First breeding of Audouin's Gull, Larus audouinii, in the Parco Naturale Regionale Molentargius - Saline (Sardinia)

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Productivity changes in the Mediterranean Sea drive foraging movements of yelkouan shearwater Puffinus yelkouan from the core of its global breeding range

Pelagic seabirds are tied to their breeding colonies throughout their long-lasting breeding season, but at the same time, they have to feed in a highly dynamic marine environment where prey abundance and availability rapidly change across space and seasons. Here, we describe the foraging movements of yelkouan shearwater Puffinus yelkouan, a seabird endemic to the Mediterranean Sea that spends its entire life cycle within this enclosed basin and whose future conservation is intimately linked to human-driven and climatic changes affecting the sea. The aim was to understand the main factors underlying the choice of foraging locations during the reproductive phases. A total of 34 foraging trips were obtained from 21 breeding adults tagged and tracked on Tavolara Archipelago (N Sardinia, Italy). This is the largest and most important breeding area for the species, accounting for more than 50% of the world population. The relationships between foraging movements during two different breeding stages and the seasonal changes of primary productivity at sea were modeled. Movements appeared to be addressed toward inshore (<20 km), highly productive, and relatively shallow (<200 m) foraging areas, often in front of river mouths and at great distances from the colony. During incubation, the Bonifacio Strait and other coastal areas close to North and West Sardinia were the most preferred locations (up to 247 km from the colony). During the chick-rearing phase, some individuals reached areas placed at greater distances from the colony (up to 579 km), aiming at food-rich hotspots placed as far north as the Gulf of Lion (France). The need for such long distance and long-lasting foraging trips is hypothesized to be related to unfavorable conditions on the less productive (and already depleted) Sardinian waters

Protected area characteristics that help waterbirds respond to climate warming

Protected area networks help species respond to climate warming. However, the contribution of a site's environmental and conservation-relevant characteristics to these responses is not well understood. We investigated how composition of nonbreeding waterbird communities (97 species) in the European Union Natura 2000 (N2K) network (3018 sites) changed in response to increases in temperature over 25 years in 26 European countries. We measured community reshuffling based on abundance time series collected under the International Waterbird Census relative to N2K sites' conservation targets, funding, designation period, and management plan status. Waterbird community composition in sites explicitly designated to protect them and with management plans changed more quickly in response to climate warming than in other N2K sites. Temporal community changes were not affected by the designation period despite greater exposure to temperature increase inside late-designated N2K sites. Sites funded under the LIFE program had lower climate-driven community changes than sites that did not received LIFE funding. Our findings imply that efficient conservation policy that helps waterbird communities respond to climate warming is associated with sites specifically managed for waterbirds.Peer reviewe

Benefits of protected areas for nonbreeding waterbirds adjusting their distributions under climate warming

Climate warming is driving changes in species distributions and community composition. Many species have a so-called climatic debt, that is, shifts in range lag behind shifts in temperature isoclines. Inside protected areas (PAs), community changes in response to climate warming can be facilitated by greater colonization rates by warm-dwelling species, but also mitigated by lowering extirpation rates of cold-dwelling species. An evaluation of the relative importance of colonization-extirpation processes is important to inform conservation strategies that aim for both climate debt reduction and species conservation. We assessed the colonization-extirpation dynamics involved in community changes in response to climate inside and outside PAs. To do so, we used 25 years of occurrence data of nonbreeding waterbirds in the western Palearctic (97 species, 7071 sites, 39 countries, 1993-2017). We used a community temperature index (CTI) framework based on species thermal affinities to investigate species turnover induced by temperature increase. We determined whether thermal community adjustment was associated with colonization by warm-dwelling species or extirpation of cold-dwelling species by modeling change in standard deviation of the CTI (CTISD). Using linear mixed-effects models, we investigated whether communities in PAs had lower climatic debt and different patterns of community change than communities outside PAs. For CTI and CTISD combined, communities inside PAs had more species, higher colonization, lower extirpation, and lower climatic debt (16%) than communities outside PAs. Thus, our results suggest that PAs facilitate 2 independent processes that shape community dynamics and maintain biodiversity. The community adjustment was, however, not sufficiently fast to keep pace with the large temperature increases in the central and northeastern western Palearctic. Our results underline the potential of combining CTI and CTISD metrics to improve understanding of the colonization-extirpation patterns driven by climate warming.Peer reviewe

Positive impacts of important bird and biodiversity areas on wintering waterbirds under changing temperatures throughout Europe and North Africa

Migratory waterbirds require an effectively conserved cohesive network of wetland areas throughout their range and life-cycle. Under rapid climate change, protected area (PA) networks need to be able to accommodate climate-driven range shifts in wildlife if they are to continue to be effective in the future. Thus, we investigated geographical variation in the relationship between local temperature anomaly and the abundance of 61 waterbird species during the wintering season across Europe and North Africa during 1990-2015. We also compared the spatio-temporal effects on abundance of sites designated as PAs, Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs), both, or neither designation (Unlisted). Waterbird abundance was positively correlated with temperature anomaly, with this pattern being strongest towards north and east Europe. Waterbird abundance was higher inside IBAs, whether they were legally protected or not. Trends in waterbird abundance were also consistently more positive inside both protected and unprotected IBAs across the whole study region, and were positive in Unlisted wetlands in southwestern Europe and North Africa. These results suggest that IBAs are important sites for wintering waterbirds, but also that populations are shifting to unprotected wetlands (some of which are IBAs). Such IBAs may therefore represent robust candidate sites to expand the network of legally protected wetlands under climate change in north-eastern Europe. These results underscore the need for monitoring to understand how the effectiveness of site networks is changing under climate change.Peer reviewe

Protected area characteristics that help waterbirds respond to climate warming

Protected area networks help species respond to climate warming. However, the contribution of a site's environmental and conservation-relevant characteristics to these responses is not well understood. We investigated how composition of nonbreeding waterbird communities (97 species) in the European Union Natura 2000 (N2K) network (3018 sites) changed in response to increases in temperature over 25 years in 26 European countries. We measured community reshuffling based on abundance time series collected under the International Waterbird Census relative to N2K sites' conservation targets, funding, designation period, and management plan status. Waterbird community composition in sites explicitly designated to protect them and with management plans changed more quickly in response to climate warming than in other N2K sites. Temporal community changes were not affected by the designation period despite greater exposure to temperature increase inside late-designated N2K sites. Sites funded under the LIFE program had lower climate-driven community changes than sites that did not received LIFE funding. Our findings imply that efficient conservation policy that helps waterbird communities respond to climate warming is associated with sites specifically managed for waterbirds

The wetland geodatabase for International Waterbird Census - IWC in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, NE Italy

The first version of the wetland geodatabase for International Waterbird Census in Friuli- Venezia Giulia was completed in 2005, as a part of a wider national database. The database was created on the basis of the official list of wetlands published by National Institute for Wild Fauna: 136 wetland perimeters have been digitized through interpretation of topographic maps and aerial photographs. Information has been completed through field surveys. Alphanumeric attributes have been associated to geometries, concerning basic information about wetlands. Database has been published on the web in the Regional Environmental and Territorial Data Catalogue. The database is expected to be an important tool for waterbird censuses and, in the near future, for further research and management applications

First breeding of Audouin’s Gull, Larus audouinii, in the Parco Naturale Regionale Molentargius - Saline (Sardinia)

In 2007 a colony of Audouin’s Gull settled for the first time in Molentargius saltpans, which represent a non-typical habitat for this (formerly) strictly marine species. The 64 breeding pairs had a productivity of ca. 0.2 chicks/pair. Within Sardinia, this is the third breeding site located on coastal wetlands/saltpans. These habitats host today more than 40% of the Italian population, playing therefore a key role in the conservation of this endangered species

Survey of waterbirds wintering in Tunisia, January 2003

During a joint international expedition, there have been recorded between 18-31 January 2003 a total number of 83,653 water birds(belonging to 76 species) in 58 wetlands of Tunisia

Nest Change and Individual Fitness in a Scopoli’s Shearwater Population: A Capture-Recapture Multistate Analysis

Seabirds are compelled to nest on land, away from their feeding areas, which they can only reach by leaving eggs or chicks in the nest, often for long periods of time. For this reason, almost all of them have evolved social monogamy as a reproductive system, cooperation between partners for incubation and chick rearing, and long-lasting pair bonds. Additionally, nesting conditions are essential for successful reproduction, and the nest can be considered a resource if it provides more guarantees in this aspect. As a result, the nest may be a source of contention and intraspecific competition, especially among males. In this work, we analyze long-term data of the Scopoli’s shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) population to address the fitness consequences of nest change regarding survival and reproductive success. We used capture–recapture multistate models and the AICc model selection approach to test three hypotheses: breeding failure triggers nest change; nest change affects breeding success probability; nest change affects survival. Each year, about 5% of the breeders move to a new nest. For males, it was mainly a way to improve their breeding conditions and was observed in their early years as a breeder. Conversely, for females, it was a way to improve their reproductive performance by trying with a new mate after a failure. Males that changed nests improved their breeding success probability. Instead, in females, there was no causal relation between nest change and breeding success, the latter having been more influenced by the intrinsic quality of the female as a breeder. We did not even find a link between nest change and survival. Instead, we demonstrated that reproductive failure could affect the apparent survival of females, probably because it induces breeding dispersal