Stay or shift: does breeding success influence the decision in a cave-dwelling swiftlet?

Gurjarpadhye, Prathamesh; Kawalkar, Dhanusha; Singh, Ramveer; Manchi, Shirish

doi:10.1007/s10336-020-01849-7

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The number of nests increases during incubation and nestling periods, as certain nests during the nesting period are camouflaged with the cave wall and are fairly simple to locate once the parents start sitting on eggs for incubation and nestlings hang to or sit in the nests. Since swiftlets are monogamous, each nest is considered to represent a breeding pair (Sankaran & Manchi 2008;Manchi & Sankaran 2014;Gurjarpadhye et al 2021). Monthly nest counts were done on both islands, and the maximum count in each colony during a season was considered to be the breeding population of each colony for a year.…”

Section: Study Area: Vengurla Rocks Archipelago Maharashtra Indiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These paleo-tropical cave-dwelling birds are colonial (Chantler & Driessens 1999). They breed and roost in colonies varying in size from millions, as in the Gomantong Cave, North Borneo (Stimpson 2013), to a few dozen, as in some caves in the Andaman Islands (Sankaran 1998;Gurjarpadhye et al 2021). Global demand for the edible nest of one swiftlet resulted in uncontrolled nest harvesting, leading to population declines and local extinctions (Sankaran 2001;Manchi & Sankaran 2010;Mursidah et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The population trend of the largest breeding colony of the Indian Swiftlet Aerodramus unicolor: is it on the verge of extinction?

Kawalkar,

Manchi

2024

J. Threat. Taxa

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Fluctuations in animal populations are indicators of environmental change. Populations of the Indian Swiftlet Aerodramus unicolor on the Burnt and Old Lighthouse islands of Vengurla rocks, Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra were assessed using the logistic growth model. The study used secondary literature and primary surveys to estimate breeding population sizes on both islands. To understand population dynamics, we calculated the carrying capacity (K) using the Verhulst population growth model, and the percent rate of change in populations. Swiftlet populations on both islands are considered to be the maximum size their habitat can sustain, not exceeding 5,000 and 246 birds on Burnt and Old Lighthouse islands, respectively. These populations were observed to fluctuate between 2020 and 2023, with change rates of 5.5% on Burnt Island, and -53% on Old Lighthouse Island. The logistic growth model indicates that these Indian Swiftlet populations are fluctuating near the carrying capacities of their habitats, which could gradually lead to extinction. This highlights the urgent need for conservation and regular monitoring of these populations in Vengurla rocks.

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Section: Study Area: Vengurla Rocks Archipelago Maharashtra Indiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The population trend of the largest breeding colony of the Indian Swiftlet Aerodramus unicolor: is it on the verge of extinction?

Kawalkar,

Manchi

2024

J. Threat. Taxa

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Towards evidence‐based conservation of subterranean ecosystems

et al. 2022

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Subterranean ecosystems are among the most widespread environments on Earth, yet we still have poor knowledge of their biodiversity. To raise awareness of subterranean ecosystems, the essential services they provide, and their unique conservation challenges, 2021 and 2022 were designated International Years of Caves and Karst. As these ecosystems have traditionally been overlooked in global conservation agendas and multilateral agreements, a quantitative assessment of solution-based approaches to safeguard subterranean biota and associated habitats is timely. This assessment allows researchers and practitioners to understand the progress made and research needs in subterranean ecology and management. We conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed and grey literature focused on subterranean ecosystems globally (terrestrial, freshwater, and saltwater systems), to quantify the available evidence-base for the effectiveness of conservation interventions. We selected 708 publications from the years 1964 to 2021 that discussed, recommended, or implemented 1,954 conservation interventions in subterranean ecosystems. We noted a steep increase in the number of studies from the 2000s while, surprisingly, the proportion of studies quantifying the impact of conservation interventions has steadily and significantly decreased in recent years. The effectiveness of 31% of conservation interventions has been tested statistically. We further highlight that 64% of the reported research occurred in the Palearctic and Nearctic biogeographic regions. Assessments of the effectiveness of conservation interventions were heavily biased towards indirect measures (monitoring and risk assessment), a limited sample of organisms (mostly arthropods and bats), and more accessible systems (terrestrial caves). Our results indicate that most conservation science in the field of subterranean biology does not apply a rigorous quantitative approach, resulting in sparse evidence for the effectiveness of interventions. This raises the important question of how to make conservation efforts more feasible to implement, cost-effective, and long-lasting. Although there is no single remedy, we propose a suite of potential solutions to focus our efforts better towards increasing statistical testing and stress the importance of standardising study reporting to facilitate metaanalytical exercises. We also provide a database summarising the available literature, which will help to build quantitative knowledge about interventions likely to yield the greatest impacts depending upon the subterranean species and habitats of interest. We view this as a starting point to shift away from the widespread tendency of recommending conservation interventions based on anecdotal and expert-based information rather than scientific evidence, without quantitatively testing their effectiveness.

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The global population status and distribution of the Indian Swiftlet: Implications for Conservation

Kawalkar,

Manchi,

Quadros

2024

Ornis Hungarica

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The current study aims to comprehend the population status and distribution of the Indian Swiftlet (Aerodramus unicolor, family: Apodidae) using primary and secondary data. We acquired the population data from the secondary literature and presence data from open source (GBIF.org). We conducted surveys to document the breeding and foraging locations of the species in the Western Ghats, West Coast and Offshore islands of Maharashtra. After estimating the population, we used the presence data to create a model predicting species distribution in current and future scenarios. The Indian Swiftlet’s current distribution is from Southwest Maharashtra to Kerala and Sri Lanka. In future, the changing climate might restrict it to the southern Western Ghats and some pockets in Sri Lanka. Burnt Island, home to the largest known colony, deserves conservation attention. We recommend population surveys and immediate conservation efforts to ensure the survival of the Indian Swiftlet endemic to India and Sri Lanka.

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Stay or shift: does breeding success influence the decision in a cave-dwelling swiftlet?

Cited by 3 publications

References 35 publications

The population trend of the largest breeding colony of the Indian Swiftlet Aerodramus unicolor: is it on the verge of extinction?

The population trend of the largest breeding colony of the Indian Swiftlet Aerodramus unicolor: is it on the verge of extinction?

Towards evidence‐based conservation of subterranean ecosystems

The global population status and distribution of the Indian Swiftlet: Implications for Conservation

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