DOCSLIB.ORG

Climate Connections

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Climate Connections Climate Connections towards low carbon high biodiversity economies Policy Futures Series No 3/2011 About the Scottish Wildlife Trust THE SCOTTISH WILDLIFE TRUST, established in 1964, has the charitable purpose to advance the conservation of Scotland’s biodiversity for the benefit of present and future generations. With more than 36,000 members, over 120 reserves and a network of volunteers the length and breadth of the country, we are proud to say we are now the largest voluntary body working for all the wildlife of Scotland. Our vision is of a network of healthy and resilient ecosystems supporting expanding communities of native species across large areas of Scotland’s land, water and seas. This is the ‘Ecosystem Approach’, which is the basis of The Wildlife Trusts’ UK Living Landscapes and Living Seas initiatives. This report should be cited as: Galbraith C.A., Hughes J. and King A. (2011) Climate Connections: towards low carbon high biodiversity economies. Scottish Wildlife Trust, Edinburgh. Contents Executive summary ii Introduction iii Part 1 1 What we know Part 2 9 What we can do Part 3 27 Looking to the future Bibliography 31 Annexes 35 Front cover images: bluebell wood; tractor with seagulls © Charlie Phillips; nuthatch © W.E. Middleton. Above left image © Niall Benvie. Acknowledgements We wish to thank Oliver Davies and Maggie Keegan (Scottish Wildlife Trust), Ed Taylor (Prince’s Foundation for Built Environment), the Trust’s Conservation Committee and Clifton Bain (IUCN UK Peatland Programme) for their contributions to this report. We would also like to thank Ed Mackey, Greg Mudge, Sue Marrs and Duncan Blake of SNH, and Ruth Wolstenhome of SNIFFER for help in sourcing material. SNH, SEPA, SNIFFER, IPCC and the Millennium Scottish Wildlife Trust Ecosystem Assessment kindly gave permission for use of Cramond House several Figures and Tables. 3 Kirk Cramond Any opinions, conclusions or errors in this report are the sole Edinburgh EH4 6HZ responsibility of the authors. T 0131 312 7765 Publication © Scottish Wildlife Trust, 2011. F 0131 312 8705 W www.swt.org.uk Executive summary This report explains how the maintenance and The key messages contained within this report, listed restoration of ecosystem health can play a key role below, are focused on Scotland, but are applicable to in helping balance Scotland’s carbon budget and countries across Europe: create a low carbon, high biodiversity economy. • The restoration of ecosystem health could make Prerequisites to the restoration of ecosystem health a major contribution to achieving Scotland’s 42% include the recovery of species populations, the greenhouse gas emissions reduction target by improvement of habitat quality and the building of 2020. functional connections between fragmented patches • Through focusing on relatively cheap ‘natural of habitat. By focusing effort on the restoration of fixes’ such as peatland maintenance and ecosystem health, Scotland will make significant restoration, woodland creation and management, progress towards achieving ambitious greenhouse de-intensification of agricultural systems and gas emissions reduction targets (42% by 2020) the greening of settlements, Scotland could also and at the same time hit targets to halt the loss of achieve its targets to halt biodiversity loss by biodiversity by 2020. 2020. • Restoring ecosystem health will make habitats The peatlands of Scotland alone store a stock more resilient in the face of climatic and of carbon 3 times that of all forests and other environmental change, helping us adapt to the vegetation: nearly 200 times the carbon contained worst effects of global warming. within the nation’s total annual greenhouse gas • In towns and cities, the greening of the emissions. A loss of just 1.6% of this peatland carbon urban ecosystem could create more liveable is equivalent to the total annual human carbon settlements, adapted to the challenges of higher emissions in Scotland. Active peatlands, growing temperatures and changing weather patterns forests and sustainably managed uplands will all such as more intensive rainfall. sequester and lock up carbon in soils and biomass. • We already understand how to restore degraded Using this ‘natural fix’ will help reduce the estimated ecosystems and what the key threats to ecosystem 1.5Gt of global carbon emissions arising from land health are (Hughes and Brooks, 2009). We simply use change every year (Trumper et al, 2009). need to ensure policy, regulation and incentives are designed to allow this work to happen. The cost of implementing a system of land use • The development of ecosystem health indicators which delivers carbon sequestering landscapes is is urgently required to help monitor change and at least as cost effective (in terms of £ per tonne of to target action towards key systemic threats to CO2 saved) when compared with technological fixes. ecosystem health. This report outlines what such Such a land use system will also deliver other vital indicators might look like for Scotland. ecosystem services including biodiversity, clean water, flood amelioration, soil protection, cleaner The most important section of this report is Part cities and recreational benefits. Provision of these 3, which details ‘20 policies for 2020’ based on public benefits on private land may lead to small evidence gathered during the writing of this report. reductions in productivity and income. Such changes These have been developed to be both affordable from the de-intensification of land use will need to and deliverable within 10 years, although some be compensated for through well designed agri- fundamental changes to incentives and regulation environment payments schemes. will be required if many of them are to happen. ii Climate Connections Introduction Action to tackle climate change and efforts to How we plan our towns and cities for a sustainable prevent biodiversity loss are two sides of the same future, what transport systems we should have, coin. This report makes the case that maintaining how we manage our countryside and how we look and restoring ecosystem health is a prerequisite to after our peatlands are all key issues that require mitigating the impacts of, and adapting to, climate decisions now to inform future management. Recent change. The creation of carbon sequestering years have seen a number of legislative and policy landscapes and ‘climate change ready’ cityscapes changes from government in Scotland that provide a offers new opportunities to re-balance our carbon framework and clear targets for action. The Climate budget whilst creating environments that provide Change (Scotland) Act 2009 sets challenging targets for the needs of both the human population and for emissions reduction and is a key part of this new for biodiversity. legislative framework, as is the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010. In addition, major policy initiatives have been This report highlights the steps necessary to restore launched including the Scottish Land Use Strategy ecosystem health through maintenance and (Scottish Government, 2011a). Clearly, this is a period improvement of ecosystem services: those essential of real opportunity for the development of actions processes that we obtain from the environment and new ideas that will simultaneously help recover including clean air, clean water, pollination, biodiversity, improve the health of ecosystems and biodiversity assets, flood protection and soil for foster a low carbon economy. food production. It considers also how maintaining ecosystem health is essential in the fight against Of course, this new approach will not happen climate change and in maintaining our economy, spontaneously, and this report makes a series of prosperity and well-being (EASAC, 2009). These interlinked recommendations for policy development approaches echo some of the key issues raised in and for action to help in the creation of resilient, The Economics of Climate Change: the Stern Review biologically diverse and carbon sequestering (Stern, 2007), which analysed the overall financial landscapes. This report is aimed at the policy costs of climate change. Ensuring ecosystem health community, decision makers, parliamentarians is potentially a triple win, helping climate change and officials, as well as third sector organisations. adaptation, mitigation and assisting biodiversity It is written with a focus on Scotland, but many of conservation (World Bank, 2008). This report the issues highlighted are common across much of will begin to reveal the true value of a natural fix Europe. (Trumper et al, 2009) to these problems, working with the grain of nature rather than against it. Some of the issues covered in this report have been considered at a global level by a range of bodies. For example, the Intergovernmental Panel Box 1: converging agendas on Climate Change (IPCC, 2000, 2007) is addressing issues related to climate, and the Intergovernmental • 1990s – biodiversity conservation Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and • Late 1990s – biodiversity and people Ecosystem Services (IPBES, 2011) will perform • Early 2000s – biodiversity, people and a similar role in relation to biodiversity and ecosystem services ecosystems. The UK National Ecosystem Assessment • The future – biodiversity, people, (Watson and Albon, 2010) has also drawn attention ecosystem health and climate change to the considerable economic value of the services we obtain from the environment. Climate Connections iii The clear message emerging from these initiatives is
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Two Colonisation Stages Generate Two Different Patterns of Genetic Diversity Within Native and Invasive Ranges of Ulex Europaeus
    Heredity (2013) 111, 355–363 & 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved 0018-067X/13 www.nature.com/hdy ORIGINAL ARTICLE Two colonisation stages generate two different patterns of genetic diversity within native and invasive ranges of Ulex europaeus B Hornoy1,3, A Atlan1, V Roussel1,4, YM Buckley2 and M Tarayre1 Genetic diversity and the way a species is introduced influence the capacity of populations of invasive species to persist in, and adapt to, their new environment. The diversity of introduced populations affects their evolutionary potential, which is particularly important for species that have invaded a wide range of habitats and climates, such as European gorse, Ulex europaeus. This species originated in the Iberian peninsula and colonised Europe in the Neolithic; over the course of the past two centuries it was introduced to, and has become invasive in, other continents. We characterised neutral genetic diversity and its structure in the native range and in invaded regions. By coupling these results with historical data, we have identified the way in which gorse populations were introduced and the consequences of introduction history on genetic diversity. Our study is based on the genotyping of individuals from 18 populations at six microsatellite loci. As U. europaeus is an allohexaploid species, we used recently developed tools that take into account genotypic ambiguity. Our results show that genetic diversity in gorse is very high and mainly contained within populations. We confirm that colonisation occurred in two stages. During the first stage, gorse spread out naturally from Spain towards northern Europe, losing some genetic diversity. During the second stage, gorse was introduced by humans into different regions of the world, from northern Europe.
    [Show full text]
  • Re-Thinking Impacts of Island Colonisation
    Kerry-Anne Mairs (2007) Islands and human impact... University of Edinburgh, Unpublished PhD Thesis. 398 pp. Chapter 3: Island contexts Chapter 3 Island contexts Introduction Perhaps the thing that most distinguishes islands, at least oceanic islands… is their extreme vulnerability or susceptibility to disturbance (Fosberg 1963: 559). This chapter examines the wider context of island research as introduced in the framework in Figure 1.5 with regards to the notion that islands represent a model system, from which globally occurring processes can be understood. The chapter aims to provide a brief overview of islands and what characterises them, both as islands, and as locations from which to explore human-environment interactions. Recent examples of human-environment research in some Pacific islands, where wide ranging archaeological and comparative-led research has been carried out, are also reviewed. From this research, hypotheses regarding human impacts on environments can be developed with regards to the Faroe Islands. Island contexts as models for human impact and global change The smaller, more manageable spatial scale and insularity of island environments and societies, has made islands (particularly remote islands) popular field locations for research in a variety of disciplines, including biology, ecology, biogeography, ethnography and more recently, environmental archaeology. Islands have been referred to as outdoor laboratories (Kirch 1997a, Fitzhugh and Hunt 1997), where human-environment research can be approached from a comparative
    [Show full text]
  • The Great White Egret in Europe: Population Increase and Range Expansion Since 1980 Łukasz Ławicki
    The Great White Egret in Europe: population increase and range expansion since 1980 Łukasz Ławicki Abstract The European breeding and non-breeding populations of the Great White Egret Ardea alba have increased dramatically since 1980. During this period the breeding range has expanded to the north and west, and the species has nested for the first time in 13 countries, including Sweden and England. Since 2000 there has also been a substantial increase in the wintering populations in western and central Europe, where it formerly wintered in small numbers or only occasionally, with flocks of several hundred individuals reported from some countries. Changes in the availability of foraging habitat and food, the cessation of persecution and related human-induced mortality, improved legal protection, and climate change have probably all played a part in the patterns described here. The feathers of the male are much sought after as decorations, which in the East are a sign of great dignity and highly prized; formerly they were used in Europe as ornamentation by knights and the fair sex. (Taczanowski 1882) he Great White Egret Ardea alba is a Historical status and distribution cosmopolitan species, found on all It seems likely that Great White Egrets were Tcontinents except Antarctica in a common in central Europe in the past. In variety of wetland habitats where food (espe - Poland, for example, they were commonly cially fish) is available: marshes, river flood - hunted using Saker Falcons Falco cherrug plains, the margins of lakes, ponds and (Stajszczyk 2011). Historically, a core area of reservoirs, coasts, estuaries and mangrove the population was probably present-day thickets (Voisin 1991; Kushlan & Hancock Ukraine and Hungary.
    [Show full text]
  • Scotland Europa Members' Response to the European Commission Public
    22 July 2015 Scotland Europa Scotland House Rond‐Point Schuman 6 1040 Brussels, Belgium EU Transparency Register ID: 01312486176‐25 Scotland Europa members’ response to the European Commission public consultation on the Fitness Check of EU Nature Legislation (Birds and Habitats Directives) Scotland Europa welcomes the opportunity to respond to the European Commission’s public consultation. Our member organisations recognise that our nature and biodiversity are among Scotland’s greatest assets – a natural capital that provides huge benefits for some of our key economic sectors like tourism, food and drink, as well as for the wellbeing of society as a whole. (For more information on Scotland’s biodiversity strategy, consult the 2020 Challenge for Scotland’s Biodiversity1.) This response brings together the input from our membership, a large part of which takes a key interest in environment policy, as it represents government agencies as well as regulated industry, land owners, research and academia and environmental NGOs. (See the Annex at the end of this document for a full list of contributing member organisations.) Bearing in mind the wide and diverse reach of our organisation, this submission should not be seen as a position paper representing the lowest common denominator – it is rather a collection of evidence from Scotland and our actors involved in and impacted by EU nature legislation. This consultation exercise has indeed been useful for us in Scotland as an opportunity to sit down and reflect and share experiences on what has worked well, less well, and to what extent existing policy and legislative tools allow us to effectively bridge any challenges together.
    [Show full text]
  • Local Extinction and Colonisation in Native and Exotic Fish in Relation to Changes in Land
    Local extinction and colonisation in native and exotic fish in relation to changes in land use Dorothée Kopp, Jordi Figuerola, Arthur Compin, Frédéric Santoul, Régis Céréghino To cite this version: Dorothée Kopp, Jordi Figuerola, Arthur Compin, Frédéric Santoul, Régis Céréghino. Local extinction and colonisation in native and exotic fish in relation to changes in land use. Marine and Freshwater Research, CSIRO Publishing, 2011, vol. 63, pp. 175-179. 10.1071/MF11142. hal-00913592 HAL Id: hal-00913592 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00913592 Submitted on 4 Dec 2013 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Open Archive TOULOUSE Archive Ouverte (OATAO) OATAO is an open access repository that collects the work of Toulouse researchers and makes it freely available over the web where possible. This is an author-deposited version published in : http://oatao.univ-toulouse.fr/ Eprints ID : 10194 To link to this article : DOI:10.1071/MF11142 URL : http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/MF11142 To cite this version : Kopp, Dorothée and Figuerola, Jordi and Compin, Arthur and Santoul, Frédéric and Céréghino, Régis. Local extinction and colonisation in native and exotic fish in relation to changes in land use.
    [Show full text]
  • OUTLINE for THIS WEEK Lec 11 – 13 METAPOPULATIONS Concept --> Simple Model Spatially Realistic Metapopulation Models De
    OUTLINE FOR THIS WEEK Lec 11 – 13 METAPOPULATIONS concept --> simple model Spatially realistic metapopulation models Design and Implementation Pluses/minuses The importance of the MATRIX CORRIDORS (as a conservation tool) THE BASICS Levins 1970 - first used term metapopulation “a population of populations” a group of local populations that are linked by immigration and emigration Approach Model population persistence NOT population size Local populations are reduced to two values 0 local extinction, 1 local persistence Metapopulation operates at a larger spatial scale examines proportion of patches that are occupied The classical metapopulation All patches are the same No spatial structure Large number of patches time Change is due to Extinction and Colonization Metapopulations are buffered by rescue effects or recolonisation after local extinction Modelling the classical metapopulation Extinctions = extinction rate x prop’n patches occupied = e.p Colonization = colonization rate x prop’n unoccupied patches = cp. (1-p) E C 0 1 p 0 p 1 At EQUILIBRIUM Extinction = Colonization ep = cp (1-p) Q. What influences P*= 1- e/c Extinction Graphically Colonization C or E 0 p 1 Classical metapulations and habitat loss Loss of a patch Reduced patch size --> a reduced colonization rate !increased! extinction !reduced! colonization 0 1 Pnew Porig 0 1 P Pnew orig The classical metapopulation model is UNREALISTIC all patches are the same size all patches are equally connected BUT patches in nature vary in size and isolation Spatially realistic metapopulation
    [Show full text]
  • Evidence for Colonisation of Anthropogenic Habitats by the Réunion Day Gecko Phelsuma Borbonica (Mertens, 1966) (Réunion Island, France): Conservation Implications
    Herpetology Notes, volume 10: 563-571 (2017) (published online on 18 October 2017) Evidence for colonisation of anthropogenic habitats by the Réunion day gecko Phelsuma borbonica (Mertens, 1966) (Réunion Island, France): conservation implications Stéphane Augros1,*, Lisa Faipoux2, Manon Bodin2, Arnaud Le Goff1, Mickaël Sanchez3 and Johanna Clémencet2 Abstract. Réunion Island landscapes are today characterised by a complex mosaic of ecosystems in varying degrees of alteration. Changes in natural areas result in hybrid ecosystems, retaining some original characteristics (e.g. native species) as well as novel elements (e.g. introduced species). Previous studies demonstrate that substantially modified areas could represent valuable habitats for some species of Phelsuma. Here, we examine a population of the Réunion day gecko, Phelsuma borbonica, in habitats characterised by different degrees of human influence to improve the understanding of the distribution of this species outside its native area. Distribution, edge effect, artificial structure attractiveness and degree of habitats alteration were quantified with four distinct protocols. We found that availability of egg laying sites, and edge effect should be considered as potential drivers to explain the species observed distribution within highly disturbed areas dominated by introduced plant species and scattered with artificial structures. Consequently, anthropogenic habitats must be seen in certain cases as areas of importance for the endangered P. borbonica. Because hybridecosystems
    [Show full text]
  • Potential Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Wild Animal Welfare
    Potential effects of habitat fragmentation on wild animal welfare Matthew Allcock1,3 and Luke Hecht2,3,* 1 School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sheffield, Hounsfield Road, Sheffield S3 7RH, UK 2 Department of Biosciences, Durham University, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK 3 Animal Ethics, 4200 Park Blvd. #129, Oakland, CA 94602, USA *to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected] 1. Introduction The habitats of wild animals change in significant ways, attributable to both anthropogenic and naturogenic causes. Habitat changes affect the welfare of inhabiting populations directly, such as by decreasing the available food, and indirectly, such as by adjusting the evolutionary fitness of behavioral and physical traits that affect the welfare of the animals who express them. While by no means simple, estimating the direct welfare effects of habitat changes, which often occur over a short timescale, seems tractable. The same cannot yet be said for the indirect effects, which are dominated by long-term considerations and can be chaotic due to the immense complexity of natural ecosystems. In terms of wild animal welfare, it is plausible that the indirect effects of habitat change dominate the direct effects because they occur over many generations, affecting many more individuals. Accounting for such long-term impacts is a crucial objective and challenge for those who advocate for research and stewardship of wild animal welfare (e.g. Ng, 2016; Beausoleil et al. 2018; Waldhorn, 2019; Capozzelli et al. 2020). Despite the seemingly lower tractability of predicting long-term and indirect effects, we must consider all impacts of actions to improve wild animal welfare.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 1 Colonisation and Extinction Dynamics of a Declining Migratory Bird Are Influenced by 2 Climate Change and Habitat Degradatio
    1 Running head: colonisation-extinction under climate and habitat change 2 Colonisation and extinction dynamics of a declining migratory bird are influenced by 3 climate change and habitat degradation 4 5 KAREN MUSTIN,1, 2* ARJUN AMAR3, 4 and STEPHEN M. REDPATH5 6 7 1IBES, University of Aberdeen, Zoology Building, Tillydrone Avenue, Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ, 8 UK 9 2The Ecology Centre, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, 10 QLD 4072, Australia 11 3RSPB, Dunedin House, 25 Ravelston Terrace, Edinburgh, EH4 3TP, UK 12 4 Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST/NRF Centre of Excellence, 13 University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7701, Cape Town, South Africa. 14 5ACES, University of Aberdeen and Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, 23 St Machar 15 Drive, Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ, UK 16 *corresponding author 17 Email: [email protected] 18 19 Uncovering the mechanisms involved in the decline of long-distance migrants remains one of 20 the most prominent issues in European conservation. Since the 1980s the British breeding 21 population of Garden Warbler Sylvia borin has declined by more than 25%. Here we use data 22 from the Repeat Woodland Bird Survey to show that while the overall population is in 23 decline, the probability of occupancy for this species increased at high latitudes and 24 decreased at low latitudes between the 1980s and 2003-4. Range shifts such as this arise from 25 a change in the ratio of colonisations to extinctions at the range margins, and we therefore 1 26 relate colonisation and local extinction at the patch level to concurrent changes in climate and 27 habitat.
    [Show full text]
  • What's Natural
    The Glasgow Naturalist (2014) Volume 26, Part 1, 11-16 FULL PAPERS What’s natural: a species history of Scotland in the last 10,000 years T.C. Smout University of St Andrews, Institute for Environmental History E-mail: [email protected] oxymoran; nature has never ceased for one moment ABSTRACT to control us. The question of what is natural is considered, and a mismatch is pointed out between the view that man But in common parlance most of us, even scientists, is part of nature and the view that ‘natural’ means all continue to speak as if nature was something apart living things apart from man. The history of man’s from us: we talk of the ‘natural environment’ in ability to change the environment of Scotland is distinction from the ‘built environment’, of Scottish briefly outlined, with reference to climate history Natural Heritage as opposed to Historic Scotland, of and some recent modifications to the view that man the ‘natural world’, as the world apart from reduced Scotland to a ‘wet desert’. The distinction humanity. I shall do the same in the rest of this talk, between native and alien is traced to the Victorians, but this use of nature and natural to mean only the but it did not become set in stone until after the non-human is a matter of subjective convenience, Second World War. The history of mammals is not of scientific reality. discussed with particular reference to island races, and to the varied history of the red squirrel and The whole discussion of re-wilding, and of favouring attitudes towards it.
    [Show full text]
  • Chairman's Report Feb 2014
    SEPA 08/14 Agency Board Meeting 11 February 2014 Board Report Number: SEPA 08/14 Chairman’s Report Summary: This paper highlights points of interest from the Chairman’s diary since the last Board meeting on 12 November 2013. Risks: N/A Financial N/A Implications: Staffing N/A Implications: Environmental and N/A Carbon Impact: Purpose of the For information report: Report Author: David Sigsworth, Chairman Jenny Faichney, External Engagement Unit Manager Appendices: None SEPA 08/14 Chairman’s Report 1. Internal business 1.1 Regulatory Reform I am pleased to inform the Board that the Scottish Parliament on 16 January voted to pass the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Bill and it will shortly become the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Act. This Act, together with improvements to our funding arrangements, will allow us to take a more risk-based, flexible and joined up approach to environmental protection and improvement. The Act contains a new statutory purpose for SEPA which recognises the broad role we have in protecting and improving the environment and also the contribution we can make to Scotland’s communities and economy. The Act will enable a new integrated framework for environmental protection and improvement and a new enforcement framework. This is about building on our strengths to make sure that what we do is valued, visible and delivers tangible results for the environment and for Scotland. Making the changes arising from the Act a reality will be phased in over a number of years and staff will be involved closely in the process. 1.2 Official Opening of Angus Smith Building On 9 December Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Paul Wheelhouse, officially opened the Angus Smith Building, which brings together over 400 staff from SEPA’s scientific, regulatory and other teams into a single, modern, fit-for-purpose facility.
    [Show full text]
  • Turnover Dynamics of Breeding Land Birds on Islands: Is Island Biogeographic Theory ‘True but Trivial’ Over Decadal Time-Scales? †
    diversity Article Turnover Dynamics of Breeding Land Birds on Islands: is Island Biogeographic Theory ‘True but Trivial’ over Decadal Time-Scales? † Duncan McCollin Landscape and Biodiversity Research Group, Faculty of Arts, Science and Technology, The University of Northampton, Avenue Campus, Northampton NN2 6JD, UK; [email protected]; Tel.: +44-016-048-93364 † This paper is based on a talk entitled ‘Turnover dynamics of breeding land birds on islands: ‘true but trivial’ over decadal time-scales?’ presented at the ISLAND BIOLOGY–2016—International Conference on Island Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation (18–22 July 2016). Academic Editor: Paulo A. V. Borges Received: 28 October 2016; Accepted: 28 December 2016; Published: 11 January 2017 Abstract: The theory of island biogeography has revolutionised the study of island biology stimulating considerable debate and leading to the development of new advances in related areas. One criticism of the theory is that it is ‘true but trivial’, i.e., on the basis of analyses of annual turnovers of organisms on islands, it has been posited that stochastic turnover mainly comprises rare species, or repeated immigrations and extinctions thereof, and thereby contribute little to the overall ecological dynamics. Here, both the absolute and relative turnover of breeding land birds are analysed for populations on Skokholm, Wales, over census intervals of 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 years. As expected, over short census intervals (≤6 years), much of the turnover comprised repeated colonisations and extinctions of rare species. However, at longer intervals (12 and 24 years), a sizeable minority of species (11% of the total recorded) showed evidence of colonisation and/or extinction events despite sizeable populations (some upwards of 50 pairs).
    [Show full text]