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.

An experimental study of the effects of predation on the breeding productivity of capercaillie and black grouse

Abstract: Summary 1 The capercaillie Tetrao urogallus and black grouse Tetrao tetrix are declining in the UK, and low breeding success has been identified as the key factor in the decline of the former. To investigate possible causes, breeding productivity was studied in relation to predation, weather, vegetation changes and deer numbers over an 11-year period (1989–99) within native pinewood at Abernethy Forest, Scotland. The abundance of predators (crows Corvus corone and red foxes Vulpes vulpes) was experimentally manipulated in 1992–96 by culling. Productivity (chicks reared per female) was compared between forests with and without experimental predator management. 2 During predator control, the number of breeding crows was reduced from 10 pairs to one. The attempted reduction in red fox abundance was unsuccessful; only small numbers of adults were killed, and neither scat nor den counts declined significantly. 3 Predation on artificial nests containing six hen eggs and a hen egg filled with wax was measured as an index of predator activity from 1991 to 1999. Predation was lowest during the last three years of predator control, 1994–96. Predators could sometimes be distinguished by signs on depredated eggs. Predation on artificial nests by crows was highest during 1991–93. However, after predator removal stopped in 1997 few crows returned, and increased predation on artificial nests did not involve increased signs of crow predation. Pine marten Martes martes numbers increased during the study period and became significant predators of artificial nests. 4 The total number of capercaillie eggs and nests depredated by crows was estimated from the number of depredated capercaillie eggs found and the proportion of crow-predated hen eggs in artificial nests. The values ranged from 18 to 158 eggs over 3 years, equivalent to 3–23 capercaillie nests year−1. 5 Capercaillie productivity was low (< 1 chick per female) during 1989–93 and 1997–99 but higher during 1994–96. Compared with nine other forests in Scotland, changes in capercaillie productivity at Abernethy were different. Productivity at Abernethy was negatively related to June rainfall, and to the minimum daily predation rate on artificial nests by crows. There was also a significant interaction in that capercaillie were most productive when low rainfall coincided with low predation by crows on artificial nests. 6 The productivities of black grouse and capercaillie were positively correlated, but greater in the former. As in capercaillie, black grouse productivity was negatively related both to June rainfall and the minimum daily predation rate on artificial nests by crows, and there was an interaction. 7 Synthesis and applications. The long-term increase in crows and red foxes and the predicted increase in rainfall in Scotland may have negative effects on capercaillie and black grouse. In the short term, control of crows is likely to improve productivity. In the long term, increased woodland size and some reversal of fragmentation might decrease the access to woodland of predators associated with the interface between farmland and woodland.

Developing a list of invasive alien species likely to threaten biodiversity and ecosystems in the European Union

Abstract: The European Union (EU) has recently published its first list of invasive alien species(IAS) of EU concern to which current legislation must apply. The list comprises speciesknown to pose great threats to biodiversity and needs to be maintained and updated.Horizon scanning is seen as critical to identify the most threatening potential IAS thatdo not yet occur in Europe to be subsequently risk assessed for future listing. Accord-ingly, we present a systematic consensus horizon scanning procedure to derive a rankedlist of potential IAS likely to arrive, establish, spread and have an impact on biodiversityin the region over the next decade. The approach is unique in the continental scaleexamined, the breadth of taxonomic groups and environments considered, and themethods and data sources used. International experts were brought together to addressfive broad thematic groups of potential IAS. For each thematic group the experts firstindependently assembled lists of potential IAS not yet established in the EU but poten-tially threatening biodiversity if introduced. Experts were asked to score the specieswithin their thematic group for their separate likelihoods of i) arrival, ii) establishment,iii) spread, and iv) magnitude of the potential negative impact on biodiversity within theEU. Experts then convened for a 2‐day workshop applying consensus methods to com-pile a ranked list of potential IAS. From an initial working list of 329 species, a list of 66species not yet established in the EU that were considered to be very high (8 species),high (40 species) or medium (18 species) risk species was derived. Here, we presentthese species highlighting the potential negative impacts and the most likely biogeo-graphic regions to be affected by these potential IAS.

What benefits do community forests provide, and to whom? A rapid assessment of ecosystem services from a Himalayan forest, Nepal

Abstract: In Nepal, community forestry is part of a national strategy for livelihoods improvement and environmental protection. However, analysis of the social, economic and environmental impacts of community forestry is often limited, restricted to a narrow set of benefits (e.g. non-timber forest products) and rarely makes comparisons with alternative land-use options (e.g. agriculture). This study, conducted at Phulchoki Mountain Forest Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) in the Kathmandu Valley, used methods from the Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment (TESSA) to compare multiple ecosystem service values (including carbon storage, greenhouse gas sequestration, water provision, water quality, harvested wild goods, cultivated goods and nature-based recreation) provided by the site in its current state and a plausible alternative state in which community forestry had not been implemented. We found that outcomes from community forestry have been favourable for most stakeholders, at most scales, for most services and for important biodiversity at the site. However, not all ecosystem services can be maximised simultaneously, and impacts of land-use decisions on service beneficiaries appear to differ according to socio-economic factors. The policy implications of our findings are discussed in the context of proposals to designate Phulchoki Mountain Forest IBA as part of a Conservation Area.

Robustness despite uncertainty: regional climate data reveal the dominant role of humans in explaining global extinctions of Late Quaternary megafauna

Abstract: Debate over the Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions has focussed on whether human colonisation or climatic changes were more important drivers of extinction, with few extinctions being unambiguously attributable to either. Most analyses have been geographically or taxonomically restricted and the few quantitative global analyses have been limited by coarse temporal resolution or overly simplified climate reconstructions or proxies. We present a global analysis of the causes of these extinctions which uses high-resolution climate reconstructions and explicitly investigates the sensitivity of our results to uncertainty in the palaeological record. Our results show that human colonisation was the dominant driver of megafaunal extinction across the world but that climatic factors were also important. We identify the geographic regions where future research is likely to have the most impact, with our models reliably predicting extinctions across most of the world, with the notable exception of mainland Asia where we fail to explain the apparently low rate of extinction found in in the fossil record. Our results are highly robust to uncertainties in the palaeological record, and our main conclusions are unlikely to change qualitatively following minor improvements or changes in the dates of extinctions and human colonisation.