Drivers of population change in common farmland birds in Germany

Busch, Malte; Katzenberger, Jakob; Trautmann, Sven; Gerlach, Bettina; Dröschmeister, Rainer; Sudfeldt, Christoph

doi:10.1017/s0959270919000480

Cited by 41 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…This species group suffered the strongest population declines in Europe during the twentieth century and is hence in the focus of conservation in Germany (Busch et al. 2020; Kamp et al. 2021) and beyond (Gregory et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From the CBBS, we selected 26 farmland birds, that is species associated with farmland as breeding and or feeding habitat (Table 1). This species group suffered the strongest population declines in Europe during the twentieth century and is hence in the focus of conservation in Germany (Busch et al 2020;Kamp et al 2021) and beyond (Gregory et al 2019). Farmland birds also exhibit higher functional and phylogenetic diversity than forest bird assemblages in Europe (García-Navas & Thuiller, 2020) and a high degree of specialization (Kirk et al 2020), and should thus promptly respond to environmental change.…”

Section: Structured Monitoring Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Model‐based integration of citizen science data from disparate sources increases the precision of bird population trends

Hertzog

Frank

Klimek

et al. 2021

Diversity and Distributions

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Aim: Timely and accurate information on population trends is a prerequisite for effective biodiversity conservation. Structured biodiversity monitoring programmes have been shown to track population trends reliably, but require large financial and time investment. The data assembled in a large and growing number of online databases are less structured and suffer from bias, but the number of observations is much higher compared to structured monitoring programmes. Model-based integration of data from these disparate sources could capitalize on their respective strengths. Location: Germany.Methods: Abundance data for 26 farmland bird species were gathered from the standardized Common Breeding Bird Survey (CBBS) and three online databases that varied with regard to their degree of survey standardization. Population trends were estimated with a benchmark model that included only CBBS data, and five Bayesian hierarchical models integrating all data sources in different combinations. Across models, we compared consistency and precision of the predicted population trends and the accuracy of the models. Bird species body mass, prevalence in the dataset and abundance were tested as potential predictors of the explored quantities.Results: Consistency in predicted annual abundance indices was generally high especially when comparing the benchmark models to the integrated models without unstructured data. The accuracy of the estimated population changes was higher in the hierarchical models compared to the benchmark model but this was not related to data integration. Precision of the predicted population trends increased as more data sources were integrated. Main conclusions:Model-based integration of data from different sources can lead to improved precision of bird population trend estimates. This opens up new opportunities for conservation managers to identify declining populations earlier. Integrating data from online databases could substantially increase sample size and thus allowing to derive trends for currently not well-monitored species, especially at sub-national scales.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Structured Monitoring Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Model‐based integration of citizen science data from disparate sources increases the precision of bird population trends

Hertzog

Frank

Klimek

et al. 2021

Diversity and Distributions

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…species associated with farmland as breeding and or feeding habitat (Table 1). This species group suffered the strongest population declines in Europe during the twentieth century, and is hence in the focus of conservation in Germany (Busch et al 2020, Kamp et al 2020) and beyond (Gregory et al 2019). Farmland birds also exhibit higher functional and phylogenetic diversity than forest bird assemblages in Europe (García-Navas et al 2020) and a high degree of specialization (Kirk et al 2020), and should thus respond in an especially sensitive way to environmental change.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Model-based integration of citizen-science data from disparate sources increases the precision of bird population trends

Hertzog

Frank

Boehner³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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AimTimely and accurate information on population trends is a prerequisite for effective biodiversity conservation. Structured biodiversity monitoring programs have been shown to track population trends reliably, but require large financial and time investment. The data assembled in a large and growing number of online databases are less structured and suffer from bias, but the number of observations is much higher compared to structured monitoring programs. Model-based integration of data from these disparate sources could capitalize on their respective strengths.LocationGermany.MethodsAbundance data for 26 farmland bird species were gathered from the standardized Common Breeding Bird Survey (CBBS) and three online databases that varied with regard to their degree of survey standardization. Population trends were estimated with a benchmark model that included only CBBS data, and five Bayesian hierarchical models integrating all data sources in different combinations. Across models, we compared consistency and precision of the predicted population trends, and the accuracy of the models. Bird species body mass, prevalence in the dataset and abundance were tested as potential predictors of the explored quantities.ResultsConsistency in predicted annual abundance indices was generally high especially when comparing the benchmark models to the integrated models without unstructured data. The accuracy of the estimated population changes was higher in the hierarchical models compared to the benchmark model but this was not related to data-integration. Precision of the predicted population trends increased as more data sources were integrated.Main conclusionsModel-based integration of data from different sources can lead to improved precision of bird population trend estimates. This opens up new opportunities for conservation managers to identify declining populations earlier. Integrating data from online databases could substantially increase sample size and thus allowing to derive trends for currently not well-monitored species, especially at sub-national scales.

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“…The oily seeds of S. annua themselves are a highly valuable food source for several bird species (Keve et al 1953). The alarming decline of farmland birds in Central-and Eastern-Europe (Reif and Vermouzek 2019;Busch et al 2020) further underlines the importance of an ecological stubble management.…”

Section: Prospects For Revivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rise and fall of Stachys annua (L.) L. in the Carpathian Basin: a historical review and prospects for its revival

Pinke

Dunai

Czúcz

2021

Genet Resour Crop Evol

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Stachys annua (L.) L., a melliferous archaeophyte plant became a dominant weed of the cereal stubbles of the Carpathian Basin in the medieval three-field system. By the middle of the nineteenth century, this plant provided more than two-thirds of the Hungarian honey production, and its high quality monofloral honey turned into a characteristic brand of the Hungarian apiculture. Recognizing its importance, S. annua also briefly became a minor crop cultivated in “bee gardens” and arable fields in the late nineteenth century, possibly also in response to the first signs of its upcoming decline. Starting with the advent of the steam plough, the twentieth century has brought a drastic decline for S. annua due to a combination of deeper and earlier tillage operations, agrochemicals, and new competing weed species (in particular the common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia). The last remnant stands of this previously dominant weed species are of considerable ecological and historical value as farmland biodiversity hotspots. These sites are important refuge for rare weeds, wild pollinators (including bumblebees), and declining farmland birds, which could be targeted by eco-schemes under the European Union’s (EU’s) greening Common Agricultural Policy. The rediscovery of the cropping potential of S. annua and the development of an appropriate technology would also allow its cultivation as a valuable bee forage, catch crop, green cover, or oilseed plant in the future.

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Drivers of population change in common farmland birds in Germany

Cited by 41 publications

References 59 publications

Model‐based integration of citizen science data from disparate sources increases the precision of bird population trends

Model‐based integration of citizen science data from disparate sources increases the precision of bird population trends

Model-based integration of citizen-science data from disparate sources increases the precision of bird population trends

Rise and fall of Stachys annua (L.) L. in the Carpathian Basin: a historical review and prospects for its revival

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