About the Project
Scientific background
Across Europe, widespread and rapid population declines are currently being reported in many migratory bird species. For example, breeding populations of cuckoo, nightingale and spotted flycatcher in Britain have halved in the last 15 years. The causes of these declines are not understood, and there is an urgent need to identify conservation actions to reverse them. Within the UK, we have previously shown that not all migrant populations are declining, and that resident and migrant populations tend to both be faring better in the same areas. This suggests that changes on the breeding grounds, such as declines in habitat availability resulting from agricultural intensification, may be a primary driver of population trends (in both residents and migrants), but that there may also be additional ‘costs of being migratory’. This study will quantify the influence of local-scale environmental conditions on population trends and demography in migrants and residents across the UK, and explore potential conservation actions to improve breeding conditions for these species.
Research Methodology
The study will make use of census data for a broad range of migratory and resident landbirds in the UK. Field studies will involve bird community censuses and surveys of habitat structure, and may also involve studies of factors influencing local breeding success of migrants and residents.
Training
Students will receive training in field and analytic techniques, including bird censusing, habitat surveying, demographic analyses and modeling population responses to environmental conditions. The student will work alongside a team of RSPB scientists working on the ‘declining migrant bird issue’ (http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/science/), and will interact with teams of policy and species recovery experts responsible for using the science to underpin polices and action on the ground.
Funding Notes
This project has been shortlisted for funding by the EnvEast NERC Doctoral Training Partnership, comprising the Universities of East Anglia, Essex and Kent, with twenty other research partners.
Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed on 17/18 February 2016.
Successful candidates who meet RCUK’s eligibility criteria will be awarded a NERC studentship. In most cases, UK and EU nationals who have been resident in the UK for 3 years are eligible for a full award. In 2015/16, the stipend was £14,057.
For further information, please visit www.enveast.ac.uk/apply.
References
i) Vickery, J. A., Ewing, S. R., Smith, K. W., Pain, D. J., Bairlein, F., Škorpilová, J., & Gregory, R. D. (2014) The decline of Afro‐Palaearctic migrants and an assessment of potential causes. Ibis, 156, 1-22.
ii) Morrison, C. A., Robinson, R. A., Clark, J. A., & Gill, J. A. (2010) Spatial and temporal variation in population trends in a long‐distance migratory bird. Diversity and distributions, 16, 620-627.
iii) Morrison, C. A., Robinson, R. A., Clark, J. A., Risely, K., & Gill, J. A. (2013) Recent population declines in Afro‐Palaearctic migratory birds: the influence of breeding and non‐breeding seasons. Diversity and Distributions, 19, 1051-1058.
iv) Butler, S. J., Boccaccio, L., Gregory, R. D., Vorisek, P., & Norris, K. (2010) Quantifying the impact of land-use change to European farmland bird populations. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 137, 348-357.