Spatially explicit risk mapping reveals direct anthropogenic impacts on migratory birds

Buchan, Claire; Franco, Aldina M. A.; Catry, Inês; Gamero, Anna; Klvaňová, Alena; Gilroy, James J.; Field, Richard

doi:10.1111/geb.13551

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…Among long‐distance migrants, where exposure to anthropogenic change may vary hugely between individuals and populations across the annual cycle, this approach has the potential to deliver significant advances in our understanding of spatiotemporal threat exposure, and in turn to inform the spatiotemporal targeting of conservation efforts. By linking individual movement patterns to spatial change variation at high temporal resolution, our approach revealed that accumulated change exposure in our study species was generally highest during their winter life stage, despite the areas occupied during this season having undergone relatively lower levels of anthropogenic change than other parts of the species range (Figure 3a–c; Buchan et al, 2022a). Our results highlight the complexity of spatial variation in change exposure within and between migratory flyways, demonstrating the critical role migratory route choice plays in shaping the potential risks faced by individuals across the annual cycle (Hewson et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Detailed assessment of the sensitivity-which can variously be influenced by, for instance, degree of specialism, fragile interspecific reliance, morphological traits (Buchan et al, 2022b;Foden et al, 2013;Mason et al, 2019)-of the target species to each anthropogenic change layer will complement exposure metrics. Similarly, our approach does not capture the capacity for fine-scale behavioral adaptation to risks, such as micro-avoidance (Everaert, 2014;Plonczkier & Simms, 2012), nor the extent to which individuals are risk-naïve or -omniscient (Klaassen et al, 2006).…”

Section: Ta B L Ementioning

confidence: 99%

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Combining remote sensing and tracking data to quantify species' cumulative exposure to anthropogenic change

Buchan,

Gilroy,

Catry

et al. 2023

Global Change Biology

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Identifying when and where organisms are exposed to anthropogenic change is crucial for diagnosing the drivers of biodiversity declines and implementing effective conservation measures. Accurately measuring individual‐scale exposure to anthropogenic impacts across the annual cycle as they move across continents requires an approach that is both spatially and temporally explicit—now achievable through recent parallel advances in remote‐sensing and individual tracking technologies. We combined 10 years of tracking data for a long‐distance migrant, (common cuckoo, Cuculus canorus), with multi‐dimensional remote‐sensed spatial datasets encompassing thirteen relevant anthropogenic impacts (including infrastructure, hunting, habitat change, and climate change), to quantify mean hourly and total accumulated exposure of tracked individuals to anthropogenic change across each stage of the annual cycle. Although mean hourly exposure to anthropogenic change was greatest in the breeding stage, accumulated exposure to changes associated with direct mortality risks (e.g., built infrastructure) and with climate were greatest during the wintering stage, which comprised 63% of the annual cycle on average for tracked individuals. Exposure to anthropogenic change varied considerably within and between migratory flyways, but there were no clear between‐flyway differences in overall exposure during migration stages. However, more easterly autumn migratory routes were significantly associated with lower subsequent exposure to anthropogenic impacts in the winter stage. Cumulative change exposure was not significantly associated with recent local‐scale population trends in the breeding range, possibly because cuckoos from shared breeding areas may follow divergent migration routes and therefore encounter very different risk landscapes. Our study highlights the potential for the integration of tracking data and high‐resolution remote sensing to generate valuable and detailed new insights into the impacts of environmental change on wild species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Ta B L Ementioning

confidence: 99%

Combining remote sensing and tracking data to quantify species' cumulative exposure to anthropogenic change

Buchan,

Gilroy,

Catry

et al. 2023

Global Change Biology

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“…Increasing wildfire activity is one of many consequences of climate change, but we chose to discuss these threats separately due to their different pathways and effects on fitness. While hunting and trapping is a major threat to migrating birds globally, particularly in the East Asian-Australasian and Afro-Palearctic migration systems (Yong et al 2015, Khelifa et al 2017, Buchan et al 2022), we did not find sufficient evidence of nonlethal effects of hunting during migration to include it in this review. We only briefly address stressors that are a consequence of the removal of elements from the landscape (e.g., habitat loss and fragmentation), though the importance of these factors in bird population declines cannot be understated.…”

Section: Anthropogenic Threat Typesmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…We have a poor understanding of migratory connectivity for most species (Cohen et al 2018, Marra et al 2019), further hampered by the difficulty of tracking the full migrations of small birds in real time. To identify where and when bird populations are exposed to threats during migration, further research on migratory connectivity (Webster et al 2002, Cohen et al 2019) together with spatially explicit threat maps that cover entire migration corridors (Tulloch et al 2015, Bowler et al 2020, Buchan et al 2022) and extend upwards into the airspace (Davy et al 2017, Cohen et al 2022a) will prove invaluable. Incorporating a temporal component to create dynamic threat maps can more accurately capture the seasonal ebbs and flows in risk that birds experience as they move across continents (Runge et al 2016, Bauer et al 2019).…”

Section: Knowledge Gaps and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

More than mortality: Consequences of human activity on migrating birds extend beyond direct mortality

Nemes

Cabrera‐Cruz

Anderson

et al. 2023

Ornithological Applications

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Birds must contend with an array of anthropogenic threats during their migratory journeys. Many migrants are killed due to encounters with artificial light, introduced species, pollutants, and other anthropogenic hazards, while survivors of these encounters can suffer longer-lasting negative effects. The nonlethal effects of anthropogenic threats on migrating birds are less well understood than direct mortality, yet both potentially contribute to population declines. For example, building collisions frequently kill migrating birds, but the numbers of migrants that survive with an impaired ability to fly, refuel, or navigate to their destination on time is not well understood. Though not immediately fatal, such injuries can lead to delayed mortality and, ultimately, reduced lifetime reproductive success. Furthermore, migrants are likely to encounter multiple threats on their journeys, which can interact synergistically to further reduce fitness. For instance, light pollution attracts and disorients migrants, increasing the likelihood of window strikes, and surviving birds may be more vulnerable to predation from introduced predators. While considerable attention has focused on the lethal effects of anthropogenic threats, here, we review nonlethal effects of 8 types of threats during migration, their interactions, and the pathways through which they can exert fitness costs. In doing so, we identify knowledge gaps and suggest areas for future research. In the absence of more information, we propose that the greatest reduction in the cumulative lethal and nonlethal impacts of anthropogenic hazards will be achieved by addressing threat types, like artificial light at night, that interact with and compound the impact of additional threats. Direct mortality from anthropogenic sources is recognized as a key driver of population declines, but a full understanding of the impacts of human activity on migrating birds must include the cumulative and interacting effects that extend beyond immediate mortality en route to influence overall migration success and lifetime fitness.

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“…The abundance of many bird populations, especially of those with a migratory lifestyle has significantly decreased over the last decades (Rosenberg et al, 2019). A multitude of direct and indirect factors, such as predation by pets, collisions with buildings and habitat degradation, contribute to this decline (Buchan et al, 2022). An increasing threat to migratory species is the use of wind power (Marques et al, 2014), resulting in mortality (Loss et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographic barriers and season shape the nightly timing of avian migration

Kranstauber,

Bauer,

Shamoun‐Baranes

2023

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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AimMillions of birds take to the air for nocturnal migrations. Although it is widely recognized that migrants generally depart after sunset, nightly migration timing and their dependence on geographic features are hardly known at a continental scale, yet highly important for the mitigation of human‐wildlife conflicts. Using weather radars, we investigate barrier and seasonal effects on the timing of nocturnal bird migration.LocationNorth western Europe: United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Sweden and Finland.Time Period2014–2020.Major Taxa StudiedAves, nocturnal migrants, predominantly passerines.MethodsWe use nocturnal bird migration distributions extracted from 55 weather radars. The variation between these temporal distributions is captured using a principal component analysis, barrier effects and seasonal differences are investigated with a general linear model.ResultsMost variation in nightly migration timing can be explained by a univariate axis that distinguished a more evenly spread migration from a skewed migration. We found migration to be more evenly spread in spring and to have a clear peak early in the night in fall. Furthermore, migration is more peaked early in the night on locations close to or just upstream of major geographic barriers.ConclusionsOur study shows that migration fluxes tend to be more skewed during the night along coastlines and more uniform inland, far from water barriers. Regional and seasonal differences in nocturnal timing can provide vital information for adjusting the timing of wind park curtailment, lights‐out initiatives or other conflicts between migratory birds and human activities.

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Spatially explicit risk mapping reveals direct anthropogenic impacts on migratory birds

Cited by 14 publications

References 187 publications

Combining remote sensing and tracking data to quantify species' cumulative exposure to anthropogenic change

Combining remote sensing and tracking data to quantify species' cumulative exposure to anthropogenic change

More than mortality: Consequences of human activity on migrating birds extend beyond direct mortality

Geographic barriers and season shape the nightly timing of avian migration

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