According to a study, Europe now has 421 million less birds no thanks to urbanization and modern farming methods. The most commonly affected species are the most common ones, like starlings, grey partridges, skylarks, and house sparrows.
Published in the journal Ecology Letters, the study was carried out by researchers from the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and the University of Exeter. It brought together data from surveys done in 25 countries involving 144 species of birds in Europe and used different national monitoring schemes.
While majority of the decline in numbers were attributed to common birds, not all of the common species experienced a drop in their population. Blackbirds, blue tits, great tits, and robins registered an increase in numbers, as well as rarer species like stone curlews, buzzards, ravens, and marsh harriers. A spike in the population of rarer birds is likely the result of legal protection and direct conservation in Europe.
"The study brings a very important message to conservation practice in Europe. This would not have been possible without thousands of skilled volunteer fieldworkers who count birds according to high scientific standards and contribute their data to the national monitoring schemes," explained PECBMS' Petr Vorisek.
Richard Gregory, Species Monitoring and Research Head at the Centre for Conservation Science in RSPB, adds that the results of the study is a warning, highlighting the fact that current environmental management efforts are not sustainable for many of the birds in Europe.
Birds are beneficial to society, helping control agricultural pests, dispersing seeds, and scavenging carcasses to facilitate removal in the environment. Additionally, many people turn to birds as their primary means of interaction with wildlife, listening to bird song, feeding garden birds, and observing birds in their natural environment.
While conservation efforts have greatly contributed towards preserving and improving the numbers of some species, the researchers suggest that more generous funding will allow more wide-scale effort towards developing environmental improvement programs. In the city, these could mean green space projects and agri-environment schemes built upon past schemes, delivering real outcomes for both rare and common bird species.
Aside from Vorisek and Gregory, other authors for the study include: Richard Inger, James P. Duffy, Ian Stott, and Kevin J. Gaston. Titled "Common European birds are declining rapidly while less abundant species' numbers are rising," the study received funding support from the European Commission and the RSPB.
