Showing papers by "Royal Society for the Protection of Birds published in 2000"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors assessed total external environmental and health costs of modern agriculture in the UK and calculated the annual total external costs of UK agriculture in 1996 to be £2343 m (range for 1990-1996: £1149-3907 m), equivalent to £208/ha of arable and permanent pasture.
583 citations
TL;DR: A multivariate model for measuring stability and resilience based on Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) is outlined and can be used to measure the success of management in restoring communities and to provide information to conservation policy makers and land managers.
Abstract: Ecosystem stability and the response of ecosystems to disturbance are of crucial importance for conservation management, especially when the object is to maintain and/or to restore early-successional communities. This paper provides a selective review of ecosystem stability from a conservation perspective. Existing models of ecosystem resilience are discussed in relation to the management of successional habitats. A multivariate model for measuring stability and resilience based on Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) is outlined. The criteria for the model to work are explained and the model is tested on vegetation and soil data from the Dorset Heaths. The model provides a mechanism for bringing together measurements of both structure (species composition) and function (ecosystem properties, both biotic and abiotic), to measure stability and resilience of ecosystems. The model can also be used to measure the success of management in restoring communities and to provide information to conservation policy makers and land managers.
97 citations
TL;DR: The distribution, habitat use and selection, ranging behaviour, diet and food supply of the stone curlew Burhinus oedicnemus were studied in a small, fragmented population at the north-western edge of its world range.
Abstract: Distribution, habitat use and selection, ranging behaviour, diet and food supply of the stone curlew Burhinus oedicnemus were studied in a small, fragmented population at the north-western edge of its world range. Stone curlews bred on short semi-natural grassland and spring-sown arable farmland in areas with sandy soils with stones or rubble. They were most active at night and travelled up to about 3 km from the nest to forage. Individuals used a fragmented home range comprising an average of 30 ha of short semi-natural grassland, short improved pasture and spring-sown crops for foraging. Earthworms, soil-surface arthropods and molluscs were the main prey; the proportion of earthworms being lowest when the soil was dry. Breeding densities were highest on short semi-natural grassland. Stone curlews were most likely to breed on a spring-sown arable field if the crop was of a type that became tall and dense relatively late in the summer and if the field was close to short semi-natural grassland or sheep pasture and distant (> 3 km) from the nearest major road. Sparse vegetation and bare ground were the most obvious characteristics of habitats preferred for nesting and foraging.
94 citations
TL;DR: Flight frequency and response delay on sparrowhawk attack did not increase and flight frequency due to misidentification of non–raptors or non–predator–driven departures did not decrease with flock size, suggesting that the dilution effect decreased the cost of each false–alarm flight rather than their frequency.
Abstract: When an imminent attack by a predator on a group of birds is signalled to non-detectors only by the departure of the detector, non-detectors may make time-wasting false-alarm flights in response to mistaken or non-predator-driven departures. The frequency of false-alarm flights might be reduced if group members assess the reason for single departures before responding. Immediate flights should only occur after multiple simultaneous departures, because these are only likely to be generated by an attack. The response delay between the detectors' departure and the next birds that respond should then be dependent on the number of detectors. On sparrowhawk attack, response delays in redshanks decreased significantly as detector number increased, controlling for raptor conspicuousness and proximity, and flock size and spacing. If response delay is modified because of risk dilution, it should increase with flock size and, consequently, the rate of alarm flights due to mistakes should decrease. However, response delay did not increase and flight frequency due to misidentification of non-raptors or non-predator-driven departures did not decrease with flock size. Significantly more feeding time was lost by birds in small flocks, suggesting that the dilution effect decreased the cost of each false-alarm flight rather than their frequency.
88 citations
TL;DR: Possible biological consequences of continued rat presence on Fregate Island are discussed and recommendations made that are relevant to other invasions of islands by rats.
79 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that the abundance of hedgehogs and the intensity of their predation on wader eggs are unlikely to diminish in response to wader population declines, and local extinctions of susceptible wader species are likely if no action is taken to reduce hedgehog predation.
78 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the proportion of species in the local area (100 km2) that are actually present on reserves and found that RSPB reserves contain between 50% and 70% of the species recorded in the coarse grid cells.
Abstract: Most national-scale conservation assess- ments are carried out at a resolution that is differ- ent from the actual size of protected areas in the study region. Coincidence between nature reserves and both hotspots (areas of high spe- cies richness) and complementary areas (sets of sites within which all species are represented) have been reported. However, the resolution (size of grid cells) of the species' distribution data upon which many of these studies are based is often close to an order of magnitude larger than the size of the reserves. Presumably, only a propor- tion of the species recorded in the coarse grid cells will actually be present on reserves. We use fine (2 x 2-km square grid cells) and coarse (10 x 10-km square grid cells) resolution data of national distributions for breeding birds through- out Great Britain, and presence data for avian species on Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) nature reserves, to investigate the proportion of species in the local area (100 km2) that are actually present on reserves. RSPB reserves contain between 50% and 70% of spe- cies from the local area. These proportions are significantly higher than for randomly selected, non-reserve areas, indicating that RSPB reserves contain higher concentrations of bird species than the wider countryside. Furthermore, on RSPB reserves these proportions of threatened and non-threatened species are equal, whereas in non- reserve areas the proportions of non-threatened species are significantly higher than threatened species. Thus, reserves hold a higher proportion of threatened species than occurs in the wider countryside.
60 citations
TL;DR: Estimates were made of the nutrients removed during management on successional sites dominated by Betula spp .
43 citations
TL;DR: Assessment of breeding performance and post-fledging survival in dippers, Cinclus cinclus, breeding along the Afon Mule, a Welsh river where previous work indicated locally elevated PCB concentrations shows population effects by PCBs on European dippers are unlikely.
38 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used national distribution data for ten taxonomic groups and location information for three reserve networks to assess the contribution of nature reserves to biodiversity conservation in Great Britain at the 10 km square (100 km2) resolution.
Abstract: As a signatory of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Kingdom (UK) Government is obliged to conserve and enhance biodiversity. One step towards addressing this goal is to determine the level of biodiversity conservation already achieved within the current array of protected areas. We used national distribution data for ten taxonomic groups, and location information for three reserve networks, to assess the contribution of nature reserves to biodiversity conservation in Great Britain at the 10 km square (=100 km2) resolution. For several taxonomic groups, 10 km squares containing nature reserves had a significantly greater overlap than random networks with both hotspots (areas of high species richness) and complementary areas (sets of sites within which all species are represented). In addition, more than 94% of species from each taxonomic group have been recorded within the 10 km squares of the three reserve networks. These results provide some encouragement in terms of the UK meeting its commitment to conserve biodiversity.
26 citations
TL;DR: Analysis of a finch population in the United States, which has become infected by a bacterium causing eye disease, shows how parasites can stabilize and regulate populations of their hosts.
Abstract: Parasites can it seems stabilize and regulate populations of their hosts, but it has proved tough to find evidence of the process in natural conditions An example now comes from analysis of a finch population in the United States, which has become infected by a bacterium causing eye disease
TL;DR: Larison et al. as discussed by the authors conducted avian surveys of four previously unsurveyed montane sites in northern Cameroon, including Mt. Ngang-Ha, Hosere Vokre, Tchabal Gandaba, and tchabal Mbabo, as well as the northern slope of Caldera de Luba on the island of Bioko, Equatorial Guinea.
Abstract: Larison, B., Smith, T.B., Fotso, R. & McNiven, D. 2000. Comparative avian biodiversity of five mountains in northem Cameroon and Bioko. Ostrich 71 (1 & 2): 269–276. Endemism among birds is widespread in the montane forests of western Cameroon and the Gulf of Guinea. The region includes some of the rarest and most threatened species in Africa. We conducted avian surveys of four previously unsurveyed montane sites in northern Cameroon, including Mt. Ngang-Ha, Hosere Vokre, Tchabal Gandaba, and Tchabal Mbabo, as well as the northern slope of Caldera de Luba on the island of Bioko, Equatorial Guinea. We report here on avian species richness and relative abundance, and evaluate the conservation potential of each site based on avifaunal richness. The montane forest on both Tchabal Mbabo and Caldera de Luba is extensive, while on the other mountains, the vegetation is not characteristic of montane forest, and consists primarily of small gallery forests embedded in savanna. Tchabal Mbabo and Caldera de Luba had t...