Title (eng)
Tracking data highlight the importance of human-induced mortality for large migratory birds at a flyway scale
Author
Shay Rotics
Ryno Kemp
Aaron Nicholas
Aigars Kalvāns
Aitor Galarza
Alex Ngari
Andrea Ferri
Angelos Evangelidis
Anna Cenerini
Anton Stamenov
Arianna Aradis
Claire Bracebridge
Clara García-Ripollés
Damijan Denac
Egidio Mallia
Ernesto Álvarez
Evgeny A. Bragin
Fabrizio Cordischi
Fadzai M. Zengeya
Georgi Stoyanov
Giuseppe Lucia
Gradimir Gradev
Guido Ceccolini
Guilad Friedemann
Friedemann Bauer
Holger Kolberg
Isidoro Carbonell Alanís
José C. González
Karel Poprach
Katharina Klein
Keith L. Bildstein
Kerri Wolter
Kjell Janssens
Mario Cipollone
Marion Gschweng
Māris Strazds
Mark Boorman
Mark Zvidzai
Marta Romero
Michael J. McGrady
Monique L. Mackenzie
Muna Al Taq
Msafiri P. Mgumba
Nicolaos I. Kassinis
Nicolò Borgianni
Osama Al Nouri
Pietro Serroni
Ralph Buij
Roi Harel
Salim Javed
Shiv R. Kapila
Simeon A. Marin
Siranush Tumanyan
Stoyan C. Nikolov
Tareq E. Qaneer
Tomáš Veselovský
Torgeir Nygård
Urmas Sellis
Willem Van den Bossche
Abstract (eng)
Human-induced direct mortality affects huge numbers of birds each year, threatening hundreds of species worldwide. Tracking technologies can be an important tool to investigate temporal and spatial patterns of bird mortality as well as their drivers. We compiled 1704 mortality records from tracking studies across the AfricanEurasian flyway for 45 species, including raptors, storks, and cranes, covering the period from 2003 to 2021. Our results show a higher frequency of human-induced causes of mortality than natural causes across taxonomic groups, geographical areas, and age classes. Moreover, we found that the frequency of human-induced mortality remained stable over the study period. From the human-induced mortality events with a known cause (n = 637), three main causes were identified: electrocution (40.5 %), illegal killing (21.7 %), and poisoning (16.3 %). Additionally, combined energy infrastructure-related mortality (i.e., electrocution, power line collision, and wind-farm collision) represented 49 % of all human-induced mortality events. Using a random forest model, the main predictors of human-induced mortality were found to be taxonomic group, geographic location (latitude and longitude), and human footprint index value at the location of mortality. Despite conservation efforts, human drivers of bird mortality in the African-Eurasian flyway do not appear to have declined over the last 15 years for the studied group of species. Results suggest that stronger conservation actions to address these threats across the flyway can reduce their impacts on species. In particular, projected future development of energy infrastructure is a representative example where application of planning, operation, and mitigation measures can enhance bird conservation.
Keywords (eng)
Satellite-TrackingPopulation-DynamicsSurvivalImprovementsDecline
Type (eng)
Language
[deu]
Persistent identifier
Is in series
Title (deu)
Biological Conservation
Volume
293
ISSN
1873-2917
Issued
2024
Number of pages
16
Publication
Elsevier
Version type (eng)
Date issued
2024
Access rights (eng)
License
Rights statement (eng)
© 2024 The US Geological Survey and The Author(s)
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Persistent identifier
DOI
https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:3710
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2024.110525 - Content
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