making and action regarding nature conservation—represents an important tool to communicate evidence-based advice to conservation actors. Given the rapidly increasing pressure that climate change poses to biodiversity, producing accessible, well-informed guidance on how to best manage the impacts and risks of changing climatic conditions is particularly urgent. Guidance documents should ideally be produced with multistage input from stakeholders who are likely to use and implement such advice; however, this step can be complicated and costly, and remains largely unformalized. Moreover, there is currently little direct evidence synthesized for actions that specifically target climate change and guidance remains largely absent. Here, we introduce a process for co-developing guidance for species conservation in the face of climate change, using seabirds in the North-East Atlantic as a case study. Specifically, we collated evidence on climate change vulnerability and possible conservation actions using literature synthesis, stakeholder surveys, and ecological modeling. This evidence base was then discussed, refined, and expanded using structured stakeholder workshops. We summarize the knowledge gained through stakeholder engagement and provide recommendations for future international efforts to co-produce conservation guidance for managing wildlife, in the context of a rapidly changing climate.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Co-developing guidance for conservation: an example for seabirds in the North-East Atlantic in the face of climate change impacts

Conservation guidance—an authoritative source of information and recommendations explicitly supporting decision-making and action regarding nature conservation—represents an important tool to communicate evidence-based advice to conservation actors. Given the rapidly increasing pressure that climate change poses to biodiversity, producing accessible, well-informed guidance on how to best manage the impacts and risks of changing climatic conditions is particularly urgent. Guidance documents should ideally be produced with multistage input from stakeholders who are likely to use and implement such advice; however, this step can be complicated and costly, and remains largely unformalized. Moreover, there is currently little direct evidence synthesized for actions that specifically target climate change and guidance remains largely absent. Here, we introduce a process for co-developing guidance for species conservation in the face of climate change, using seabirds in the North-East Atlantic as a case study. Specifically, we collated evidence on climate change vulnerability and possible conservation actions using literature synthesis, stakeholder surveys, and ecological modeling. This evidence base was then discussed, refined, and expanded using structured stakeholder workshops. We summarize the knowledge gained through stakeholder engagement and provide recommendations for future international efforts to co-produce conservation guidance for managing wildlife, in the context of a rapidly changing climate

Prevalence of imbedded and ingested shot gun pellets in breeding sea ducks in the Baltic Sea—possible implications for future conservation efforts

Several sea duck species in Europe face dwindling population numbers with following increased conservation focus. Shot gun practices may put extra pressure on populations not only by direct hunting mortality but also crippling and lead poisoning from ingestion of pellets. In this study, we examined three sea duck species breeding in the Swedish Archipelago of the Baltic Sea by x-raying trapped incubating females to detect prevalence of imbedded and ingested shot gun pellets. The study was carried out during the 2021 and 2022 breeding seasons and designed to aid our understanding of the role of physical restraints of putative pellets to breeding performance at our study site. A total of 205 individual females of common eider (n = 113), velvet scoter (n = 57), and red-breasted merganser (n = 35) were x-rayed without finding any imbedded or ingested pellets. For this study, a combination of decreasing hunting pressure, remoteness of study site, improved hunters’ shooting performance along the flyway and depletion of crippling rates due to life-long negative effects of carrying imbedded pellets may explain our finding on non-detection. For common eider, specific interventions to reduce the negative impacts of shotgun practices have been reported successful, and our data suggest a continuing positive trend. Based on our findings, we advise future conservation efforts for the three species, breeding in this part of the flyway, to focus on other factors that may have negative impact on incubating female survival and reproduction

Winter site use by Afro-Palearctic migrants in Ghana: site persistence and densities of Willow Warbler, Pied Flycatcher, Melodious Warbler and Common Redstart

Little is known about the variation within and among species of long-distance migrants in behavioural strategies and habitat choice on their non-breeding grounds. We report results from regular ringing operations carried out during the winter seasons 2009–2013 and transect counts in 2013, 2015 and 2016 in the Sudan Savanna Zone in Ghana. The best supported capture–mark–recapture model included species-specific probabilities of stay between within-season periods but no differences in resighting probability among species or sites. This model indicated that less than one-third of the Willow Warblers Phylloscopus trochilus and half of the Melodious Warblers Hippolais polyglotta stayed at wintering sites during more than 10 d, whereas for Pied Flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca and Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus up to 90% stayed for more than 10 d, indicating itinerant wintering behaviour in the warblers and longer non-breeding residency in Pied Flycatcher and Common Redstart. Densities varied among years, but Pied Flycatchers were consistently most numerous in well-matured woodland habitat and Willow Warblers in disturbed habitat. Recaptures among years were too low for meaningful estimates of winter site fidelity, yet recurrence was recorded in three species. We speculate that habitat use is directly related to degree of territory defence and itinerancy.Keywords: Afro-Palearctic migrants, density, Ghana, itinerancy, recurrence, winterin