Scientists explore causes of biodiversity in perching birds

Date:  April 5, 2019

Source:  University of Tennessee at Knoxville

New research by a global team of scientists has resulted in significant strides in ornithological classification and identified possible causes of diversity among modern bird species.

The study, coauthored by researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, focuses on perching birds, or passerines. Comprised of over 6,000 species, this group -- which constitutes over half of all known bird species -- includes familiar birds such as robins, jays, bluebirds, finches, and sparrows.

Scientists analyzed genetic samples and fossils of all major groups within the passerine family to better understand the way these species are related. The large data set allowed for much more accurate inferences into the development of perching birds.

The result is the most accurate and comprehensive "tree of life" of passerine species to date.

The report also includes an analysis of the impact some events in Earth's history could have had on passerines' biodiversity.

"Our main discovery is that the evolution of perching birds around the world was determined in part by connections between continents over the Earth's history, as well as changes in global climate," said Michael Harvey, a postdoctoral fellow with UT's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. "We found, for example, evidence that glaciations during the Oligocene Epoch (between 24 and 33 million years ago) wiped out a lot of perching birds, but that the warming period immediately after prompted the evolution of many of the groups of perching birds alive today."

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Sister species of birds reveal clues to how biodiversity evolves

June 19, 2018 by Hayley Dunning, Imperial College London

Extensive new datasets about the world's birds are helping to solve the riddle of how life on Earth diversified.

By combining global datasets on bird characteristics, citizen-science species sightings and genetics, researchers have begun to answer some key questions in biodiversity. The results are published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution, in two parallel studies that include Imperial College London researchers.

The first paper compiles body measurements and estimates of evolutionary history for hundreds of closely related bird species (called 'sister species') to study how new species evolve.

In most cases, new bird species begin to emerge when one population is isolated geographically from others, such as by a mountain range. Later, the diverging species may extend their geographical ranges, bringing them back into contact.

These encounters can play out in one of three ways: the species can interbreed and form a single species again; they can stay separated but with hard borders between their two ranges; or they can continue to expand their ranges until they coexist over a wide area.

What determines whether emerging species stay separate or coexist? The team, led by Dr. Jay McEntee at the University of Florida, used a vast citizen-science database of bird sightings worldwide to identify where sister species were seen in the same place at the same time, allowing the timing and extent of coexistence among sister species to be estimated.

Different traits allow coexistence

The researchers found that if sister species had very different traits that affect their way of life, such as beaks adapted to different foods, they were more likely to coexist sooner and over larger areas.

In contrast, those with very similar traits appeared not to overlap successfully. The researchers think this is because there is 'interference' between the species, such as interbreeding, or competition for resources like food.

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Biodiversity begins at home: Saving old villages helps save farmland birds

Date: August 17, 2016

Source: British Ecological Society (BES)

Preserving old villages and farm buildings -- and being more creative in designing new rural homes -- could help halt the decline in European farmland bird populations, according to new research published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

The study, led by Dr Zuzanna Rosin of Adam Mickiewicz University, found that traditional villages in Poland are biodiversity hotspots for farmland birds, whose populations have declined at an alarming rate across Europe over recent decades.

As agriculture becomes ever more intensive, traditional villages will play an increasingly important role in farmland bird conservation, says Rosin, so preserving the variety of farms, homes and building materials is key to conserving farmland birds, whose numbers have fallen dramatically.

According the official State of Europe's Common Birds, between 1980 and 2005 the population of crested larks declined by 95%, corn buntings by 61% and linnets by 54%.

Previous studies have pointed to agricultural intensification, with the resulting loss of habitat, as a major cause of farmland bird declines. But the importance of old farms and villages to bird biodiversity has been little studied until now.

Working in two regions of western and southern Poland, Wielkopolska and Małopolska, the team of ecologists from Poland and Sweden counted the number and species of birds at three spatial scales: single rural property, village and landscape.

They visited 78 homes and farms in 30 villages, and recorded 12,000 individual birds from 135 species, including many species which are declining in Europe. They found that old rural properties had more birds, from more species, than buildings constructed after 1989 and that farmsteads hosted more bird species than homesteads.

They also found that old, traditional villages are biodiversity hotspots for farmland birds, and that the proportion of new homes in a village has a dramatic impact on bird life. They found 20-25 bird species in villages with less than 10% new dwellings, but when new homes made up 40-50% of a village, fewer than 10 bird species remained.

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Retaining forests where raptors nest can help to protect biodiversity

Date:

October 23, 2014

Source:

University of Helsinki

Summary:

Raptors can affect the distribution of other species and they can also be used to find forests with high biodiversity value, researchers say. Predators influence decisions on conservation actions because they awake a remarkable interest in the society. However, favoring just predators in conservation can also mislead the scarce funding invested in nature conservation.

Continued ...

Boreal Bird Species of Conservation Concern Affected by Climate Change

Dec. 17, 2012 — A protected area network should ensure the maintenance of biodiversity, but climate is changing rapidly, thereby creating further demand for the protected area network to be efficient in preserving biota. Due to climate change species ranges are expected to move polewards, which poses challenges to the protected area network.

Population changes of different bird species groups according to their habitat preferences in boreal protected areas in Finland were studied on the basis of large-scale bird censuses carried out in 1981 and in 2000. Mean temperatures rose clearly between the two time slices in Finland, for example, mean April-June temperature by 0.7 °C.

The study "Preserving species populations in the boreal zone in a changing climate: contrasting trends of bird species groups in a protected area network" by Raimo Virkkala from the Finnish Environment Institute and Ari Rajasärkkä from Metsähallitus was published in the open access journal Nature Conservation. Bird censuses were compiled and organized by Metsähallitus, which governs the stated-owned protected areas in Finland. Tens of competent ornithologists carried out the censuses, which included altogether over 11,600 km of line transects.

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121217110724.htm

Reviving a rainforest helps keep migratory birds' winter home wild

Wondering where that brightly colored songbird that visited your yard during the summer disappeared to when the temperature dropped? Many songbirds and other migratory birds spend the cooler months in Latin America’s tropical rainforests, so preserving their winter habitat is essential to their survival. That’s one reason why NRDC partnered with the group Osa Conservation to help Revive a Rainforest on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. With the support of our members we’ve been helping to restore 50 acres of degraded tropical rainforest by planting carefully selected native tree species.

Six hundred and fifty species of birds make North America their home and breeding ground. While some of these birds are permanent residents many are migratory, with migration paths varying from short, medium to long. Approximately 350 species breed in the US and Canada and then winter all the way in Latin America and the Caribbean where they need to find sufficient food and safe nesting locations. The Yellow Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, and the Canada Warbler are just three of the many species that journey long distances during their seasonal migrations to Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula.

Continued: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/cherrera/reviving_a_rainforest_helps_ke.html

Munderikadavu awaits bird sanctuary status

KANNUR: It is yet another season of migratory birds in the state. But the proposed bird sanctuary in Munderikadavu, a wetland area in the district with rich biodiversity, is yet to become a reality.

"Though finance minister K M Mani had announced in last year's budget that the place would be developed into a bird sanctuary, nothing has been done so far in this regard," said Babu P P Karakkat, a local bird enthusiast and convener of the Munderi Bird Sanctuary Protection Group.

"The place is home to nearly 200 species of birds, including 60 varieties of migratory birds -- a number higher than that of the Thattekad bird sanctuary. Authorities seem to be ignoring this area despite initiatives from the part of local panchayat," he said.

The 7.5 square kilometre sanctuary, spread across Munderi and neighbouring panchayats, forms the catchment of the Kattampally river, and has rich variety of plants, mangroves and fish.

"It was due to my initiative that the government declared Munderikadavu as a bird sanctuary, and it is sad that it did not take off in the desired manner. The forest department did some primary works for the proposed sanctuary," said A P Abdullakutty, MLA. He said the project should get sufficient funds and also the development should not affect the ecosystem, so that it could become one of the most sought-after bird sanctuaries in the country.

Read on:  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kozhikode/Munderikadavu-awaits-bird-sanctuary-status/articleshow/16909281.cms

The SCALE project partners say birds are key indicators of biodiversity changes

Conservation practice, backed with strong data and recommendations, is high on the EU agenda. One of the most important ways to identify changes in the environment and in natural populations is to focus on biodiversity and environmental monitoring. The data generated from monitoring helps decision makers and researchers design and assess biodiversity policies, conservation management, land use decisions and environmental protection.

The SCALES ('Securing the conservation of biodiversity across administrative levels and spatial, temporal, and ecological scales') project has performed an evaluation that focused on providing scientific and policy research required to guide scale-dependent management actions. SCALES has received almost EUR 7 million under the Environment Theme of the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).

The SCALE project partners said birds are key indicators of biodiversity because of their distribution and popularity on a global scale. Data indicate that there are more than 600 all monitoring programmes in Europe. Presented in the journal Nature Conservation, the evaluation shows that almost 28,000 people have participated in the 144 monitoring programmes that cover birds, spending nearly 80,000 person days each year.

Continued:  http://www.balkans.com/open-news.php?uniquenumber=157747