Large-scale habitat associations of birds in lowland Iceland: Implications for conservation

Gunnarsson, Tómas G.; Gill, Jennifer A.; Appleton, Graham F.; Gislason, Henrik; Gardarsson, Arnthór; Watkinson, Andrew R.; Sutherland, William J.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2005.09.034

Cited by 54 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Small-scale mosaics of different habitat types can better fulfill different requirements for birds during the breeding season (e.g. nesting, feeding) than larger homogenous areas (Gunnarsson et al 2006;Pickett and Siriwardena 2011;Benton et al 2003). Our results show that much of the inland wetland patches are <5 ha with about 30 % of wetland areas consisting of patches smaller than 1 ha.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…The Icelandic wetlands (including the inland fens) support about 20 internationally important bird species (Einarsson et al 2002). They are of particular importance for waders (Charadrii) in the northern hemisphere (Gunnarsson et al 2006). Wetland birds include golden plover (Pluvialis apricaria), dunlin (Calidris alpina), snipe (Gallinago gallinago), whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa), redshank (Tringa totanus), and meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis).…”

Section: Birdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The fertility is reflected by high breeding bird densities, which often are >10 times higher in Iceland than for the same species in the UK and >2 times that of The Netherlands (Johannesdottir et al 2014;Gunnarsson et al 2015). The inland fen wetlands are important habitat for many bird populations in Iceland (Gunnarsson et al 2006) with some of them important internationally (Einarsson et al 2002). There have been extensive studies on changes in species composition of plants following drainage impacts (Magnusson 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Icelandic Inland Wetlands: Characteristics and Extent of Draining

et al. 2016

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Iceland has inland wetland areas with soils exhibiting both Andosol and Histosol properties which are uncommon elsewhere on Earth. They are generally fertile, with higher bird-nest densities than in similar wetlands in the neighboring countries, with nutrients released by rapid weathering of aeolian materials of basaltic nature. Icelandic inland wetlands cover about 9000 km 2 constituting 19.4 % of the vegetated surfaces of the island. The wetland soils are often 1-3 m thick and store 33 to >100 kg C m −2. They have been subjected to broad-scale subsidy-driven draining for agricultural purposes. About 47 % of Icelandic inland wetlands are impacted by drainage. The ditch network extends about 30,000 km, mainly in lowland areas, where about 70 % of the wetland areas are impacted. There are >1 million wetland patches, most of them <1 ha. Much of the wetlands impacted from drainage are not used for intensive agriculture such as hay-making, however some are used for grazing. There is a need to prioritize the protection of undrained wetlands and their restoration based on a broad range of factors.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Birdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Icelandic Inland Wetlands: Characteristics and Extent of Draining

et al. 2016

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“…Iceland supports internationally important breeding populations of 21 bird species (Einarsson et al 2002) and hosts a large part of the world population for several bird species (Wetlands International 2006). Iceland is especially important for northern hemisphere breeding waders (Charadrii; Gunnarsson et al 2006). It sustains very high densities of several species (Jóhannesdóttir et al 2014) and is one of the most important breeding areas for waders in Europe (Thorup 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconciling biodiversity conservation and agricultural expansion in the subarctic environment of Iceland

Jóhannesdóttir¹,

Alves²,

Gill³

et al. 2017

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Intensified agricultural practices have driven biodiversity loss throughout the world, and although many actions aimed at halting and reversing these declines have been developed, their effectiveness depends greatly on the willingness of stakeholders to take part in conservation management. Knowledge of the willingness and capacity of landowners to engage with conservation can therefore be key to designing successful management strategies in agricultural land. In Iceland, agriculture is currently at a relatively low intensity but is very likely to expand in the near future. At the same time, Iceland supports internationally important breeding populations of many ground-nesting birds that could be seriously impacted by further expansion of agricultural activities. To understand the views of Icelandic farmers toward bird conservation, given the current potential for agricultural expansion, 62 farms across Iceland were visited and farmers were interviewed, using a structured questionnaire survey in which respondents indicated of a series of future actions. Most farmers intend to increase the area of cultivated land in the near future, and despite considering having rich birdlife on their land to be very important, most also report they are unlikely to specifically consider bird conservation in their management, even if financial compensation were available. However, as no agri-environment schemes are currently in place in Iceland, this concept is highly unfamiliar to Icelandic farmers. Nearly all respondents were unwilling, and thought it would be impossible, to delay harvest, but many were willing to consider sparing important patches of land and/or maintaining existing pools within fields (a key habitat feature for breeding waders). Farmers' views on the importance of having rich birdlife on their land and their willingness to participate in bird conservation provide a potential platform for the codesign of conservation management with landowners before further substantial changes in the extent of agriculture take place in this subarctic landscape.

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“…Evidence from recent advances of the tree lines in Alaska and Canada has shown significant regional and local variation in the timing and rate of advance, most likely caused by local topography, with additional effects of shelter and snow richness in the case of highaltitude treelines (Kullman 2001, Gamache & Payette 2005, Lloyd 2005). Since the great majority of high-latitude breeding shorebirds are dependent upon open habitat, the expansion of woodland habitats is likely to severely reduce the extent of suitable habitat (Gunnarsson et al 2006). While, in the long term, global warming will facilitate treeline advance to greater latitudes and altitudes, this response will vary regionally and according to topography.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The complexity of predicting climate-induced ecological impacts

Mustin¹,

Sutherland²,

Gill³

2007

Clim. Res.

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The anticipated future increases in global surface temperatures are likely to have major impacts on the distribution of species. Predicting future species' distributions is a key area of importance in research, which is largely being addressed through the use of climate envelope models. While climate envelope models may indicate the broad direction of likely changes in distribution, they fail to incorporate the non-climatic factors that are important determinants of species' distributions within their current range, which may mean that the observed response will differ greatly from these predictions. When considering specific species, these ecological details are likely to be extremely important, but their inclusion in predictive models is difficult. We illustrate the complexities of unravelling climate impacts on species distribution and population size using migratory shorebirds as an example.

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Large-scale habitat associations of birds in lowland Iceland: Implications for conservation

Cited by 54 publications

References 18 publications

Icelandic Inland Wetlands: Characteristics and Extent of Draining

Icelandic Inland Wetlands: Characteristics and Extent of Draining

Reconciling biodiversity conservation and agricultural expansion in the subarctic environment of Iceland

The complexity of predicting climate-induced ecological impacts

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