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.

Bayesian inference reveals positive but subtle effects of experimental fishery closures on marine predator demographics

Abstract: Global forage-fish landings are increasing, with potentially grave consequences for marine ecosystems. Predators of forage fish may be influenced by this harvest, but the nature of these effects is contentious. Experimental fishery manipulations offer the best solution to quantify population-level impacts, but are rare. We used Bayesian inference to examine changes in chick survival, body condition and population growth rate of endangered African penguins Spheniscus demersus in response to 8 years of alternating time-area closures around two pairs of colonies. Our results demonstrate that fishing closures improved chick survival and condition, after controlling for changing prey availability. However, this effect was inconsistent across sites and years, highlighting the difficultly of assessing management interventions in marine ecosystems. Nevertheless, modelled increases in population growth rates exceeded 1% at one colony; i.e. the threshold considered biologically meaningful by fisheries management in South Africa. Fishing closures evidently can improve the population trend of a forage-fish-dependent predator-we therefore recommend they continue in South Africa and support their application elsewhere. However, detecting demographic gains for mobile marine predators from small no-take zones requires experimental time frames and scales that will often exceed those desired by decision makers.

Microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA homogeneity among phenotypically diverse crossbill taxa in the UK.

Abstract: Genetic differentiation within and between the three morphologically divergent crossbill species extant in the UK was assessed by comparison of allele frequencies at five unlinked microsatellite loci and DNA sequence variation across the mitochondrial control region. No significant differences in microsatellite allele frequency were found either between different populations of the same species or between the crossbill species themselves. A similar lack of genetic divergence was apparent from the mitochondrial sequence data. We resolved 33 different haplotypes, separated by low levels of sequence divergence (0–0.15%). Levels of divergence within and between species were not significantly different. Haplotypes formed a polyphyletic phylogeny, indicating that the crossbill species do not form genetically separate clades. Discordance between neutral DNA polymorphisms and adaptive morphological variation is discussed in relation to defining the systematic relationship between crossbill forms. If adaptive differences have arisen without a concomitant divergence in neutral DNA then attempting to define crossbill types from microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA without recourse to ecology and behaviour may be misleading.

Protecting the future: Carbon, forests, protected areas and local livelihoods

Abstract: The current proposals on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries being discussed under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) could have significant implications for biodiversity conservation and for forest-dependent livelihoods. In the post-2012 period, developing countries could receive financial benefits in return for decreasing their greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). Protected areas can act as a case study for REDD: lessons can be learnt from their success or otherwise in reducing deforestation and supporting local livelihoods. Depending upon the exact mechanisms decided between and within countries, protected areas could have a role to play in reducing national-scale deforestation, through strengthening existing forest protected areas and/or declaring new areas. Overall, protected areas are effective at limiting deforestation, but there are exceptions. Their track record in supporting liveli...

Habitat use by breeding Tree Sparrows Passer montanus

Abstract: Tree Sparrows Passer montanus showed a strong preference for nest-sites adjacent to wetland habitats, and avoidance of sites on intensively managed mixed farmland distant from Rutland Water A variety of wetland edge habitats were frequently used by foraging adult birds when provisioning nestlings, and invertebrate prey of aquatic origin was frequently recorded in chick diet We suggest that the wetland edge habitats at the study sites played a key role in providing adequate diversity and availability of suitable invertebrate prey to allow successful chick rearing throughout the long breeding season of this multi-brooded passerine It is possible that large areas of formerly occupied farmland in the UK no longer provide these invertebrate resources due to the effects of intensification in the late 20th century There was no evidence that the availability of supplementary seed food within 1 km of the nest-site influenced nest-site choice, or affected productivity It is probable that the importance of seed food resources to the persistence of Tree Sparrow populations operates on a larger spatial scale than that tested in this study, due to the greater mobility of Tree Sparrows in the non-breeding season, when seed resources are most likely to be a key limiting factor When considering conservation management aimed at recovering breeding populations of Tree Sparrows, the key resources of seed food, invertebrate food and nest-sites must be made available at appropriate spatial scales