Female biased mortality caused by anthropogenic nest loss contributes to population decline and adult sex ratio of a meadow bird

Long‐term effects of agri‐environment schemes on breeding passerine populations in a lowland hay‐meadow system

“…Therefore, the general positive trend was probably the outcome of a balance between high reproductive success in areas where juveniles could be fledged before mowing and high failure rates in early mown areas acting as Table 2. Results of the model-averaging approach presenting the final estimates and se for the variables included in the best models explaining Whinchat and Corn Bunting hatching rates in Manziat (1993Manziat ( -2008 ecological traps (Kokko & Sutherland 2001, Gilroy & Sutherland 2007 where the risk of being killed by mowers increases for incubating females (Grűebler et al 2008). In the meso-hygrophilic study area of Feillens, however, territory density did not increase over the same period so we could assume that birds observed in meso-hygrophilic plots were not all territorial.…”

Nestling diet optimization and condition in relation to prey attributes and breeding patch size in a patch-resident insectivorous passerine: an optimal continuum and habitat constraints

“…The primary breeding habitat of Whinchat used to be invertebrate-rich grasslands, especially those lying within traditionally managed agricultural landscapes, where the abundance and diversity of arthropod prey were higher than in intensively managed grasslands (Oppermann 1999;Bastian and Bastian 1996;Britschgi et al 2006;Broyer et al 2012;Strebel et al 2015). The recent population decline of grassland birds, including the Whinchat, has been ascribed mainly to nest losses/female mortality resulting from more intensive agriculture practices, primarily earlier and more frequent mowing (Grüebler et al 2008(Grüebler et al , 2012, deteriorating food/foraging conditions in semi-natural grasslands/meadows and the loss of marginal habitats (Müller et al 2005;Britschgi et al 2006;Perlut et al 2008;Broyer 2009;Broyer et al 2012Broyer et al , 2014Henderson et al 2014;Strebel et al 2015). A very recent investigation has found evidence that mortality in Whinchats occurs primarily outside the wintering period, i.e.…”

The importance of altitude and aspect for breeding WhinchatsSaxicola rubetrain the uplands: limitations of the uplands as a refuge for a declining, formerly widespread species?

“…In many areas it is now confined to upland meadows, where grass cutting dates have not advanced as a result of agricultural intensification (Müller et al 2005, Bolliger et al 2007, Broyer 2009), and also abandoned or derelict agricultural land provides extensive areas of uncut grassland (Frankiewicz 2008, Orowski 2010. Increased nest losses and greater mortality of incubating females attributable to the earlier cutting of meadows (Gruebler et al 2008) and reduced food availability (Britschgi et al 2006) have been identified as causal mechanisms produced by agricultural intensification that have lead to population declines and range contractions of Whinchats. As a trans-Saharan migrant, factors away from the breeding areas could also have contributed to their decline (Sanderson et al 2006).…”