Mediterranean islands provide shelter and sustenance for millions of migrating birds each year. Humans have historically exploited bird migration through hunting. In Cyprus, trapping birds during their migratory peak is considered a tradition, but has long been against the law. Illegal bird trapping is lucrative, however, with trappers using tape lures that broadcast birdsong to increase capture rates. It results in the slaughter of millions of birds each year. Yet, scientific studies quantifying capture rates of target and nontarget species using methods employed by trappers are lacking. Here, we show using playback experiments that tape lures lead to an order of magnitude greater capture rates of target species, but also significantly increase bycatch, which may include species of conservation concern. Conservation efforts focusing on minimizing illegal bird killing should also consider tape lures and their contribution to the overall impact of trapping on avian populations.
13Mediterranean islands are critical for migrating birds, providing shelter and sustenance 14 for millions of individuals each year. Humans have long exploited bird migration 15 through hunting and illegal trapping. On the island of Cyprus, trapping birds during 16 their migratory peak is considered a local tradition, but has long been against the law. 17Illegal bird trapping is a lucrative business, however, with trappers using tape lures that 18 broadcast species' vocalizations because it is expected to increase numbers of target 19species. Yet, by how much the use of song playback increases capture rates remains 20 underappreciated. In particular, it is not known whether song playback of target species 21 affects bycatch rates. Here, we show with the use of playback experiments that song 22 set of GLMMs were validated by plotting residuals against predicted values and a qq-130 plot to detect possible deviations from the expected distribution. Model validation 131 functions were provided in the DHARMa R package. 132
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