Linking landscape structure to productivity and population change in migratory birds

目前世界各地的候鸟数量正在下降，人们迫切呼吁采取行动稳定和扭转这种下降趋势。最近举行的《联合国候鸟公约》缔约方大会通过了一项关于改善非洲-欧亚区域候鸟养护状况的决议(UNEP/CMS/Res.10.27)。这呼吁成员国减少栖息地退化，并对这些物种“在其年度周期的所有阶段”面临的威胁进行研究，目前正在制定一项执行这项决议的行动计划。该项目是专门为帮助确定能够惠及候鸟种群的管理行动而设计的。该项目将对政府部门和非政府组织的自然保护者和保护政策制定者产生直接影响，包括国家(RSPB，Defra，NE)和国际(《迁徙物种公约》理事会，欧盟ORNIS委员会，国际鸟类保护协会)。探索环境变量、生产力和丰度之间的关系需要广泛空间尺度的长期数据。学生将利用长期的公民科学数据集，其中包含丰富性(泛欧洲共同鸟类监测计划，PECBMS)和人口学(欧洲持续努力网站Euro-CES)的监测数据。所有PECBMS和欧洲-CES地点都进行了地理参考，允许从现有数据集中提取已知的影响丰度和当地人口比率的地点级环境特征。例如，这将包括景观组成和配置(CORINE)和初级生产力(增强型植被指数)的测量，以及站点层面的夏季(5-7月)和冬季(11-2月)的月平均降水量和平均最高和最低温度的时间序列将从哥白尼气候数据存储(https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu).The学生将领导这个项目，并开发一个在理解候鸟种群动态和保护方面取得纯粹和应用进展的研究方案。他们还将有机会定制项目的各个方面，以在他们特别感兴趣的领域发展自己的技能和专业知识。该学生将获得并进一步发展一个强大的研究人员和公民科学家网络，研究整个欧洲的候鸟种群，并将受益于与Cat Morison博士的密切合作，Cat Morison博士是我们小组中经验丰富的博士后，他领导了这个项目的分析，他是PDRA的一项新的NERC拨款(2020-2023年；Butler-Pi；Gill&Robinson-Co-is)使用类似的数据集探索欧洲鸟类的种群和人口统计学同步性。这项建议将通过大规模调查和环境数据的建模、实地考察和将研究转化为实践来解决当前的一个主要保护问题，并因此解决NERC最想要的几项技能。具体地说，学生将接受应用生态学概念、统计技能、环境变化对人口影响的模拟、实地数据收集技术、科学陈述和出版以及制定循证政策和保护倡议方面的高级培训。

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.