Mountain areas often hold special species communities, and they are high on the list of conservation concern. Global warming and changes in human land use, such as grazing pressure and afforestation, ...have been suggested to be major threats for biodiversity in the mountain areas, affecting species abundance and causing distribution shifts towards mountaintops. Population shifts towards poles and mountaintops have been documented in several areas, indicating that climate change is one of the key drivers of species’ distribution changes. Despite the high conservation concern, relatively little is known about the population trends of species in mountain areas due to low accessibility and difficult working conditions. Thanks to the recent improvement of bird monitoring schemes around Europe, we can here report a first account of population trends of 44 bird species from four major European mountain regions: Fennoscandia, UK upland, south‐western (Iberia) and south‐central mountains (Alps), covering 12 countries. Overall, the mountain bird species declined significantly (−7%) during 2002–2014, which is similar to the declining rate in common birds in Europe during the same period. Mountain specialists showed a significant −10% decline in population numbers. The slope for mountain generalists was also negative, but not significantly so. The slopes of specialists and generalists did not differ from each other. Fennoscandian and Iberian populations were on average declining, while in United Kingdom and Alps, trends were nonsignificant. Temperature change or migratory behaviour was not significantly associated with regional population trends of species. Alpine habitats are highly vulnerable to climate change, and this is certainly one of the main drivers of mountain bird population trends. However, observed declines can also be partly linked with local land use practices. More efforts should be undertaken to identify the causes of decline and to increase conservation efforts for these populations.
Overall populations of 44 mountain bird species declined significantly c. −7% in Europe (inc. Fennoscandia, UK upland, Alps and Iberia) during 2002–2014. Mountain specialists species, which occur only in the mountain areas in Europe, showed a significant −10% decline in population numbers.
Identifying climate refugia is key to effective biodiversity conservation under a changing climate, especially for mountain‐specialist species adapted to cold conditions and highly threatened by ...climate warming. We combined species distribution models (SDMs) with climate forecasts to identify climate refugia for high‐elevation bird species (Lagopus muta, Anthus spinoletta, Prunella collaris, Montifringilla nivalis) in the European Alps, where the ecological effects of climate changes are particularly evident and predicted to intensify. We considered future (2041–2070) conditions (SSP585 scenario, four climate models) and identified three types of refugia: (1) in‐situ refugia potentially suitable under both current and future climate conditions, ex‐situ refugia suitable (2) only in the future according to all future conditions, or (3) under at least three out of four future conditions. SDMs were based on a very large, high‐resolution occurrence dataset (2901–12,601 independent records for each species) collected by citizen scientists. SDMs were fitted using different algorithms, balancing statistical accuracy, ecological realism and predictive/extrapolation ability. We selected the most reliable ones based on consistency between training and testing data and extrapolation over distant areas. Future predictions revealed that all species (with the partial exception of A. spinoletta) will undergo a range contraction towards higher elevations, losing 17%–59% of their current range (larger losses in L. muta). We identified ~15,000 km2 of the Alpine region as in‐situ refugia for at least three species, of which 44% are currently designated as protected areas (PAs; 18%–66% among countries). Our findings highlight the usefulness of spatially accurate data collected by citizen scientists, and the importance of model testing by extrapolating over independent areas. Climate refugia, which are only partly included within the current PAs system, should be priority sites for the conservation of Alpine high‐elevation species and habitats, where habitat degradation/alteration by human activities should be prevented to ensure future suitability for alpine species.
By combining distribution models (based on a large, high‐resolution dataset, and balancing statistical accuracy, ecological realism, and predictive/extrapolation ability) with climate forecasts, this study identified climate refugia for high‐elevation bird species (Lagopus muta, Anthus spinoletta, Prunella collaris, Montifringilla nivalis) in the European Alps, considering both in‐situ refugia (suitable now and in the future) and ex‐situ refugia (suitable only in the future). Most species will undergo a marked contraction towards higher elevations. In‐situ refugia for at least three species cover ~15,000 km2 of the Alpine region (44% included within protected areas) and represent priority sites for the conservation of high‐elevation species and habitats.
Biodiversity in agricultural environments is considered to be undergoing steep declines in most European countries. Among taxa which experienced consistent decreases, birds are of central importance, ...both for their value as ecological indicators and for the high number of species of conservation concern associated with agricultural ecosystems.
In this paper, using data from the Italian Common Breeding Bird monitoring programme collected in the period 2009–2014, we analysed the effect on breeding birds of four Agri-Environment Schemes (AES) in Emilia-Romagna region, one of the most important agricultural areas of Italy. Specifically we compared the values of three community parameters (total, farmland and generalist species richness) and the abundance of seven species (Alauda arvensis, Hirundo rustica, Motacilla flava, Serinus serinus, Chloris chloris, Carduelis carduelis and Passer montanus) in areas covered by AES and not.
The results of the analyses show that, at the scale we investigated, the positive effects of these measures are very limited and often not positive, particularly for farmland specialist species. These findings seem to suggest that the application of these measures, albeit widespread over the Region, is not able to counteract the negative effects of the simplification and impoverishment of the agricultural landscape. Our results show the AES management related more with single species metrics than community measures. Therefore to improve the effectiveness of AES, and to try to contrasts the dramatic decline of farmland bird species, we think these schemes should be designed on the specific needs of species and habitats of high conservation priority.
The concept of High Nature Value Farmland (HNVF) was introduced in the early 1990s to highlight the crucial role of low intensity farming systems for the conservation of biodiversity in Europe. HNVF ...is a biodiversity indicator and the maintenance or the enhancement of HNVF is a goal of the EU’s rural development policy. Several different approaches currently exist for identifying such areas, and a number of studies have shown that outcomes have often been unsatisfactory, at least as concerns biodiversity conservation. In this study, we use birds as indicators to assess the correlation between HNVF types identified according to the land cover approach and farmland areas important for biodiversity in Apulia, a southern Italian region that is among the most important in the Mediterranean area for farmland biodiversity. Our results suggest that unless the current land cover approach – which is mainly based on criteria relating to vegetation types and landscape structure – is accompanied by an objective analysis of local biodiversity levels, it risks excluding from HNVF some of the most important areas for biodiversity, thus reducing indicator effectiveness because of the lack of a proper assessment of HNVF extent and quality. Thus, our study shows a possible method to better identify HNVF type 3, thus increasing the effectiveness of the HNVF indicator.
The greatest loss of biodiversity in the EU has occurred on agricultural land. The Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is one of the many numerous and widespread European farmland breeding bird ...species showing major population declines linked to European agricultural intensification. Here we present results based on monitoring data collected since 1975 in 24 countries to examine the influence of changing extent of grassland and cattle abundance (based on results of earlier studies showing the importance of lowland cattle grazed grassland for the species), wintering provenance and temperature on national breeding population trends of Starlings across Europe. Positive Starling population trends in Central-East Europe contrast with negative trends in North and West Europe. Based on this indicative approach, we found some support for the importance of cattle stock and no support for grassland, temperature or wintering provenance to explain Starling population trends in Europe. However, we acknowledge such a European-wide analysis may conceal regional differences in responses and suggest that currently accessible national land use data might be insufficient to describe the detailed current changes in animal husbandry and grassland management that may be responsible for changes in food availability and hence breeding Starling abundance and their differences across Europe. Reviewing results from local studies relating Starling population trends to local agricultural change offer contradictory results, suggesting complex interacting processes at work. We recommend combining national datasets on demography, land-use/agricultural practices and from autecological research to better explain the reasons for contrasting Starling trends across Europe, to enable us to predict how changing agriculture will affect Starlings and potentially suggest mitigation measures to restore local populations where possible.
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