Article
Ecology
Stephanie Roilo, Jan O. Engler, Tomas Vaclavik, Anna F. Cord
Summary: Agri-environment schemes, ecological focus areas, and organic farming are key tools in the common agricultural policy to address the decline of farmland biodiversity in Europe. The effectiveness of these measures varies at different spatial scales, with landscape-level management playing a crucial role. Higher adoption levels of these measures could significantly improve breeding habitat suitability for farmland bird species across the agricultural landscape.
ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Martin Salek, Martin Mayer
Summary: The modernization of farmsteads has negatively impacted farmland bird populations by reducing nesting and foraging opportunities. It is recommended to include compensatory measures during farmstead construction/modernization, increase awareness among stakeholders, and support small traditional farms.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Natalia Revilla-Martin, David Giralt, Ana Sanz-Perez, Gerard Bota, Francesc Sarda-Palomera
Summary: The decline of fallow areas has led to the decline of steppe bird populations in Europe. The potential of fallows to support steppe birds varies depending on factors at both the landscape and field level. This study analyzed data from managed fallow lands in Spain to identify characteristics that maximize their conservation value for steppe bird species. Field characteristics and landscape context were found to have a significant impact on the occurrence and abundance of steppe bird species, in addition to fallow management. Conserving steppe birds through fallows should involve optimizing field selection, which could be implemented in local or targeted conservation plans.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Szabolcs Lengyel, Mate Toth, Gabor Meszaros, Csaba P. Nagy, Edvard Mizsei, Marton Szabolcs, Bela Mester, Thomas O. Mero, Nagy Gergo
Summary: The decline of farmland bird populations since the 1980s has led to extensive research on farmland biodiversity conservation in Europe. However, surprisingly, there has been no direct focus on farmland birds in the landscape-scale restoration of grassland ecosystems on former croplands. Through a comparative study, it was found that grassland restoration positively influenced farmland bird species richness and diversity, while extensive cropland cultivation only increased species richness. Such findings suggest that landscape-scale grassland restoration can be an effective tool in reversing regional farmland bird declines and conserving farmland biodiversity.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Dafne Ram, Ake Lindstrom, Lars B. Pettersson, Paul Caplat
Summary: Many bird species that are typical to farmland have declined in numbers. However, forest clear-cuts could potentially serve as important habitats for these birds. A study conducted in Sweden found that bird community composition and species abundance on clear-cuts varied depending on factors such as size, age, vegetation height, region, and proximity to farmland. While some farmland species were common on clear-cuts, others were scarce due to predator avoidance or a lack of suitable nest sites or food resources. More research is needed to fully understand the importance of clear-cuts for farmland species and how to make them more favorable habitats.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Stanislas Rigal, Vasilis Dakos, Hany Alonso, Ainars Aunins, Zoltan Benko, Lluis Brotons, Tomasz Chodkiewicz, Przemyslaw Chylarecki, Elisabetta de Carli, Juan Carlos del Moral, Cristian Domsa, Virginia Escandell, Benoit Fontaine, Ruud Foppen, Richard Gregory, Sarah Harris, Sergi Herrando, Magne Husby, Christina Ieronymido, Frederic Jiguet, John Kennedy, Alena Klvanova, Primoz Kmecl, Lechoslaw Kuczynski, Petras Kurlavicius, John Atle Kalas, Aleksi Lehikoinen, Ake Lindstrom, Romain Lorrilliere, Charlotte Moshoj, Renno Nellis, David Noble, Daniel Palm Eskildsen, Jean-Yves Paquet, Mathieu Pelissie, Clara Pladevall, Danae Portolou, Jiri Reif, Hans Schmid, Benjamin Seaman, Zoltan D. Szabo, Tibor Szep, Guido Tellini Florenzano, Norbert Teufelbauer, Sven Trautmann, Chris van Turnhout, Zdenek Vermouzek, Thomas Vikstrom, Petr Vorisek, Anne Weiserbs, Vincent Devictor
Summary: Declines in European bird populations have been documented for decades, but the direct impact of major anthropogenic pressures on these declines has not been quantified. This study reveals direct relationships between the population time-series of 170 common bird species and four widespread anthropogenic pressures in Europe: agricultural intensification, change in forest cover, urbanization, and temperature change. The findings show that agricultural intensification, particularly the use of pesticides and fertilizers, is the main pressure contributing to bird population declines, especially for invertebrate feeders. The study also highlights the need for transformative changes in human habitation practices in order to give bird populations a chance to recover.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Xabier Cabodevilla, Alexander D. Wright, Diego Villanua, Beatriz Arroyo, Elise F. Zipkin
Summary: The study evaluated the impact of irrigation on bird species occurrence patterns in a 100 km(2) area in northern Spain. It found that irrigation had an overall negative impact on the local bird community, with the majority of species decreasing in occurrence rates and only a small fraction increasing. This negative impact was particularly detrimental to farmland birds.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Ecology
David Gonzalez del Portillo, Beatriz Arroyo, Guillermo Garcia Simon, Manuel B. Morales
Summary: Agricultural intensification poses a threat to farmland bird populations by decreasing food resources. The study found that different agricultural habitats impact the availability of key food resources for farmland birds, with dry alfalfa fields playing a crucial role during critical times of the breeding season. The management of alfalfa fields and stubbles is essential for the breeding success of the little bustard.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Clement Valle, Isabelle Le Viol, Christian Kerbiriou, Yves Bas, Frederic Jiguet, Karine Prince
Summary: This study investigated the response of farmland biodiversity to small woody features (SWF) density in different landscape compositions. The results showed that all three taxa exhibited a positive response to SWF, especially in cropland. The study also found a non-linear response, with the highest benefit observed at a SWF density of at least 6% in cropland. However, some farmland bird specialists were negatively impacted by SWF.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Hem Bahadur Katuwal, Hari Prasad Sharma, Roshan Kumar Thakur, Prashant Rokka, Dev Narayan Mandal, Hem Sagar Baral, Rui-Chang Quan
Summary: Worldwide defaunation is being accelerated by wildlife hunting, trapping, and trade. However, there is little knowledge of bird hunting or trapping in South Asia, including Nepal. Despite being illegal, trapping and eating wild birds (locally called Bagedi, i.e., bunting species -small passerine birds that are declining globally) is popular in lowland Nepal. Our study shows that bird trapping in our study area is highly market-driven and is a serious, understudied, and overlooked conservation threats to farmland birds in Nepal.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Thomas Neyens, Oana Petrof, Christel Faes, Wim Vandenrijt, Paula Ulenaers, Tom Artois, Natalie Beenaerts, Ruben Evens
Summary: Since 1992, the European Union has implemented agri-environment schemes (AES) to combat the decline in farmland biodiversity caused by intensified agriculture. These schemes, such as unharvested set-aside fields with winter bird crops (WBC), aim to improve habitat quality and food availability for farmland birds. A study conducted in Belgium found that the implementation of WBC in crop fields increased species richness and observation probabilities of nine out of ten wintering farmland bird species. The presence of nearby landscape elements, such as hedgerows and woodland, also influenced species richness and observation probabilities.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Shreemoyee Palmal, Shruti Chakraborty, Swagata Ganguly, Suman Kundu, Jayanta Bikash Dey, Kaushik Pramanik, Arup Kumar Pattanayak
Summary: Dengue is a common febrile illness transmitted by arthropods and can lead to liver dysfunction and other clinical manifestations. This study aims to determine the role of different liver enzymes in identifying markers for dengue prognosis and early detection of severe dengue fever. The study analyzed the diagnosis of dengue patients through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and various clinical parameters. The findings suggest that liver enzymes, viral load, and clinical parameters are significantly correlated and can serve as early markers for determining disease severity in dengue fever patients.
Article
Environmental Studies
Kaitlyn Lee Malakoff, Christoph Nolte
Summary: The rapid loss of farmland to development has long been a concern globally. Agricultural conservation easements are used to protect farmland from conversion to development in the United States. However, the extent of their effectiveness is rarely studied at the individual parcel level. A case study from six New England states found that these easements have reduced farmland loss to development, although the magnitude of the reduction is relatively small due to a low background rate of farmland loss and the allocation of easements not prioritizing the highest-threat locations.
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Arne Wenzel, Ingo Grass, Varsha Raj, Nils Nolke, Suryanarayana Subramanya, Teja Tscharntke
Summary: Worldwide, urban areas are rapidly expanding, and urban agriculture is becoming increasingly important. However, the effects of urbanization on farmland biodiversity are not well studied, especially in urbanization hotspots in the global south. In a study conducted in the Indian megacity Bangalore, we found that urbanization resulted in a consistent reduction in bird diversity, with the largest losses observed in open woodland species. The increase in impervious surface area led to a significant decrease in bird species and individuals, particularly during the monsoon season, suggesting a potential decline in biocontrol services for farmland in urban areas.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Tanja Sumrada, Primoz Kmecl, Emil Erjavec
Summary: The paper explores the impact of landscape characteristics, production intensity, and EU agricultural policy interventions on farmland bird diversity in Slovenia. The study found that farmland bird diversity is highest in open, diversely cropped landscapes with low to moderate management intensity in Natura 2000 sites with low average payment amounts.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Gerardo Jimenez-Navarro, Javier Rodriguez-Perez, Nereida Melguizo-Ruiz, Bruno Silva, Sasha Vasconcelos, Pedro Beja, Francisco Moreira, Rui Morgado, Silvia Barreiro, Jose M. Herrera
Summary: Assessing the impact of agricultural intensification on species and communities is crucial for biodiversity conservation. This study investigated the seasonal effects of olive grove intensification on birds and bats at both local and landscape scales. The findings showed that olive grove intensification had a negative impact on the abundance of the majority of species analyzed, especially birds, and the effect varied across seasons.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Dinora Peralta, Teresa Vaz-Freire, Clara Ferreira, Tiago Mendes, Antonio Mira, Sara Santos, Paulo C. Alves, Xavier Lambin, Pedro Beja, Joana Pauperio, Ricardo Pita
Summary: Monitoring wildlife populations is important, but it can be challenging for rare and elusive species. Field identification of signs can be a cost-effective alternative, but caution is needed when inferring population size. Our study suggests that sign surveys can reliably estimate the occupancy of Cabrera voles, but high sampling intensity is needed to accurately determine population size.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Joana Pauperio, Luis Martin Gonzalez, Jesus Martinez, Marcos Gonzalez, Filipa M. S. Martins, Joana Verissimo, Pamela Puppo, Joana Pinto, Catia Chaves, Catarina J. Pinho, Jose Manuel Grosso-Silva, Lorenzo Quaglietta, Teresa Luisa Silva, Pedro Sousa, Paulo Celio Alves, Nuno Fonseca, Pedro Beja, Sonia Ferreira
Summary: This study constructed a large reference collection of Trichoptera specimens from the Iberian Peninsula, with a success rate of over 80% when comparing morphological identifications and DNA barcodes. However, DNA barcoding was not successful in identifying species in six Trichoptera genera due to high levels of intraspecific genetic variability and challenging morphological identification.
BIODIVERSITY DATA JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Ana Sofia Cardoso, Sofiya Bryukhova, Francesco Renna, Luis Reino, Chi Xu, Zixiang Xiao, Ricardo Correia, Enrico Di Minin, Joana Ribeiro, Ana Sofia Vaz
Summary: E-commerce has become a thriving market for wildlife trafficking due to its accessibility and lack of supervision. Artificial intelligence, particularly deep learning, has emerged as a promising tool for analyzing and monitoring online content related to wildlife trade. We used freely available AI models to train and identify instances of pangolin trade, achieving a high success rate but leaving room for further improvements.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Joana Garrido Nogueira, Manuel Lopes-Lima, Pedro Beja, Ana Filipa Filipe, Elsa Froufe, Duarte Goncalves, Janine P. da Silva, Ronaldo Sousa, Amilcar Teixeira, Simone Varandas, Virgilio Hermoso
Summary: Understanding biotic interactions is crucial for species distribution, ecosystem functioning, and conservation efforts. This study presents a new framework to incorporate biotic interactions into conservation planning using freshwater mussels and fish interaction as a case study. Results show that considering both freshwater mussels and fishes in spatial prioritisation is necessary to accurately represent biotic interactions.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Andry Castro, Joana Ribeiro, Luis Reino, Cesar Capinha
Summary: Each year, numerous scientific works with species' geographical data are published, but difficulties in identifying, collecting, and integrating the data arise due to reporting structure differences, storage format inconsistencies, and lack of relevant information and terminology. These challenges are especially prominent for non-native species, given varying attitudes towards their reporting and the existence of invasion-related terminology. A survey targeting authors of regional species checklists revealed that a significant portion of respondents do not always report non-native species and fail to differentiate them from native species. The provision of automation-friendly formats and publication in biodiversity data repositories is also not commonly practiced. Improving the frequency, accessibility, and consistency of publishing non-native species data is urgently needed.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Miguel Monteiro, Cesar Capinha, Maria Teresa Ferreira, Martin A. Nunez, Luis Reino
Summary: Advances in ecological research have improved understanding of the impacts of alien species, but little attention has been given to the effects of alien macrofungi. To address this knowledge gap, a database was compiled from relevant sources, recording the socio-economic and environmental impacts of alien macrofungi. The database includes 1440 records of both negative and positive impacts for 374 distinct species across different regions. The most frequently recorded impacts involve mutualistic interactions with host plants. The database provides a first step towards quantifying and mapping these impacts.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Paolo Rosa, Thomas Wood, Teresa Luisa L. Silva, Joana Verissimo, Vanessa A. Mata, Denis Michez, Pedro Beja, Sonia Ferreira
Summary: The study focuses on DNA barcoding of cuckoo wasps, with 144 specimens and 103 species analyzed. The results provide new insights into the DNA barcodes and distribution of cuckoo wasps, and two new species are described. The study also proposes taxonomic changes and new classifications.
BIODIVERSITY DATA JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Paulo Flores Ribeiro, Francisco Moreira, Maria Joao Canadas, Ana Novais, Miguel Leal, Sandra Oliveira, Rafaello Bergonse, Jose Luis Zezere, Jose Lima Santos
Summary: This study proposes a new framework to design wildfire mitigation policies based on land use choices to promote low-risk fire regimes. The results highlight the importance of reducing forest concentration and increasing agricultural or shrubland areas to effectively reduce fire risk. The framework also serves as a policy simulation tool, demonstrating the cost-effectiveness of annual payments supporting agricultural or shrubland areas in reducing high-risk fire regimes.
Article
Ecology
Francisco Moreira, Miguel Leal, Rafaello Bergonse, Maria Joao Canadas, Ana Novais, Sandra Oliveira, Paulo Flores Ribeiro, Jose Luis Zezere, Jose Lima Santos
Summary: Fire regimes in central Portugal have undergone changes in recent decades, with increased fire incidence and burn concentration. These changes are influenced by territorial features, including population density, land use, and vegetation. The associations between fire regimes and these features differ across two time periods, reflecting varying climate and socio-economic contexts. Maintaining a certain percentage of farmland can help mitigate the increased wildfire risks associated with different management and climate conditions. The findings contribute to understanding the temporal evolution of fire regimes and provide insights for spatial planning and wildfire management policies.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Fabio Marcolin, Pedro Segurado, Dan Chamberlain, Luis Reino
Summary: Introduced alien species have negative impacts on the diversity of native communities and ecosystem functioning. Non-invaded bird communities showed higher taxonomic and functional diversity compared to invaded communities. Human-disturbed areas had lower diversity and higher invasion by alien species. Overall, less human-modified and more heterogeneous areas supported higher bird diversity.
Article
Ecology
Andrea Soriano-Redondo, Aldina M. A. Franco, Marta Acacio, Ana Payo-Payo, Bruno Herlander Martins, Francisco Moreira, Ines Catry
Summary: Different migratory strategies can coexist within animal populations and species, and anthropogenic impacts can influence the balance between these strategies. This study investigates the phenotypic differences and trade-offs associated with four movement strategies in a population of white storks. The researchers found that long-distance migrants traveled farther, spent more energy, and had later nesting and breeding success compared to short-distance migrants and residents. However, there were no significant differences in survival probability. Smaller individuals were more likely to migrate and may incur higher energetic and fitness costs. The results highlight the impacts of anthropogenic factors on migratory behavior, fitness, and evolution.
Article
Ecology
Pamela Gonzalez-del-Pliego, Manuel Mendoza, Joana Santana, Joana Ribeiro, Luis Reino, Miguel B. B. Araujo
Summary: This study investigates the relationship between vacant niches and the establishment of alien bird species. The results show that the number of vacant niches is related to the number of alien bird species, especially in Europe. However, vacant niches alone cannot fully predict the presence of alien bird species.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2023)
