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.

A Framework for Improved Monitoring of Biodiversity: Responses to the World Summit on Sustainable Development

Abstract: The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) endorsed the Hague Ministerial Declaration that calls for a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional, and national levels by 2010. We argue that there is a shortage of standardized, regularly repeated measurements of the state of biomes and their biota that could be used to monitor progress toward this goal. In particular, there are few data that directly or indirectly measure the delivery of ecosystem services that depend on biodiversity. Given the link made in the declaration between biodiversity and poverty alleviation, this deficiency is of special concern. We suggest that greater attention should be given to defining the questions about changes in biodiversity that are relevant to CBD and WSSD goals and propose a framework through which the links between these questions and programs of monitoring and research could be made stronger and more explicit. The framework consists of three stages. First is a scoping stage in which reviews of existing knowledge and interactions with stakeholders help to define the subject of the evaluation and lead to a preliminary model of the system of interest. Second is a design stage in which the types of measurement and sampling strategies are selected by evaluating their fitness for purpose and the resources available to conduct the work. The final stage is implementation and reporting, which considers data collection and storage and the evaluation and dissemination of results. This framework can be applied across a broad range of biodiversity attributes and scales and, if combined with a systematic review of the most important and relevant questions about changes in biodiversity, would improve the coverage, fitness for purpose, and value for money of biodiversity monitoring. Slowing the rate of loss of biodiversity requires conservation action, but to know where this is most needed and whether it is working requires better and more comprehensive monitoring.

Important Plant Areas: revised selection criteria for a global approach to plant conservation

Abstract: Despite the severe threats to plant habitats and high levels of extinction risk for plant species in many parts of the world, plant conservation priorities are often poorly represented in national and global frameworks because of a lack of data in an accessible and consistent format to inform conservation decision making. The Important Plant Areas (IPAs) criteria system offers a pragmatic yet scientifically rigorous means of delivering these datasets, enabling informed national- or regional-scale conservation prioritisation, and contributing significantly towards global prioritisation systems including the International Union for Conservation of Nature Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) Standard. In this paper, we review the IPA rationale and progress on IPA identification to date, including the perceived limitations of the process and how these may be overcome. We then present a revised set of criteria for use globally, developed through the combined experiences of IPA identification over the past decade and a half and through a recent global consultation process. An overview of how the revised IPA criteria can work alongside the newly published KBA Standard is also provided. IPA criteria are based around a sound, scientific, global framework which acknowledges the practical problems of gathering plant and habitat data in many regions of the world, and recognises the role of peer reviewed expert opinion in the selection process. National and sub-national engagement in IPA identification is essential, providing a primary route towards long term conservation of key sites for plant diversity. The IPA criteria can be applied to the conservation of all organism groups within the plant and fungal kingdoms.

Adaptive management and targeting of agri-environment schemes does benefit biodiversity: a case study of the corn bunting Emberiza calandra

Abstract: Summary 1. Agri-environment schemes (AES) are the main European policy response to biodiversity loss caused by agricultural intensification. Maximizing their effectiveness is a key policy challenge. Monitoring is essential to inform adaptation and improvement of schemes over time, and to understand how measures may need to vary across a species’ range. 2. We measured changes in breeding abundance of a severely declining bird, the corn bunting Emberiza calandra, in response to AES in Scotland over 7 years and 71 farms. Two AES were monitored, one with general management for farmland birds, and one with targeted, adaptive management for corn buntings. We use these data to estimate the proportion of the population that AES must influence to halt the overall decline. 3. Corn buntings increased by 5·6% per annum on farms in the targeted AES, showed no significant change on farms in the general AES, and declined by 14·5% per annum on farms outside AES. 4. In arable-dominated areas, AES management that increased food availability reversed population declines. However, where a high proportion of corn buntings nested in grasslands, an additional AES option that delayed mowing was essential to achieving population increase. 5. Results suggest that approximately 72% of the corn bunting population in mainland Scotland must receive targeted AES management to halt the current decline. In 2009, only 24% was targeted in this way. 6. Synthesis and applications. AES measures are capable of reversing corn bunting declines in Scotland, and the same measures are likely to benefit a wide range of other taxa too, but require geographical targeting and flexibility to adapt and improve management options, backed by expert advice. Targeted AES provision to the required level for corn buntings will cost approximately £120 000 per annum, with 500–600 ha under appropriate management. This is 0·02% of annual subsidies paid to Scottish farmers, and 0·5% of land in the remaining mainland range of the corn bunting. These outcomes illustrate the value of AES monitoring studies to assess scheme effectiveness, identify improvements, and determine the scale of implementation required for reversing species declines.

Predation on wader nests in Europe

Abstract: The population declines of waders in Europe are widely considered to have resulted from habitat loss and degradation due to agricultural changes. However, recent empirical evidence suggests that levels of predation on wader nests are unsustainably high in many cases, even in some situations where breeding habitat is otherwise favourable. We review the published and ‘grey’ literature on nest predation on waders in Europe and quantify the relative importance of the major predators. Nest cameras offer the least biased method of identifying and quantifying nest predators. A small number of camera studies, in combination with others utilizing nest temperature loggers, indicate that nocturnal/mammalian predators make the largest contribution to wader nest predation. More than half of site-years or studies reviewed reported clutch failure rates of over 50% attributable to predation alone, a rate that is likely to be associated with declining populations, although parameters such as chick and adult survival will also affect population trends. Correlates of wader nest predation are documented, with time of season, field type and management, distance to habitat/field edge, wader nest density, and abundance of mammalian predators being most consistently identified. Future directions of research into wader productivity are discussed, and we suggest that studies quantify additional life-history parameters such as chick survival, as well as examining the predator community, wherever possible.