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This paper offers a comparative evaluation of the scientific impact of a citizen science program in ecology, "Vigie-Nature", managed by the French National Museum of Natural History. Vigie-Nature consists of a national network of amateur observatories dedicated to a participative study of biodiversity in France that has been running for the last twenty years. We collected 123 articles published by Vigie-Nature in international peer-reviewed journals between 2007 and 2019, and computed the yearly amount of citations of these articles between 0–12 years post-publication. We then compared this body of citations with the number of yearly citations relative to the ensemble of the articles published in ecology and indexed in the "Web of Science" data-base. Using a longitudinal data analysis, we could observe that the yearly number of citations of the Vigie-Nature articles is significantly higher than that of the other publications in the same domain. Furthermore, this excess of citations tends to steadily grow over time: Vigie-Nature publications are about 1.5 times more cited 3 years after publication, and 3 times more cited 11 years post-publication. These results suggest that large-scale biodiversity citizen science projects are susceptible to reach a high epistemic impact, when managed in specific ways which need to be clarified through further investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1989 with the start of the French Breeding Bird Survey, and mostly since 2006 with the start of Vigie- Nature, a laboratory of the French Natural History Museum, in partnership with a wide range of NGOs, launched a citizen-science program designed to collect standardized data to enable the study of the state of biodiversity on a national scale. One of the main actors of this scientific adventure tells us his story, with some hints on how this is rooted in the history of the Museum's involvement in such citizen participation in data collection, and with some personal views on the perspectives for citizen science. Altogether, the reputation of the program is somehow proof of its success, but this should not hide its weakness regarding the modest and fragile rate of participation by the public. Yet, the author believes citizen science has the potential to transform society. The starting "65 million observers" project may allow to carry out this ambition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecology is broad and relies on several complementary approaches to study the mechanisms driving the distribution and abundance of organisms and their interactions. One of them is citizen science (CitSci), the co‐production of scientific data and knowledge by nonprofessional scientists, in collaboration with, or under the direction of, professional scientists. CitSci has bloomed in the scientific literature over the last decade and its popularity continues to increase, but its qualitative contribution to the development of academic knowledge remains understudied. We used a bibliometric analysis to study whether the epistemic content of CitSci‐based articles is different from traditional, non‐CitSci ones within the field of ecology. We analyzed keywords and abstracts of articles published in ecology over the last decade, disentangling CitSci articles (those explicitly referring to citizen science) and non‐CitSci articles. Keyword co‐occurrence and thematic map analyses first revealed that CitSci and non‐CitSci articles broadly focused on biodiversity, conservation, and climate change. However, CitSci articles did so in a more descriptive way than non‐CitSci articles, which were more likely to address mechanisms. Conservation biology and its links with socio‐ecosystems and ecosystem services was a central theme in the CitSci corpus, much less in the non‐CitSci corpus. The situation was opposite for climate change and its consequences on species distribution and adaptation, which was a central theme in the non‐CitSci corpus only. We only revealed subtle differences in the relative importance of particular themes and in the way these themes are tackled in CitSci and non‐CitSci articles, thus indicating that citizen science is well integrated in the main, classical research themes of ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollination is essential for many crops since 70% of the world's cultivated plants depend on pollinators for their production. Floral resources within cultivated areas, especially those produced by flowering crops such as oilseed rape, are known to have a positive effect on wild pollinators. Nevertheless, little is known about the contribution of other floral resources, such as weeds within cultivated areas, in supporting wild pollinator communities and subsequent pollination services. Here, we investigate the extent to which oilseed rape pollination benefits from floral resources produced within cultivated areas, either crops or associated weeds. Based on the Müller index, we analyzed, during four pairs of consecutive years, the potential for inter-annual indirect effects received by oilseed rape through shared wild pollinators from major crops, and their associated weeds, in a typical French intensive agricultural landscape. Our results show that most of the support for oilseed rape pollinating fauna came from alternative types of floral resources than itself. We also find that weeds support oilseed rape pollination as much as flowering crops. Finally, we show that weeds growing within cereal fields have a major contribution to the support of oilseed rape pollination, exceeding the contribution of other floral resources, except oilseed rape. Our results underline that oilseed rape pollination benefits from floral resources present within cultivated fields, whatever the type of crops, including those that do not depend on pollinators for their pollination. Management practices like herbicide reduction in non-pollinator-dependent crops such as cereals are thus likely to impact the pollination of pollinator-dependent crops. • Inter-annual networks reveal dependence of crop pollination to past floral resources. • Weeds as important as flowering crops for oilseed rape pollinators. • Weeds in cereal fields are major floral resources for oilseed rape pollinators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land-use intensification and resulting habitat loss are put forward as the main causes of flower visitor decline. However, the impact of urbanization, the prime driver of land-use intensification in Europe, is poorly studied. In particular, our understanding of whether and how it affects the composition and functioning of flower visitor assemblages is scant, yet required to cope with increasing urbanization worldwide. Here, we use a nation-wide dataset of plant-flower visitor (Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera) interactions sampled by citizen scientists following a standardized protocol to assess macroecological changes in richness and composition of flower visitor communities with urbanization. We measured the community composition by quantifying the relative occurrence of generalist and specialist flower visitors based on their specialisation on flowering plant families. We show that urbanization is associated with reduced flower visitor richness and a shift in community composition toward generalist insects, indicating a modification of the functional composition of communities. These results suggest that urbanization affects not only the richness of flower visitor assemblages but may also cause their large-scale functional homogenization. Future research should focus on designing measures to reconcile urban development with flower visitor conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim As global temperatures have increased, many species distributions have exhibited polewards shifts, a trend that is predicted to continue in future decades. However, the mechanisms underlying such shifts are not well understood. Here we quantify the impact of large-scale variation in temperature on reproductive output within a group of migratory birds to assess the potential for future range changes. Location Western Europe. Methods We use data from captures of 350,000 individual birds, collected under constant effort ringing protocols from 1994-2006, to estimate productivity (percentage of juveniles caught) for seven species of migrant warblers (family Sylviidae) breeding in Europe in relation to spring temperature and latitude by fitting generalized linear mixed models. Results Productivity was highest at mid-latitudes for six of our seven study species and did not change significantly over the study period. Only one species (reed warbler, Acrocephalus scirpaceus) showed increased productivity at northern sites as expected. Six of the seven species also showed evidence for local adaptation, with productivity decreasing as temperatures diverged from the local mean. However, for three of these species the 'optimum' temperature was greater than the local mean temperature at the majority of sites. Main conclusions These results indicate that latitudinal gradients in productivity are likely to influence large-scale abundance patterns, but that adaptation to local climate conditions has the potential to constrain the rate of northward range shifts in many species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Control to limit damage caused by undesirable organisms at the country level is a common management practice but its effects on the target populations are usually unknown. Monitoring consequences of control is however important to design and measure the efficacy of long-term management. Using data from the French Breeding Bird Survey and methodology that cope with detection bias, we studied the consequences of trapping on the age structure and spatial dynamics of the magpie (Pica pica), a bird considered as a pest species in France. Our results show that magpie occurrence in farmlands and semi-natural landscapes decreases with regional trapping intensity. Trapping increase the probability of populations becoming extinct locally, with less possibility of (re)colonising managed areas. Local extinction is likely the consequences of changes in the age structure of breeding populations which are composed of more immatures in intensively trapped areas. The effects of trapping are however mitigated in urban areas, which have become a refuge habitat for magpies. Trapping is a long established and very common practice in France. Although trapping has a successful impact on the magpie in countryside, it is recommended only if justified by conservation specific purposes. Non-lethal methods exist like reducing availability of human-related food resources, especially in urban environments. Monitoring the dynamics behind species occurrence is a useful approach to understand how control affects species distribution. This study illustrates the value of a national monitoring scheme in helping to understand trapping consequences. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: In the past decade, accumulating evidence of pollinator decline has raised concerns regarding the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems and the sustainability of crop production. Although land-use changes have been advanced as the major causes, the affinities of most wild pollinators with the main land-use types remain unknown. Filling this gap in our knowledge is a prerequisite to improving conservation and management programmes. Methodology/Principal Findings: We estimated the affinity of flower visitors with urban, agricultural and natural land-uses using data from a country-wide scale monitoring scheme based on citizen science (Spipoll). We tested whether the affinities differed among insect orders and according to insect frequency (frequent or infrequent). Our results indicate that the affinities with the three land-use types differed among insect orders. Apart from Hymenopterans, which appeared tolerant to the different land-uses, all flower visitors presented a negative affinity with urban areas and a positive affinity with agricultural and natural areas. Additionally, infrequent taxa displayed a lower affinity with urban areas and a higher affinity with natural areas than did frequent taxa. Within frequent taxa, Hymenoptera and Coleoptera included specialists of the three land-use types whereas Diptera and Lepidoptera contained specialists of all but urban areas. Conclusions/Significance: Our approach allowed the first standardised evaluation of the affinity of flower visitors with the main land-use types across a broad taxonomical range and a wide geographic scope. Our results suggest that the most detrimental land-use change for flower visitor communities is urbanisation. Moreover, our findings highlight the fact that agricultural areas have the potential to host highly diverse pollinator communities. We suggest that policy makers should, therefore, focus on the implementation of pollinator-friendly practices in agricultural lands. This may be a win-win strategy, as both biodiversity and crop production may benefit from healthier communities of flower visitors in these areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying sites that are both important for biodiversity and likely to be heavily affected by anthropogenic pressures in the future is crucial to settle priorities in the implementation of conservation measures, such as the designation of new protected areas. Although assessing the exposure of terrestrial Key Biodiversity Areas to global change would support such identification, it has never been performed to our knowledge. In addition, previous exposure assessments have been limited to few metrics of climate change and have not considered other global change components. Here, we assess the extent to which terrestrial (including inland water) Key Biodiversity Areas are exposed to future climate change and land‐use modifications in 29 countries of the Mediterranean region, and identify countries where additional protection efforts are most needed. To this end, we calculated two local and two regional exposure metrics using projections of climate and land‐use for late 21st century under four scenarios that were used in the sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (SSP1‐2.6, SSP2‐4.5, SSP3‐7.0, and SSP5‐8.5). These four exposure metrics were subsequently combined into an exposure index ranking sites from least to most exposed to climate and land‐use changes. We highlight that the most exposed non‐protected Key Biodiversity Areas are located in countries where the protection of this network is lowest (i.e., high number and percentage of non‐protected sites). We also found that Key Biodiversity Areas were overall more exposed than the rest of the study zone and that the sites most in need of conservation actions were similar across future scenarios. Our study reinforces the pressing necessity to strengthen and extend conservation measures in Mediterranean Key Biodiversity Areas, especially in Middle‐East and Maghreb countries whose Key Biodiversity Areas are both at risk to be strongly affected by anthropogenic pressures and insufficiently protected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Most survey methods developed to estimate abundance of killed animals on motorways may be biased due to the unequal detectability of carcasses, their persistence time on the lanes, and scavengers activities. Unbiased surveys are needed to evaluate the relationships between bird casualties (mortality), motorways characteristics, and the neighbouring avifauna. The present study conducted on four motorways in France, aimed to evaluate factors affecting persistence and encounter probabilities and variations in scavenging activity to obtain unbiased estimates of bird traffic casualties. Each motorway was surveyed once per season during multiple years and we used capture–recapture methods to estimate detection and carcass persistence rates. Results showed that surveys by car were as efficient as surveys by foot in detecting carcasses on the pavement, but less efficient for carcasses on verges. Passeriformes represented the most numerous casualties, and the Barn Owl (Tyto alba) was the most frequently killed species. Encounter probabilities were constant and high (0.957±0.007). Average daily persistence probability was 0.976±0.003. Persistence probabilities were higher for large and old carcasses, during summer, and differed between seasons, but were relatively similar between years. Scavenging activities, estimated using experimental carcasses disposed on the safe lanes of motorways, varied between years, seasons, and differed between diurnal and nocturnal periods. A peak in scavenging activity occurred during diurnal periods in spring. Results suggest that surveys must take into account carcass characteristics and seasonal variability to obtain unbiased estimates of road killed birds on motorways, as well as variation in scavenging rates. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: The metacommunity framework is crucial to the study of functional relations along environmental gradients. Changes in resource grain associated with increasing habitat fragmentation should generate uncoupled responses of interacting species with contrasted dispersal abilities. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we tested whether the intensity of parasitism was modified by increasing habitat fragmentation in the well know predator-prey system linking the parasitoid Cotesia glomerata (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) to its main host Pieris brassicae (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). We collected information on herbivorous abundance and parasitism rate along an urbanization gradient from the periphery to the centre of Paris. We showed that butterfly densities were not influenced by habitat fragmentation, whereas parasitism rate sharply decreased along this gradient. Conclusions/Significance: Our results provide novel insights into the mechanisms underlying the persistence of species in highly fragmented areas. They suggest that differential dispersal abilities could alter functional relationships between prey and predator, notably by a lack of natural predators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on constant-effort (CE) ringing which furnishes an efficient way of monitoring bird populations by using the standardized ringing effort. It mentions that the CE schemes carry out three objectives which include informing habitat management for population conservation and creating connection between population changes and environmental conditions. The study provides examples on how CE ringing was utilized and examines the possible developments on the value of CE data.

Range shifts of many species are now documented as a response to global warming. But whether these observed changes are occurring fast enough remains uncertain and hardly quantifiable. Here, we developed a simple framework to measure change in community composition in response to climate warming. This framework is based on a community temperature index (CTI) that directly reflects, for a given species assemblage, the balance between low- and high-temperature dwelling species. Using data from the French breeding bird survey, we first found a strong increase in CTI over the last two decades revealing that birds are rapidly tracking climate warming. This increase corresponds to a 91km northward shift in bird community composition, which is much higher than previous estimates based on changes in species range edges. During the same period, temperature increase corresponds to a 273km northward shift in temperature. Change in community composition was thus insufficient to keep up with temperature increase: birds are lagging approximately 182km behind climate warming. Our method is applicable to any taxa with large-scale survey data, using either abundance or occurrence data. This approach can be further used to test whether different delays are found across groups or in different land-use contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Road verges should play a crucial role as a refuge for native flora and fauna in human dominated landscapes. However, the influence of construction choices, such as plantation of woody species, on the biodiversity supported by roadsides has received little attention, although the presence of hedgerows in roadsides is likely to enhance their role as a refuge, notably for woodland species. Using standardised methods, we assessed the impact of planted hedgerows on two taxonomic groups (plants and spiders) inhabiting highway verges within an intensive agricultural landscape. We examined community richness, taxonomic and functional composition in sites with and without planted hedgerows. At the site level, the response of plant and spider communities to the presence of planted hedgerows differed markedly: hedgerows were associated with significantly higher plant richness (higher α-diversity), but similar spider richness. Plant communities in sites without hedgerows appeared as a subset of communities in sites with hedgerows, whereas spider communities in non-planted sites were complementary to that of planted sites (increased β-diversity). The presence of planted hedgerows was also associated with increased taxonomic and functional trait diversity at the landscape level (γ-diversity), through an increased β-diversity in both plants and spiders. Our results thus suggest that a mosaic of planted hedgerows and grassland habitats is crucial for the maintenance of biodiversity at a landscape scale. By providing information for road practitioners and policy makers regarding their potential impact on biodiversity, these results have important direct implications for the management of road networks. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper, we tested whether the spatial distribution of a given species in more or less fragmented and disturbed landscapes depends on the species habitat specialization. We studied 891 spatial replicates from the French Breeding Bird Survey (FBBS) monitored at least two years during 2001–2005, and two independent landscape databases measuring respectively landscape fragmentation and recent landscape disturbance on each FBBS replicate. We used a continuous habitat specialization index for the 105 most common bird species monitored by the FBBS. We further modelled the spatial variation in abundance of each species according to fragmentation and disturbance across FBBS replicates, accounting for habitat differences and spatial trends. We then tested whether more or less specialized species responded to landscape fragmentation and disturbance. We found that the more specialist a species, the more negative its spatial response to landscape fragmentation and disturbance. Although there was a very high variation around these tendencies indicating that there are many other drivers of species distribution, our results suggest that measuring specialization may be helpful in predicting which species are likely to thrive in human degraded landscapes. We also emphasize the need to consider both positive and negative species responses when assessing consequences of habitat change in communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim Worldwide, functional homogenization is now considered to be one of the most prominent forms of biotic impoverishment induced by current global changes. Yet this process has hardly been quantified on a large scale through simple indices, and the connection between landscape disturbance and functional homogenization has hardly been established. Here we test whether changes in land use and landscape fragmentation are associated with functional homogenization of bird communities at a national scale. Location France. Methods We estimated functional homogenization of a community as the average specialization of the species present in that community. We studied the spatial variation of this community specialization index (CSI) using 1028 replicates from the French Breeding Bird Survey along spatial gradients of landscape fragmentation and recent landscape disturbance, measured independently, and accounting for spatial autocorrelation. Results The CSI was very sensitive to both measures of environmental degradation: on average, 23% of the difference in the CSI values between two sample sites was attributed to the difference in fragmentation and the disturbance between sites. This negative correlation between CSI and sources of landscape degradation was consistent over various habitats and biogeographical zones. Main conclusions We demonstrate that the functional homogenization of bird communities is strongly positively correlated to landscape disturbance and fragmentation. We suggest that the CSI is particularly effective for measuring functional homogenization on both local and global scales for any sort of organism and with abundance or presence–absence data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bird communities change in response to urbanization, which poses a challenge for conservationists. We examined the consequences of the recent increase in European cities of black-billed magpie (Picapica), which has become the main bird nest predator in many urban parks, yet its impact remains disputed. We tested predator role in the limitation of postfledging and adult numbers of 10 common songbird species. We conducted before-after, control-treatment experimental magpie removal in the suburbs near Paris, France, during our 3-year study. We also compared the productivity and the relative densities between urban and rural habitats for 14 songbirds. We found that magpies had very limited effect on songbird productivity, even for species sensitive to predation by corvids. In addition, impact of the magpie on population levels of passerines would also be minimized because we found no relationship between productivity of prey and their densities. Thus, the recent colonization of urban parks by magpies should not threaten persistence of local songbird populations. Yet, there was evidence that a small number of non-territorial bird species were attracted to places where magpies were removed. Magpie densities may have modified habitat selection for foraging that might be explained by predator avoidance. But overall, characteristics of urban habitat explain variations of productivity and densities of songbirds better than did magpie predation. In France, conservationists widely use the control of predators, aiming at increasing levels of prey populations. Despite very high densities of magpies in urban parks, we gave evidence that removal of this predator was ineffective to preserve populations of common passerines. This would suggest that the risk induced by the presence of magpies is independent of its density, and conservationists must carefully assess its impact. In the future, we recommend management policies include long-term monitoring of magpie-prey interactions during breeding season to detect potential changes in songbird responses to magpie presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the community richness and dynamics of birds in landscapes recently affected by urbanization to test the prediction that biotic communities living in degraded landscapes are increasingly composed of generalist species. We analyzed bird communities in 657 plots monitored by the French Breeding Bird Survey from 2001 to 2005, accounting for the probability of species detection and spatial autocorrelation. We used an independent land-cover program to assess urbanization intensity in each FBBS plot, from 1992 to 2002. We found that urbanization induced community homogenization and that populations of specialist species became increasingly unstable with increasing urbanization of the landscape. Our results emphasize that urbanization has a substantial impact on the spatial component of communities and highlight the destabilizing effect of urbanization on communities over time. These results illustrate that urbanization may be a strong driving force in functional community composition and that measuring community homogenization is a powerful tool in the assessment of the effects of landscape changes and thus aides sustainable urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification of the characteristics of species that make them susceptible or resilient to climate change has been elusive because non-climatic influences may dominate short- and medium-term changes in population and distribution sizes. Here we studied the 2003 French heat wave, during which other confounding variables remained essentially unchanged, with a correlational approach. We tested the relationship between population resilience and thermal range by analysing the responses of 71 bird species to a 6-month heat wave. Species with small thermal ranges showed the sharpest decreases in population growth rate between 2003 and 2004 in locations with the highest temperature anomalies. Thermal range explained the resilience of birds to the heat wave independently of other potential predictors, although it correlated with nest location and broad habitat type used by species. The geographically deduced thermal range appears to be a reliable predictor of the resilience of these endothermic species to extreme temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Each species generally has a close relationship with one or more habitats and can therefore be classified as either specialist or generalist. We studied whether specialist and generalist species are spatially distributed independently of each other. Repeating the analysis for 100 of the most frequent terrestrial bird species recorded over the 10 000 sampled sites of the French Breeding Bird survey, we found that specialists were more abundant if the rest of the community was specialized, and that the inverse was also true. This pattern was far subtler than just a simple dichotomy: most species actually presented a maximum abundance at a value of community specialization similar to their own level of specialization. Bird communities appear very well defined along a specialist–generalist gradient. We believe this pattern becomes more apparent with habitat degradation. The consequences on both ecological services and community resilience may well be considerable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, habitat degradation, and direct exploitation are thought to threaten biodiversity. But what makes some species more sensitive to global change than others? Approaches to this question have relied on comparing the fate of contrasting groups of species. However, if some ecological parameter affects the fate of species faced with global change, species response should vary smoothly along the parameter gradient. Thus, grouping species into few, often two, discrete classes weakens the approach. Using data from the common breeding bird survey in France – a large set of species with much variability with respect to the variables considered – we show that a quantitative measure of habitat specialization and of latitudinal distribution both predict recent 13 year trends of population abundance among 77 terrestrial species: the more northerly distributed and the more specialized a species is, the sharper its decline. On the other hand, neither hunting status, migrating strategy nor body mass predicted population growth rate variation among common bird species. Overall, these results are qualitatively very similar to the equivalent relationships found among the British butterfly populations. This constitutes additional evidence that biodiversity in Western Europe is under the double negative influence of climate change and land use change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary 1. The leaf-eared mouse (Phyllotis darwini) exhibits large numerical fluctuations associated with high- and low-rainfall years in semi-arid Chile. Using capture–mark–recapture (CMR) statistical modelling, we provide a detailed description of the demographic variation in this species. We studied between-year and seasonal variation of demography, and tested for the relative importance of endogenous and exogenous factors as covariates of survival, recruitment, maturation and reproduction over a 12-year period. 2. The demographic variables studied show larger between-year than within-year (seasonal) variation, emphasizing the importance of this source of external variability. We found that both feedback structure and exogenous factors operate together on different demographic processes of this species. 3. We found positive direct feedback effects on survival rate and negative feedback on recruitment, fraction of reproductive individuals and female maturation rates. The ratio between barn and magellanic horned owls showed an important effect on most of the demographic variables of leaf-eared mice, in particular by influencing negatively survival rates and the fraction of reproductive individuals, thus suggesting the importance of non-lethal predation. 4. Hence, feedback intrinsic mechanisms (density-dependence), owls and climate (rainfall and Southern Oscillation Index (SOI)) operate simultaneously in determining the demography of leaf-eared mice. We hypothesize that trophic interactions with owls (and perhaps other predators) may cause second-order feedback responses in demography and population dynamics of this small rodent species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the environment varies spatially, so that some habitats are more favorable to reproduction than others, an individual should attempt to increase the number of offspring establishing in high-quality habitats. Hence, if male and female dispersal behavior differ, it may be adaptive to produce more offspring of the more dispersing sex in low-quality habitats, since these offspring are likely to disperse to another patch, and more offspring of the most philopatric sex in high-quality habitats, since these offspring are likely to remain in that patch. Such a strategy is shown to be evolutionarily stable provided that male and female dispersal rates are different and that reproductive success varies between habitats (lack of ideal free distribution). Highly biased sex ratios are predicted (1) in rare habitats, (2) in poor habitats, (3) when difference between habitat quality is large, (4) when at least one sex disperses at a rate close to random with respect to habitat availability, (5) when both sexes disperse at a high rate, (6) when individuals are unable to select their reproducing habitat, and, presumably, (7) with moderate temporal variation of habitat quality. The model appears to be a good candidate to explain the pattern of sex ratio variation in a variety of species : phytophagous arthropods, species with environmental sex determination, and territorial passerines. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Sea‐level rise (SLR) is expected to cause major changes to coastal wetlands, which are among the world's most vulnerable ecosystems and are critical for nonbreeding waterbirds. Because strategies for adaptation to SLR, such as nature‐based solutions and designation of protected areas, can locally reduce the negative effects of coastal flooding under SLR on coastal wetlands, it is crucial to prioritize adaptation efforts, especially for wetlands of international importance for biodiversity. We assessed the exposure of coastal wetlands important for nonbreeding waterbirds to projected SLR along the Mediterranean coasts of 8 countries by modeling future coastal flooding under 7 scenarios of SLR by 2100 (from 44‐ to 161‐cm rise) with a static inundation approach. Exposure to coastal flooding under future SLR was assessed for 938 Mediterranean coastal sites (≤30 km from the coastline) where 145 species of nonbreeding birds were monitored as part of the International Waterbird Census and for which the monitoring area was delineated by a polygon (64.3% of the coastal sites monitored in the Mediterranean region). Thirty‐four percent of sites were threatened by future SLR, even under the most optimistic scenarios. Protected study sites and study sites of international importance for waterbirds were, respectively, 1.5 and 2 times more exposed to SLR than the other sites under the most optimistic scenario. Accordingly, we advocate for the development of a prioritization scheme to be applied to these wetlands for the implementation of strategies for adaptation to SLR to anticipate the effects of coastal flooding. Our study provides major guidance for conservation planning under global change in several countries of the Mediterranean region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. By identifying ecological factors specific to functional categories of individuals, it may be possible to understand the mechanisms underlying life-history evolution and population dynamics. While empirical analyses within the field of population biology have focused on changes in population size, theoretical models assuming differential sensitivities of population growth rate or fitness to demographic parameters have mostly been untested, particularly against data on small mammals. 2. Statistical modelling of capture–mark–recapture data on the multimammate rat (Mastomys natalensis) from Tanzania shows that: (i) females survive slightly better than males and subadults survive much better than adults; (ii) temporal variation of survival of all individuals is similarly related to the rainfall of the month; (iii) subadults exhibit a strongly density-dependent low persistence rate in the population immediately after their first capture; (iv) subadults survival in later months is, however, positively related to density; and (v) adult survival shows negative density-dependence. 3. Both density-dependent and density-independent factors simultaneously determine stage-dependent survival variation of the multimammate rat. Whereas environmental factors in this population seem to affect survival rates of all individuals in a similar manner, density-dependent relationships are more complex. 4. The patterns of survival variation in small mammals may be different from those observed in large mammals. 5. Further studies of demography in small mammals should aim at understanding how much of the variability in population growth rate is accounted for by the variability of the demographic rates resulting from limiting (density-independent) and regulating (density-dependent) factors, respectively. This study emphasizes the use of robust and accurate statistical methods as well as stage- or age-structured population modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the phenotypic adjustment of clutch size due to nest predation in the Great Tit population in Oxfordshire, England. Correlation between the Great Tit clutch size variation with nest predation variation; Reduction in clutch size due to phenotypic change; Modification of the population dynamics of the Great Tit by nest predation.

Changes in species concepts and the rapid advances in DNA-based taxonomy and phylogeny of the past decades have led to increasing splits of single species into several new species. The consequences of such splits include the delineation of post-split species that may have restricted ranges and potentially increased extinction risks. Species splitting also leads to a re-evaluation of phylogenetic trees, with post-split trees having more species, but species that are less evolutionarily distinctive compared to pre-split trees. Such changes in extinction risks and distinctiveness may influence strategies for the conservation of phylogenetic diversity (PD). In this study, we evaluated the effect of splitting a species into two sister species on two widely used measures to evaluate PD at risk: (i) the expected loss of phylogenetic diversity associated with a set of species and, (ii) for each species, the gain in the expected phylogenetic diversity if the species is saved from extinction. We developed theoretical predictions and then explored these in a real-world case study of species splitting in the Rhinocerotidae family. Species splitting increases both of our measures related to PD at risk, implying underestimation of PD at risk when valid species splitting is not recognised. This bias may lead to suboptimal conservation decisions: the subset of species or sites given priority for conservation may be different from the subset that actually deserves priority conservation attention. We discuss how our findings can be applied to more complex studies and the perspectives this highlights for accommodating new taxonomic knowledge in conservation strategies. • Many species have been split into several new ones over the last decades. • Post-split species are more at risk, less evolutionarily distinct than pre-split ones. • We examined how species splitting affects measures of evolutionary history at risk. • Species splitting increases estimates of evolutionary history at risk. • Acknowledging valid species splits would avoid suboptimal conservation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of biological and ecological traits has a long history in evolutionary and ecological research. However, trait data are often scattered and standardised terminology that transcends taxonomic and biogeographical context are generally missing. As part of the development of a global trait database of marine species, we collated trait information for European seaweeds and structured the data within the standardised framework of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). We collected 45 175 trait records for 21 biologically and ecologically relevant traits of seaweeds. This resulted in a trait database for 1745 European seaweed species of which more than half (56 %) of the records were documented at the species level, while the remaining 44 % were documented at a higher taxonomic level and subsequently inherited at lower levels. The trait database for European seaweeds will serve as a foundation for future research on diversity and evolution of seaweeds and their responses to global changes. The data will contribute to developing detailed trait-based ecosystem models and will be an important tool to inform marine conservation policies. The data are publicly accessible through the AlgaeTraits portal, 10.14284/574 (AlgaeTraits, 2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crops management is known to influence biodiversity, especially conservation tillage (CT, no-till) often found as a positive method compared to conventional tillage (T, inversion of soil) but without controlling for underlying farming practices. There are many ways to perform CT, in particular concerning the control of weeds, but few studies have taken into account these methods, which could explain the lack of consensus about the effect of CT compared to T. We tested differences in breeding birds abundance between CT and T while accounting for weed control methods in oilseed rape and wheat CT fields. During the intercrop period, one CT system used a cover crop to control weeds (CTcc), the other used herbicides (CTh) and the control (T) system only used a tillage. We made CTcc/T and CTh/T comparisons by sampling bird abundance (respectively 49 CTcc/51 T and 30 CTh/33 T point counts). We show substantial differences between CTcc/T and CTh/T comparisons as we detected greater bird abundances in CTcc than T for 5 species (2.3–4.1 times more individuals) and a lower abundance in CTh than T for 2 species (2.1–2.2 times less individuals). Our results demonstrate the importance to account for system features to ensure the CT efficiency for farmland birds, declining strongly in Europe since 1980 (−55 to −67%). Results also highlight an even more negative impact of herbicides than tillage, showing that stopping tillage to intensify herbicide use is not a promising way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The increased use of pesticides and tillage intensification is known to negatively affect biodiversity. Changes in these agricultural practices such as herbicide and tillage reduction have variable effects among taxa, especially at the top of the trophic network including insectivorous bats. Very few studies compared the effects of agricultural practices on such taxa, and overall, only as a comparison of conventional versus organic farming without accurately accounting for underlying practices, especially in conventional where many alternatives exist. Divergent results founded in these previous studies could be driven by this lack of clarification about some unconsidered practices inside both conventional and organic systems. We simultaneously compared, over whole nights, bat activity on contiguous wheat fields of one organic and three conventional farming systems located in an intensive agricultural landscape. The studied organic fields (OT) used tillage (i.e., inversion of soil) without chemical inputs. In studied conventional fields, differences consisted of the following: tillage using few herbicides (T), conservation tillage (i.e., no inversion of soil) using few herbicides (CT), and conservation tillage using more herbicide (CTH), to control weeds. Using 64 recording sites (OT = 12; T = 21; CT = 13; CTH = 18), we sampled several sites per system placed inside the fields each night. We showed that bat activity was always higher in OT than in T systems for two (Pipistrellus kuhlii and Pipistrellus pipistrellus) of three species and for one (Pipistrellus spp.) of two genera, as well as greater species richness. The same results were found for the CT versus T system comparison. CTH system showed higher activity than T for only one genus (Pipistrellus spp.). We did not detect any differences between OT and CT systems, and CT showed higher activity than CTH system for only one species (Pipistrellus kuhlii). Activity in OT of Pipistrellus spp. was overall 3.6 and 9.3 times higher than CTH and T systems, respectively, and 6.9 times higher in CT than T systems. Our results highlight an important benefit of organic farming and contrasted effects in conventional farming. That there were no differences detected between the organic and one conventional system is a major result. This demonstrates that even if organic farming is presently difficult to implement and requires a change of economic context for farmers, considerable and easy improvements in conventional farming are attainable, while maintaining yields and approaching the ecological benefits of organic methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal adjustment of waterbird communities to climate warming is crucial but hampered by natural habitat conversion, increasing their climatic debt. As it is, in contrast, facilitated in protected areas, assessing the adequacy of the current protected areas network with respect to future climate and land-use changes and identifying priority sites to protect is of major importance. In this study, we assess the thermal adjustment limitations that non-breeding waterbird communities might experience by the end of the 21st century in the Mediterranean region to highlight priorities for wetland protection. Priorities were set by combining the exposure of waterbird communities to natural habitat conversion and climate warming with their thermal specialization. The latter was calculated using winter abundance data of 151 species from 2932 sites of the International Waterbird Census in 21 Mediterranean countries. Exposure was assessed using future projections of temperature and land-use under four CMIP6 scenarios (SSP1–2.6, SSP2–4.5, SSP3–7.0, and SSP5–8.5). We found that strictly protected areas are located in wetlands whose waterbird communities, without protection, would likely experience high limitations in thermal adjustment in the coming decades. This highlights that the location of existing protected areas may effectively support the thermal adjustment of waterbird communities to future climate warming. However, 490 sites considered at risk lack protection, including 32 sites of international importance for waterbirds, stressing the need to strengthen the protected areas network in these sites in priority. Our study provides important guidance for conservation planning in the Mediterranean region to support waterbird responses to climate change. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of biological and ecological traits has a long history in evolutionary and ecological research. However, trait data are often scattered and standardised terminology that transcends taxonomic and biogeographical context are generally missing. As part of the development of a global trait database of marine species, we collated trait information for European seaweeds and structured the data within the standardised framework of the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). We collected 45,175 records for 21 biologically and ecologically relevant traits of seaweeds. This resulted in a trait database for 1,745 European seaweed species of which more than half (56%) of the records were documented at the species level, while the remaining 44% was documented at a higher taxonomic level and subsequently inherited at lower levels. The trait database for European seaweeds will serve as a foundation for future research on diversity and evolution of seaweeds, and their responses to global changes. The data will contribute to developing detailed trait-based ecosystem models, and will be an important tool to inform marine conservation policies. The data is publicly accessible through the AlgaeTraits portal, algaetraits.org, doi: https://doi.org/10.14284/574, (AlgaeTraits, 2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compensation measures are needed to counteract some of the negative impacts of wind energy facilities on bat populations. To advise developers, we studied farming landscapes and compared bat activity at impacted sites (crops with wind turbines), sites without compensation measures (crops) and a set of sites with potential compensation measures: fallows, hedgerows, bushes, grass strips, and grass strips with bushes. Each site type was sampled twice in 2013, once during the reproductive period and once during the migratory period. Each sample consisted of at least eight nights of ultra-sound recordings. Bat species were separated into three groups: Pipistrellus sp., Eptesicus-Nyctalus sp. and Plecotus-Myotis sp. The results demonstrated that the three groups responded differently to the different potential compensation measures and that responses were season-dependent. These results lead to further questions regarding strategies to mitigate the negative impacts of wind farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Herbicide doses modified communities by homogenizing assemblage of species. [•] Landscape simplification selects few typical farmland birds reducing species diversity. [•] Integrated management systems can contribute to biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Some structures developed for particular technical anthropogenic uses are colonized by biodiversity, but their potential roles have not been seriously considered. Here, we examined whether and how highway stormwater retention ponds are colonized by amphibians and are used as reproduction sites in human-dominated landscapes. We addressed their role as habitats for amphibians by sampling amphibians in highway ponds (n =58) and in surrounding non-highway ponds (n =45) and comparing the species richness and the amphibian abundance using occupancy models that take detectability into account. As expected, highway ponds differed in abiotic conditions from surrounding ponds. Surprisingly, we found seven different amphibian species with breeding populations, including one emblematic rare species (Triturus cristatus), in these artificial ponds. Further, the proportion of the highway ponds where amphibians were detected was about similar to that of surrounding ponds. Note, however, that the amphibian abundances were lower in highway ponds. Surprisingly, our results suggest that highway ponds may contribute in altered landscapes to the biodiversity of the pond network at a regional scale. Because the adoption of biodiversity-friendly management measures for these artificial ponds could promote biodiversity in such landscapes, we highlight the most important factors driving amphibian distribution in these ponds. Due to the importance of these issues, we stress the need for complementary studies to continue to precisely examine the potential roles of these ponds as habitats for amphibians and then to propose, if useful, technical pond design and management recommendations relevant for common biodiversity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Volunteer-based standardized monitoring of birds has been widely implemented in Europe and North America. In France, a breeding bird survey is running since 1989 and offers keen birdwatchers to count spring birds annually during 5 min exactly on 10 fix points within a randomly selected square. The first goal of such breeding bird surveys is to measure temporal trends in order to detect possible species declines. Combining annual indices of species sharing ecological affinities or a protected/red list status further provides biodiversity indicators for policy makers. Because the sampling effort is similar among sites, and because the initial selection of monitored sites is random, the temporal trends can be considered representative of national trends, and spatial comparisons of the obtained metrics are possible. Species abundance, community richness but also community specialization and average trophic level can be estimated for each site and each year and further related to the wide range of habitat and landscape characteristics and to agricultural or forestry practices. The large number of sites allows overcoming the opposition between adaptive and passive monitoring, making such schemes fitted to adaptive monitoring. This provides opportunities to determine which type of management or practices favour biodiversity. The comparison of population fate or community dynamics across a wide range of climates and temperatures, e.g. from southern to northern Europe, revealed how European birds are already affected by climate change. Bird communities are shifting northwards, but at a slower rate than temperatures, while bird populations have larger growth rates away from their hot thermal limit. Finally, such large-scale long-term monitoring data on a complete taxonomic group (Aves) is original and offers the opportunity to compare different measures of biological diversity, such as taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity. Such a citizen science scheme is an efficient scientific tool (numerous papers published in international peer-reviewed journals) which is furthermore highly cost-effective, with a reduced permanent staff in a state insitution coordonating the network and analysing the data, while a similar survey conducted by state staff only would cost more than one million euros annually. The future development of bio-economic dynamic models for providing scenarios of sustainable farming and logging to maintain biodiversity will further highlight the necessity of such volunteer monitoring for policy makers and decision planning. Scientific and logistic partnerships could be proposed to help developing such a monitoring scheme in China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Functional connectivity is essential to maintaining biodiversity in fragmented landscapes but little attention has been given to structures that can provide it in an urban context. Using both the taxonomic and functional diversity of semi-natural grassland plant communities, we assessed the functional connectivity of linear transportation infrastructures in urban landscape. We sampled the vegetation at 71 study sites located along the edges of two railway lines. We hypothesised that if railways favour functional connectivity, then spatially connected communities should be more similar than disconnected communities. Therefore, we compared floristic dissimilarities between site pairs that were either connected or separated by a railway spatial break (overpass or station). As a further approach, we supposed that functional connectivity may attenuate the effect of urbanisation filters on plant communities. Thus we examined whether and how edges’ plant communities were influenced by urbanisation and compared our results to the patterns described in the literature. Functional connectivity was mainly maintained at railway stations, contrary to overpasses, which seemed to interrupt dispersal, demonstrating that railway edges provide connectivity for some but not all functional groups: this was only true for moderately mobile species. Surprisingly, railway edges did not seem to play an additional connective function for invasive species, the presence of which being strongly related to the urbanisation intensity and not influenced by spatial breaks along railways. Our study thus highlights the potential function of railway edges as corridors for common grassland plants. Landscape managers should include railways in green networks to improve connectivity in urban landscapes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

1. Ecological specialization is one of the main concepts in ecology and conservation. However, this concept has become highly context-dependent and is now obscured by the great variability of existing definitions and methods used to characterize ecological specialization. 2. In this study, we clarify this concept by reviewing the strengths and limitations of different approaches commonly used to define and measure ecological specialization. We first show that ecological specialization can either be considered as reflecting species’ requirements or species’ impacts. We then explain how specialization depends on species-specific characteristics and on local and contingent environmental constraints. We further show why and how ecological specialization should be scaled across spatial and temporal scales, and from individuals to communities. 3. We then illustrate how this review can be used as a practical toolbox to classify widely used metrics of ecological specialization in applied ecology, depending on the question being addressed, the method used, and the data available. 4. Synthesis and applications. Clarifying ecological specialization is useful to make explicit connections between several fields of ecology using the niche concept. Defining this concept and its practical metrics is also a crucial step to better formulate predictions of scientific interest in ecology and conservation. Finally, understanding the different facets of ecological specialization should facilitate to investigate the causes and consequences of biotic homogenization and to derive relevant indicators of biodiversity responses to land-use changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Biodiversity conservation does predominantly focus on protected natural areas, but has to consider also the usually Human-dominated matrix in which these natural areas are embedded. Here we study highway stormwater retention ponds, which may act as refuges for native flora and fauna and contribute to the maintenance of biodiversity in Human-dominated landscapes. However, the biodiversity supported by such artificial ponds has received little attention so far. Using standardised methods, we addressed the potential role of highway stormwater ponds as refuges by comparing aquatic macroinvertebrate communities (Coleoptera, Heteroptera, Odonata and Gastropoda) in highway stormwater ponds with ponds in the wider landscape. As expected from their pollutant retention function, highway ponds differed in abiotic conditions from surrounding ponds. However, they supported aquatic macroinvertebrate communities at least as rich and diverse at the family level as surrounding ponds and exhibited similar variability in family community composition and structure. The main difference we observed was a higher abundance of small and/or short-lived invertebrates in the highway ponds. These similar community compositions and structures suggest that highway ponds contribute to the biodiversity of the pond network at a regional scale. Thus, road practitioners should consider highway ponds not only for their hydrological and pollutant retaining purposes but also as a possibility to increase the role of highway verges as a refuge and, consequently, landscape connectivity. The management of these water bodies should recognise their potential for biodiversity especially in Human-dominated landscapes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Urbanisation is affecting ecological communities worldwide. Despite the disproportionate impact on farmland over other habitats, the effect on farmland bird communities has been poorly studied. Considering the still-alarming conservation status of farmland birds, investigations into the effects of pressures such as urbanisation on those communities could be of great interest for their conservation. We studied the urbanisation effects on functional diversity using existing indices designed for the purpose of standardisation. This study uses a functional character measuring species habitat specialisation for indices calculation. A bird survey was conducted on 92 plots of 1 × 1 km chosen after stratification on the proportion of urban area and farmland habitat (either 0, 25, 50, 75%), with the focus on farmland habitat. Two aspects of urbanisation were studied: the intensity and the age of the urbanisation. Functional richness was found to decrease with urbanisation, while functional evenness and divergence increased in a nonlinear way. No significant difference was observed in functional richness and evenness with urbanisation age, however extreme ages of urbanisation (young and old) showed higher niche differentiation concerning specialisation. This implies less important resource competition for species and a more vulnerable state for the ecosystem. Using functional diversity indices based on specialisation allows a better insight in the consequences of urbanisation on diversity/ecosystem–community functioning, which is of crucial importance in the face of global changes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

1. In severely disturbed habitats, the onset of resprouting as a persistence strategy might be problematic for tree species which do not accumulate sufficient reserves before the first disturbance event. This is due to the trade-off between the growth of reserves required to recover after disturbance and that of photosynthetic tissues. 2. In humid savannas, fire prevents trees from invading the whole landscape and nearby gallery forests have a completely different floristic composition. We test if the variations of survival during the first years of a young tree's life can explain the exclusion of forest species and the dominance pattern within savanna species. 3. Every six months for four years, we censused all seedlings and resprouts in 1 ha area of an annually burned savanna, to estimate their seasonal survival rates. We used capture–recapture statistical models to control for the probability of missing seedlings in the tall grass. 4. There were two main distinct patterns of survival among seedlings: ‘fire-responding’ species showed a 20–80% decrease in survival during the dry season, interpreted as mainly due to fire; ‘drought-responding’ species showed 20–80% variations in survival positively correlated to early-growing-season rainfall. 5. Yearly averaged survival probabilities of seedlings ranged between 0.10 and 0.63, reaching 0.850–0.996 for > 3-year-old resprouts of savanna species. Forest species showed no increase in survival with age. 6. A 4-year-survival-probability analysis showed that forest species were excluded from the savanna at the seedling stage. No parameter of the early survival curve related to the abundance of savanna species at the adult stage. 7. Synthesis. Savanna tree species follow two mutually exclusive main patterns of early survival probably related to fire and early-wet-season drought. The exclusion of forest species is consistent with a build up of reserves that is too slow due to the growth-resistance trade-off. We conclude from these findings that the use of resprouting as a persistence strategy is heavily constrained by disturbance frequency and imposes strong trade-offs on plant growth strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Without robust and unbiased systems for monitoring, changes in natural systems will remain enigmatic for policy makers, leaving them without a clear idea of the consequences of any environmental policies they might adopt. Generally, biodiversity-monitoring activities are not integrated or evaluated across any large geographic region. The EuMon project conducted the first large-scale evaluation of monitoring practices in Europe through an on-line questionnaire and is reporting on the results of this survey. In September 2007 the EuMon project had documented 395 monitoring schemes for species, which represents a total annual cost of about €4 million, involving more than 46,000 persons devoting over 148,000 person-days/year to biodiversity-monitoring activities. Here we focused on the analysis of variations of monitoring practices across a set of taxonomic groups (birds, amphibians and reptiles, mammals, butterflies, plants, and other insects) and across 5 European countries (France, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, and Poland). Our results suggest that the overall sampling effort of a scheme is linked with the proportion of volunteers involved in that scheme. Because precision is a function of the number of monitored sites and the number of sites is maximized by volunteer involvement, our results do not support the common belief that volunteer-based schemes are too noisy to be informative. Just the opposite, we believe volunteer-based schemes provide relatively reliable data, with state-of-the-art survey designs or data-analysis methods, and consequently can yield unbiased results. Quality of data collected by volunteers is more likely determined by survey design, analytical methodology, and communication skills within the schemes rather than by volunteer involvement per se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Przewalski''s horse (Equus ferus przewalskii) became extinct in the wild in the 1960s, but survived as a species due to captive breeding. There have been several initiatives to re-introduce the species in central Asia, but until now only two projects in Mongolia establish free-ranging populations. Data on basic ecology and behavior of the species prior to extinction are largely lacking and thus a good documentation of the re-introduction process is essential. Between 13 May and 2 September 2003 we documented the time budget-, behavioral synchrony- and body score development of a newly released Przewalski''s horse group in the Gobi area of SW Mongolia. Contrary to our expectations, the newly released Przewalski''s horses did not show the expected succession of an exploration-, acclimatization-, and established phase. Grazing activity was very high after the release, decreased to a minimum in July and increased again towards the end of the study in September. Resting activity followed the opposite trend, whereas moving activity was more or less constant over the entire observation period. Behavioral synchronization of the group was high throughout the study period and immigration or emigration of members did not result in a de-synchronization of the group. The body score index never dropped, but rather increased for all group members. Our data suggests that captive bred Przewalski''s horses experience little behavioral and nutritional stress when being released into the desert steppe of the Gobi regions after 1 year in an adaptation enclosure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We studied the role played by the French protected area network on 100 common bird species at the population and community level. The long-term trend of each species was calculated over 15 years (1989–2003). We then used 418 plots monitored by the French Breeding Bird Survey over 2001–2005 either inside or outside the national protected area network (including Nature Reserves, National Parks and Special Protected Areas) to compare each species’ average density inside and outside the protected areas. We then tested if the relative species densities in protected areas were related to the species long-term trends. At the community level, we assessed the average proportions of the most severe long-term declining species inside and outside protected areas as well as their temporal stability. We found that several species, which are mostly dependent on human activities, had both higher densities in unprotected areas and exhibited a negative long-term trend. However, for most species, we found that the more a species has declined over the 15 years, the higher its density in protected areas. At the community level, declining common species were found in higher proportion and exhibited greater temporal stability in protected areas. Our results emphasize that many common but declining species could benefit from protected areas and that large-scale monitoring programs provide highly valuable quantitative tools for extensive protected area assessments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Few studies have examined how life history traits and the climate envelope influence the ability of species to respond to climate change and habitat degradation. In this study, we test whether 18 species-specific variables, related to the climate envelope, ecological envelope and life history, could predict recent population trends (over 17 years) of 71 common breeding bird species in France. Habitat specialists were declining at a much higher rate than generalists, a sign that habitat quality is decreasing globally. The lower the thermal maximum (temperature at the hot edge of the climate envelope), the more negative are the population trends and the less tolerant these species are climate warming, regardless of the thermal range over which these species occur. The life history trait ‘the number of broods per year’ was positively related to recent trends, suggesting that single-brooded species might be more sensitive to advances in food peak due to climate change, as it increases the risk of mistiming their single-breeding event. Annual fecundity explained long-term declines, as it is a good proxy for most other demographic rates, with shorter-lived species being more sensitive to global change: individuals of species with higher fecundity might have too short a life to learn to adapt to directional changes in their environment. Finally, there was evidence that natal dispersal was a predictor of recent trends, with species with high natal dispersal experiencing smaller population declines than species with low natal dispersal. This is expected if the higher the natal dispersal, the larger the ability to shift spatially when facing changes in local habitat or climate, in order to track optimal conditions and adapt to global change. Identifying decline-promoting factors allow us to infer mechanisms responsible for observed declines in wild bird populations facing global change, and by doing so allow for a more pre-emptive approach to conservation planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizen science has become a mainstream approach for collecting data on biodiversity. However, not all biodiversity monitoring programs achieve the goal of collecting datasets that can be used in robust scientific inquiries. Data quality and the capacity to engage participants in the long-term are the most challenging issues. We compared two methodologies of citizen science programs dedicated to pollinators monitoring in France (Spipoll) and South Korea (K-Spipoll). These programs aimed to launch long-term monitoring at a community-level to better understand environmental effects on the composition and stability of pollinator communities. We assessed, through different metrics, how the two approaches influenced (1) data quality (assessed by "Accuracy in data collection," "Consistency in protocol relative to volume of sessions contributed by an individual," "Spatial representation of data," and "Sample size"), and (2) participant engagement (assessed by "the number of connected days," "the number of active days," "the proportion of participant contributing a single session," "the average number of sessions per participant," and "the distribution of numbers of contributions per participant in each program."). On one hand, participants in the Spipoll program abided by the standard protocol more often and provided identification for the photographed insects, leading to efficient ecological analyses. On the other hand, the K-Spipoll program provided more sessions per participant and a lower rate of single participation, with a full session demanding less effort in terms of data input, providing critical data where baseline data have otherwise been unavailable. These differences have emerged through methodology choices: For the Spipoll, the dedicated website favored the emergence of a social network that facilitated identification and increased data quality; for the K-Spipoll, the development of a cell phone application facilitated participation, and regular on-field education sessions motivated participants. We conclude by providing suggestions for the implementations of future citizen science programs to improve both data quality and participant engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity is being lost at an unprecedented rate, and monitoring is crucial for understanding the causal drivers and assessing solutions. Most biodiversity monitoring data are collected by volunteers through citizen science projects, and often crucial information is lacking to account for the inevitable biases that observers introduce during data collection. We contend that citizen science projects intended to support biodiversity monitoring must gather information about the observation process as well as species occurrence. We illustrate this using eBird, a global citizen science project that collects information on bird occurrences as well as vital contextual information on the observation process while maintaining broad participation. Our fundamental argument is that regardless of what species are being monitored, when citizen science projects collect a small set of basic information about how participants make their observations, the scientific value of the data collected will be dramatically improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Wind energy is rapidly growing as a renewable source of energy but is not neutral for wildlife, especially bats. Whereas most studies have focused on bat mortality through collision, very few have quantified the loss of habitat use resulting from the potential negative impact of wind turbines, and none of them for hub heights higher than 55 m. Such impacts could durably affect populations, creating a need for improvement of knowledge to integrate this concern in implementation strategies. We quantified the impact of wind turbines at different distances on the activity of 11 bat taxa and 2 guilds. We compared bat activity at hedgerows (207 sites) located at a distance of 0–1000 m from wind turbines (n = 151) of 29 wind farms in an agricultural region in the autumn (overall 193,980 bat passes) using GLMMs. We found a significant negative effect of proximity to turbines on activity for 3 species (Barbastella barbastellus , Nyctalus leisleiri , Pipistrellus pipistrellus), 2 species-groups (Myotis spp., Plecotus spp.) and 2 guilds (fast-flying and gleaner). Bat activity within 1000 m of wind turbines by gleaners and fast-flying bats is reduced by 53.8% and 19.6%, respectively. Our study highlighted that European recommendations (at least 200 m from any wooded edge) to limit mortality events likely strongly underestimate the loss of bat activity. The current situation is particularly worrying, with 89% of 909 turbines established in a region that does not comply with recommendations, which themselves are far from sufficient to limit the loss of habitat use. Highlights • High negative effect on bat activity of proximity to wind turbines for some species • Some of these species were so far unknown to be impacted by wind turbines. • Activity of gleaners and fast-flying bats close to turbines is reduced by 53.8% and 19.6%. • The impact occurs over 1000 m around wind turbines. • European recommendations are unapplied and far from sufficient for this impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Body size is implicated in individual fitness and population dynamics. Mounting interest is being given to the effects of environmental change on body size, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We tested whether body size and body condition are related to ambient temperature (heat maintenance hypothesis), or/and explained by variations in primary production (food availability hypothesis) during the period of body growth in songbirds. We also explored whether annual population‐level variations of mean body size are due to changes of juvenile growth and/or size‐dependent mortality during the first year. For 41 species, from 257 sites across France, we tested for relationships between wing length (n = 107 193) or body condition (n = 82 022) and local anomalies in temperature, precipitation and net primary production (NDVI) during the breeding period, for juveniles and adults separately. Juvenile body size was best explained by primary production: wings were longer in years with locally high NDVI, but not shorter in years with low NDVI. Temperature showed a slightly positive effect. Body condition and adult wing length did not covary with any of the other tested variables. We found no evidence of climate‐driven size‐dependent mortality for the breeding season. In our temperate system, local climatic anomalies explained little of the body size variation. A large part of wing length variance was site‐specific, suggesting that avian size was more dependent on local drivers than global ones. Net primary production influenced juvenile size the most through effects on body growth. We suggest that, during the breeding season in temperate systems, thermoregulatory mechanisms are less involved in juvenile growth than food assimilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]