Impact of protection on nest take and nesting success of parrots in Africa, Asia and Australasia

Abstract

Wild parrots represent one of the greatest commercial interests in the legal trade in wild birds. Although it is difficult to quantify, there is a considerable illegal trade in wild parrots. Thirty-six per cent of the world's parrot species are listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as threatened or near threatened, and 55% of these are threatened to some degree by trade. In this paper, we investigate the impact of protection on the number of nests that failed because of nestlings being taken by humans (hereafter nest take) and on nesting success in parrots. We collate data on parrot nest take from published and unpublished studies from Africa, Asia and Australasia, including countries and sites with and without national and local parrot protection measures in place. Nest take was insignificant in Australia, where all studies were from areas with both local and national protection. For less developed countries, levels of nest take were variable between studies, spanning the whole range from 0 to 100%. Protection significantly reduced nest take and correspondingly increased nesting success. Our results corroborate those for the Neotropics; thus, the advantages of protection appear to be independent of geographical location or political and economic conditions. We analysed data on legal trade in wild-caught parrots before and after implementation of the 1992 Wild Bird Conservation Act (which practically eliminated import of parrots to the USA) and found that there was no apparent shift in parrot imports to other global regions from the Neotropics. We suggest that conservation of parrots globally would benefit from similar legislation introduced in other regions, such as the EU (15), which is responsible for more than 60% of global imports of wild parrots.

Genetic variability in three Amazon parrot species

“…Accurate statistics on the number of wild birds in illegal trade is not available and the number of birds removed from wild environments may be two to four times higher than that suggested by published data (Pain et al, 2006). Our results showed that, despite the intense persecution, Bluefronted Amazon genetic variability is comparable to that observed in non-traded species.…”

Application of STR markers in wildlife forensic casework involving Australian black-cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus spp.)

“…Captive 50 breeding is a major source of individuals to supply aviculture markets, although only a small number of species are sourced from this industry [2]. The total impact of the illegal trade in birds is particularly challenging to quantify in numbers due to its clandestine nature, and the cumulative impact of the mortality rates during capture, transport and pre-and post-sale [2][3][4]. The detrimental impacts of such activities are 55 having a measurable effect on cockatoos and parrots in the wild, both in terms of biodiversity and population number [2,3].…”

“…The total impact of the illegal trade in birds is particularly challenging to quantify in numbers due to its clandestine nature, and the cumulative impact of the mortality rates during capture, transport and pre-and post-sale [2][3][4]. The detrimental impacts of such activities are 55 having a measurable effect on cockatoos and parrots in the wild, both in terms of biodiversity and population number [2,3]. Spix's macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) is one of the most recent cases of extinction in the wild, caused by illegal harvest [1,3].…”

“…The detrimental impacts of such activities are 55 having a measurable effect on cockatoos and parrots in the wild, both in terms of biodiversity and population number [2,3]. Spix's macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) is one of the most recent cases of extinction in the wild, caused by illegal harvest [1,3]. The rarity of this bird in captivity, fuelled by demand by collectors has caused prices to rise to ~AUD$20,000 per bird [1].…”

“…Conflicts with humans occur due to the birds feeding on fruit and nut crops [12], which have in 85 select areas replaced native foraging habitat. Illegal collection of eggs and nestlings from the wild to supply aviculture demand was historically common [3,13,14], as breeding in captivity is notoriously difficult and has been recorded infrequently [14,15]. On the other hand, in 1996 a WTBC captive-rearing program was established to increase the supply of the short-billed form in captivity.…”