Conservation Challenges

• “Habitat” Effects– Land cover change

• Urbanization• Agriculture

– Land use• Natural resources

– Forestry– Fishing– Energy

• Recreation• Communication

– Cell towers

• “Habitat”-Independent Effects– Stewarding, Reserving, and

Restoring Habitat are necessary, but NOT SUFFICIENT

• Exotic Species• Disease• Overharvest• Climate Change• Pollution

Conservation Challenges

• “Habitat” Effects– Land cover change

• Urbanization• Agriculture

– Land use• Natural resources

– Forestry– Fishing– Energy

• Recreation• Communication

– Cell towers

• “Habitat”-Independent Effects– Stewarding, Reserving, and

Restoring Habitat are necessary, but NOT SUFFICIENT

• Exotic Species• Disease• Overharvest• Climate Change• Pollution

√

√√√

√

√

Agriculture

• Global changes:1700-1990 (Meyer and Turner 1992)

– Cropland +392 - 466%

– Irrigated Cropland +2400%

– Closed Forest -15.1%

– Forest and woodland -14.9%

– Grassland/pasture -1%

– Lands drained 1.6 x 106 km2

– Urban settlement 2.5 x 106 km2

– Rural settlement 2.1 x 106 km2

(Lambin et al. 2001)

An Example

From Czech

Republic

All Species

Farmland Specialists

GeneralistsBird Declines continued despite reduction in Agricultural Intensity after fall of communism

(Reif et al. 2008)

Continued decline could be due to: 1. Factors other than Ag 2. Lag effect 3. Cumulative effect of loss of farm area 4. Abandonment of farms

Improving Agriculture for Birds

• Intensification generally reduces bird diversity

• Set asides help (CRP lands, field borders, no till)

• Herkert 2009

Fishing and Seabirds• Eiders and cockles• We hypothesize that the population of common eiders

collapsed as a result of a combination of factors: heavy fishing pressure on high density cockle banks and rather low stocks in mussel cultures over the past 10 years (Camphuysen et al. 2002)

Spotted Owl Declines in Washington

(Forsman et al. unpublished)

Exotic Species

(Livezey 2009)

(Livezey 2009)

Disease

Example from California (Wheeler et al. 2009)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Quillayute (Pacific Coast)

Seattle Washington StateMean

Win

ter

pre

cip

itat

ion

(cm

)

Pre-La Niña (1996-1998)La Niña (1998-1999)Post-La Niña (1999-2000)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Quillayute (PacificCoast)

Seattle Washington StateMean

Weather Station

Mea

n s

pri

ng

tem

per

atu

re (

°C)

Cold Water

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

Douglas' Squirrel Gray Jay Steller's Jay

Me

an n

um

ber

det

ect

ed

per

10 m

inu

te p

oin

t co

un

t (5

0m

ra

diu

s)

Pre La Niña (1995-98 average)Post La Niña (1999)

Local Effects on Goshawk Prey

(Bloxton et al.)

95%

Fix

ed K

erne

l (H

a)0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

Pre La Niña Post La Niña

When prey decline, hawks have to move more

Lack of prey and increased movement lead to lower

reproduction and survivorship

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

1.6

Pre La Niña Post La Niña

Mea

n n

um

ber

yo

un

g f

led

ged

per

occ

up

ied

te

rrit

ory

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Su

rviv

al

Upper 95% CI

Survival

Lower 95% CI

Climate Change

European Migrants

1970 – 1990: big birds and those not in ag areas had best population trends

1990 – 2000: change in migration date most important, habitat specialization also associated with declining populations

(Møller et al. 2008)

Adapt or Go Extinct

What to Do?

• Birds are smart• Birds are mobile• Birds can evolve

rapidly• But when

population size is greatly reduced, extinction happens

• Keep population size (effective population size) large, so innovation and adaptation can continue to occur

Conservation Manifesto

• Active Management to Reduce Limiting Factors• Reservation• Restoration• Reconciliation• Sustainable Concern

– Engage people to adopt a land ethic generally and bird ethic specifically

• Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept of land. We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics.

(Leopold 1948)

A Bird Friendly Morality1. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s lawn.

2. Thou shall not allow thy cat to roam.

3. Thou shall make thy windows visible.

4. Thou shall not light the night sky.

5. Thou shall provide food and nest boxes.

6. Thou shall not kill native predators.

7. Thou shall abhor uniformity.

8. Thou shall provide safe passage across thy roadways.

9. Thou shall provide functional connections between terrestrial and aquatic worlds.

10. Thou shall nurture the human bond with nearby nature.

References• Camphuysen, C. J., et al. 2002. Mass mortality of common eiders in

the Dutch Wadden Sea, winter 1999/2000: starvation in a commercially exploited wetland of international importance. Biological Conservation 106:303-317.

• Herkert, J. R. 2009. Response of bird populations to farmland set-aside programs. Conservation Biology 23:1036-1040.

• Livezey, K. B. 2009a. Range expansion of barred owls, part I: Chronology and distribution. Am. Midl. Nat 161:49-56.

• Livezey, K. B. 2009b. Range expansion of barred owls, Part II: Facilitating ecological changes. Am. Midl. Nat. 161:323-349.

• Reif, J. et al. 2008. Agricultural intensification and farmland birds: new insights from a central European country. Ibis 150:596-605.

• Wheeler, S. S. et al. 2009. Differential impact of West Nile virus on California birds. The Condor 111:1-20.