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opencc-zeroAug 2020View details →

High temperatures drive offspring mortality in a cooperatively breeding bird

An improved understanding of life history responses to current environmental variability is required to predict species-specific responses to anthopogenic climate change. Previous research has suggested that cooperation in social groups may buffer individuals against some of the negative effects of unpredictable climates. We use a 15-year dataset on a cooperative-breeding arid-zone bird, the southern pied babbler Turdoides bicolor, to test i) whether environmental conditions and group size correlate with survival of young during three development stages (egg, nestling, fledgling), and ii) whether group size mitigates the impacts of adverse environmental conditions on reproductive success. Exposure to high mean daily maximum temperatures (mean Tmax) during early development was associated with reduced survival probabilities of young in all three development stages. No young survived when mean Tmax > 38°C across all group sizes. Low reproductive success at high temperatures has broad implications for recruitment and population persistence in avian communities given the rapid pace of advancing climate change. That impacts of high temperatures were not moderated by group size, a somewhat unexpected result given prevailing theories around the influence of environmental uncertainty on the evolution of cooperation, suggests that cooperative breeding strategies are unlikely to be advantageous in the face of rapid anthropogenic climate change. An improved understanding of life history responses to current environmental variability is required to predict species-specific responses to anthopogenic climate change. Previous research has suggested that cooperation in social groups may buffer individuals against some of the negative effects of unpredictable climates. We use a 15-year dataset on a cooperative-breeding arid-zone bird, the southern pied babbler Turdoides bicolor, to test i) whether environmental conditions and group size correlate with survival of young during three development stages (egg, nestling, fledgling), and ii) whether group size mitigates the impacts of adverse environmental conditions on reproductive success. Exposure to high mean daily maximum temperatures (mean Tmax) during early development was associated with reduced survival probabilities of young in all three development stages. No young survived when mean Tmax > 38°C across all group sizes. Low reproductive success at high temperatures has broad implications for recruitment and population persistence in avian communities given the rapid pace of advancing climate change. That impacts of high temperatures were not moderated by group size, a somewhat unexpected result given prevailing theories around the influence of environmental uncertainty on the evolution of cooperation, suggests that cooperative breeding strategies are unlikely to be advantageous in the face of rapid anthropogenic climate change.

opencc-zeroMar 2024View details →

Data from: "Dead birds flying": Can North American rehabilitated raptors released into the wild mitigate anthropogenic mortality?

As the human footprint expands to meet societal energy needs, so do the impacts on wildlife. Raptors in particular are highly susceptible to anthropogenic caused mortality. Industry sectors are encouraged to offset these causes of mortality. Several options to mitigate these losses have been proposed, including raptor rehabilitation. However, its role as a conservation tool is untested. Currently, no peer-reviewed demographic analyses exist using post-release data from rehabilitated raptors to evaluate its effectiveness at continental scales. Our objectives were to estimate annual survival of rehabilitated and wild raptors, and then use those estimates in demographic models to assess potential effects at individual and population levels. We hypothesized that rehabilitated raptors would survive similarly to their wild counterparts after an acclimation period, and that longer-lived species (K-selected) would benefit most from these releases. We used U.S. Geological Survey Bird Banding Lab band-recovery data (1974 – 2018) from 20 raptor species for modeling survival of rehabilitated individuals (n = 125,740) in comparison to wild birds (n = 1,913,352). Results from 17 species with adequate recovery data indicated that 5 species rehabilitated ≠ wild survival, 2 species had uncertain estimates, and 10 species rehabilitated ≈ wild survival by years 2 and 3 post-release. We acquired admission (n = 69,707) and release (n = 25,740) data from 24 rehabilitation centers across the U.S. (2012-2021). We integrated survival, fecundity, and numbers of releases into demographic models. These models quantified the extent to which rehabilitated raptors may contribute to broader conservation efforts, especially in the context of individual take. All but two species had measurable numbers of individuals added to the population regardless of the number of releases. The general pattern was for K-selected species to yield larger benefits from rehabilitated supplementation to the population. These results provide evidence that rehabilitation may serve as a mitigation tool to offset incidental take.

publicAug 2020View details →

High temperatures drive offspring mortality in a cooperatively breeding bird

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publicOct 2024View details →

Climate change aggravates bird mortality in pristine tropical forests

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publicMar 2024View details →

Data from: “Dead birds flying”: Can North American rehabilitated raptors released into the wild mitigate anthropogenic mortality?

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publicOct 2025View details →

Data from: Mitigating collision-caused bird mortality through message framing: Insights from residents' intentions for bird-safe windows

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opencc-by-4.0Dec 2019View details →

Data from: Mortality limits used in wind energy impact assessment underestimate impacts of wind farms on bird populations

In this archive we share the data and R code used for the construction of population models for seven bird species (Common Starling, Black-tailed Godwit, Marsh Harrier, Eurasian Spoonbill, White Stork, Common Tern and White-tailed Eagle) for our assessment of the effects of wind farms (Schippers et al. 2020). In most cases we parameterized our population models based on species-specific survival and reproduction rates from scientific articles and reports, but in the case of the Western Marsh Harrier we analyzed previously unpublished nest success and capture-mark-resighting data. Below we first describe per species which data we used for model parameterization, and then describe per data file what each variable represents. We selected populations of seven species based on the availability of data, considerable likelihood to collide with wind turbines and contrasting ages of first reproduction. For species for which long time series of demographic data were available with population trends clearly changing over time, we separately assessed periods with contrasting population trends, as detailed in the species descriptions below. Mean survival and reproduction rates, standard deviations and additional information like the age of first reproduction can be found in the accompanying paper by Schippers et al. (2020).    Common Starling On the fast-slow continuum of reproductive capacity, the common starling is the fastest of the seven species we selected: it starts reproducing at an age of one year. We used the mean survival and reproductive rates for the whole Dutch breeding population (Versluijs et al. 2016), distinguishing three separate periods: 1960-1978, 1978-1990 and 1990-2012. In the first period (1960-1978) the population grew at 10% per year. This was followed by a period where the population was relatively stable (1978-1990). During the last period (1990-2012) the population declined strongly.   Black tailed Godwit Kentie et al. (2017) studied two Dutch populations of the Black-tailed Godwit in southwestern Fryslân (Skriezekrite and Kuststrook) over four to five annual transitions (Kentie et al. 2017). Godwits started reproducing at age two, but only had 0.5-0.6 fledglings per breeding pair per year. The adults are rather long-lived with an 86% annual survival rate. We construct separate matrix models for the two populations.   Marsh Harrier Mean vital rates of the Dutch breeding population of Marsh Harriers were estimated for 1997-2015 using respectively ring recoveries available at the Dutch Centre for Avian Migration and Demography NIOO-KNAW and reproduction data from the Dutch Raptor Working Group. Annual survival of Marsh Harriers was analyzed using live re-sightings and dead recoveries of 12,059 birds ringed as nestling between 1991 and 2016 and 74 birds ringed as ‘adult’ in the same period (due to low sample sizes, birds ringed in their first and second calendar year were lumped with older birds in the ‘adult’ category; see ‘marshHarrierSurvival.csv’ below). Nest success was estimated using data of 1914 nests, which were followed from the beginning to the end of the nest cycle, in the Netherlands between 1997 and 2015 (see ‘marshHarrierReproduction.csv’ below; we thank Rob G. Bijlsma for making the data available).    Spoonbill For each year in the 1994-2008 period, age-specific (first-year, second-year, third-year, older) annual survival rates were derived for the Dutch Spoonbill population from van der Jeugd et al. (2014). Participation in the breeding population was 0% in the first three years and went up from 63% at age four to 95% at age 6 and older.   White Stork Schaub et al. (2004) analyzed demographic data on White Storks in Switzerland from 1977 till 2000. Here we extracted annual survival and reproduction rates from the COMADRE Animal Matrix Database (version 2.0.1; Salguero-Gómez et al., 2016). Storks start reproducing at age 3, with breeding participation increasing with age from 48% to 100%.    Common Tern For the Common Tern we used mean vital rate estimates published by van der Jeugd et al. (2014) for the Dutch Waddenzee population, including the Northern part of the IJsselmeer, between 2000 and 2010 (van der Jeugd et al. 2014). The total Waddenzee and IJsselmeer population is estimated at 7,630 pairs (average population 2010-2014), constituting approximately 40% of the Dutch breeding population of about 20,000 pairs (Sovon 2016).    White-tailed Eagle Krüger et al. (2010) published demographic data on White-tailed Eagles in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, over the period 1947 till 2008. Following these authors, and based on the two matrices in COMADRE v.2.0.1 (Salguero-Gómez et al., 2016), we used separate matrix models for the early period (stable population dynamics) and from 1975 onwards (population growth). These eagles start reproducing at age five.    Here we describe the archived files:   matrices.R This annotated R file details how the vital rate estimates are used to construct age-structured, post-breeding-census, one-year-timestep population matrix models. In these so-called post-breeding census models the birds in the first class were 0 years old (Caswell 2001).   commonstarling19602012.csv Mean survival and reproductive rates for the whole Dutch breeding population of Common Starlings for the time period 1960-2012.  year                 = start year juvSurv = first-year survival of fledgelings adultSurv        = annual survival of older birds fec                   = number of fledgelings per pair (which have a 1:1 sex ratio)   blacktailedgodwit20112016.csv Mean survival and reproduction rates of the Black-tailed Godwit in southwestern Fryslân (populations Skriezekrite and Kuststrook) over four to five annual transitions in the period 2011-2016.  pop                  = population startYear         = start year adultSurv        = annual survival of older birds chickSurv         = first-year survival of chicks nestSuc           = probability that a nest is successful   marshharrier19972015.csv Mean vital rates of the Dutch breeding population of Western Marsh Harriers for 1997-2015. year                 = start year r                       = number of fledgelings per pair s1                    = first-year survival of fledgelings s2                    = annual survival of older birds   marshharrierreproduction.csv Western Marsh Harrier nest record data of in the Netherlands. year                 = year clutchSize        = number of eggs young              = number of chicks (if known) fledgelings       = number of fledgelings       marshharriersurvival.csv Ringing and resighting data (using EURING coding) on Western Marsh Harriers in the Netherlands.  ringID              = ring identifier date                 = observation date metalRingInformation 1 = Metal ring added (where no metal ring was present), position (on tarsus or above) unknown or unrecorded. 2 = Metal ring added (where no metal ring was present), definitely on tarsus. 3 = Metal ring added (where no metal ring was present), definitely above tarsus. 4 = Metal ring is already present. condition          0 = Condition completely unknown. 1 = Dead but no information on how recently the bird had died (or been killed). 2 = Freshly dead – within about a week. 3 = Not freshly dead – information available that it had been dead for more than about a week. 4 = Found sick, wounded, unhealthy etc. and known to have been released (including ring or other mark identified on a bird in poor condition without the bird having being caught). 5 = Found sick, wounded, unhealthy etc. and not released or not known if released. 6 = Alive and probably healthy but taken into captivity. 7 = Alive and probably healthy and certainly released (including ring or other mark identified on a healthy bird without the bird having being caught). 8 = Alive and probably healthy and released by a ringer (including ring or other mark identified on the bird by a ringer without the bird having being caught).  ageReported    0 = Age unknown, i.e. not recorded. 1 = Pullus: nestling or chick, unable to fly freely, still able to be caught by hand. 2 = Full-grown: able to fly freely but age otherwise unknown. 3 = First-year: full-grown bird hatched in the breeding season of this calendar year. 4 = Afer first-year: full-grown bird hatched before this calendar year; year of hatching otherwise unknown. 5 = 2nd year: a bird hatched last calendar year and now in its second calendar year. 6 = Afer 2nd year: full-grown bird hatched before last calendar year; year of hatching otherwise unknown. 7 = 3rd year: a bird hatched two calendar years before, and now in its third calendar year. 8 = Afer 3rd year: a full-grown bird hatched more than three calendar years ago (including present year as one); year if bird otherwise unknown. 9 = 4th year: a bird hatched three calendar years before, and now in its fourth calendar year. A = Afer 4th year: a bird older than category 9 – age otherwise unknown. sexReported U = Unknown M = Male F = Female   eurasianspoonbill19942008.csv For each year in the 1994-2008 period, age-specific (first-year, second-year, third-year, older) annual survival rates are given for the Dutch Spoonbill population. year     = start year fled      = number of fledgelings per breeding pair s1        = first-year survival rate s2        = second-year survival rate s3        = third-year survival rate s4        = older birds' annual survival rate   whitestork19772000.csv Demographic data on White Storks in Switzerland from 1977 till 2000. year     = start year fled      = number of fledgelings per pair sj         = first-year survival of fledgelings sa         = annual survival of older birds   commontern19942009.csv Mean vital rate estimates for the Common Tern for the Dutch Waddenzee population, including the Northern part of the IJsselmeer, between 2000 and 2010. year     = start year r           = number of daughter fledgelings per adult female s1        = first-year survival rate s2        = second-year survival rate sA        = older birds' annual survival rate   whitetailedeaglepmat1.csv whitetailedeaglepmat2.csv whitetailedeaglefmat1.csv whitetailedeaglefmat2.csv White-Tailed Eagle age-specific survival (Pmat) and reproduction (Fmat) matrices as found in COMADRE v.2.0.1, for Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, studied over the period 1947-2008. Period 1 lasts upto 1975, period 2 from 1975.

opencc-zeroDec 2012View details →

Data from: When and where does mortality occur in migratory birds? Direct evidence from long-term satellite tracking of raptors

1. Information about when and where animals die is important to understand population regulation. In migratory animals, mortality might occur not only during the stationary periods (e.g. breeding and wintering) but also during the migration seasons. However, the relative importance of population limiting factors during different periods of the year remains poorly understood, and previous studies mainly relied on indirect evidence. 2. Here we provide direct evidence about when and where migrants die by identifying cases of confirmed and probable deaths in three species of long-distance migratory raptors tracked by satellite telemetry. 3. We show that mortality rate was about six times higher during migration seasons than during stationary periods. However, total mortality was surprisingly similar between periods, which can be explained by the fact that risky migration periods are shorter than safer stationary periods. Nevertheless, more than half of the annual mortality occurred during migration. We also found spatiotemporal patterns in mortality: spring mortality occurred mainly in Africa in association with the crossing of the Sahara desert, while most mortality during autumn took place in Europe. 4. Our results strongly suggest that events during the migration seasons have an important impact on the population dynamics of long-distance migrants. We speculate that mortality during spring migration may account for short-term annual variation in survival and population sizes, while mortality during autumn migration may be more important for long-term population regulation (through density dependent effects).

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: Individual heterogeneity determines sex differences in mortality in a monogamous bird with reversed sexual dimorphism

Sex differences in mortality are pervasive in vertebrates, and usually result in shorter life spans in the larger sex, although the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. On the other hand, differences in frailty among individuals (i.e. individual heterogeneity), can play a major role in shaping demographic trajectories in wild populations. The link between these two processes has seldom been explored. We used Bayesian survival trajectory analysis to study age-specific mortality trajectories in the Eurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus), a monogamous raptor with reversed sexual size dimorphism. We tested the effect of individual heterogeneity on age-specific mortality, and the extent by which this heterogeneity was determined by average reproductive output and wing length as measures of an individual's frailty. We found that sex differences in age-specific mortality were primarily driven by the differences in individual heterogeneity between the two sexes. Females were more heterogeneous than males in their level of frailty. Thus, a larger number of females with low frailty are able to survive to older ages than males, with life expectancy for the least frail adult females reaching up to 4·23 years, while for the least frail adult males it was of 2·68 years. We found that 50% of this heterogeneity was determined by average reproductive output and wing length in both sexes. For both, individuals with high average reproductive output had also higher chances to survive. However, the effect of wing length was different between the two sexes. While larger females had higher survival, larger males had lower chances to survive. Our results contribute a novel perspective to the ongoing debate about the mechanisms that drive sex differences in vital rates in vertebrates. Although we found that variables that relate to the cost of reproduction and sexual dimorphism are at least partially involved in determining these sex differences, it is through their effect on the level of frailty that they affect age patterns of mortality. Therefore, our results raise the possibility that observed differences in age-specific demographic rates may in fact be driven by differences in individual heterogeneity.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: Bird and bat species' global vulnerability to collision mortality at wind farms revealed through a trait-based assessment

Mitigation of anthropogenic climate change involves deployments of renewable energy worldwide, including wind farms, which can pose a significant collision risk to volant animals. Most studies into the collision risk between species and wind turbines, however, have taken place in industrialized countries. Potential effects for many locations and species therefore remain unclear. To redress this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review of recorded collisions between birds and bats and wind turbines within developed countries. We related collision rate to species-level traits and turbine characteristics to quantify the potential vulnerability of 9538 bird and 888 bat species globally. Avian collision rate was affected by migratory strategy, dispersal distance and habitat associations, and bat collision rates were influenced by dispersal distance. For birds and bats, larger turbine capacity (megawatts) increased collision rates; however, deploying a smaller number of large turbines with greater energy output reduced total collision risk per unit energy output, although bat mortality increased again with the largest turbines. Areas with high concentrations of vulnerable species were also identified, including migration corridors. Our results can therefore guide wind farm design and location to reduce the risk of large-scale animal mortality. This is the first quantitative global assessment of the relative collision vulnerability of species groups with wind turbines, providing valuable guidance for minimizing potentially serious negative impacts on biodiversity.

opencc-zeroFeb 2022View details →

Data and code from: A large-scale experiment demonstrates line marking reduces power line collision mortality for large terrestrial birds, but not bustards, in the Karoo, South Africa

Line markers are widely used to mitigate bird collisions with power lines, but few studies have robustly tested their efficacy. Power line collisions are an escalating problem for several threatened bird species endemic to southern Africa, so it is critical to know whether or not marking works to adequately manage this problem. Over 8 years, a large-scale experiment was set up on 72 of 117 km of monitored transmission power lines in the eastern Karoo, South Africa, to assess whether line markers reduce bird collision mortality, particularly for Blue Cranes Grus paradisea and Ludwig's Bustards Neotis ludwigii. We tested the two marking devices commonly used in South Africa: bird flappers and static bird flight diverters. Using a before-after-control-impact design, we show that line marking reduced collision rates for Blue Cranes by 92% (95% CI 77-97%) and all large birds by 51% (95% CI 23-68%), but had no effect on bustards. Both marker types appeared similarly effective. Given that monitoring at this site also confirmed high levels of mortality of a range of species of conservation concern, we recommend that marking be widely installed on new power lines. However, other options need to be explored urgently to reduce collision mortality of bustards. Five bustard species were in the top ten list of most frequently found carcasses, and high collision rates of Ludwig's Bustards (0.68 birds·km-1·year-1 uncorrected for survey biases) add to wider concerns about population level effects for this range-restricted and Endangered species. This dataset includes the data and R code for this journal paper.

opencc-zeroAug 2022View details →

Data From: Winter mortality of a passerine bird increases following hotter summers and during winters with higher maximum temperatures

Climate change influences animal population dynamics via effects on survival or reproduction. However, attributing changes in mortality to specific climate variables is challenging as it is often not known exactly when individuals died within a year. Here, we investigated climate effects on adult mortality in Australian superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus). Over a 27-year period, mortality outside the breeding season nearly doubled. This non-breeding season mortality increased with both lower minimum and higher maximum temperatures in winter, and with higher heatwave intensity in the previous summer. Fine-scale analysis showed that higher mortality in a given week was associated with higher maxima two weeks prior, as well as with lower minima in the current fortnight. Increases in summer heatwaves and in winter maximum temperatures collectively explained 62.6% of the increase in mortality over time. Warming climate in both summer and winter can thus adversely affect survival, with potentially substantial population consequences.

Figure 4 in Avian mortality due to power lines in the Canary Islands with special reference to the steppe-land birds

Figure 4. Distribution of power lines, steppe habitat and carcasses of stone curlew, Burhinus oedicnemus insularum, on the Canary Islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.

Figure 2 in Avian mortality due to power lines in the Canary Islands with special reference to the steppe-land birds

Figure 2. Distribution of number of dead birds (carcasses) found per family. 1, Otididae; 2, Burhinidae; 3, Unidentified; 4, Columbidae; 5, Laridae; 6, Glareolidae; 7, Corvidae; 8, Procellariidae; 9, Ardeidae; 10, Phasianidae; 11, Motacillidae; 12, Ciconiidae; 13, Accipitridae; 14, Falconidae; 15, Upupidae; 16, Hirundinidae; 17, Scolopacidae; 18, Pteroclididae; 19, Tytonidae; 20, Meropidae; 21, Alaudidae; 22, Muscicapidae; 23, Laniidae; 24, Fringillidae.

Figure 1 in Avian mortality due to power lines in the Canary Islands with special reference to the steppe-land birds

Figure 1. Location of study sites and distribution of power lines and steppe habitat on the Canary Islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.

Figure 3 in Avian mortality due to power lines in the Canary Islands with special reference to the steppe-land birds

Figure 3. Distribution of power lines, steppe habitat and carcasses of houbara bustard, Chlamydotis undulata fuertaventurae, on the Canary Islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.

opencc-zeroMay 2023View details →

Data from: Parasite-associated mortality in birds: the roles of specialist parasites and host evolutionary distance

The factors that influence whether a parasite is likely to cause death in a given host species are not well known. Generalist parasites with high local abundances, broad distributions, and the ability to infect a wide phylogenetic diversity of hosts are often considered especially dangerous for host populations, though comparatively little research has been done on the potential for specialist parasites to cause host mortality. Here, using a novel database of avian mortality records, we tested whether phylogenetic host specialist or host generalist haemosporidian blood parasites were associated with avian host deaths based on infection records from over 81,000 examined hosts. In support of the hypothesis that host specialist parasites can be highly virulent in novel hosts, we found that the parasites that were associated with avian host mortality were predominantly phylogenetic host specialists. Hosts that died tended to be distantly related to the host species that a parasite lineage typically infects, illustrating that specialist parasites can cause death outside of their limited host range. Overall, this study highlights the overlooked potential for host specialist parasites to cause host mortality despite their constrained ecological niches.