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.

The protozoan parasite Trichomonas gallinae causes adult and nestling mortality in a declining population of European Turtle Doves, Streptopelia turtur.

Abstract: Studies incorporating the ecology of clinical and sub-clinical disease in wild populations of conservation concern are rare. Here we examine sub-clinical infection by Trichomonas gallinae in a declining population of free-living European Turtle Doves and suggest caseous lesions cause mortality in adults and nestlings through subsequent starvation and/or suffocation. We found a 100% infection rate by T. gallinae in adult and nestling Turtle Doves (n = 25) and observed clinical signs in three adults and four nestlings (28%). Adults with clinical signs displayed no differences in any skeletal measures of size but had a mean 3·7% reduction in wing length, with no overlap compared to those without clinical signs. We also identified T. gallinae as the suggested cause of mortality in one Red-legged Partridge although disease presentation was different. A minimum of four strains of T. gallinae, characterized at the ITS/5·8S/ITS2 ribosomal region, were isolated from Turtle Doves. However, all birds with clinical signs (Turtle Doves and the Red-legged Partridge) carried a single strain of T. gallinae, suggesting that parasite spill over between Columbidae and Galliformes is a possibility that should be further investigated. Overall, we highlight the importance of monitoring populations for sub-clinical infection rather than just clinical disease.

Breeding biology of the Atlantic Petrel, Pterodroma incerta, and a population estimate of this and other burrowing petrels on Gough Island, South Atlantic Ocean

Abstract: The Atlantic Petrel, Pterodroma incerta, endemic to the Tristan da Cunha group in the South Atlantic and globally threatened, is one of the least known of the world's seabirds. At Gough Island, Atlantic Petrels are winter breeders, with single eggs laid in June–July and chicks fledging in December. Birds were exclusively nocturnal on land. The pre-egg exodus of ~50 days and nestling period of almost 140 days are near the longest recorded for Pterodroma species, and support the general pattern of prolonged development found in winter-breeding Procellariiformes. Chicks grew at a very slow rate, suggesting poor at-sea feeding conditions. Breeding success averaged only 20% and introduced House Mice, Mus musculus, were probably responsible for considerable losses of chicks in two breeding seasons. Preliminary population modelling predicts a decline in numbers. The potential impact of introduced mice suggests that the species' conservation status be upgraded from Vulnerable to Endangered and that further research on this issue is a high priority. The first quantitative estimate of breeding numbers indicates a population of ~1.8 million pairs of Atlantic Petrels. Provisional population estimates of Great Shearwaters, Puffinus gravis (980 000 pairs), Soft-plumaged Petrels, Pterodroma mollis (400 000 pairs), and Broad-billed Prions, Pachyptila vittata (1 750 000 pairs) confirm the international significance of Gough Island as a site for breeding seabirds.

Capturing the Many Dimensions of Threat: Comment on Salafsky et al.

Abstract: ANDREW BALMFORD,∗‡‡ PETE CAREY,† VALERIE KAPOS,∗‡ ANDREA MANICA,∗ ANA S.L. RODRIGUES,∗§ JORN P.W. SCHARLEMANN,‡ AND RHYS E. GREEN∗†† ∗Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom †Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Monks Wood, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, PE28 2LS, United Kingdom ‡UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, 219 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DL, United Kingdom §Environment and Energy Section, Mechanical Engineering Department, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisbon, Portugal ††Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, The Lodge, Sandy SG19 2DL, United Kingdom

Genetic isolation and divergence in sexual traits: evidence for the northern rockhopper penguin Eudyptes moseleyi being a sibling species

Abstract: The taxonomic status of populations of rockhopper penguins (Eudyptes chrysocome) is still enigmatic. Northern populations differ from southern ones in breeding phenology, song characteristics and head ornaments used as mating signals. We conducted a molecular analysis using mitochondrial DNA sequencing to test if there is a gene flow barrier between northern (subtropical) populations and southern (subantarctic) populations in relation to the Subtropical Convergence, a major ecological boundary for marine organisms. Sequences of the control region and the ND2 gene were analysed in rockhopper penguins and in the macaroni penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus), a closely related species. Genetic distances and phylogenetic analyses showed a clear split into three clades, two rockhopper clades and the macaroni penguin. Moreover, Theta(ST) and gene flow estimates also suggested genetic structuring within the northern rockhoppers. Our results add further support to the notion that the two rockhopper penguin taxa, often considered as two subspecies, can be recognized as two species E. chrysocome and E. moseleyi. The divergence in mating signals found between these two taxa seems to have occurred recently and relatively rapidly. Thus, the behavioural changes may have been enough to isolate these taxa without the need for morphological differentiation. The findings have important conservational implications, since E. moseleyi is far less abundant than E. chrysocome, but more populations may warrant an uplisting to endangered status if full species status should be recognized for more subpopulations.

Demographic and environmental causes of the decline of rural Song Thrushes Turdus philomelos in lowland Britain

Abstract: We review current knowledge of demographic mechanisms and environmental factors implicated in the population decline of Song Thrushes Turdus philomelos in rural Britain since the mid-1970s, and present new analyses of regional variation in population changes Increased mortality during the first year of life (from fledging to recruitment) is highlighted as a potential demographic mechanism having driven the population decline, while Song Thrushes in a rapidly declining farmland population were making too few nesting attempts to sustain local numbers Breeding Song Thrushes are strongly associated with non-cropped habitats such as woodland edge, field boundaries, gardens and scrub; they make substantial use of grassland, but avoid cereals when foraging Earthworms constitute a key component of Song Thrush diet and the availability of this prey is strongly influenced by moisture levels in surface soils Several lines of evidence suggest that dry surface soils during summer are deleterious to the productivity and survival of Song Thrushes, and regional variation in the rates of population change in Britain during 1970–86 was negatively correlated with the extent of under-field drainage on farmland (the main function of which is to promote the drying of surface soils) Increasing dryness of agricultural soils and the loss of grassland from eastern arable counties have probably both contributed to the declines of rural Song Thrushes in Britain Loss of hedgerows and scrub, and the degradation of woodland may also have contributed to population declines but the role of predators remains unclear Recovery of rural Song Thrush populations requires challenging new policy initiatives that should aim to restore nesting cover (scrub and woodland understorey), grazed grassland in arable-dominated areas and damper soils in summer