A network approach to prioritize conservation efforts for migratory birds

Habitat loss can trigger migration network collapse by isolating migratory bird breeding grounds from nonbreeding grounds. Theoretically, habitat loss can have vastly different impacts depending on the site's importance within the migratory corridor. However, migration‐network connectivity and...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Conservation biology 2020-04, Vol.34 (2), p.416-426
Main Authors: Xu, Yanjie, Si, Yali, Takekawa, John, Liu, Qiang, Prins, Herbert H. T., Yin, Shenglai, Prosser, Diann J., Gong, Peng, Boer, Willem F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
bird migration
Birds
Breeding grounds
Breeding sites
Collapse
conectividad
Connectivity
Conservation
conservation designation
Contributed Paper
Contributed Papers
designación de conservación
Habitat loss
Habitats
migración de aves
Migratory birds
Migratory species
network
Nodes
Protected areas
pérdida de hábitat
redes
Removal
Tracking
Wildlife conservation
保护设定
栖息地丧失
网络
连通性
鸟类迁徙
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Habitat loss can trigger migration network collapse by isolating migratory bird breeding grounds from nonbreeding grounds. Theoretically, habitat loss can have vastly different impacts depending on the site's importance within the migratory corridor. However, migration‐network connectivity and the impacts of site loss are not completely understood. We used GPS tracking data on 4 bird species in the Asian flyways to construct migration networks and proposed a framework for assessing network connectivity for migratory species. We used a node‐removal process to identify stopover sites with the highest impact on connectivity. In general, migration networks with fewer stopover sites were more vulnerable to habitat loss. Node removal in order from the highest to lowest degree of habitat loss yielded an increase of network resistance similar to random removal. In contrast, resistance increased more rapidly when removing nodes in order from the highest to lowest betweenness value (quantified by the number of shortest paths passing through the specific node). We quantified the risk of migration network collapse and identified crucial sites by first selecting sites with large contributions to network connectivity and then identifying which of those sites were likely to be removed from the network (i.e., sites with habitat loss). Among these crucial sites, 42% were not designated as protected areas. Setting priorities for site protection should account for a site's position in the migration network, rather than only site‐specific characteristics. Our framework for assessing migration‐network connectivity enables site prioritization for conservation of migratory species. Un Enfoque de Redes para Priorizar los Esfuerzos de Conservación para las Aves Migratorias Resumen La pérdida del hábitat puede disparar el colapso de las redes de migración al aislar los sitios de reproducción de las aves migratorias de aquellos sitios que no se usan para la reproducción. En teoría, la pérdida del hábitat puede tener impactos muy diferentes dependiendo de la importancia del sitio dentro del corredor migratorio. Sin embargo, la conectividad entre las redes de migración y los impactos de la pérdida de los sitios no están del todo comprendidos. Usamos los datos de seguimiento por GPS de cuatro especies de aves en las rutas de vuelo de Asia para construir redes de migración y propusimos un marco de trabajo para evaluar la conectividad de las redes en las especies migratorias. Usamos un p
ISSN:0888-8892
1523-1739
DOI:10.1111/cobi.13383