A global threats overview for Numeniini populations: synthesising expert knowledge for a group of declining migratory birds

SummaryThe Numeniini is a tribe of 13 wader species (Scolopacidae, Charadriiformes) of which seven are Near Threatened or globally threatened, including two Critically Endangered. To help inform conservation management and policy responses, we present the results of an expert assessment of the threats that members of this taxonomic group face across migratory flyways. Most threats are increasing in intensity, particularly in non-breeding areas, where habitat loss resulting from residential and commercial development, aquaculture, mining, transport, disturbance, problematic invasive species, pollution and climate change were regarded as having the greatest detrimental impact. Fewer threats (mining, disturbance, problematic native species and climate change) were identified as widely affecting breeding areas. Numeniini populations face the greatest number of non-breeding threats in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, especially those associated with coastal reclamation; related threats were also identified across the Central and Atlantic Americas, and East Atlantic flyways. Threats on the breeding grounds were greatest in Central and Atlantic Americas, East Atlantic and West Asian flyways. Three priority actions were associated with monitoring and research: to monitor breeding population trends (which for species breeding in remote areas may best be achieved through surveys at key non-breeding sites), to deploy tracking technologies to identify migratory connectivity, and to monitor land-cover change across breeding and non-breeding areas. Two priority actions were focused on conservation and policy responses: to identify and effectively protect key non-breeding sites across all flyways (particularly in the East Asian- Australasian Flyway), and to implement successful conservation interventions at a sufficient scale across human-dominated landscapes for species’ recovery to be achieved. If implemented urgently, these measures in combination have the potential to alter the current population declines of many Numeniini species and provide a template for the conservation of other groups of threatened species.

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SOUTH-EAST ASIAN FARMER PERCEPTIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate Change Economics ◽

10.1142/s2010007817400061 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 08 (03) ◽

pp. 1740006 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

BABATUNDE O. ABIDOYE ◽

PRADEEP KURUKULASURIYA ◽

ROBERT MENDELSOHN

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Sri Lanka ◽

East Asia ◽

Knowledge Base ◽

East Asian ◽

Climate Change Impacts ◽

South East Asia ◽

Local Conditions ◽

Farmer Perceptions ◽

Policy Responses

A survey of farmers in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam reveals that farmers are keenly aware of even slight changes in their climate. Over 90% of the farmers interviewed perceived small changes in temperature or precipitation patterns where they lived. Over half claimed to have changed their irrigation, timing, or crop choices because of climate change. Although the link between perceived changes and stated adaptations is weak, farmers are aware of the types of changes they need to make in response to climate change in South-East Asia. Adaptation responses must be firmly grounded in not only local conditions, but also the views of participants at the front lines of climate change impacts. The knowledge base of farmers grappling with the challenges of climate change must be taken into account when policy responses to support adaptation are formulated.

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Strong decrease of waders Charadrii in central southern Sweden during the last 50 years

Ornis Svecica ◽

10.34080/os.v28.19530 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 28 (2–4) ◽

Author(s):

Sven G Nilsson

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Cattle Grazing ◽

Peat Bogs ◽

Small Farms ◽

Population Declines ◽

Southern Sweden ◽

Strong Decrease ◽

Breeding Sites ◽

Grus Grus

The number of territories of waders were counted in an area of 460 km2 around 56°37'N; 14°20'E. The most important breeding sites for waders were closely monitored in several years, 1969–1981 and again 2015–2018. Most species declined strongly, with the exception of Charadrius dubius which colonized exploited peat bogs without vegetation and open man-made gravel surfaces. Some mires were drained in the ﬁrst study period, which can explain up to 20% of recorded population declines of some species (Pluvialis apricaria, Numenius arquata, Tringa glareola). Other likely causes are earlier hay harvest and with different methods. Abandonment of cattle grazing of pastures on many small farms also occurred between the study periods. Several wader species forage on wet pastures. Predation on small young of waders may have increased. The crane Grus grus has increased dramatically in the study area and small young of waders most likely is part of the food of cranes. Changes at foraging sites during migration and in winter may be contributing causes of wader declines as well as climate change.

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Orchestrating the nation

10.1093/oso/9780199352227.003.0017 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Barley Norton

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Global Climate Change ◽

Global Climate ◽

East Asian ◽

Ancestor Worship ◽

National Heritage ◽

The City ◽

Historical Periods ◽

Party State

This chapter addresses the cultural politics, history and revival of Vietnamese court orchestras, which were first established at the beginning of the Nguyễn dynasty (1802–1945). Based on fieldwork in the city of Hue, it considers the decolonizing processes that have enabled Vietnamese court orchestras to take their place alongside other East Asian court orchestras as a display of national identity in the global community of nations. The metaphor of ‘orchestrating the nation’ is used to refer to the ways in which Vietnamese orchestras have been harnessed for sociopolitical ends in several historical periods. Court orchestras as heritage have recourse to a generic, precolonial past, yet they are not entirely uncoupled from local roots. Through a case-study of the revival of the Nam Giao Sacrifice, a ritual for ‘venerating heaven’, the chapter addresses the dynamics of interaction and exchange between staged performances of national heritage and local Buddhist and ancestor worship rituals. It argues that with growing concern about global climate change, the spiritual and ecological resonances of the Nam Giao Sacrifice have provided opportunities for the Party-state to reassert its position as the supreme guardian of the nation and its people.

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What Stymies Action on Climate Change? Religious Institutions, Marginalization, and Efficacy in Kenya

Perspectives on Politics ◽

10.1017/s153759272000479x ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-18

Author(s):

Lauren Honig ◽

Amy Erica Smith ◽

Jaimie Bleck

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Religious Institutions ◽

Religious Groups ◽

State Repression ◽

Address Climate Change ◽

Policy Responses ◽

Vulnerability To Climate Change ◽

History Of ◽

Muslim Communities ◽

Critical Link

Addressing climate change requires coordinated policy responses that incorporate the needs of the most impacted populations. Yet even communities that are greatly concerned about climate change may remain on the sidelines. We examine what stymies some citizens’ mobilization in Kenya, a country with a long history of environmental activism and high vulnerability to climate change. We foreground efficacy—a belief that one’s actions can create change—as a critical link transforming concern into action. However, that link is often missing for marginalized ethnic, socioeconomic, and religious groups. Analyzing interviews, focus groups, and survey data, we find that Muslims express much lower efficacy to address climate change than other religious groups; the gap cannot be explained by differences in science beliefs, issue concern, ethnicity, or demographics. Instead, we attribute it to understandings of marginalization vis-à-vis the Kenyan state—understandings socialized within the local institutions of Muslim communities affected by state repression.

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Raised by aliens: constant exposure to an invasive predator triggers morphological but not behavioural plasticity in a threatened species tadpoles

Biological Invasions ◽

10.1007/s10530-021-02603-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Andrea Melotto ◽

Gentile Francesco Ficetola ◽

Roberta Pennati ◽

Nicoletta Ancona ◽

Raoul Manenti

Keyword(s):

Phenotypic Plasticity ◽

Native Species ◽

Procambarus Clarkii ◽

Muscle Size ◽

Behavioural Plasticity ◽

The Novel ◽

Population Declines ◽

Selective Pressures ◽

Invasive Predators ◽

Behavioural Tests

AbstractDuring biotic invasions, native communities are abruptly exposed to novel and often severe selective pressures. The lack of common evolutionary history with invasive predators can hamper the expression of effective anti-predator responses in native prey, potentially accelerating population declines. Nonetheless, rapid adaptation and phenotypic plasticity may allow native species to cope with the new ecological pressures. We tested the hypothesis that phenotypic plasticity is fostered when facing invasive species and evaluated whether plasticity offers a pool of variability that might help the fixation of adaptive phenotypes. We assessed behavioural and morphological trait variation in tadpoles of the Italian agile frog (Rana latastei) in response to the invasive crayfish predator, Procambarus clarkii, by rearing tadpoles under different predation-risk regimes: non-lethal crayfish presence and crayfish absence. After two-month rearing, crayfish-exposed tadpoles showed a plastic shift in their body shape and increased tail muscle size, while behavioural tests showed no effect of crayfish exposure on tadpole behaviour. Furthermore, multivariate analyses revealed weak divergence in morphology between invaded and uninvaded populations, while plasticity levels were similar between invaded and uninvaded populations. Even if tadpoles displayed multiple plastic responses to the novel predator, none of these shifts underwent fixation after crayfish arrival (10–15 years). Overall, these findings highlight that native prey can finely tune their responses to invasive predators through plasticity, but the adaptive value of these responses in whitstanding the novel selective pressures, and the long-term consequences they can entail remain to be ascertained.

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An expert assessment on climate change and health – with a European focus on lungs and allergies

Environmental Health ◽

10.1186/1476-069x-11-s1-s4 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 11 (Suppl 1) ◽

pp. S4 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Bertil Forsberg ◽

Lennart Bråbäck ◽

Hans Keune ◽

Mike Kobernus ◽

Martin Krayer von Krauss ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Expert Assessment ◽

Climate Change And Health

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Amphibian Population Declines and Climate Change

Ecological Consequences of Climate Change ◽

10.1201/b11179-5 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 29-54 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Andrew Blaustein ◽

Catherine Searle ◽

Betsy Bancroft ◽

Joshua Lawler

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Population Declines ◽

Amphibian Population

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Integrating the InVEST and SDSM Model for Estimating Water Provision Services in Response to Future Climate Change in Monsoon Basins of South China

Water ◽

10.3390/w12113199 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (11) ◽

pp. 3199

Author(s):

Dong Yang ◽

Wen Liu ◽

Chaohao Xu ◽

Lizhi Tao ◽

Xianli Xu

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

South China ◽

Asian Monsoon ◽

East Asian Monsoon ◽

East Asian ◽

Future Climate ◽

Future Climate Change ◽

Annual Average ◽

Invest Model ◽

Water Provision

An assessment of how future climate change will impact water provision services is important for formulating rational water resources management and development strategies as well as for ecosystem protection. The East Asian monsoon is an important component of the Asian climate and its changes affect the climate in East Asia and seriously affect the provision of water services. In this study, through the coupling of the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model and Statistical Downscaling Technique Model (SDSM), we evaluated the impact of future climate change on water provisions in a typical East Asian monsoon basin of South China. The results demonstrate the applicability of the InVEST model combined with the SDSM model over the East Asian monsoon river basins. Under representative concentration pathway 4.5 scenario (RCP4.5), the annual average maximum and minimum temperatures would continually increase far into the future (2080–2095). However, the maximum and minimum temperatures slightly decreased under representative concentration pathway 2.6 scenario (RCP2.6) in the far future (2080–2095). The annual average precipitation and reference evapotranspiration experienced slight but steady increasing trends under the RCP2.6 and RCP4.5 scenarios. Based on the InVEST model simulation, annual average water yield would increase by 19.3% (33.5%) far in the future (2080–2095) under RCP2.6 (4.5) scenario. This study provides a valuable reference for studying future climate change impacts on water provisions in East Asian monsoon basins.

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