The benefits of protected areas for bird population trends may depend on their condition

With an estimated 1 million species currently threatened with extinction, it is imperative to stem biodiversity loss. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, agreed by world leaders in...

Understanding seabird behaviour at sea part 2: improved estimates of collision risk model parameters

Strategic study of collision risk for birds on migration and further development of the stochastic collision risk modelling tool (Work Package 1: Strategic review of birds on migration in Scottish waters)

Species- or habitat- based assessments of vulnerability to climate change? Informing climate change adaptation in special protection areas for birds in England

In this paper, two approaches commonly adopted by Natural England for climate change vulnerability assessments were used to assess the vulnerability to climate change of Special Protection Areas...

Spatially targeted nature-based solutions can mitigate climate change and nature loss but require a systems approach

Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is one of the greatest challenges humankind is currently facing. A growing coalition of countries are now pledging to achieve net zero emissions, which means...

Leakage of plastics and other debris from landfills to a highly protected lake by wintering gulls

The study, led by the Institut de Ciències del Mar and Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Spain, used diet samples collected in January 2022 at the Fuente de Piedra – an inland lake in Spain...

Anthropogenic climate and land-use change drive short-and long-term biodiversity shifts across taxa

This collaborative research involving BTO attempted to start understanding how habitat change and climate change interact. The study examined changes in over 1,000 bird, butterfly, moth and plant...

Behavioural responses of Sandwich terns following the construction of offshore wind farms

Between 2016 and 2019, BTO scientists fitted Sandwich Terns breeding at Scolt Head Island in Norfolk with long-life GPS tags which tracked the birds’ movements over multiple years. When the...

Linking climate warming and land conversion to species’ range changes across Great Britain

The most notable changes over the past 75 years have been an increase in temperature and a loss of roughly 90% of lowland meadow and pasture, mainly converted to arable farmland and improved...

Flight heights obtained from GPS versus altimeters influence estimates of collision risk with offshore wind turbines in Lesser Black-backed Gulls Larus fuscus

As previous BTO research has shown, bird-borne tracking devices are essential for shedding light on seabird flight behaviour. Different methods for gathering flight height information within tracking...

How do offshore wind farms affect seabird behaviour?

Research reveals a crucial link between wind farm design and Sandwich Tern behaviour in the North Sea.

Combining remote sensing and tracking data to quantify species’ cumulative exposure to anthropogenic change

The results showed that although the actual amount of change had been greatest on the breeding grounds, cumulative exposure to changes in direct mortality risk and climate were...

Reduced breeding success in Great Black-backed Gulls Larus marinus due to harness-mounted GPS device

Studies involving fitting animals with bio-logging devices have provided essential information on behaviour, ecology, physiology and ultimately species conservation. Much BTO research in recent years...

Landscape fires disproportionally affect areas of conservation priority but only under low moisture conditions

This study identified five fires reaching more than 100 km2, a threshold often used to classify ‘megafires’. Frequent spring and summer fires predominantly started in agricultural areas, where...

Using species-habitat models to predict bird counts from urban development plans

How important is it to standardise the measured mass of shorebirds weighed at varying intervals after capture?

This paper examines this phenomenon using captures of Knot, Turnstone, Dunlin and Semipalmated Sandpiper in Delaware Bay, USA. As these waders were caught whilst actively feeding on the eggs of...

A review of the impacts of air pollution on terrestrial birds

A review paper by BTO considers 203 studies of the effects of air pollution on 231 bird species. Of these studies, 82% document at least one negative effect associated with increasing levels of...