Title:

The decline of the bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula in Britain: is the mechanism known?

Subtitle:

Acta Ornithologica, vol. 36, no. 2 ; Jaki jest mechanizm spadku liczebności populacji gila w Wielkiej Brytanii?

Creator:

Siriwardena, Gavin M. ; Freeman, Stephen N. ; Crick, Humphrey Q. P.

Contributor:

Polska Akademia Nauk. Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii

Publisher:

Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii PAN

Place of publishing:

Warszawa

Date issued/created:

2001

Description:

Bibliogr. p. 151-152 ; P. [143]-152 : ill. ; 27 cm ; Abstract in Polish. Taxa in Latin

Type of object:

Journal/Article

Subject and Keywords:

Bullfinch ; Great Britain ; demography ; population models ; bird conservation ; granivorous birds ; finches ; birds ; Pyrrhula pyrrhula ; Fringillidae ; Aves

Abstract:

The Bullfinch has declined in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, but definitive evidence about the cause and demographic mechanism has yet to be published. We review current knowledge, concentrating on analyses of demography, and present new integrated population modelling analyses designed to reveal the demographic changes most important in the decline. It is likely that changes in brood size and clutch size have not been important and our models suggest that the decline can be explained without invoking variation in numbers of breeding attempts or post-fledging survival rates. However, although changes in the egg period daily nest failure rate provide the best explanation for population change during the years of steepest decline, nestling period failures, adult survival and first-year survival could all have been equally important. Egg period nest failure rates have been higher in the preferred habitat, woodland, than in farmland and have fallen over time in farmland, where a larger decline has occurred (65% versus 28%), arguing against a causal link with abundance. Despite evidence for a negative effect of agricultural intensification on Bullfinch presence, little evidence exists clearly linking any demographic rate to environmental change, and agricultural land-use has had little effect on nest failure rates. Predation appears to have had no significant impact. Future work should focus on contemporary investigations of the importance of hedgerow structure and woodland understorey vegetation.

Relation:

Acta Ornithologica

Volume:

36

Issue:

2

Start page:

143

End page:

152

Resource type:

Text

Detailed Resource Type:

Article

Format:

application/pdf

Source:

MiIZ PAN, call no. P.257, Vol. 36, No 2 ; MiIZ PAN, call no. P.4568, Vol. 36, No 2 ; click here to follow the link

Language:

eng ; pol

Rights:

Rights Reserved - Restricted Access

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. Access only on terminals at the Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, may be used within the limits of statutory user freedoms.

Digitizing institution:

Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Original in:

Library of the Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Projects co-financed by:

Programme Innovative Economy, 2010-2014, Priority Axis 2. R&D infrastructure ; European Union. European Regional Development Fund

Access:

Closed