Influence of spatial and temporal dynamics of agricultural practices on the lesser kestrel

1. European agriculture is facing dramatic changes that are likely to have marked impacts on farmland biodiversity. There is an urgent need to develop land management strategies compatible with the conservation of biodiversity.2. We applied a spatially explicit behaviour-based model to assess how farmland management and the pattern of events across the annual farming calendar influences the foraging decisions of lesser kestrels Falco naumanni in a cereal steppe landscape. Moreover, we simulated the most likely scenarios of future agricultural changes to predict its impacts on lesser kestrel breeding success. Lesser kestrels have been the subject of serious conservation concern and constitute a good model species to judge impacts on farmland species more widely.3. Our results show that the location of cereal and fallow patches within a 2-km radius of a kestrel colony influences the total food supply delivered to the nestlings, explaining the differences in breeding success between years and colonies. Furthermore, the particular sequence in which patches are harvested by farmers is also predicted to influence offspring survival.4. Agricultural intensification, simulated by increasing the proportion of cereal fields, is predicted to negatively influence breeding success. However, the field harvesting sequence can play an important role in alleviating the effects of the increased percentage of cereal, as demonstrated by the higher breeding success obtained when harvesting starts from patches farthest from the colonies. The replacement of cereal cultivation by low-intensity grazed fallows would not be detrimental for kestrels.5. Synthesis and applications. Our results highlight the effectiveness of behaviour-based models to evaluate the interacting effect of spatial and temporal dynamics of agricultural landscapes and predict the response of populations to environmental change. To optimize food availability for lesser kestrels, land managers should implement long rotational schemes with < 60% of the area under extensive cereal cultivation in a 2-km radius around colonies. Harvesting should start in the cereal patches farthest from colonies. Ideally, the predominant land use around colonies should be fallows. These outcomes illustrate how behaviour-based models can be applied to identify specific management recommendations that would improve the effectiveness of agri-environmental schemes, the most accepted tool for maintaining farmland landscapes

Rapid changes in phenotype distribution during range expansion in a migratory bird

The capacity of species to track changing environmental conditions is a key component of population and range changes in response to environmental change. High levels of local adaptation may constrain expansion into new locations, while the relative fitness of dispersing individuals will influence subsequent population growth. However, opportunities to explore such processes are rare, particularly at scales relevant to species-based conservation strategies. Icelandic black-tailed godwits, Limosa limosa islandica, have expanded their range throughout Iceland over the last century. We show that current male morphology varies strongly in relation to the timing of colonization across Iceland, with small males being absent from recently occupied areas. Smaller males are also proportionately more abundant on habitats and sites with higher breeding success and relative abundance of females. This population-wide spatial structuring of male morphology is most likely to result from female preferences for small males and better-quality habitats increasing both small-male fitness and the dispersal probability of larger males into poorer-quality habitats. Such eco-evolutionary feedbacks may be a key driver of rates of population growth and range expansion and contraction

Languages Are Still a Major Barrier to Global Science

While it is recognized that language can pose a barrier to the transfer of scientific knowledge, the convergence on English as the global language of science may suggest that this problem has been resolved. However, our survey searching Google Scholar in 16 languages revealed that 35.6% of 75,513 scientific documents on biodiversity conservation published in 2014 were not in English. Ignoring such non-English knowledge can cause biases in our understanding of study systems. Furthermore, as publication in English has become prevalent, scientific knowledge is often unavailable in local languages. This hinders its use by field practitioners and policy makers for local environmental issues; 54% of protected area directors in Spain identified languages as a barrier. We urge scientific communities to make a more concerted effort to tackle this problem and propose potential approaches both for compiling non-English scientific knowledge effectively and for enhancing the multilingualization of new and existing knowledge available only in English for the users of such knowledge.European Commission’s Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship Programme (grant number PIIF-GA-2011-303221). Received by TA. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. European Commission's Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (grant number H2020-MSCA-IF-2014- 656572). Received by JPGV. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Isaac Newton Trust (grant number 15.23(s))

Oystercatchers and cockles : a predatory-prey study

Oystercatchers Haematopus ostralegus and cockles Cerastoderma edule were studied with the aim of understanding the behaviour of predators and the consequences which this behaviour has on the cockle population. At Traeth Melynog, Anglesey, the cockle density declined down the shore and those at the bottom were larger, older and heavier than those at the top. This pattern was caused by the spat settling at the top of the shore combined with downshore movement of some cockles. As a consequence, both flesh content and size were correlated with prey density. The profitability (flesh eaten per minute handling time) of cockles increased with their size. According to optimal foraging theory, these larger ones should therefore have been preferred, and this proved to be so. The rate at which oystercatchers ate cockles followed a type II functional response. The plateau was not caused solely by handling time, nor were satiation or interference important. Analysis of the functional responses of other birds feeding on one prey species showed that in each case the behaviour also conformed with a type II distribution yet neither handling time nor satiation appeared responsible. To account for this, a theoretical model was developed which generates type II functional responses from optimal foraging theory. Another model was developed which predicts the aggregative numerical response for a given level of interference. Because of correlations between density, size and flesh content within the cockle population at I Traeth Melynog, this model could not be directly applied to the data. But the basic assumption of the model - that oystercatchers obeyed the ideal free distribution - could be tested. It gave a poor fit to the data. There was little measurable interference between oystercatchers feeding on cockles. The number of oystercatchers on the Ribble fluctuated in parallel with the cockle population. Much of this change appeared to be due to an influx of young birds. This suggests that young birds seek a suitable estuary whilst adults tend to return to the one found whilst young. Thus the change in oystercatcher numbers was an aggregative numerical response rather than a population numerical response. Due to correlations within the cockle population at Traeth Melynog, profitability reached a maximum value at 25-100 cockles per m2. Therefore the oystercatchers concentrated their feeding at these relatively low cockle densities. As a result, cockle mortality due to predation by oystercatchers was inversely density dependent over most of the range of densities. However, since cockle movement took place, this pattern of mortality could not be detected in the cockle population

Governance explains variation in national responses to the biodiversity crisis

SUMMARYGrowing concern about the biodiversity crisis has led to a proliferation of conservation responses, but with wide variation between countries in the levels of engagement and investment. Much of this variation is inevitably attributed to differences between nations in wealth. However, the relationship between environmentalism and wealth is complex and it is increasingly apparent that other factors are also involved. We review hypotheses that have been developed to explain variation in broad environmentalism and show that many of the factors that explain such variation in individuals, such as wealth, age and experience, also explain differences between nation states. We then assess the extent to which these factors explain variation between nation states in responses to and investment in the more specific area of biodiversity conservation. Unexpectedly, quality of governance explained substantially more variation in public and state investment in biodiversity conservation than did direct measures of wealth. The results inform assessments of where conservation investments might most profitably be directed in the future and suggest that metrics relating to governance might be of considerable use in conservation planning.</jats:p

Comparing groups versus individuals in decision making: A systematic review protocol

Background Biodiversity management requires effective decision making at various stages. However decision making in the real world is complex, driven by multiple factors and involves a range of stakeholders. Understanding the factors that influence decision making is crucial to addressing the conflicts that arise in conservation. Decisions can be made either by individuals or by groups. This precise context has been studied extensively for several decades by behavioural economists, social psychologists and intelligence analysts. The observations from these disciplines can offer useful insights for biodiversity conservation. A systematic review on group versus individual decision making is currently lacking. This systematic review would enable us to synthesize the key insights from these disciplines for a range of scenarios useful for conservation. Methods The review will document studies that have investigated differences between group and individual decision making. The focus will be on empirical studies; the comparators in this case are decisions made by individuals while the intervention is group decision making. Outcomes include level of bias in decision outcomes or group performance. The search terms will include various combinations of the words “group”, “individual” and “decision-making”. The searches will be conducted in major publication databases, google scholar and specialist databases. Articles will be screened at the title and abstract and full text level by two reviewers. After checking for internal validity, the articles will be synthesized into subsets of decision contexts in which decision making by groups and individuals have been compared. The review process, all extracted data, original studies identified in the systematic review process and inclusion and exclusion decisions will be freely available as Additional file 1 in the final review.NM is funded by the Fondation Weiner Anspach in Belgium. WJS is funded by Arcadia. LVD was supported under the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service Sustainability (BESS) Programme, grant code NE/K015419/1. GES is funded by The Nature Conservancy.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from BioMed Central via http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13750-016-0066-

The role of churches in maintaining bird diversity: A case study from southern Poland

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd With the human population increasing there have been losses in biodiversity. A common feature of mankind is religious beliefs with various associated positive and negative consequences for biodiversity. Religion also has associated religious sites, many of which have a long history. The role of churches in benefitting biodiversity has not received attention. To examine the impact of churches we measured the taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity of birds around Christian churches and compared this with matched farmsteads. We surveyed 101 churches and equal number of farmsteads in villages of southern Poland. We measured structural and compositional characteristics (e.g. number of trees, shrubs, number of buildings and height) at both churches and farmsteads. General additive models, ordination and rarefactions methods were used in data analysis. Species richness, abundance and phylogenetic diversity were each higher at churches than at farmsteads. The species composition differed between building types but functional diversity was similar at both types of buildings. Bird species richness and abundance were correlated with the church's age. Previous studies showed village farmsteads supported high species diversity, thus our current findings that churches are richer show they may increase bird diversity in studied villages. We suggest that the green surroundings and tall towers create strong environmental gradient that enhances species richness, functional and phylogenetic diversity. There are over ten thousand churches in Poland, and similar places of worship are present in many religions, thus this habitat may be important for sustaining local taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic biodiversity in different global areas