Understanding how habitat quality, insect abundance and aquatic subsidies impact population change in a rapidly declining bird

了解栖息地质量、昆虫丰度和水生补贴如何影响迅速减少的鸟类的种群变化

• 批准号: 2601916
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Lancaster University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2601916
• 关键词: Understanding; how; habitat; quality; insect

Global declines in migrant bird populations are a major threat to the world's ecosystems. Long-distance migrants travel in vast numbers between temperate breeding regions and tropical wintering grounds, providing energy transfer and ecosystem services at large spatial scales. Furthermore, avian population trends are key indicators of environmental change, so migrant declines are concerning for scientists and policymakers alike. Migrants are particularly susceptible to environmental change because of their multistage lifecycle, and research increasingly implicates climate change in their decline. However, focusing on the climate has meant that other aspects of environmental change have received far less attention.Recent high profile studies have reported a catastrophic collapse in insect numbers around the world. While the generality of these findings is contentious, most researchers agree that rapid declines of key groups have worrying implications for ecosystem functioning. For example, insects are a critical component of the diet of many migrant birds, yet the interplay between the population trends of insects and their avian predators is poorly understood.The spotted flycatcher Muscicapa striata is one of the UK's most rapidly declining birds, but the underlying causes are unclear. As an obligate insectivore, this species is an important indicator of environmental health and an ideal model for studying the link between declines in insects and migrant birds. The Biodiversity Action Plan for this 'Priority Species' highlights knowledge gaps regarding breeding ecology and habitat use. This project addresses these by combining analyses of long-term data with fieldwork, spatial analysis, cutting-edge laboratory techniques and population modelling in order to: (1) investigate the impact of habitat change and invertebrate abundance on national population trends; (2) determine how habitat quality and food availability affect breeding success in a local population; and (3) use the results from (1) and (2) to develop an integrated model of population change.

全球移民鸟类种群的下降是对世界生态系统的主要威胁。长途移民在温带繁殖区域和热带冬季地之间大量旅行，在大空间尺度上提供能量转移和生态系统服务。此外，鸟类人口趋势是环境变化的关键指标，因此，移民的下降是关于科学家和政策制定者的关键指标。由于其多阶段的生命周期，移民特别容易受到环境变化的影响，并且研究越来越多地暗示着气候变化的衰落。然而，关注气候的重点意味着环境变化的其他方面受到了较少的关注。最高知名度研究报告了世界各地昆虫数量灾难性崩溃。尽管这些发现的一般性是有争议的，但大多数研究人员都认为，关键群体的快速下降对生态系统功能具有令人担忧的影响。例如，昆虫是许多移民鸟类饮食的关键组成部分，但是昆虫的种群趋势与其鸟类捕食者之间的相互作用知之甚少。斑点的捕蝇器Muscicapa Striata是英国最迅速下降的鸟类之一，但是鸟类，但是鸟类的捕食者之一根本原因尚不清楚。作为强制性食虫动物，该物种是环境健康的重要指标，也是研究昆虫和移民鸟类下降之间联系的理想模型。该“优先物种”的生物多样性行动计划突出了有关育种生态和栖息地使用的知识差距。该项目通过将长期数据的分析与现场工作，空间分析，尖端实验室技术和人口建模相结合，以解决这些项目，以：（1）研究栖息地变化和无脊椎动物丰度对国家人口趋势的影响； （2）确定栖息地质量和食物的可用性如何影响当地人口的繁殖成功； （3）使用（1）和（2）的结果开发人口变化的综合模型。