Breeding and wintering abundance of corn buntings Miliaria calandra in an agricultural landscape of Alentejo (southern Portugal) was assessed in relation to agricultural intensification and other environmental variables during 1994-1997. Bird abundance was lowest in intensively managed farmland in both seasons.
Blog
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De grauwe gors is door het gebruik van pesticiden in de intensieve akkerbouw in Nederland uitgestorven
De broedpopulatie van de Grauwe Gors (Miliaria calandra, Synoniem: Emberiza calandra) in Nederland is van 1995-2001 met ongeveer driekwart afgenomen. De laatste bolwerken waren Limburg en de uiterwaarden van de Waal. Het landbouwkundige grondgebruik was sterk geintensiveerd in gebieden waar de Grauwe Gors was verdwenen. Vanaf 2008 werd geen enkel succesvol broedgeval van de Grauwe Gors meer gemeld. Uit recent onderzoek van Wageningen Universiteit en acht andere Europese universiteiten is gebleken dat het gebruik van pesticiden, zoals in de intensieve akkerbouw, een negatief effect heeft op de biodiversiteit van wilde planten, kevers en broedvogels. Ook voor een aantal afzonderlijke broedvogelsoorten waaronder de Grauwe Gors bleken insecticiden en fungiciden de doorslaggevende factoren te zijn.
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Long term study shows massive corn bunting declines in Britain
Corn buntings Miliaria calandra have declined by a staggering 83% over the past twenty years, according to a new study of thirty sites in Aberdeenshire and Angus published in Bird Study, the journal of the British Trust for Ornithology. This once common farmland bird, known as the ‘fat bird of the barley’, has suffered as farming methods have intensified.
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Decline to probable extinction of the corn bunting in the Republic of Ireland
The corn bunting Miliaria calandra has undergone severe population decline in the Republic of Ireland and other western European countries. By the late 1990s, no corn buntings were known to be breeding in Ireland. The most important factors are thought to be the decline in mixed farming and the loss of temporary grasslands. The use of pesticides may have reduced the availability of invertebrate and seed food supplies.
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Corn bunting thrives with mixed agriculture but is rare on arable farmland
Corn buntings Miliaria calandra were abundant throughout arable agricultural landscapes in Europe, but have catastrophically declined since the mid 1970s with changes in farming practice and now give serious conservation cause for concern. Corn buntings declined in Denmark during 1976-1993, but (almost unique in Europe) have since increased (by up to 11% per annum) in some areas without specific conservation recovery actions. Based on breeding bird surveys in the mid 1990s, highest corn bunting densities occurred on mixed agriculture in west Denmark (Jylland); the species was rarer or absent in regions of highest arable land cover.
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De zwarte stern Chlidonias niger komt steeds minder voor in ons land
Uit zogenoemde slaapplaatstellingen blijkt dat de aantallen de laatste tien tot twintig jaar sterk zijn afgenomen, zo liet de Vogelbescherming woensdag weten. In de jaren negentig van de vorige eeuw werden jaarlijks 60.000 tot 100.000 van deze vogeltjes geteld. De laatste jaren zijn dat er maximaal 20.000.
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Grauwe gors en ortolaan verdwenen
De ortolaan Emberiza hortulana en de grauwe gors Miliaria calandra zijn verdwenen uit de landbouwgebieden in Nederland. Dat meldt het Compendium voor de Leefomgeving.
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The causes of the decline of the urban House Sparrow population in Britain
By Kate E. Vincent, Ph.D.
In Britain and parts of northwest Europe, House Sparrow Passer domesticus populations have declined markedly since the mid-1980s. This study focused on factors affecting nesting success and annual productivity of nesting House Sparrows along an urban-suburban-rural gradient centred on the city of Leicester, England. The data presented in this thesis suggest that the abundance of invertebrate prey within home ranges of House Sparrows breeding within suburban and rural habitats limits the quantity and quality of chicks raised to fledging. The combined effects of relatively high rates of chick starvation and low body masses at fledging (and consequently low post-fledging survival) observed in surburban localities are large enough to result in rapid population declines. -
Decline of the corn bunting in Britain
Nick Brickle reports on a project to investigate the effect of agricultural intensification on corn buntings Miliaria calandra. The main aim was to test the hypothesis that breeding success was affected by low chick-food availability, caused in part by the use of pesticides. Data from a study site on the South Downs in Sussex showed that corn buntings collected invertebrates for their chicks in areas that received relatively few insecticide and herbicide applications. These areas contained more invertebrates of the types commonly fed to chicks than more heavily sprayed areas. When the abundance of chick-food invertebrates was low close to a nest, breeding success was low. In these conditions chicks were underweight, parents foraged further from the nest and nest failure rate was high. When chick-food invertebrates near the nest were more abundant, breeding success was higher. The relationship between pesticides and food availability, and the relationship between food availability and breeding success, links the corn bunting to other species of farmland birds where pesticide use has been shown to affect breeding success, such as the grey partridge. Similar relationships between pesticides, food and breeding success may occur in some other farmland bird species such as skylarks and yellowhammers.
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Butterflies are disappearing at an alarming rate from Europe’s grasslands
Grasslands form a major part of the European landscape and are the main habitat for many butterfly species. The decline of grassland specialist butterflies is much more severe than for other hibitats or generalist butterflies. Since 1990 butterfly populations have decreased by almost 60%. In Western Europe, the decline is associated with intensification of agriculture and heavy use of fertilisers and pesticides.