Population trends of birds across the iron curtain: Brain matters

Reif, Jiří; Böhning‐Gaese, Katrin; Flade, Martin; Schwarz, Johannes; Schwager, Monika

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2011.07.009

Cited by 43 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…However, we did not find evidence for direct effects of these variables after accounting for effects of third variables and their interactions. Reif et al (2011) suggested that longitudinal effects of the iron curtain dividing industrialized Western Europe from more extensive land use in Eastern Europe interacted with relative brain mass to account for spatial heterogeneity in population trends. Here, we found no evidence of an effect of relative brain mass on population trends contrary to previous reports (Shultz et al 2005;Thaxter et al 2010;Reif et al 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reif et al (2011) suggested that longitudinal effects of the iron curtain dividing industrialized Western Europe from more extensive land use in Eastern Europe interacted with relative brain mass to account for spatial heterogeneity in population trends. Here, we found no evidence of an effect of relative brain mass on population trends contrary to previous reports (Shultz et al 2005;Thaxter et al 2010;Reif et al 2011). We hypothesize that these differences among studies may arise not only from the inclusion of different predictors and their interactions but also from inclusion of multiple countries that differ in significant predictors of population trends.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These variables range from migration and the perils of living under different climate regimes (Hjort and Lindholm 1978;Baillie and Peach 1992;Sanderson et al 2006;Reif 2013), relative brain mass that facilitates the ability to cope with changing environments (Shultz et al 2005;Møller et al 2008;Reif et al 2011), thermal range and hence the ability to cope with changing climatic conditions (Jiguet et al 2007(Jiguet et al , 2010, the number of broods with species producing more broods doing better (Julliard et al 2004), and body mass with large-sized species with smaller total populations having negative population trends (Bennett and Owens 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cuervo and Møller (2013) found stronger increases in northern populations and greater fluctuations in marginal populations, somewhat expected from influences of global warming on climatic niches (Hampe and Petit 2005), and Donald et al (2001) and Reif et al (2011) showed longitudinally varying trends. Reif et al (2011) also showed an interesting difference in the effect of relative brain size on trends at both sides of the iron curtain, consistent with the differences in land-use intensity across Europe. These intriguing and varying patterns, and the need to optimize conservation priorities, mean that there are good reasons to investigate patterns of population trends at different spatial scales in an attempt to elucidate the underlying mechanisms, including the potential effects of FID.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interactive effects of fearfulness and geographical location on bird population trends

et al. 2014

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Animal populations are currently under pressure from multiple factors that include human land use and climate change. They may compensate for such effects by reducing, either by habituation or by natural selection, the distance at which they flee from humans (i.e., flight initiation distance), and this adaptation may improve their population trends. We analyzed population trends of common breeding birds in relation to flight initiation distance and geographical location (latitude, longitude, and marginality of the breeding distribution) across European countries from Finland in the north to Spain in the south while also considering other potential predictors of trends like farmland habitat, migration, body size, and brain size. We found evidence of farmland, migratory, and smaller-sized species showing stronger population declines. In contrast, there was no significant effect of relative brain size on population trends. We did not find evidence for main effects of flight initiation distance and geographical location on trends after accounting for confounding and interactive effects; instead, flight initiation distance and location interacted to generate complex spatial patterns of population trends. Trends were more positive for fearful populations northward, westward, and (marginally) toward the center of distribution areas and more negative for fearless populations toward the south, east, and the margins of distribution ranges. These findings suggest that it is important to consider differences in population trends among countries, but also interaction effects among factors, because such interactions can enhance or compensate for negative effects of other factors on population trends.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interactive effects of fearfulness and geographical location on bird population trends

et al. 2014

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“…Despite several recent landscape-scale studies from Eastern Europe (e.g., Batáry et al 2007b;Aavik et al 2008;K} orösi et al 2012;Janišová et al 2013), there is still relatively little evidence on species responses at this scale in the large areas of low-intensity farmland in eastern countries such as Romania. Several studies suggest that species responses are highly context dependent and can differ between regions, especially between the extensive farmland often found in Eastern Europe and the more intensively studied, and farmed, areas of Western Europe Reif et al 2011;Tryjanowski et al 2011;Szymkowiak et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Both local and landscape factors determine plant and Orthoptera diversity in the semi-natural grasslands of Transylvania, Romania

et al. 2014

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Semi-natural grassland supports a large proportion of biodiversity and ecosystem services in Europe, however, it is continuing to be destroyed or degraded. In addition to the clear role of local management in these processes, there is increasing evidence for wider landscape-scale effects on species richness and community composition of plants and animals. Most of this evidence comes from studies in highly altered western European landscapes with only fragments of remaining semi-natural grassland. In contrast, Eastern European countries such as Romania still contain large areas of semi-natural grassland, but this habitat is threatened by agricultural intensification and homogenization. We analyzed vascular plant and Orthoptera communities from species-rich pastures in Southern Transylvania, Romania, against a range of local and landscape factors. Species richness of plants had a highly significant positive relationship with landscape heterogeneity. Orthoptera species richness and abundance were negatively correlated with plant species richness, and increased with proportion of grassland in the landscape and local vegetation height. The results suggest that large and species-rich grassland communities can be significantly affected by both local and landscape scale land use changes, but effects Communicated by Jan C Habel. Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (can vary within and between taxonomic groups. Conservation measures such as agrienvironment schemes should therefore seek to address landscape scale processes better, promoting a range of low-intensity land use practices in order to support a variety of landscape types.

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