As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Thursday 4 October 2018

Land-based bird populations are at risk of local extinction



Date:  September 21, 2018
Source:  University College London

Land-based bird populations are becoming confined to nature reserves in some parts of the world -- raising the risk of global extinction -- due to the loss of suitable habitat, according to a report led by UCL.

Researchers analysed biodiversity in the area known as Sundaland, which covers the peninsula of Thailand, Borneo, Malaysia, Sumatra, Java and Bali, one of the world's most biologically degraded regions.

The study, published today in Conservation Letters, focuses on galliformes -- heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds such as pheasants, grouse and quail -- as their numbers are well-recorded and they are amongst the most threatened species in some parts of the world.

Scientists found that up to 13 populations (25 per cent of galliform populations in the area) have been extirpated (made locally extinct) in the region and no longer exist outside nature reserves (protected areas). The island of Sumatra has suffered the highest proportion of extirpations among the areas studied, having lost 50 percent of its galliform species in unprotected land.

As a result, certain species are only found in protected areas -- raising questions about the ultimate goal of conservation. The researchers argue that these areas were never intended to be a last resort for the existence of species and are also coming under increasing threat from human activity.


No comments:

Post a Comment