News

After months of intense coordination and preparation, a team of shorebird scientists recently completed one of the largest shorebird breeding-ground surveys ever conducted. From 15 May to 10 June, they gathered data from more than 300 plots across the 8-million-hectare (19-million-acre) Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge in western Alaska (USA) to more accurately delineate breeding areas and estimate population sizes for several species. please see WHSRNews: 16 July 2015 for the full story.    

Climate change will test animals’ abilities to adjust and adapt to a rapidly changing world. So, if you heard that shorebirds were able to adjust their reproductive behaviour in response to climate change, you’d think that was a good thing, right? So would I. In this issue of Wader Study, Nathan Senner and colleagues, studying Black-tailed Godwits Limosa limosa limosa in Dutch meadows, illustrate that in years with extreme weather godwits can exhibit breeding behaviours beyond what has been documented historically¹. There is just one catch – if we humans don’t adjust our behaviour in tandem, no amount of adjustment on the part of shorebirds will suffice. Black-tailed Godwits have been studied in the Netherlands since the 1950s, and their population has been in dramatic decline for the past few decades. During the 2013 and 2014 breeding seasons, Senner and colleagues intensively studied godwit reproductive biology in and around the Haanmeer Nature Reserve in SW Friesland. The researchers attempted to find every nest in a 1090-ha area and to ring at least one breeding adult and all chicks at each nest. Their work was embedded within a long-term demographic study in which researchers are ringing and monitoring godwits over a 10,000 ha area ². Because godwits have been studied in the area for so long, Senner and colleagues were able to compare their 2013 and 2014 data on breeding biology to historical data. As it turns out, 2014 was an abnormally warm and wet year in the Dutch meadowlands. Without humans in the picture, warm and wet years provide ideal conditions for godwits; vegetation grows quickly, providing cover, and insects are plentiful both before and after chicks hatch. In 2014, Black-tailed Godwits responded by intensifying and extending their breeding efforts. They re-nested more often – both after predation, and after nests had been damaged by agriculture – and they extended their breeding season to a record 57 days. One pair even started a nest on 4 June – the latest nest initiation date on record. Good news, right? Well, not if the godwits are nesting in meadows that will be mowed for agricultural purposes. Fast grass growth means that farmers working outside of nature reserves mow their meadows earlier and often – sometimes five or six times in a season! A mowed meadow means no cover and no food for godwit families. Although farmers will mow around marked nests for conservation purposes, a stand of tall grass in a mown meadow attracts predators. [caption id="attachment_7037" align="aligncenter" width="700"] The dangers of breeding late in Dutch meadows. Comic by Ysbrand Galama*[/caption] Things are better for godwits in nature reserves like the Haanmeer where Senner and colleagues worked. Farmers within these reserves work with the Staatsbosbeheer (the Dutch governmental land manager) to avoid early mowing in fields that have chicks. However, a much larger area of land is owned by private farmers. Some private landowners are environmentally minded and will take agri-environmental subsidies in exchange for waiting until 15 June to mow their fields. This policy is based on historical data and assumes that most chicks will have fledged by this date. But when godwits extend their breeding season, their eggs do not take less time to mature. On 15 June, nests laid after 25 April will still have chicks, and nests laid after 20 May will still have eggs. So if humans don’t adjust with godwits, then an extended godwit breeding season is very bad news. Godwits can adjust their behaviour in response to climate change. This flexibility (reversible adjustments made during a lifetime and not incorporated into the DNA sequence) is not yet genetic evolution. Yet, these adjustments can be passed onto the next generation. Epigenetic processes within cells allow life’s experiences to alter the way genes are expressed in current and future generations ^3,4. Physiological changes can be passed on via developmental inheritance (e.g., through maternal hormone affects) and behavioural changes can be passed on as younger individuals learn from older individuals through cultural inheritance ³. Senner and colleagues were not studying the mechanisms behind how flexibility in godwit breeding behaviour might be passed on. What is clear from their study is that godwits nesting longer and later in favourable seasons could produce more offspring in the next generation than those who do not seize this opportunity. However, if godwits breeding later suffer lower breeding success due to human behaviours, these potentially positive adjustments to climate change might be strongly selected against. Inheritance of adaptive traits – by any mechanism – is snuffed out if the next generation does not survive. So how flexible are humans? Can we adjust as fast as the godwits? _____________________________________________________________ ¹ Senner et al. 2015. Just when you thought you knew it all: new evidence for flexible breeding patterns in Continental Black-tailed Godwits. Wader Study 122(1): 18–24. ² Kentie, R. 2015. Spatial demography of black-tailed godwits: Metapopulation dynamics in a fragmented agricultural landscape. PhD thesis, University of Groningen, NL ³ Piersma, T. 2011. Flyway evolution is too fast to be explained by the modern synthesis: proposals for an “extended” evolutionary research agenda. Journal of Ornithology 152: 151-159. ⁴ Hughes, V. 2014. Epigenetics: The sins of the father (News feature). Nature 506: 22-24. * Reproduced with permission from Ysbrand Galama. https://www.bornmeer.nl/winkel/de-skriezemaaitiid/

Work type: Volunteer Location: South Jiangsu coast, China Time Required: August - October 2015 Project Description: The Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea (‘Critically Endangered’) and Nordmann’s Greenshank Tringa guttifer (‘Endangered’) are two of the most threatened migratory shorebird species in the world. They congregate in south Jiangsu coast in significant numbers during southward migration stopover. Habitat loss and hunting along their migration routes are two of the possible causes of their rapid decline. This project aims to improve the understanding of the stopover ecology, especially the feeding ecology, of these two species on the south Jiangsu coast during southward migration by conducting regular weekly counts, focal bird observations and macrobenthic sampling. Such information will allow researchers and managers to distribute their management effort more effectively when conserving and monitoring these threatened species. These findings will also have implications that go beyond our study area because the basic ecology of these species remains poorly known and they rely on similar coastal intertidal wetland habitat throughout their non-breeding season. Information about the Conservation Leadership Programme can be found here. How can you help? This project is currently searching for motivated, enthusiastic volunteers to assist the field work throughout the boreal autumn! Tasks include bird counts during high tide, macrobenthic sampling and focal bird observation during low tide. The work involves extensive amount of time working and walking on the intertidal mudflat and getting muddy during benthic sampling. Basic local field expenses will be covered for successful candidates but he/she needs to make his/her own way to Shanghai. Successful candidates will have the potential to develop his/her own side-project if that fits into the field schedule. There will also be opportunities to extend the stay for another month or two in Shanghai to assist with laboratory work (transcribe behaviour observation data, sort and process benthic samples), analysis and write-up. What you may gain from this opportunity: ● Add two fabulous shorebird species as well as other East Asia endemic species into your birding list ● Bird counting skills ● Macrobenthic sampling skills ● Bird behaviour observation skills ● Authentic Chinese food. Selection Criteria: ● An adequate physical fitness is required ● A minimum stay of 4 weeks in the field ● Volunteers shall be hardworking, detail-minded and shall have a strong sense of responsibility ● Ability to work independently and as part of a diverse team with different backgrounds ● Bird identification skill is preferred ● Experience in working on intertidal flat is desirable ● Basic understanding in Chinese is not compulsory but would be a bonus Advertised Close Date：31-6-2015 We will start reviewing the applications from the middle of June until the position is filled. To apply, please send us a letter of application outlining qualifications and experience for the position, curriculum vitae, and the names and contact details for two references. If you have any questions about this volunteering position, please contact info@sbsinchina.com

The Australian Government’s Minister for the Environment has decided to list the following migratory shorebirds as critically endangered under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act):

• Numenius madagascariensis (Far Eastern curlew)
• Calidris ferruginea (Curlew sandpiper)

These species will remain listed ‘migratory’ and ‘marine’ under the EPBC Act. The registration of the legal instruments to give effect to the Minister’s decisions occurred on 25 May 2015 (for further information https://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2015L00725). The listings are effective today, 26 May 2015. Following registration, an approved conservation advice will be made available through SPRAT, this process can take several days.

Book review by Nigel A. Clark published in Science   The Narrow Edge A Tiny Bird, an Ancient Crab, and an Epic Journey Deborah Cramer Yale University Press, 2015. 303 pp.   In order for the shorebirds known as red knots to survive their annual migration from the Southern Hemisphere to the species' Arctic breeding grounds, they rely on a series of sites along the way to provide enough food for their stay and to fuel their onward flight. If just one of these sites is compromised, the species itself will fail. Unfortunately for the knots, many of these vital sites are vast, intertidal flats that humans have come to see as areas ripe for development and exploitation. This is especially true for the main spring stopover sites that knot populations on each continent rely on, including areas in the Delaware Bay in the Americas, the Wadden Sea in Europe, and the Yellow Sea in East Asia. The marvel of their long migration and the beauty of their synchronously weaving flocks have inspired many to try to ensure that there is a place on the planet for the knots for years to come. In The Narrow Edge, Deborah Cramer follows the migration route of the American rufa knot from the southern tip of South America to the high Arctic, where the ground thaws just long enough for them to raise their chicks before winter sets in again. The book is perhaps more about people than birds, as Cramer tries to understand how and why humans and birds have come into conflict. She explores what motivates developers, fishermen, and conservationists and explores the ways scientists are working to understand how we can live together on an increasingly crowded planet. Throughout the book, Cramer explores the history that has led to the tenuous existence of the knot, as well as the tangled ecological web that it, and we, are part of. The book is written from a conservationist's viewpoint, but Cramer also tries to understand the driving forces that, often inadvertently, make it more difficult for the knots to survive. For example, she recounts how, until recently, the salt marshlands in Argentina's Río Gallegos estuary were being sold off to developers and used as a municipal waste dump. As the population of the nearby city expanded over the past half-century, the number of knots observed each year in the estuary dropped precipitously. Now, as a result of the efforts of scientists Silvia Ferrari and Carlos Albrieu, Río Gallegos has two protected areas where further development of the marsh is prohibited. The city has also made an asset of the marsh, creating a visitor center and bird-viewing areas to educate locals and tourists about the value of conservation efforts. This has come too late for the knots, which no longer stop there, but has proved vital for many other species of shorebirds. Perhaps, in time, the knots will return. Many knots that migrate from the Americas make their last stop to refuel in the Delaware Bay before heading to the Arctic. Here, they gorge on horseshoe crab eggs that are washed out of the sand, where they are laid in May of each year. The crabs and, hence, the birds have declined over the past two decades. It would be easy to blame modern fishermen for overexploiting the crabs, but Cramer shows that the tendency toward aggressive harvesting is consistent with historical practices. During the midto late 1800s, horseshoe crabs were fed to pigs or ground into fertilizer in specially built factories. More than a million crabs were harvested from a single mile of beach in 1857, and over 4 million were taken from all of Delaware Bay in 1880. By the late 1800s, the horseshoe crab population in the Delaware Bay was almost nonexistent. It slowly recovered over the next century but crashed again when fishermen began collecting the crabs to use as bait for conch and eel fishing in the 1990s. With a history of exploitation, it is not surprising that the fishermen saw the crabs as a resource to be taken advantage of, rather than a population to be managed sustainably. Since 1998, there have been progressively more severe harvest restrictions on the crabs but, with a 10-year life cycle, we are just beginning to see signs of recovery. If the horseshoe crab had gone extinct, the knots would not have been the only ones to suffer. In the early 1950s, the physician Frederick Bang discovered that the crab's blue blood clots in the presence of Gram-negative bacteria. By the mid-1980s, limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL), made from the blood of horseshoe crabs, had become an invaluable aid in the fight against infection in humans. By focusing on the plight of one flagship species and the people who have dedicated their lives to understanding how to protect it, this book shows how conservation efforts are critical to maintaining coastal biodiversity. It also offers important lessons and strategies that may be implemented for the protection and preservation of other species.

By DEBORAH CRAMER

May 1, 2015

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Jennifer Smart was awarded the Outstanding RSPB Conservation Scientist award for her research into why lapwing and redshank numbers have declined in recent years. The 42-year-old, from Cantley, monitored how changes to their Broads’ habitats had affected the breeding success of the two wading birds. Although lapwings enjoyed a record breeding season across East Anglia last year, their numbers have plummeted in recent decades. While their decline has not been so dramatic, redshanks have also struggled. Dr Smart, who has been an RSPB scientist since 2006, said: “My research involved trying to understand what to do to reverse the decline of the birds and what causes them to under-breed. “A lot of historical decline is down to big changes in land use but now it is lower breeding levels – for the two waders it is other animals eating their the eggs and young.” She added: “Lapwings in particular are the iconic wetland bird. A landscape without them would be an awful place. It’s a recognisable bird even if you don’t know it.” The scientist’s work – which involved co-operation with the University of East Anglia, where she studied her degree and PhD – involved investigating how the introduction of small mammals, such as mice and voles, could benefit the birds. Their presence meant predators such as foxes ate fewer of the birds’ eggs and chicks, as they had other sources of prey. Dr Smart said her long term aim was to put her research into practice with her “dream” being to enable birds like the lapwing and redshank, which relied on nature reserves, to thrive outside of them. Her award also recognised her work launching the RSPB’s Centre for Conservation Science – to show and promote the charity’s scientific programme – with involvement in developing a new website and a social media campaign. “I’m proud to have won this award,” she said. “And the nicest thing is my colleagues were the ones who voted for me. “We have about 70 scientists working for the RSPB. We’re quite a big science team, so I am very proud.” first published on 30 March 2015 in the Eastern Daily Press

The Global Flyway Network reports that: "The first flock reported to leave Roebuck Bay (NW Australia) did so on 20 March. One of our satellite-tagged birds must have been among them that evening. The other three left on 23^rd and 24^th March." Follow their journeys to the Yellow Sea through the bilingual blog: Global Flyway Network China Blog. For more information and updates: Global Flyway Network_Australia / Great Knot migration    

Coastal wetlands of Central America provide vital stopover sites and wintering habitat for shorebird species such as Wilson's Plover, Whimbrel, and Semipalmated Sandpiper. Among the critical sites for these and other many shorebird species are Jiquilisco Bay in El Salvador and Delta del Estero Real in Nicaragua. Both areas, located on the Pacific Coast near the Gulf of Fonseca, meet the biological criteria necessary for inclusion in the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN). While these sites do have some level of protection, they lack effective processes for conservation and generally are threatened by habitat loss, degradation, pollution, and unsustainable resource use. Working with partners in both countries, the WHSRN Executive Office has launched the project “Building capacity for conservation at priority shorebird sites in Central America.” This project is made possible by support from the Wildlife Without Borders grants program for Latin America and the Caribbean, facilitated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Division of International Conservation. The project aims to help build and strengthen the capacity of local partners and stakeholders to effectively manage and protect the two sites.   Read the full story at the WHSRN news.