Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

About: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is a nonprofit organization based out in Sandy, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Biodiversity. The organization has 670 authors who have published 1425 publications receiving 88006 citations. The organization is also known as: RSPB & Plumage League.

Additive Traits Lead to Feeding Advantage and Reproductive Isolation, Promoting Homoploid Hybrid Speciation

Abstract: Speciation through homoploid hybridization (HHS) is considered extremely rare in animals. This is mainly because the establishment of reproductive isolation as a product of hybridization is uncommon. Additionally, many traits are underpinned by polygeny and/or incomplete dominance, where the hybrid phenotype is an additive blend of parental characteristics. Phenotypically intermediate hybrids are usually at a fitness disadvantage compared with parental species and tend to vanish through backcrossing with parental population(s). It is therefore unknown whether the additive nature of hybrid traits in itself could lead successfully to HHS. Using a multi-marker genetic data set and a meta-analysis of diet and morphology, we investigated a potential case of HHS in the prions (Pachyptila spp.), seabirds distinguished by their bills, prey choice, and timing of breeding. Using approximate Bayesian computation, we show that the medium-billed Salvin’s prion (Pachyptila salvini) could be a hybrid between the narrow-billed Antarctic prion (Pachyptila desolata) and broad-billed prion (Pachyptila vittata). Remarkably, P. salvini’s intermediate bill width has given it a feeding advantage with respect to the other Pachyptila species, allowing it to consume a broader range of prey, potentially increasing its fitness. Available metadata showed that P. salvini is also intermediate in breeding phenology and, with no overlap in breeding times, it is effectively reproductively isolated from either parental species through allochrony. These results provide evidence for a case of HHS in nature, and show for the first time that additivity of divergent parental traits alone can lead directly to increased hybrid fitness and reproductive isolation.

Changes in upland bird abundances show associations with moorland management

Abstract: Capsule: Changes in abundance of six bird species showed associations with moorland management.Aims: To assess responses of breeding birds to moorland management over a 14-year period.Methods: Vegetation and birds were surveyed at 2–3-year intervals and changes examined in relation to sheep and cattle grazing, vegetation burning and cutting.Results: Seven correlations between change in management and change in bird abundance were detected, and six between change in vegetation and change in bird abundance. On plots where sheep numbers declined, Golden Plover Pluvialis apricaria and Northern Wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe declined. Where a greater area was burned, Golden Plover increased in the initial post-burning period but Red Grouse Lagopus lagopus scotica declined. Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata and Sky Lark Alauda arvensis increased where a greater area of moorland vegetation was cut. Whinchat Saxicola rubetra declined with increasing cattle numbers on a plot.Conclusions: Bird populations respon...

Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation: three years on

Abstract: Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation: three years on Nathalie Pettorelli, Harini Nagendra, Duccio Rocchini, Marcus Rowcliffe, Rob Williams, Jorge Ahumada, Carlos De Angelo, Clement Atzberger, Doreen Boyd, Graeme Buchanan, Alienor Chauvenet, Mathias Disney, Clare Duncan, Temilola Fatoyinbo, Nestor Fernandez, Muki Haklay, Kate He, Ned Horning, Natalie Kelly, Helen de Klerk, Xuehua Liu, Nathan Merchant, Jos e Paruelo, Helen Roy, Shovonlal Roy, Sadie Ryan, Rahel Sollmann, Jennifer Swenson & Martin Wegmann Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom School of Development, Azim Premji University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India Center for Agriculture Food and Environment, University of Trento, San Michele all’Adige, Italy Oceans Initiative, Seattle, Washington, USA Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM), Conservation International, Arlington, Virginia, USA Instituto de Biolog ıa Subtropical, Universidad Nacional de Misiones and CONICET, Puerto Iguaz u, Misiones, Argentina Institute for Surveying, Remote Sensing and Land Information, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, RSPB Scotland, Edinburgh, United Kingdom School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia Department of Geography, University College London, London, and NERC National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO), United Kingdom School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, Australia Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA Department of Conservation Biology, CSIC Estacion Biologica de Do~ nana, Seville, Spain Department of Civil Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom Department of Biological Sciences, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky, USA Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China Noise & Bioacoustics Team, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Lowestoft, United Kingdom National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford, United Kingdom Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom Department of Geography, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA Department of Wildlife Fish and Conservation Biology, University of California Davis, Davis, California, USA Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA Department of Remote Sensing, University of W€ urzburg, W€ urzburg, Germany

Negative impacts of hunting and suction-dredging on otherwise high and stable survival rates in Curlew Numenius arquata

Abstract: Capsule A stable annual survival rate of 90% was estimated for adult Curlew Numenius arquata from 1974 to 2011. Survival was reduced by mechanized cockle harvesting and hunting prior to the UK ban in 1982, but was similar for males and females. Aims To estimate annual and average survival rates for Curlew wintering in North Wales. To test the impacts of protection from hunting (effective 1982), and mechanized cockle dredging on apparent survival and longevity. Methods Thirty-six years' ringing data comprising 2636 bird records were analysed using Cormack Jolly–Seber survival models in mark. Models included variable and trending survival, plus constant-survival models (all years, pre- and post-hunting, sampling effort). The effects of protection from hunting, sampling success, cockle dredging and sex (from biometrics) were investigated, and the results compared with survival in other species and the predictions of demographic population models. Results Averaged annual survival was 89.9% with no significant...

Consequences matter: Compassion in conservation means caring for individuals, populations and species

Abstract: Human activity affecting the welfare of wild vertebrates, widely accepted to be sentient, and therefore deserving of moral concern, is widespread. A variety of motives lead to the killing of individual wild animals. These include to provide food, to protect stock and other human interests, and also for sport. The acceptability of such killing is widely believed to vary with the motive and method. Individual vertebrates are also killed by conservationists. Whether securing conservation goals is an adequate reason for such killing has recently been challenged. Conventional conservation practice has tended to prioritise ecological collectives, such as populations and species, when their interests conflict with those of individuals. Supporters of the ‘Compassionate Conservation’ movement argue both that conservationists have neglected animal welfare when such conflicts arise and that no killing for conservation is justified. We counter that conservationists increasingly seek to adhere to high standards of welfare, and that the extreme position advocated by some supporters of ‘Compassionate Conservation’, rooted in virtue ethics, would, if widely accepted, lead to considerable negative effects for conservation. Conservation practice cannot afford to neglect consequences. Moreover, the do-no-harm maxim does not always lead to better outcomes for animal welfare.