Linking landscape structure to productivity and population change in migratory birds

Migratory bird populations throughout the world are declining at present, and there are urgent calls for actions to stabilise and reverse these declines. The recent Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species adopted a resolution (UNEP/CMS/Res.10.27) on Improving the Conservation Status of Migratory Landbirds in the African-Eurasian Region. This calls on member states to reduce habitat degradation and to undertake research into the threats facing these species 'at all stages of their annual cycles', and an Action Plan to implement this resolution is now being developed. This project has been specifically designed to help identify and target management actions that can benefit migratory bird populations. This project will have direct implications for conservationists and conservation policy-makers in government departments and NGOs, both nationally (RSPB, Defra, NE), and internationally (Convention on Migratory Species directorate, EU ORNIS committee, Birdlife International).
Exploring the relationship between environmental variables, productivity and abundance requires long-term data across broad spatial scales. The student will make use of long-term, citizen science datasets containing abundance (Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme, PECBMS) and demography (European Constant Effort Site Euro-CES) monitoring data. All PECBMS and Euro-CES sites are georeferenced allowing site-level environmental characteristics known to influence abundance and local demographic rates to be extracted from existing datasets. This would include, for example, measures of landscape composition and configuration (CORINE) and primary productivity (Enhanced Vegetation Index), as well as site-level time series of mean monthly precipitation and mean maximum and minimum temperature for summer (May-July) and winter (Nov-Feb) will be extracted from Copernicus Climate Data Store (https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu).
The student will lead this project and develop a research programme that delivers pure and applied advances in the understanding of migrant bird population dynamics and conservation. They will also have the opportunity to tailor aspects of the project to develop their skills and expertise in areas they are specifically interested in. The student will gain access to and further develop a strong network of researchers and citizen scientists studying migrant bird populations across Europe and will benefit from working closely with Dr Cat Morrison, an experienced post-doc in our group who led the analyses from which this project has been developed and who is the PDRA on a new NERC grant (2020-2023; Butler - PI; Gill & Robinson - Co-Is) exploring population and demographic synchrony in European birds, using similar datasets.
This proposal will address a major current conservation issue through a mix of MODELLING of large-scale survey and environmental data, FIELDWORK and TRANSLATION OF RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE, and will thus address several of NERC's Most Wanted Skills. Specifically, the student will receive advanced training in the application of ecological concepts, statistical skills, modelling population consequences of environmental change, field data collection techniques, scientific presentation and publication and the development of evidence-based policy and conservation initiatives.