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The population of Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) in North-Rhine – Westphalia (NRW) has declined severely. Since the 1960s the species has lost an estimated 80% of its population, and from 2009-2014 the population has decreased by 40% resulting in a current population of a merely c. 12,000 pairs. Areas above 150m asl have been abandoned almost completely. The main reason for the severe declines lies in the agricultural intensification. This led to the loss of the original breeding sites until 1900. The secondary breeding sites, i.e.

Daily records of bird observations were obtained from the Wild Bird Society of Japan bird sanctuary at Lake Utonai, Hokkaido, from 1982 to 2002. We analysed the daily records of four species thought to be experiencing declines: Brown Shrike Lanius cristatus, Black-browed Reed Warbler Acrocephalus bistrigiceps, Chestnut-eared Bunting Emberiza fucata and Yellow-breasted Bunting E. aureola.

Disclosing interactions between pesticides and bee infections is of most interest to understand challenges that pollinators are facing and to which extent bee health is compromised. Here, we address the individual and combined effect that three different pesticides (dimethoate, clothianidin and fluvalinate) and an American foulbrood (AFB) infection have on mortality and the cellular immune response of honeybee larvae.

While many people will be little moved by the loss of ‘creepy crawlies’, a massive extirpation of insects spills over to affect the numbers of birds, frogs, reptiles and fish that rely on insects as food, and the decline of these in turn affects larger animals. It impairs the successful pollination of plants which provide up to a third of the world’s food supply, as well as the renewal of landscapes and forests. Modern plants have evolved largely to depend on insects to fertilise them: lose insects and the whole web of life attenuates and, in some cases, collapses.

We examined the presence of pesticides and nutrients in water and sediment as indicators of habitat quality and assessed the bioaccumulation of pesticides in the tissue of two native amphibian species Pseudacris maculata (chorus frogs) and Lithobates pipiens (leopard frogs) at six wetlands (3 restored and 3 reference) in Iowa, USA. Restored wetlands are positioned on the landscape to receive subsurface tile drainage water while reference wetlands receive water from overland run-off and shallow groundwater sources.

Migratory bird species that feed on air-borne insects are experiencing widespread regional declines. Agricultural intensification in the breeding range is often regarded as one of the main drivers of these declines. Here, we tested the hypothesis that body mass in breeding individuals should reflect habitat quality in an aerial insectivore, the tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), along a gradient of agricultural intensity. Our dataset was collected over 7 years (2005–2011) and included 2918 swallow captures and 1483 broods.

Populations of several long-distance migratory songbirds in Eurasia are in peril, drastically illustrated by the recent range-wide population collapse in the Yellow-breasted Bunting Emberiza aureola. There are signals of a strong decline also in the Rustic Bunting (Emberiza rustica), but no range-wide assessment of population trends in this superabundant and widespread bunting species has yet been undertaken. The conservation status of Rustic Bunting is ‘Least Concern’ on the global IUCN Red List, but it has recently been upgraded to ‘Vulnerable’ on the European Red List.

The current distribution and recent population trends of the Great Bustard ( Otis tarda ) in Iran were investigated based on a literature review and unpublished data (1995–2008) followed by three years of census (2009–2011) in areas where the species is still breeding. Results suggest that Great Bustards have disappeared from a large part of their former distribution in the country, including East Azarbayjan, Hamedan and Kurdistan provinces. The surviving groups are concentrated in West Azarbayjan where numbers are rapidly declining.

Neonicotinoids are the most widely used class of insecticides worldwide, but patterns of their use in the U.S. are poorly documented, constraining attempts to understand their role in pest management and potential nontarget effects. We synthesized publicly available data to estimate and interpret trends in neonicotinoid use since their introduction in 1994, with a special focus on seed treatments, a major use not captured by the national pesticide-use survey.

Birds are the common denizens of the ecosystem and are considered as indicator species of ecosystem health. Various studies depicted the reduced teemingness of several bird species in most parts of the world. Among these birds, the house sparrow (Passer domesticus indicus) is the most familiar species which are co-evolved with man. The disappearance of sparrows has been widely reported from all over the world, including India too. Among Indian states, Kerala is also not an exception.