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.

Closing yield gaps: perils and possibilities for biodiversity conservation

Abstract: Increasing agricultural productivity to ‘close yield gaps’ creates both perils and possibilities for biodiversity conservation. Yield increases often have negative impacts on species within farmland, but at the same time could potentially make it more feasible to minimize further cropland expansion into natural habitats. We combine global data on yield gaps, projected future production of maize, rice and wheat, the distributions of birds and their estimated sensitivity to changes in crop yields to map where it might be most beneficial for bird conservation to close yield gaps as part of a land-sparing strategy, and where doing so might be most damaging. Closing yield gaps to attainable levels to meet projected demand in 2050 could potentially help spare an area equivalent to that of the Indian subcontinent. Increasing yields this much on existing farmland would inevitably reduce its biodiversity, and therefore we advocate efforts both to constrain further increases in global food demand, and to identify the least harmful ways of increasing yields. The land-sparing potential of closing yield gaps will not be realized without specific mechanisms to link yield increases to habitat protection (and restoration), and therefore we suggest that conservationists, farmers, crop scientists and policy-makers collaborate to explore promising mechanisms.

Complex long-term biodiversity change among invertebrates, bryophytes and lichens.

Abstract: Large-scale biodiversity changes are measured mainly through the responses of a few taxonomic groups. Much less is known about the trends affecting most invertebrates and other neglected taxa, and it is unclear whether well-studied taxa, such as vertebrates, reflect changes in wider biodiversity. Here, we present and analyse trends in the UK distributions of over 5,000 species of invertebrates, bryophytes and lichens, measured as changes in occupancy. Our results reveal substantial variation in the magnitude, direction and timing of changes over the last 45 years. Just one of the four major groups analysed, terrestrial non-insect invertebrates, exhibits the declining trend reported among vertebrates and butterflies. Both terrestrial insects and the bryophytes and lichens group increased in average occupancy. A striking pattern is found among freshwater species, which have undergone a strong recovery since the mid-1990s after two decades of decline. We show that, while average occupancy among most groups appears to have been stable or increasing, there has been substantial change in the relative commonness and rarity of individual species, indicating considerable turnover in community composition. Additionally, large numbers of species have experienced substantial declines. Our results suggest a more complex pattern of biodiversity change in the United Kingdom than previously reported. By analysing changes in occupancy among >5,000 species of invertebrates, bryophytes and lichens in the United Kingdom over the past 45 years, the authors find substantial turnover in community composition among all groups, although average declines are evident only among terrestrial non-insect invertebrates.

A simulation model of the effect of mowing of agricultural grassland on the breeding success of the corncrake (Crex crex)

Abstract: The corncrake has been declining in numbers and distribution in Britain for more than 100 years Meadows mowed for hay or silage are the most frequent habitat and nests and broods placed there are often destroyed during mowing Observations of radio-tagged females and watches of meadows during mowing are used to describe the timing of breeding, the duration of various stages of the breeding cycle and mortality rates of clutches and broods It is shown that females frequently produce two clutches per season and that clutch and brood survival are high in the absence of mowing The majority of nests are placed in meadows liable to be mowed during the breeding season and this proportion increases during the season Mowing from the outside of the meadow towards the centre causes greater mortality of corncrake chicks than mowing from the centre outwards A simulation model is developed to permit productivity (chicks reared to independence per female) to be estimated for a range of average mowing dates and for mowing from the outside inwards and from the centre outwards The model indicates a large effect of the average date of mowing on productivity and only a small effect of the spread of mowing dates Mowing from the centre of the field outwards is estimated to result in substantial increases in productivity via improved chick survival, especially when the average mowing date is early Differences in productivity, estimated from average mowing dates, between regions of Britain and Ireland with stable or slowly declining corncrake populations and those with rapidly declining populations, are approximately large enough for differences in mowing practice to be the principal cause of the observed difference in population trend Current conservation programmes for corncrakes in Britain and Ireland, which include payments to farmers to delay mowing and to mow from the centre of the field outwards, are evaluated using the simulation model The improvement in productivity caused by the conservation measures should be sufficient to halt the long-term population decline provided that they can be implemented widely enough

The impact of selective logging and clearcutting on forest structure, tree diversity and above-ground biomass of African tropical forests

Abstract: Tropical deforestation is well known to have serious negative consequences for biodiversity, terrestrial carbon sinks and the balance of atmospheric greenhouse gases. By contrast, selective logging of tropical forests is often regarded as having a lesser impact on the ecosystem particularly in long terms, even though there have been few critical evaluations of the practice, particularly in Africa. We compared field data from 511 plots in the tropical forest of Sierra Leone, Ghana, Cameroon and Gabon. These plots were subject to different forest management practices: no recent logging (primary forests), selective logging (up to 30 years old) and re-grown secondary forests post clear-cutting (at least 20 years ago). Our findings suggest that the vertical structure and plant richness of the selectively logged and secondary forests change in different amplitude from those of primary forests, but stem density and the prevalence of vine and weed species differ greatly. We show that the effects of selective logging are greater than those expected simply from the removal of commercial species, and can persist for decades. Selective logging, unless it is practiced at very low harvest intensities, can significantly reduce the biomass of a tropical forest for many decades, seriously diminishing aboveground carbon storage capacity, and create opportunities for weeds and vines to spread and slow down the ecological succession.

Unstructured citizen science data fail to detect long-term population declines of common birds in Denmark

Abstract: Aim Long-term monitoring of biodiversity is necessary to identify population declines and to develop conservation management. Because long-term monitoring is labour-intensive, resources to implement robust monitoring programmes are lacking in many countries. The increasing availability of citizen science data in online public databases can potentially fill gaps in structured monitoring programmes, but only if trends estimated from unstructured citizen science data match those estimated from structured monitoring programmes. We therefore aimed to assess the correlation between trends estimated from structured and unstructured data. Location Denmark. Methods We compared population trends for 103 bird species estimated over 28 years from a structured monitoring programme and from unstructured citizen science data to assess whether trends estimated from the two data sources were correlated. Results Trends estimated from the two data sources were generally positively correlated, but less than half the population declines identified from the structured monitoring data were recovered from the unstructured citizen science data. The mismatch persisted when we reduced the structured monitoring data from count data to occurrence data to mimic the information content of unstructured citizen science data and when we filtered the unstructured data to reduce the number of incomplete lists reported. Mismatching trends were especially prevalent for the most common species. Worryingly, more than half the species showing significant declines in the structured monitoring showed significant positive trends in the citizen science data. Main conclusions We caution that unstructured citizen science databases cannot replace structured monitoring data because the former are less sensitive to population changes. Thus, unstructured data may not fulfil one of the most critical functions of structured monitoring programmes, namely to act as an early warning system that detects population declines.