Crops modify habitat quality beyond their limits

Reverter, Margarita; Gómez‐Catasús, Julia; Barrero, Adrián; Traba, Juán

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2021.107542

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…Indeed, the habitat of the only monitored population whose abundance increased after Storm Filomena, despite snow cover for the same amount of days (Barahona-Rello, Soria province, 73 males in 2020 and 86 in 2021) (Figure 2A), was actively managed during the spring of 2018 by the LIFE Ricotí programme. In that area the number of trees was reduced and extensive grazing was promoted to increase habitat availability and improve habitat quality for Dupont’s Lark by increasing food availability associated with sheep dung (see Gómez-Catasús et al 2021, Reverter et al 2021). This preliminary finding suggests that active management of habitat patches focused on increasing habitat quality and availability might be a feasible solution to increase the viability of Dupont’s Lark populations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term impact of an extreme weather event on the threatened Dupont’s LarkChersophilus duponti

Pérez‐Granados

Bota

Gómez‐Catasús

et al. 2023

Bird Conservation International

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Summary The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events represent a threat for biological diversity and are expected to increase in many regions over the following decades due to climate change. Our current knowledge about the impact of extreme weather events on the population dynamics of bird species is very limited. Here, we evaluated the impact of an extreme winter snowstorm on the abundance of 14 populations of the threatened Dupont’s Lark Chersophilus duponti, a resident bird whose European population is restricted to Spain. We found a drastic and significant population decline in the next reproductive season following the extreme weather event. During the control period (2017–2020) the species suffered an overall annual decline of 19.4% (±5.0, SE). However, the overall annual decline after the storm was 67.6% (±9.4, period 2019–2021), with a mean decline of 66.5% (±15.9) for seven populations monitored both the year before and the year after the snowstorm (period 2020–2021). The snow covered the ground for over 10 days in central and eastern Spain, which together with a subsequent extreme cold wave could have reduced the species ability to find food resources and properly thermoregulate, forcing the species to move to unknown areas. Indeed a few days after the storm, several individuals were reported in areas typically avoided. Such displacements may increase the mortality risk for dispersing individuals, besides the direct effects of the extreme cold event, such as thermal challenges to energy balance or a reduced immune function. We discuss the potential role that extreme weather events may have on the population dynamics and conservation of the species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term impact of an extreme weather event on the threatened Dupont’s LarkChersophilus duponti

Pérez‐Granados

Bota

Gómez‐Catasús

et al. 2023

Bird Conservation International

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“…The trapped individuals were stored in the same bottle as ground‐dwelling arthropods, and they were considered together, hereafter referred to as epigeous arthropods. For more details about the sampling methodology, see Reverter et al ( 2021 ) or Gómez‐Catasús et al ( 2019 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To minimize observer bias, all samples were identified by the same researcher (MR). For a similar methodology for estimation of invertebrate biomass see Traba et al ( 2007 ), Gómez‐Catasús et al ( 2019 ), or Reverter et al ( 2021 ). Lastly, we classified epigeous arthropod taxa into consumer groups (predatory, detritivore, phytophagous, and diverse; Appendix S1 ) and calculated the biomass per arthropod consumer group.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a consequence, some steppe bird species of high conservation interest have their strongholds in these Iberian “paramos” (Traba et al, 2013 ), such as the Dupont's lark ( Chersophilus duponti ), the greater short‐toed lark ( Calandrella brachydactyla ), and the tawny pipit ( Anthus campestris ), which makes it of even greater interest to investigate the relationship between plants and arthropods. Besides the relative homogeneous landscape and simple vegetation structure of these shrub‐steppe habitats (dominated by small height scrublands and grasslands), bird distribution is not homogeneous and seems to respond to spatial heterogeneity at a fine scale in plant and arthropod availability (Gómez‐Catasús et al, 2019 ; Reverter et al, 2019 , 2021 ), so high‐ and medium‐resolution remote sensing can help us to better understand these complex ecological relationships at an appropriate scale.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparative assessment of satellite‐ and drone‐based vegetation indices to predict arthropod biomass in shrub‐steppes

Traba

Gómez‐Catasús

Barrero

et al. 2022

Ecological Applications

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“…Agricultural intensification, together with habitat loss and land-use changes have partly caused the large declines detected over the past several decades for open-habitat bird populations ( Carboni et al, 2015 ; Santos & Suárez, 2005 ; Fuller & Gough, 1999 ; Traba & Morales, 2019 ). In marginal regions such as those of Iberian natural steppes, where agricultural income has been traditionally low, agricultural intensification is also occurring at a field scale ( Reverter et al, 2021 ). However, the negative trends for several steppe birds that only inhabit primary stages of vegetation succession are especially linked to shrub encroachment ( Robinson & Sutherland, 2002 ; Herrando et al, 2014 ; Holmes, Maestas & Naugle, 2017 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extensive sheep grazing is associated with trends in steppe birds in Spain: recommendations for the Common Agricultural Policy

Traba

Pérez‐Granados

2022

PeerJ

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Iberian natural steppes have traditionally been used for extensive sheep grazing, which has been noted to be positively associated with steppe bird abundance and diversity. Sheep numbers in Spain, which harbors the largest European populations of many steppe bird species, decreased by 9.2 million (37.3%) between 1992 and 2020. Steppe birds in Spain have faced dramatic declines during the same period, but there is a lack of knowledge about the potential association between sheep and open-habitat bird declines. We used sheep data from the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and bird data (1998–2018) from the Spanish Common Bird Monitoring Program to assess the association at the Spanish scale between sheep decline and the Farmland Bird Index (FBI) and the Natural Shrub-steppe Bird Index (SBI). We also used an independent dataset on population trends of the Dupont’s Lark (Chersophilus duponti) to assess the relationship between sheep numbers and the decline of this threatened steppe specialist passerine in Spain, whose European population is restricted to Iberian natural steppes. To test for a spurious relationship between temporal series, variables were tested for cointegration. After confirming cointegration, we found a strong positive relationship between sheep abundance and the trends of the FBI and SBI indices during the period 1998–2018. The association between sheep abundance and trends of the Dupont’s Lark (2004–2015) was positive although it was not statistically significant. Although the main causes of decline of farmland and steppe birds are mainly related to agricultural intensification and land use changes, the correlation found, using two independent cointegrated datasets, between the reduction in farmland and shrub-steppe birds and sheep numbers at the country scale suggests that the decline of steppe birds in Spain may be also associated with the decline in sheep numbers. This agrees with previous studies that found a positive relationship between intermediate levels of sheep grazing and steppe bird abundance in Iberian steppes. Further research (e.g. experimental studies) is needed to corroborate our study and identify the most appropriate level of grazing intensity for protecting the most farmland and shrub-steppe birds. Our results suggest that the promotion of extensive grazing should be considered as a key factor in future Common Agricultural Policy reforms and conservation programmes to protect steppe birds.

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Crops modify habitat quality beyond their limits

Cited by 15 publications

References 84 publications

Short-term impact of an extreme weather event on the threatened Dupont’s LarkChersophilus duponti

Short-term impact of an extreme weather event on the threatened Dupont’s LarkChersophilus duponti

Comparative assessment of satellite‐ and drone‐based vegetation indices to predict arthropod biomass in shrub‐steppes

Extensive sheep grazing is associated with trends in steppe birds in Spain: recommendations for the Common Agricultural Policy

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