Woodland birds

North American birds declined by 29% since 1970

A recent study concludes that the birds of Canada and the United States have taken a substantial hit in the last 49 years. Researchers from several institutions in the U.S. and Canada, including the American Bird Conservancy, the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, and Environment and Climate Change Canada, joined forces for the study.

Devon wildlife threatened by Extinction

At the recent Extinction Rebellion protest in Moretonhamstead as reported in the last edition of The Moorlander, one of the flyers the group were handing out brought attention to the worrying decline in Devon’s wildlife. A 90% decline in Greater Horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) has been seen, 97% of wildflower meadows have been lost since the 1930s, Nightingales (Luscinia megarhynchos) no longer breed in Devon; the last pair was recorded in 1993.

Viele insektenfressende Vögel sterben

Ob Bachstelze (Motacilla alba), Kiebitz (Vanellus vanellus) oder Rauchschwalbe (Hirundo rustica): Die Zahl der insektenfressenden Vögel ist in den vergangenen 25 Jahren europaweit deutlich zurückgegangen. Durchschnittlich um 13 Prozent sank die Zahl dieser Vögel einer im Fachjournal Conservation Biology veröffentlichten Studie zufolge. Bei den insektenfressenden Ackerland-Vögeln sei der Rückgang sehr viel stärker als bei den insektenfressenden Waldvögeln.

Study Suggests Drastic Decline of Insects in Rain Forests

The researchers measured the forest’s insects and other invertebrates, including spiders and centipedes by using trap methods with sticky plates and nets in the canopy. They collected the critters and larvae that crawled through the vegetation and examined the density of population. Each technique revealed that the dry weight of the captured insects were very less when compared to 1976. The researchers observed that there has been a significant decline in the population of insects of all species since 1976.

The ruffed grouse is an endangered species

Indiana’s wildlife authorities report that the number of ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) is less than 1% of the population it was just 40 years ago. The number of breeding birds has declined steadily over the past 25 years. The bird is completely gone from at least 15 of the state’s 92 counties and in the other 77 to numbers are down drastically. Officials in 18 other states across a wide geographic area — New England, the upper Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, the Appalachians – might wind up going the route of the Hoosier State.

Massive reductions in arthropod abundance in Puerto Rico’s rainforest are indirectly precipitating a collapse of the forest food web

Arthropods, invertebrates including insects that have external skeletons, are declining at an alarming rate. While the tropics harbor the majority of arthropod species, little is known about trends in their abundance. We compared arthropod biomass in Puerto Rico’s Luquillo rainforest with data taken during the 1970s and found that biomass had fallen 10 to 60 times. Our analyses revealed synchronous declines in the lizards, frogs, and birds that eat arthropods.

Neonicotinoid Residues in Nectar and Foliage of Systemically Treated Woody Landscape Plants

We measured uptake and dissipation of soil-applied imidacloprid and dinotefuran in nectar and leaves of 2 woody plant species, a broadleaf evergreen tree (Ilex attenuata) and a deciduous shrub (Clethra alnifolia), to assess concentrations to which pollinators and pests might be exposed in landscape settings. Three application timings, autumn (postbloom), spring (prebloom), and summer (early postbloom), were evaluated to see if taking advantage of differences in the neonicotinoids’ systemic mobility and persistence might enable pest control while minimizing transference into nectar.

Alarm over toxic pesticide sprayed on Scotland’s woodlands

Scotland’s forests are treated and sprayed every year with hundreds of kilograms of a toxic pesticide blamed for killing bees and butterflies, The Ferret can reveal. Our investigation has uncovered widespread use of the nicotine-based insecticide, acetamiprid, by the forestry industry, provoking concerns from experts and alarm from environmentalists who fear “creeping degradation” of nature.

Butterfly numbers in the UK's woods have dropped by almost 60% since 1990

Since 1990, butterfly numbers have dropped by 58 per cent in woods, a government study has found. The report was published in June 2018 by the Department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra). Woodland species that are struggling include the brown argus, common blue, peacock and purple hairstreak .In response to the report, charities have claimed that reform is needed to the country's farming laws in order to protect the environment in the wake of Brexit. They say the latest figures offer more evidence to support expert predictions of an 'ecological Armageddon'.

Breeding birds are in considerable decline in the Ajloun Forest Reserve

Densities and populations of most breeding bird species in Ajloun Forest Reserve have “considerably declined” over the past three years in the evergreen Oak forest, a newly-released study carried out by the studies section at the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) in 2017 indicated. Ajloun Forest Reserve is located in the Ajloun highlands north of Amman and covers 13 square kilometers.