| 1. |
- Gauld, Jethro G., et al.
(författare)
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Hotspots in the grid : Avian sensitivity and vulnerability to collision risk from energy infrastructure interactions in Europe and North Africa
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Applied Ecology. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 0021-8901 .- 1365-2664. ; 59:6, s. 1496-1512
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Wind turbines and power lines can cause bird mortality due to collision or electrocution. The biodiversity impacts of energy infrastructure (EI) can be minimised through effective landscape-scale planning and mitigation. The identification of high-vulnerability areas is urgently needed to assess potential cumulative impacts of EI while supporting the transition to zero carbon energy. We collected GPS location data from 1,454 birds from 27 species susceptible to collision within Europe and North Africa and identified areas where tracked birds are most at risk of colliding with existing EI. Sensitivity to EI development was estimated for wind turbines and power lines by calculating the proportion of GPS flight locations at heights where birds were at risk of collision and accounting for species' specific susceptibility to collision. We mapped the maximum collision sensitivity value obtained across all species, in each 5 x 5 km grid cell, across Europe and North Africa. Vulnerability to collision was obtained by overlaying the sensitivity surfaces with density of wind turbines and transmission power lines. Results: Exposure to risk varied across the 27 species, with some species flying consistently at heights where they risk collision. For areas with sufficient tracking data within Europe and North Africa, 13.6% of the area was classified as high sensitivity to wind turbines and 9.4% was classified as high sensitivity to transmission power lines. Sensitive areas were concentrated within important migratory corridors and along coastlines. Hotspots of vulnerability to collision with wind turbines and transmission power lines (2018 data) were scattered across the study region with highest concentrations occurring in central Europe, near the strait of Gibraltar and the Bosporus in Turkey. Synthesis and applications. We identify the areas of Europe and North Africa that are most sensitive for the specific populations of birds for which sufficient GPS tracking data at high spatial resolution were available. We also map vulnerability hotspots where mitigation at existing EI should be prioritised to reduce collision risks. As tracking data availability improves our method could be applied to more species and areas to help reduce bird-EI conflicts.
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| 2. |
- Pavon-Jordan, Diego, et al.
(författare)
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Climate-driven changes in winter abundance of a migratory waterbird in relation to EU protected areas
- 2015
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Ingår i: Diversity and Distributions. - : Wiley. - 1366-9516. ; 21:5, s. 571-582
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- AimSpecies are responding to climate change by changing their distributions, creating debate about the effectiveness of existing networks of protected areas. As a contribution to this debate, we assess whether regional winter abundances and distribution of the Smew Mergellus albellus, a migratory waterbird species listed on Annex I (EU Birds Directive) that overwinters exclusively in European wetlands, changed during 1990-2011, the role of global warming in driving distributional changes and the effectiveness of the network of Special Protection Areas (SPAs, EU Birds Directive) in the context of climate change. LocationEurope. MethodsWe used site-specific counts (6,883 sites) from 16 countries covering the entire flyway to estimate annual abundance indices and trends at country, region (north-eastern, central and south-western) and flyway scales, inside and outside SPAs. We fitted autoregressive models to assess the effect of winter temperature on the annual abundance indices whilst accounting for autocorrelation. ResultsThe Smew wintering distribution shifted north-eastwards in Europe in accordance with the predictions of global warming, with increasing numbers in the north-eastern region and declines in the central region. Trends in wintering numbers were more positive in SPAs on the north-eastern and south-western part of the flyway. However, a large proportion of the wintering population remains unprotected in north-eastern areas outside of the existing SPA network. Main conclusionsSPAs accommodated climate-driven abundance changes in the north-eastern region of the wintering distribution by supporting increasing numbers of Smew in traditional and newly colonized areas. However, we highlight gaps in the current network, suggesting that urgent policy responses are needed. Given rapid changes in species distributions, we urge regular national and international assessments of the adequacy of the EU Natura 2000 network to ensure coherence in site-safeguard networks for this and other species.
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| 3. |
- Pavón-Jordán, Diego, et al.
(författare)
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Habitat- and species-mediated short- and long-term distributional changes in waterbird abundance linked to variation in European winter weather
- 2019
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Ingår i: Diversity and Distributions. - : Wiley. - 1366-9516. ; 25:2, s. 225-239
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aim: Many species are showing distribution shifts in response to environmental change. We explored (a) the effects of inter-annual variation in winter weather conditions on non-breeding distributional abundance of waterbirds exploiting different habitats (deep-water, shallow water, farmland) and (b) the long-term shift in the population centroid of these species and investigate its link to changes in weather conditions. Location: Europe. Methods: We fitted generalized additive mixed Models to a large-scale, 24-year dataset (1990–2013) describing the winter distributional abundance of 25 waterbird species. We calculated the annual and long-term (3-year periods) population centroid of each species and used the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index to explain the inter-annual and long-term shifts in their location. Results: (a) Year-to-year southwestwards shifts in the population centroids of deep- and shallow-water species were linked to negative NAO values. Shallow-water species shifted northeastwards associated with positive NAO values and the distance shifted increased with increasing NAO. Deep-water species shifted northeastwards up to zero NAO indices, but showed no further increase at higher NAO values. (b) Deep-water species showed long-term northeastwards shifts in distributional abundance throughout the 1990s and the 2000s. Shallow-water species, on the other hand, shifted northeastwards during the 1990s and early 2000s, but southwestwards thereafter. There were no significant links between the NAO and year-to-year movements or long-term shifts in farmland species’ population centroid. Main Conclusions: We provide evidence for a link between both year-to-year and long-term changes in waterbird winter distributional abundances at large geographical scales to short- and long-term changes in winter weather conditions. We also show that species using shallow water, deep-water and farmland habitats responded differently, especially at high NAO values. As well as important ecological implications, these findings contribute to the development of future conservation measures for these species under current and future climate change.
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| 4. |
- Skov, Henrik, et al.
(författare)
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Waterbird Populations and Pressures in the Baltic Sea
- 2011
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Bok (refereegranskat)abstract
- This report outlines the results of the internationally coordinated census of wintering waterbirds in the Baltic Sea 2007-2009 undertaken under the SOWBAS project (Status of wintering Waterbird populations in the Baltic Sea). The estimated total number of wintering waterbirds was 4.41 million compared to 7.44 million during the last co-ordinated census 1992-1993. Despite the general declines stable or increasing populations of herbivorous species were recorded. While benthic carnivores with a coastal distribution have either shown moderate declines, stable or increasing populations seaducks with an offshore distribution have declined seriously.
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| 5. |
- van Toor, Mariëlle L., et al.
(författare)
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Migration distance affects how closely Eurasian wigeons follow spring phenology during migration
- 2021
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Ingår i: Movement Ecology. - : Springer. - 2051-3933. ; 9:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The timing of migration for herbivorous migratory birds is thought to coincide with spring phenologyas emerging vegetation supplies them with the resources to fuel migration, and, in species with a capital breedingstrategy also provides individuals with energy for use on the breeding grounds. Individuals with very long migrationdistances might however have to trade of between utilising optimal conditions en route and reaching the breeding grounds early, potentially leading to them overtaking spring on the way. Here, we investigate whether migrationdistance afects how closely individually tracked Eurasian wigeons follow spring phenology during spring migration.Methods: We captured wigeons in the Netherlands and Lithuania and tracked them throughout spring migration toidentify staging sites and timing of arrival. Using temperature-derived indicators of spring phenology, we investigatedhow maximum longitude reached and migration distance afected how closely wigeons followed spring. We furtherestimated the impact of tagging on wigeon migration by comparing spring migratory timing between tracked individuals and ring recovery data sets.Results: Wigeons migrated to locations between 300 and 4000 km from the capture site, and migrated up to1000 km in a single day. We found that wigeons migrating to more north-easterly locations followed spring phenology more closely, and increasingly so the greater distance they had covered during migration. Yet we also found thatdespite tags equalling only around 2% of individual’s body mass, individuals were on average 11–12 days slower thanring-marked individuals from the same general population.Discussion: Overall, our results suggest that migratory strategy can vary dependent on migration distance withinspecies, and even within the same migratory corridor. Individual decisions thus depend not only on environmentalcues, but potentially also trade-ofs made during later life-history stages.
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