Over the last decades, European farmland birds have strongly declined, mainly driven by agricultural intensification. The Ortolan Bunting Emberiza hortulana has suffered one of the most severe declines among farmland specialists. In order to maintain viable populations of the species in the long run, there is a vital need for evidence-based conservation measures. The main goal of this study was to detect the key drivers of breeding-territory selection and mating success of the species in an agricultural landscape in central Europe. We found that the landscape structure within the territories of Ortolan Bunting breeding pairs strongly varied from the overall habitat availability in the study area on both the territory and home-range scales. However, the environmental conditions also differed between the territories of breeding pairs and those of unpaired males. While landscape structure played an important role in breeding-territory selection, it had only weak effects on mating success. In contrast, crop type and vegetation height at potential nesting sites were important drivers of mating success. Overall, our study revealed that Ortolan Bunting has very complex breeding-habitat requirements. Only heterogeneous agricultural landscapes where (1) suitable song posts, (2) appropriate nesting sites, and (3) sufficient foraging habitats occur in close proximity are suitable for breeding. According to the findings of our study, agri-environmental schemes should primarily facilitate low-intensity farming practices that promote landscape heterogeneity, provide suitable nesting sites, and sustain a high abundance of invertebrate prey in farmlands.

Conservation practices in agricultural landscapes can greatly mitigate biodiversity loss. However, agricultural landscapes are embedded in complex, social-ecological systems and therefore require a strong social-ecological approach for effective conservation measures. The Galapagos Islands are globally recognized for their high levels of biodiversity. Nevertheless, in recent years, Galapagos landbirds have suffered rapid declines, specifically in the agricultural zone. Our study is the first to examine the farmers’ perception of landbirds in the agricultural zone of Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 38 farmers to characterize the relationship between farmers and landbirds including how landbirds affect farmers and farmers’ perceptions of landbirds. The interviewed farmers managed a diverse array of farm types including coffee in agroforestry settings (23.7%), small-scale fruit and vegetable (60.5%) and livestock production (15.8%). We found that 86.9% of farmers had a positive or neutral perception of birds despite 52.6% of farmers finding finches bothersome. The most common techniques farmers employed to deter birds were putting out food and water, using nets to protect seedbeds and crops and using protective tubes around young plants. Our results suggest a positive potential for future conservation work targeted on farmland biodiversity. Future conservation projects should also address disservices and the mitigation of crop raiding by landbirds, the uninformed use of pesticides and other pest issues such as ants and rats.

The Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus is a generalist species that inhabits temperate and arctic coasts of the north Atlantic Ocean. In recent years, there has been growing concern about population declines at local and regional scales; however, there has been no attempt to robustly assess Great Black-backed Gull population trends across its global range. We obtained the most recent population counts across the species’ range and analysed population trends at a global, continental, and national scale over the most recent three-generation period (1985–2021) following IUCN Red List criteria. We found that, globally, the species has declined by 43%–48% over this period (1.2–1.3% per annum, respectively), from an estimated 291,000 breeding pairs to 152,000–165,000 breeding pairs under two different scenarios. North American populations declined more steeply than European ones (68% and 28%, respectively). We recommend that Great Black-backed Gull should be uplisted from ‘Least Concern’ to ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species under criterion A2 (an estimated reduction in population size >30% over three generations).

Knowledge of where a threatened species occurs in a landscape is crucial for determining its habitat requirements and informing its conservation planning and management. We conducted the first broad-scale survey of the Endangered Alligator Rivers Yellow Chat Epthianura crocea tunneyi across much of its known range on drying coastal floodplains in northern Australia. Presence-absence records from 257 sites surveyed in the late dry season (August–December) of 2018 and 2019 were modelled using occupancy/detectability models. Occupancy was estimated to be 0.10 ± 0.04 with a high detection probability (0.89 ± 0.07). Modelling of 13 site-level environmental covariates found that chats were more likely to be detected at sites where the native shrub Sesbania sesban was present, were close to hydrogeological features such as depressions or channels, were long unburnt (5+ years) and/or with topsoil damage caused by feral pigs. Our estimates of chat occupancy, detectability, and the covariates that influence their occupancy, have improved our understanding of the role that fire and feral animals have on chat distribution and habitat selection, and can be used as a baseline for future monitoring. We also provide recommendations on how to design and implement future monitoring of this subspecies.

Classified as Critically Endangered, the Ultramarine Lorikeet Vini ultramarina is one of the world’s most threatened lorikeet species. Endemic to the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, the species was formerly distributed over most islands in the archipelago, but is today found primarily on the island of Ua Huka, its range having contracted significantly in recent decades. Habitat alteration and loss, and over-exploitation of natural resources, are cited as impacting the Ultramarine Lorikeet, but the influence of introduced black rats Rattus rattus as predators has been implicated as the primary threat to the species. To assess population status and document aspects of the species biology, including habitat preferences and diet, we conducted the first systematic surveys of the species during two independent surveys spaced seven years apart (2002 and 2009). Population estimates of 2,011 ± 284 (in 2002) and 1,922 (in 2009) individuals on Ua Huka suggest the population was relatively healthy and stable between these periods. However, surveys and searches of other islands in the species’ contemporary range, where black rats occur, either failed to document the species or noted very few individuals. These findings highlight the critical importance of Ua Huka as a rat-free refuge and the value of our surveys as baseline estimates of the population status of the species. We discuss the conservation implications of our findings and propose recommendations to secure the species’ future survival.

Avian electrocutions are a global conservation problem. Power outages associated with electrocutions are problematic for electric utilities focused on delivering reliable electric power. We used contextual data, photographs, line voltage, outage type and assessments of power line components to quantify outage-causing avian electrocutions throughout each of Iran’s 31 provinces. We evaluated records of 222 avian-caused outages involving 235 electrocuted birds in 2018. Of these, 14.5% involved species of conservation concern, and a few (at least eight) sparked fires when the plumage of electrocuted birds ignited and fell into dry vegetation. Most avian-caused outages (96%) involved distribution voltages, and 91% involved phase-to-ground contacts attributable to grounded concrete pylons with grounded steel crossarms. These are the most common type of power line structure in Iran. Insulators were involved in 37% of outage-causing avian electrocutions, fused cutouts 29%, transformers 33%, and midspan collisions 1%. Given the numbers of these components in the electrical system, fused cutouts and transformers were involved in more outage-causing avian electrocutions than expected due to chance. The average body size of electrocuted birds was largest for incidents involving suspension insulators, smaller for birds electrocuted on other insulators, and smallest for electrocutions on fused cutouts and transformers. Given that most avian electrocutions do not cause outages and given the similarity across electric systems in the region, our findings likely indicate a much larger avian electrocution concern throughout the middle east. Retrofitting power line components to reduce avian contacts would reduce impacts to wildlife and improve the electrical system’s reliability, reduce costs associated with unplanned outages, and reduce risks associated power line ignitions of fires.

The loss of natural habitats is a major threat to biodiversity, and protected area designation is one of the standard responses to this threat. However, greater understanding of the drivers of habitat loss and of the circumstances under which protected areas succeed or fail is still needed. We use visual assessment of satellite images to quantify land-cover change over periods of up to 30 years in and around a matched sample of protected and unprotected Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) in Africa. We modelled the annual survival of forests and other natural land covers as a function of a range of environmental and anthropic predictors of plausible drivers. The best-supported model indicated that survival rates of natural land cover were highest in steeper areas, at higher altitudes, in areas with lower human population densities and in areas where the cover of natural habitats was already higher at the start of the period. Survival rates of natural land cover in protected areas were, on average, around twice those in unprotected areas, but the differences between them varied along different environmental gradients. The overall survival rates of both protected and unprotected forests were significantly lower than those of other natural land-cover types, but the net benefit of protection, in terms of the absolute difference in rates of loss between protected and unprotected sites, was higher in forests. Interaction terms indicated that as slope and altitude increased, the natural protection offered by topography increasingly nullified the additional benefits of legislative protection. Furthermore, protected area designation offered reduced additional benefits to the survival of natural land cover in areas where rates of conversion were higher at the start of the observation period. Variation in the impacts of protected area status along different environmental gradients indicates that targets to improve the world's protected area network, such as Aichi Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, need to look beyond simple area-based metrics. Our methods and results contribute to the development of a protocol for prioritizing places where protection is likely to have the greatest effect.

Cassowaries are important seed dispersers in tropical rainforests of New Guinea, but little is known about their population ecology or their responses to human disturbance. We used camera traps to measure the occurrence, local abundance, and activity patterns of northern cassowaries Casuarius unappendiculatus in lowland forests near Nimbokrang, Papua, and dwarf cassowaries Casuarius bennetti in the Arfak Mountains, West Papua. Our goals were to assess human impacts on cassowaries at multiple spatial scales and to measure their activity patterns over an elevational divide. At fine spatial scales local abundance of cassowaries was strongly reduced in areas frequented by humans. At larger spatial scales the distance to the nearest village or drivable road did not affect local abundance but altered the stage structure of the individuals detected, with a higher proportion of juveniles relative to adults. Local abundance of cassowaries was unrelated to site usage by introduced pigs. Both populations studied were strongly diurnal and their activity patterns were not significantly different. Efforts to control hunting remain critical to sustaining cassowaries and the seed dispersal services they provide.

In an attempt to identify the critical threats to avian biodiversity in Greece we present and analyse a data set of the birds received at a rehabilitation centre. During a 10-year period (1996–2005) a total of 21,190 birds were admitted to the Hellenic Wildlife Hospital from throughout Greece. Our results indicate that shooting is by far the most important threat to birds in Greece, followed by accidents. Although greater numbers of shot birds were received during the autumn and winter months, when hunting is allowed, birds were received year-round. Birds were received from all areas of Greece, with the highest number received during the summer months. The high number of shot birds received during the months in which hunting is prohibited demonstrates the lack of law enforcement. We argue the need for direct political decisions concerning the enforcement of existing regulations on hunting. Decision makers and managers could use the findings of our study to re-evaluate and design conservation policy in Greece, including reduction of the hunting period and restriction on hunting activities.

In response to a declaration in 2004 from a coalition of conservation and animal welfare organizations to ban imports of wild birds into the European Union, we propose that such blanket or indiscriminate bans are unlikely to be effective as a generic conservation approach to the wild bird trade. We further argue that such trade bans, particularly when imposed by Northern constituencies on Southern countries and communities, can act counter to broader values of equity and sustainable development. Here we draw attention to a range of problems and unforeseen consequences of trade bans and highlight the conservation potential of market-led mechanisms that seek to reform trade chains to make them more ethical and sustainable. We contend that it is time for conservation scientists to critically examine the evidence concerning the efficacy of these two strategies as they relate to the trade in wild birds.

Twenty-one cat owners from a 100 km2 area, centred on Carnforth, Lancashire, England, recorded each dead prey item delivered by their cat or cats during an 8-week period, following one of three experimental schedules, each of which required each cat to have a bell on a collar for only half of the time. The mean number of items each cat delivered to the owner was 2.9 in the 4 weeks when the cats had a bell attached, compared to 5.5 for the equivalent time when the bell was absent. The bell had no effect on the relative numbers of different prey types delivered, and there was no evidence that the cats adapted their hunting behaviour to reduce the effect of the bell over time.