As a result of agricultural intensification, populations of farmland birds have been in steep decline for several decades. Reduction in food abundance has been mentioned as one factor behind these declines. Extensive farm management, such as use of organic methods, is expected to provide more food for birds. In this study we compared invertebrate prey abundance for birds during the breeding season between organic and conventional arable farms. We made comparisons for three different groups of birds: (1) birds feeding on soil-living invertebrates (earthworms), (2) birds feeding on ground-dwelling invertebrates and (3) birds feeding on aerial invertebrates. Invertebrate abundance was compared between organic and conventional farms, crop and non-crop habitats, and between crop and non-crop habitats under the same farm management. On organic sites, earthworm abundance was 2–4 times higher than on conventional sites, but no differences were found between crop types. Total abundance of ground-dwelling invertebrates did not differ between organic and conventional sites, but positive effects were found for several individual taxonomic groups, such as carabid beetles and spiders. On organic farms, invertebrate abundance was higher in carrots, cereals and onions compared to other crops; on conventional farms this was true for onions. When compared with most crops, ground-dwelling invertebrate abundance was low in uncropped field margins and on ditch banks. On organic farms, aerial invertebrate abundance was approximately 70% higher than on conventional farms. On cereal fields, aerial invertebrates were especially abundant.

Rice fields provide functional wetlands for declining shorebirds and other waterbirds around the world, but fundamental aspects of their stopover ecology in rice fields remain unknown. We estimated the length of stay of Black-tailed Godwits Limosa limosa migrating through rice fields, and showed the international importance of Extremadura’s rice fields (south-west Spain) for this Near Threatened shorebird species. Overall, large numbers of Black-tailed Godwits en route to their breeding grounds had long lengths of stay in the rice fields (34.7 ± 1.7, 14.4 ± 2.0 and 8.3 ± 1.2 days in godwits radio-tagged in late January, early February, and late February, respectively). The long lengths of stay of godwits in rice fields, together with some aspects of their feeding ecology, suggest that rice fields are suitable staging habitats, and therefore they could play an important role as buffer habitats against the loss or degradation of natural wetlands. Extremadura’s rice fields supported at least 14% of the declining Western European population of Black-tailed Godwit, and its increasing number in south-west Spain probably reflects a population shift towards the northern part of the winter range. We strongly suggest the inclusion of Extremadura’s rice fields as a Special Protection Area for birds under the European Union Directive on the conservation of wild birds.

The Reed Parrotbill Paradoxornis heudei is an endemic reedbed-inhabiting passerine of east Asia. In the Shanghai municipality, which harbours significant populations of this species, almost all reedbed surfaces are annually harvested. Furthermore, the reedbeds are being invaded by Smooth Cordgrass Spartina alterniflora, an introduced species that can outcompete the native Common Reed Phragmites australis. In this paper, we have shown that Reed Parrotbills do not nest in areas dominated by Smooth Cordgrass and avoid using them. In the areas that are primarily composed of Common Reed, the densities of birds are higher in the unharvested sections. The birds appear to select nesting sites with low Smooth Cordgrass densities, tall reed stems, and relatively equal densities of both dry and green stems. Reed harvesting activity results in vegetation that is too low for bird nesting. However, no nests were found in areas where the reeds had not been harvested for several years and had high densities of dry reed stems; these results could be attributed to the fact that the high density of broken stems reduced the vegetation cover. On the basis of our results, we recommend implementation of four years harvesting-cycle rotation and avoidance of reclamation in reedbeds which have not been invaded by Smooth Cordgrass.

Virtually the entire population of the globally ‘Vulnerable’ Swan Goose Anser cygnoides winters in the Yangtze floodplain. Historically, the species was widely distributed throughout the floodplain but now approximately 95% of the population is confined to three closely-situated wetlands in Anhui and Jiangxi Provinces. Recent counts indicate that at one of these sites, Shengjin Lake (in Anhui), a decline of about 10,000–20,000 birds, to about 1,000 currently, has taken place during the last five years. The likely cause of the decline in Swan Goose abundance at Shengjin Lake is the recent decrease in submerged vegetation, particularly tuber-producing Vallisneria which is the species’s main food; this decrease has been linked with the introduction of intensive aquaculture in the main areas used by Swan Geese within the lake. Earlier range contractions in the Yangtze floodplain may also be linked to reductions in submerged vegetation cover at other sites, where intensive aquaculture has also been implicated. Changes in lake hydrology following construction of the Three Gorges Dam may also have adversely affected submerged vegetation productivity. Key information needs for the effective implementation of conservation measures for Swan Goose include an understanding of (1) the fitness consequences of Swan Geese being forced to switch to different foods; (2) how aquaculture can be managed to minimise impacts on submerged vegetation; (3) the impact of changing lake hydrology on key Swan Goose food plants; and (4) the optimal management of wetlands to ensure that adequate food is both produced during the summer period and is available throughout the winter.

Chinese Grouse Bonasa sewerzowi is threatened by human activity, especially during the breeding season, in the Lianhuashan Mountains, Gansu Province, north-western China. We conducted a series of simulations on the viability of this population using the computer program VORTEX. The simulations suggested that the population had an extinction probability of 17% in 100 years using data gathered from current field work. Sensitivity analysis revealed that the predicted population trend was most sensitive to chick mortality, offspring per female per year, and adult male mortality. The first two parameters are correlated with human activity such as nest loss due to egg collecting by local people. When we set initial population size to the same size as carrying capacity, 2,500 individuals would constitute a minimum viable population (MVP). This would require a forest area of about 3,780 ha, which is smaller than the size of the Lianhuashan reserve, but the current population does not constitute an MVP due to the small initial population size. Furthermore, we found that if chick mortality declined by 5% or the number of offspring produced per female increased by 5% (i.e. reducing nest loss) under the current situation, local reserve size and current population would constitute an MVP. Therefore, the most practical and simple conservation management tool would be to increase the breeding success of Chinese Grouse, especially by limiting human activity during the incubation period.

Bonelli’s Eagle Hieraaetus fasciatus and Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos are two declining species, in which floaters tend to be located outside of breeding territories during the dispersal period, in so-called settlement areas. We studied settlement areas for both these long-lived raptors in the southern Iberian Peninsula, to gain a better understanding of the ecological requirements of the eagles during their long pre-adult stage, a period accounting for around 80% of the species’ mortality. Eagle abundance was calculated by road censuses, and habitat characteristics of settlement and non-settlement areas compared by General Discriminant Analysis (GDA) and Logistic Regression (LR). The best model of GDA and LR incorporated the abundance of main prey for eagles (rabbits, partridges) and orchard surface area, and explained 100% of eagle presence; the best model selected by GDA also included habitat heterogeneity. Both eagles tended to share settlement areas in the southern Iberian Peninsula and, when they did not, the mean annual temperature and slope appeared to explain the segregation between the two species. Management measures for the conservation of both threatened species during the dispersal period should be focused on identifying settlement areas, maintaining high prey densities and maximum habitat heterogeneity.

During a period of 12 months in 2007 and 2008, a study of the parrot trade within Peru was carried out. In this study, 20 main wildlife markets were visited in eight cities in order to estimate the number of parrot species and individuals traded legally and illegally within a year. The study also gathered extra information from vendors and customers through informal interviews about the trade process. Additionally we contracted one person in two markets between February and May 2008 to monitor how many species and individuals entered the trade. During the study, four threatened species (the ‘Endangered’ Gray-cheeked Parakeet Brotogeris pyrrhoptera, the ‘Vulnerable’ Military Macaw Ara militaris, the ‘Vulnerable’ Yellow-faced Parrotlet Forpus xanthops and the ‘Near Threatened’ Red-masked Parakeet Aratinga erythrogenys) and one additional species listed in CITES Appendix 1 (Scarlet Macaw Ara macao) were found being traded. Thirty-four species were recorded in total, 33 of which are native to Peru (representing 63% of the 52 known Peruvian parrot species) and one of which (Monk Parakeet Myiopsitta monachus) is native to Bolivia and Argentina. Our results show that even for the seven species which can be legally traded in Peru, the number of individuals being traded can greatly exceed the numbers that can officially be traded legally. We directly counted 4,722 parrots for sale and using a measured detection rate of 3% we estimate a total market size in the cities surveyed of between 80,000 and 90,000 individuals. As our surveys sampled only 8 out of Peru’s 24 departmental capitals and there are also other large cities, these numbers are likely to represent only a part of the total trade in Peru. To the best of our knowledge this is one of the first detailed studies of the internal trade in a source country for the international parrot trade. Our results suggest that such internal trade is likely to be a significant conservation issue that has previously been largely overlooked.

The trade in laughingthrush species native to Indonesia is not carried out in accordance with Indonesian legislation and regulations. During 65 surveys carried out in bird markets in 1997–2008, more than 11,000 laughingthrushes representing 10 species were observed, including all five species native to Indonesia. Bird dealers claim that these species are becoming increasingly scarce in Indonesia due to over-harvesting for trade, especially the Sumatran endemic Black-and-white Laughingthrush G. bicolor and the Javan endemic Rufous-fronted Laughingthrush G. rufifrons. Indonesia has legislation in place to protect these species from over-exploitation, yet the illegal trade continues on a large scale, carried out openly in city bird markets. Enforcement of this legislation is critical in order to prevent these species from becoming perilously threatened.

We applied the ecological niche/habitat modelling approach to predict the potential winter distribution of the endangered Black-capped Vireo Vireo atricapilla. We used historical and current field records along with climatic and topographic variables to generate three different models (Biomapper, Maxent, and GARP). Using field data on species occurrence, a model was selected based on the accuracy of assessment results. A final model was obtained by eliminating those areas mapped as known unsuitable habitat, using high resolution land use/land cover data. The GARP model obtained the best accuracy values. It showed the winter distribution of the Black-capped Vireo to cover an area in western Mexico of about 141,000 km2 that runs along the Pacific coast from southern Sonora (Río Yaqui, Alvaro Obregón Dam) to the southern state of Oaxaca (Salina Cruz on the Pacific coast and Matias Romero, and inland). One third of the proposed model’s area was located at elevations of 0–500 m, while 83% occurred at elevations < 1,250 m; however, a significant area (17%) consists of sites > 1,250 m in elevation. For the most part, the distribution model proposed closely followed the tropical dry forest boundaries and clearly avoided temperate areas at higher elevations. This situation seems to be critical for the species, since the dry forest is one of most endangered Neotropical ecosystems, both nationally and internationally. Furthermore, the array of areas under protection regimes included only about 7.1% of the predicted wintering area. However, this figure could be misleading when it is considered that some protected areas are just “paper reserves” without significant conservation programmes developed in situ.

Setting favourable reference values (FRV) for conservation targets may help in assessing the conservation status of species and habitats. FRVs should be expressed through population size or demographic parameters that are likely to ensure the long-term persistence of a species across its range. We developed a conceptual framework for defining FRVs for Italian birds included in Annex I of the European Union’s Wild Birds Directive 79/409/CEE. The approach was based on demographic trends, current population size and the minimum viable population concept. We subdivided bird species according to abundance at the national scale, spatial distribution in discrete isolated populations and/or biogeographic categories. FRVs based on population viability analysis (PVA) were provided for populations of less than 2,500 pairs. For species with more than 2,500 pairs and a wide, more or less continuous range, the FRV was expressed in terms of breeding density at different spatial scales for non-colonial species. Out of the 88 species considered, we were able to formulate FRVs based on PVA for 47 populations belonging to 21 species, and breeding density for 15 further species; lack of adequate data prevented us from defining FRVs for the remaining species. Further work should focus on the translation of FRV density values into population size and on the definition of reference values for range and habitat.