Ecological factors and human threats both drive wildfowl population declines

Long, PR, Kershaw, M, Szekeley, T and O'Connell, Mark ORCID: 0000-0003-3402-8880 (2007) Ecological factors and human threats both drive wildfowl population declines. Animal Conservation, 10 (2). pp. 183-191. doi:10.1111/j.1469-1795.2006.00087.x

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Abstract

Many wildfowl species are declining and 34 out of 159 extant species are globally threatened, some of which are the subject of specific conservation programmes. Here we investigate which factors predict declining population trends across 154 species of Anseriformes. First we show that there are proportionately fewer declining wildfowl populations in North America, Europe and Australasia than in south and central America, Africa and Asia. Second, we use phylogenetic comparative analyses to test whether population size, global range size and ecological, life-history and sexually-selected traits predict population trends. We also consider anthropogenic threats, and human impacts within the breeding and non-breeding ranges of species. Using phylogenetically independent contrasts we show that small population size and small global ranges are the most important intrinsic factors that predispose wildfowl species to declining populations. Many wildfowl are hunted but, contrary to expectation, hunting did not influence population trends. Declining populations were associated with high International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) threat category, although the relationship is not very strong (r=0.134, n=129 contrasts) possibly because the IUCN criteria integrate population size, range size and an assessment of threat. Two extrinsic factors were significant predictors of population declines: the increase in area of agricultural land within a species’ range (an indirect measure of wetland loss), and the total number of different threat processes such as habitat loss and pollution that threaten a species. Taken together, our results strongly suggest that both anthropogenic threats and intrinsic ecological factors are influencing population declines in wildfowl.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Long, P. R., Székely, T., Kershaw, M. and O'Connell, M. (2007), Ecological factors and human threats both drive wildfowl population declines. Animal Conservation, 10: 183–191, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-1795.2006.00087.x/abstract. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Anseriformes; Wildfowl; Phylogenetic comparative analysis; Threat; Population; Life-history; Sexual selection; Human population density
Related URLs:	Dataset
Subjects:	Q Science > QL Zoology
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Education and Science
Research Priority Areas:	Place, Environment and Community
Depositing User:	Mark O'Connell
Date Deposited:	03 Oct 2017 09:54
Last Modified:	31 Aug 2023 08:59
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/4920

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