Institution
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Nonprofit•Sandy, United Kingdom•
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.
Topics: Population, Biodiversity, Threatened species, Habitat, Foraging
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
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TL;DR: The relationships between the distribution of British ground beetle species and climatic and altitude variables are examined with a view to developing models for evaluating the impact of climate change.
Abstract: Aims We examine the relationships between the distribution of British ground beetle species and climatic and altitude variables with a view to developing models for evaluating the impact of climate change.
Location Data from 1684 10-km squares in Britain were used to model species–climate/altitude relationships. A validation data set was composed of data from 326 British 10-km squares not used in the model data set.
Methods The relationships between incidence and climate and altitude variables for 137 ground beetle species were investigated using logistic regression. The models produced were subjected to a validation exercise using the Kappa statistic with a second data set of 30 species. Distribution patterns for four species were predicted for Britain using the regression equations generated.
Results As many as 136 ground beetle species showed significant relationships with one or more of the altitude and climatic variables but the amount of variation explained by the models was generally poor. Models explaining 20% or more of the variation in species incidence were generated for only 10 species. Mean summer temperature and mean annual temperature were the best predictors for eight and six of these 10 species respectively. Few models based on altitude, annual precipitation and mean winter temperature were good predictors of ground beetle species distribution. The results of the validation exercise were mixed, with models for four species showing good or moderate fits whilst the remainder were poor.
Main conclusions Whilst there were many significant relationships between British ground beetle species distributions and altitude and climatic variables, these variables did not appear to be good predictors of ground beetle species distribution. The poor model performance appears to be related to the coarse nature of the response and predictor data sets and the absence of key predictors from the models.
65 citations
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TL;DR: For the first time, the demographic rates of released and wild-bred birds in the Scottish population were compared in this article, showing that released birds have higher survival rates than wildbred birds during the first three years of life.
Abstract: White-tailed Eagles Haliaeetus albicilla became extinct in Britain in 1918 following prolonged persecution. Intensive conservation efforts since the 1970s have included the re-introduction of the species to Britain through two phases of release of Norwegian fledglings in western Scotland in 1975-85 and 1993-98. Population growth and breeding success have been monitored closely to the present day, aided by the use of patagial tags to individually mark most released birds as well as a high proportion of wild-bred nestlings. This study reviews the growth and demography of this re-introduced population, and makes comparisons with other European populations. For the first time, we compare the demographic rates of released and wild-bred birds in the Scottish population. Breeding success in the Scottish population has increased over time as the average age and experience of individuals in the population have increased, and success tends to be higher where one or both adults are wild-bred. Current levels of breeding success remain low compared with some other populations in Europe, but similar to those in Norway where weather conditions and food availability are likely to be most similar. Survival rates in Scotland are similar to those recorded elsewhere, but survival rates of released birds are lower than those of wild-bred birds, especially during the first 3 years of life. Despite the effect of lower survival rates of released birds in limiting overall population growth rate, the recent rate of growth of the Scottish population remains high relative to other recovering populations across Europe. Differences in demographic rates of wild-bred and released birds suggest that in future re-introduction programmes, steps to maximize the success and output of the earliest breeding attempts would help ensure the most rapid shift to a population composed largely of wild-bred birds, which should then have a higher rate of increase.
65 citations
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University of Edinburgh1, Natural Environment Research Council2, Point Blue Conservation Science3, Landcare Research4, Norwegian University of Science and Technology5, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences6, University of Burgundy7, Memorial University of Newfoundland8, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds9, University Centre in Svalbard10, Utrecht University11, International Sleep Products Association12, Monash University13, University of Antwerp14, Norwegian Polar Institute15, University of New Brunswick16, National Autonomous University of Mexico17, United States Geological Survey18, Australian Antarctic Division19, University of La Rochelle20, Spanish National Research Council21, University of Barcelona22, University of Lisbon23, University of Cape Town24, University of Montpellier25, Aarhus University26, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration27, St. John's University28, University of Giessen29, Acadia University30, University of Coimbra31, Stockholm Resilience Centre32, Deakin University33, National Scientific and Technical Research Council34, Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology35, National Audubon Society36, University of Freiburg37, National University of Mar del Plata38, Hokkaido University39, Centre national de la recherche scientifique40
TL;DR: A comprehensive meta-analysis of 209 phenological time series from 145 breeding populations shows that, on average, seabird populations worldwide have not adjusted their breeding seasons over time or in response to sea surface temperature between 1952 and 2015.
Abstract: Reproductive timing in many taxa plays a key role in determining breeding productivity
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, and is often sensitive to climatic conditions
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. Current climate change may alter the timing of breeding at different rates across trophic levels, potentially resulting in temporal mismatch between the resource requirements of predators and their prey
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. This is of particular concern for higher-trophic-level organisms, whose longer generation times confer a lower rate of evolutionary rescue than primary producers or consumers
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. However, the disconnection between studies of ecological change in marine systems makes it difficult to detect general changes in the timing of reproduction
5
. Here, we use a comprehensive meta-analysis of 209 phenological time series from 145 breeding populations to show that, on average, seabird populations worldwide have not adjusted their breeding seasons over time (−0.020 days yr−1) or in response to sea surface temperature (SST) (−0.272 days °C−1) between 1952 and 2015. However, marked between-year variation in timing observed in resident species and some Pelecaniformes and Suliformes (cormorants, gannets and boobies) may imply that timing, in some cases, is affected by unmeasured environmental conditions. This limited temperature-mediated plasticity of reproductive timing in seabirds potentially makes these top predators highly vulnerable to future mismatch with lower-trophic-level resources
2
.
64 citations
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Amanda E. Bates1, Richard B. Primack2, Brandy S. Biggar1, Tomas J. Bird3 +343 more•Institutions (106)
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report immediate impacts of changes in human activities on wildlife and environmental threats during the early lockdown months of 2020, based on 877 qualitative reports and 332 quantitative assessments from 89 different studies.
64 citations
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TL;DR: A method for assessing the conservation benefit of a proposed eradication is developed and applied to threatened birds, but not other taxa, and benefit per unit of expenditure is the highest on relatively small islands, and these should be priority targets for future eradications.
Abstract: In the last 400 years, more species have become extinct on small islands than on continents. Yet, scant attention has hitherto been paid to prioritizing island restorations. Nevertheless, considerable conservation effort is now devoted to removing a major cause of these extinctions – invasive alien vertebrates. Because modern techniques allow the clearance of invasive vertebrates from quite large islands (up to 1000 km2), many islands are candidates for restoration. A robust strategy for allocating available funds is urgently needed. It requires, for each candidate island, an objective estimation of conservation gain and a method for predicting its financial cost. Our earlier work showed that a good first-pass estimate of vertebrate eradication costs can be made using just island area and target species. Costs increase with island area, while rodents are more expensive per unit area than ungulates. Here, we develop a method for assessing the conservation benefit of a proposed eradication and apply the method to threatened birds, but not other taxa. The method, combining information on how threatened a species is, on the impact of alien vertebrates on that species and on the islands on which the species occurs, allows us to present a means of determining which islands yield the greatest conservation benefit per unit of expenditure on vertebrate eradication. In general, although greater overall benefit would accrue to birds from eradication of invasive vertebrates on larger islands, benefit per unit of expenditure is the highest on relatively small islands, and we identify those that should be priority targets for future eradications. Crucially, this quantitative assessment provides considerable efficiency gains over more opportunistic targeting of islands. The method could be adapted to prioritize islands on a regional or national basis, or with different conservation gains in mind.
64 citations
Authors
Showing all 672 results
Name | H-index | Papers | Citations |
---|---|---|---|
Andrew Balmford | 91 | 290 | 33359 |
Rhys E. Green | 78 | 285 | 30428 |
Richard D. Gregory | 61 | 165 | 18428 |
Richard Evans | 48 | 306 | 10513 |
Rafael Mateo | 46 | 238 | 7091 |
Deborah J. Pain | 46 | 99 | 6717 |
Jeremy D. Wilson | 45 | 123 | 12587 |
Les G. Underhill | 45 | 233 | 8217 |
Richard B. Bradbury | 42 | 113 | 8062 |
Paul F. Donald | 41 | 117 | 11153 |
James W. Pearce-Higgins | 40 | 144 | 5623 |
Jörn P. W. Scharlemann | 40 | 84 | 16393 |
Juliet A. Vickery | 39 | 116 | 8494 |
Mark A. Taggart | 38 | 111 | 3703 |
Patrick W Thompson | 38 | 144 | 6379 |