Varying response of breeding waders to experimental manipulation of their habitat and predators

Douglas, D.; Tománková, Irena; Gullett, Philippa R.; Dodd, Stephen; Brown, Daniel; Clift, Martin J. D.; Russell, Norrie; Warnock, Neal; Sanders, Sarah

doi:10.1016/j.jnc.2023.126353

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Despite the value of non‐lethal interventions, lethal predator control should not be discounted when considering management options (Smith et al., 2010). With either approach, managers and researchers must consider predator interventions in the context of other factors such as habitat quality and predator abundance as these are likely to interact with one another (Douglas et al., 2023). When considering the suitability of non‐lethal predator control, managers and researchers should determine (i) what the exact aims of potential nest protection interventions are; and (ii) whether these techniques are suitable for their system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the value of non-lethal interventions, lethal predator control should not be discounted when considering management options (Smith et al, 2010). With either approach, managers and researchers must consider predator interventions in the context of other factors such as habitat quality and predator abundance as these are likely to interact with one another (Douglas et al, 2023).…”

Section: Conservation Implications and Recommendations For Future Res...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Protecting wild bird nests against predators: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of non‐lethal methods

Gautschi,

Čulina,

Heinsohn

et al. 2024

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Implementing effective, affordable and ethical conservation management will be crucial for minimising future biodiversity losses. Such management requires reliable foundational evidence to help managers make informed choices about how to address the needs of their target species. Unfortunately, such evidence is still lacking for many species and management scenarios. One major global challenge is improving the reproductive success of threatened species in the context of predation. We conducted a systematic review and meta‐analysis of in situ experiments that used non‐lethal methods to protect bird nests against predators, with the aims of summarising global trends in nest protection efforts, comparing the effectiveness of different protection measures and informing future research and management. We considered peer‐reviewed studies in English. We detected a large geographic and taxonomic bias in the evidence base with 58% of articles conducted in North America and 76% on ground‐nesting birds. Less than 3% of articles involved taxa listed as Endangered or Critically Endangered and 51% of study units lasted just a single breeding season. Nests protected with exclosures, fences and guards were more likely to be successful than their unprotected controls. Interventions involving deterrents, conditioned taste aversion, chemical camouflage and diversionary feeding did not have a significant positive effect on nest success, but the interventions in these categories were less common and more diverse in nature. Synthesis and applications. To increase their conservation value, future non‐lethal nest protection experiments should whenever possible clearly state overall aims, take place over multiple seasons, use a comparable control and test non‐lethal protection methods independently of lethal predator control. Greater focus is required on under‐studied taxa such as cup‐nesting songbirds and birds in South America, Africa and Asia, and novel protection techniques such as deterrents and chemical camouflage. Practitioners should consider the evidence we synthesise here when deciding whether non‐lethal nest protection approaches are optimal for their study system, to increase conservation success and reduce ethical and financial costs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conservation Implications and Recommendations For Future Res...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Protecting wild bird nests against predators: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of non‐lethal methods

Gautschi,

Čulina,

Heinsohn

et al. 2024

Journal of Applied Ecology

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“…In addition to rising predator populations (Griffiths & Thomas, 1993;Roos et al, 2018;Baudach et al, 2021;Delcourt et al, 2022), land use changes and habitat deterioration also contribute to increasing predation risk in the remaining habitat patches (Evans, 2004;Whittingham & Evans, 2004). Lethal predator control is frequently used to reduce predation (Tapper, Potts, & Brockless, 1996;Ewald, Potts, & Aebischer, 2012;Roos et al, 2018), but results are mixed, and several studies suggest that effective predator control at larger scales is challenging (Lieury et al, 2015;Roos et al, 2018;K€ ammerle, Niekrenz, & Storch, 2019;K€ ammerle, Ritchie, & Storch, 2019;Douglas et al, 2023). There are also ethical concerns, and, for example, in Germany, effective lethal predator control is either not wanted or not possible in many areas (Doherty & Ritchie, 2017;Johnson et al, 2019;K€ ammerle, Niekrenz, & Storch, 2019;K€ ammerle, Ritchie, & Storch, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lethal predator control is frequently used to reduce predation (Tapper, Potts, & Brockless, 1996; Ewald, Potts, & Aebischer, 2012; Roos et al ., 2018), but results are mixed, and several studies suggest that effective predator control at larger scales is challenging (Lieury et al ., 2015; Roos et al ., 2018; Kämmerle, Niekrenz, & Storch, 2019; Kämmerle, Ritchie, & Storch, 2019; Douglas et al ., 2023). There are also ethical concerns, and, for example, in Germany, effective lethal predator control is either not wanted or not possible in many areas (Doherty & Ritchie, 2017; Johnson et al ., 2019; Kämmerle, Niekrenz, & Storch, 2019; Kämmerle, Ritchie, & Storch, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distance to the edge and other landscape features influence nest predation in grey partridges

Laux,

Mayer,

Beeke

et al. 2023

Animal Conservation

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Predation and habitat deterioration are the main reasons for the strong decline of ground‐nesting farmland birds such as the grey partridge Perdix perdix in Europe. Grey partridge nests and incubating females are especially vulnerable to predation. We have previously demonstrated that predator activity is much lower inside flower blocks (agri‐environment schemes sown with a flower seed mix) than at their edges and that predator activity in flower blocks depends on the surrounding landscape. Here, we investigate whether these differences in predator activity translate into differences in grey partridge nest predation and assess predation patterns relative to landscape and nest site characteristics. We recorded the success of 56 nests of radio‐tagged grey partridges between 2009 and 2017 in an agricultural landscape in Central Germany. We used Bayesian logistic regression to analyse the effects of nest site and landscape characteristics on nest predation on a subset of 46 nests (21 nests successful, 25 predated). Distance to the edge of the nesting habitat was the most important predictor, reducing predation probability from 66.8% at the edge to 18.5% at 85.5 m. Predation probability decreased with increasing length of habitat borders, habitat diversity and the area of permanent grasslands and fallows. Predation probability was higher further from settlements and increased with increasing woodland area in the agricultural matrix. When considering linear landscape structures, nest predation patterns matched the patterns of predator activity from our previous studies. Results suggest that the distance to the edge of the nesting habitat is most important and that nest predation may be reduced by providing sufficiently broad nesting habitats. Nest predation may further be minimized by increasing habitat diversity and coverage of extensive vegetation types and by establishing conservation measures for grey partridges further away from woodlands. These measures may also benefit other ground‐nesting farmland birds.

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The decline of ground nesting birds in Europe: Do we need to manage predation in addition to habitat?

McMahon,

Doyle,

Mougeot

et al. 2024

Global Ecology and Conservation

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Varying response of breeding waders to experimental manipulation of their habitat and predators

Cited by 8 publications

References 57 publications

Protecting wild bird nests against predators: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of non‐lethal methods

Protecting wild bird nests against predators: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of non‐lethal methods

Distance to the edge and other landscape features influence nest predation in grey partridges

The decline of ground nesting birds in Europe: Do we need to manage predation in addition to habitat?

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