Migratory birds rely on a network of sites throughout their annual cycles, making them particularly vulnerable to changing environmental conditions, often induced by overly intense land use. Conservation efforts focused on individual locations often fall short, as they fail to account for the interconnected nature of these habitats. This gap in understanding was the focus of a newly published paper by Martin Beal and colleagues: “Site-level connectivity identified from multiple sources of movement data to inform conservation of migratory birds”, featured in the Journal of Applied Ecology of the British Ecological Society. The study involved contributions from 10 members of the LIFE IP GrassBirdHabitats project, alongside a vast network of collaborators.
Using data from colour-ring sightings largely in the northern countries, while GPS tracking was crucial in southern regions, the researchers created a comprehensive network model of bird movement. This analysis revealed that Black-tailed Godwits connect at least 1,058 wetlands across 46 countries, spanning from Guinea in West Africa to Iceland in the North Atlantic.
Interestingly, 49 sites were characterised as critical sites in this network, playing an outsized role for the connectivity. However, less than half of these top sites are currently recognized as important conservation areas for Black-tailed Godwits. This finding underscores the limitations of existing conservation strategies, which often prioritize individual sites rather than the broader network. The authors argue that integrating connectivity-based approaches could significantly enhance current efforts to protect migratory birds.
This pioneering study was made possible through the dedication of hundreds of researchers and volunteers across the flyway – including the LIFE IP GrassBirdHabitats, LIFE Godwit Flyway and LIFE Wiesenvögel team – who captured, ringed, resighted, and tracked thousands of birds. Reflecting on this collaborative achievement, Martin Beal remarked: “It takes a village to understand a bird!”
Read the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14839
Further information can be found in a detailed article by Graham Appleton on the Wadertales blog: How are migration sites connected? | wadertales
