A global threats overview for Numeniini populations: synthesising expert knowledge for a group of declining migratory birds

Abstract

SummaryThe Numeniini is a tribe of 13 wader species (Scolopacidae, Charadriiformes) of which seven are Near Threatened or globally threatened, including two Critically Endangered. To help inform conservation management and policy responses, we present the results of an expert assessment of the threats that members of this taxonomic group face across migratory flyways. Most threats are increasing in intensity, particularly in non-breeding areas, where habitat loss resulting from residential and commercial development, aquaculture, mining, transport, disturbance, problematic invasive species, pollution and climate change were regarded as having the greatest detrimental impact. Fewer threats (mining, disturbance, problematic native species and climate change) were identified as widely affecting breeding areas. Numeniini populations face the greatest number of non-breeding threats in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, especially those associated with coastal reclamation; related threats were also identified across the Central and Atlantic Americas, and East Atlantic flyways. Threats on the breeding grounds were greatest in Central and Atlantic Americas, East Atlantic and West Asian flyways. Three priority actions were associated with monitoring and research: to monitor breeding population trends (which for species breeding in remote areas may best be achieved through surveys at key non-breeding sites), to deploy tracking technologies to identify migratory connectivity, and to monitor land-cover change across breeding and non-breeding areas. Two priority actions were focused on conservation and policy responses: to identify and effectively protect key non-breeding sites across all flyways (particularly in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway), and to implement successful conservation interventions at a sufficient scale across human-dominated landscapes for species' recovery to be achieved. If implemented urgently, these measures in combination have the potential to alter the current population declines of many Numeniini species and provide a template for the conservation of other groups of threatened species.

Patterns and processes in shorebird survival rates: a global review

“…, Pearce‐Higgins et al . ), some very rapidly (e.g. Black‐tailed Godwit Limosa limosa limosa; Kentie et al .…”

Predation risk and resource availability explain roost locations of Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus in a tropical mangrove delta

“…Disturbance is regarded as one of the most important threats to populations of Numeniini (Upland Sandpipers Bartramia longicauda, Whimbrels, curlews, godwits); however, evidence of its impacts at population level remains uncertain (Pearce-Higgins et al 2017). None of the roosts was located on islands containing villages.…”

Shorebird hunting in Barbados: Using stable isotopes to link the harvest at a migratory stopover site with sources of production

“…Substantial population declines have been reported in 65% of the Nearcticbreeding shorebird species that migrate via the Atlantic Flyway (Bart et al 2007, Andres et al 2012. Although the proximate causes of these declines are poorly understood for most species, harvest along migration routes and on the wintering grounds has emerged as a threat or potential contributing factor in shorebird declines worldwide (Zöckler et al 2010, Watts et al 2015, Pearce-Higgins et al 2017). In the Americas, shorebird harvest occurs in several countries and may negatively affect shorebird populations in the Western Atlantic Flyway (e.g., Hutt 1991, Vermeer and Castilla 1991, Canevari and Blanco 1994, Ottema and Spaans 2008, Burke 2009).…”