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Defining the key wintering habitats in the Sahel for declining African-Eurasian migrants using expert assessment


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Authors

ATKINSON, PW 
ADAMS, WM 
BROUWER, J 
BUCHANAN, G 
CHEKE, RA 

Abstract

jats:titleSummary</jats:title>jats:pThe Sahel in West Africa is a major wintering area for many western Palearctic migrants. The breeding populations of many of these have declined over the past 50 years. However, there have been few intensive field studies on migrant ecology in the Sahel and these were generally within a very restricted area. Consequently our knowledge of the distribution of species within this extensive area and the habitat associations of these species is limited. Understanding these habitat associations is essential for the effective conservation management of populations. We brought together a group of experts and consulted a wider group by email to assess the main Sahelian habitat types used by 68 African-Eurasian migrant bird species. Those species that showed strongest declines during 1970–1990 were associated with more open habitats than those newly declining during 1990–2000, when declining species were associated with habitats with more shrubs and trees. Populations of species that winter in the Sahel are generally stable or increasing now as rainfall has increased and is now near the long-term average for the Sahel. Those which use the Sahel only as a staging area are, in many cases, in rapid decline at present.</jats:p>

Description

Keywords

41 Environmental Sciences, 4102 Ecological Applications, 3103 Ecology, 31 Biological Sciences, 15 Life on Land

Journal Title

Bird Conservation International

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0959-2709
1474-0001

Volume Title

Publisher

Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Sponsorship
We would like to thank Andy Clements, Paul Donald, Lincoln Fishpool and Mike Mortimore for contributing to the workshop and Peter Jones, Ian Newton, Volker Salewski, Tim Wacher, Eddy Wymenga and Leo Zwarts for useful comments by email on draft habitat importance scores. This study was funded by the Newton Trust and the Cambridge Conservation Initiative Collaborative Fund, supported by Arcadia. WJS is funded by Arcadia.