Site-level connectivity identified from multiple sources of movement data to inform conservation of a migratory bird

Beal, Martin, Nightingale, Josh, Belo, João R., Batey, Chris, Belting, Heinrich, Bocher, Pierrick, Burgess, Malcolm, Craft, Taylor B., Crockford, Nicola, Delaporte, Philippe, Donaldson, Lynda, Gélinaud, Guillaume, Gill, Jennifer A., Gunnarsson, Tómas G., Þórisson, Böðvar, Gutiérrez, Jorge S., Hooijmeijer, Jos C. E. W., Howison, Ruth A., Hunke, Philip, Jomat, Loïc, Lemke, Hilger, Ludwig, Jürgen, Majoor, Frank A., Marlow, Christopher, Masero, José A., Melter, Johannes, Nicholson, Ian, Parejo, Manuel, O'Mahony, Barry, Pasanen, Esko, Pessa, Jorma, Piersma, Theunis, Rocha, Afonso D., Robin, Frederic, Roodbergen, Maja, Rousseau, Pierre, Salewski, Volker, Schmidt, Luis, Smart, Jennifer, Staneva, Anna, Tibbitts, T. Lee, Timonen, Sami, Alves, José A. and Dias, Maria P. (2025) Site-level connectivity identified from multiple sources of movement data to inform conservation of a migratory bird. Journal of Applied Ecology. ISSN 0021-8901

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Abstract

1. Migratory birds depend on a suite of sites across their annual cycles, making them vulnerable to a wide variety of anthropogenic pressures. Current area-based conservation measures have been found inadequate to safeguard migratory birds, in part due to a lack of consideration for the connectivity between sites mediated by the movements of individuals. 2. To address this issue, we develop a network analysis integrating different types of individual movement data for a migratory shorebird, the Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa), across the East Atlantic Flyway. Leveraging metal-ring recoveries, colour-ring re-sightings, and satellite tracking from over 10,000 individual godwits, we quantify variation in connectivity between sites across the migratory range, using two weighted metrics to address sampling biases. 3. Colour-ring re-sightings provided the largest number of sites (70%) and links (60% for November–May, and 43% for June–October) overall, followed by tracking data (50% of sites, 49% and 63% of links per season) and ring recoveries (25% of sites. 4. We identified 49 sites playing a disproportionate role in the site network, each with direct connections to 48 (interquartile range 32-84) other sites, on average. Just 23 (47%) top sites are formally recognized for their international importance for Black-tailed Godwits and 33 (67%) were robust to sampling incompleteness. Across all 1058 sites, 20% lacked protected area coverage, and per site, 44% (44% +/- SD) of bird relocations fell within protected areas. 5.Integrating multiple sources of data improved geographical coverage and completeness of the site network, allowing us to quantify the importance of sites in terms of connectivity across the flyway. Our results highlight shortcomings of existing area-based conservation measures and add value to ongoing efforts to identify important sites for migratory birds. 6.Policy implications: The increasing availability of individual movement data provides valuable opportunities to reveal the inter-dependence of sites used by migratory species, which can help identify priority areas and facilitate flyway-scale management.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT: The tracking data analysed in this study are available in Movebank (https://www.movebank.org/) under the following study IDs: 1923591036, 1693518103, 325569416, 49547785, 69402287, 75360602, 76429224, 163516781, 170829089, 175328223, 282596404, 293970900, 484019425, 652989041, 831990025, 878914763, 1105026166, 1145538280, 1183466126, 1482505185, 1482506572, 1487044886, 1498143083, 1563249841, 1658294759, 1693518103, 1751337831, 2083443328, 2098519852 and ring recovery records are available upon request from the Euring Data Bank (https://euring.org/). All data derivatives and analysis code are available in a Zenodo repository https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14097532 (Beal, 2024). FUNDING INFORMATION: ‘Project Godwit’ is a partnership between RSPB and WWT with major funding from the EU LIFE Nature Programme and Natural England (LIFE15/NAT/UK/000753). Tracking and colour ringing in Lower Saxony was funded by the European Union and the Ministry of Environment of Lower Saxony (LIFE10 NAT/DE/011, LIFE19 IPE/DE/00004). Research by University of Extremadura has been funded by Grant PID2020-117199GA-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. Research by the University of Groningen team has been funded in 2020-2025 by the Ministry of LNV, Vogelbescherming Nederland (VBN), Provinces Fryslân, Overijssel, Groningen, Gelderland, Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, EU LIFE IP GrassBirdHabitats and the University of Groningen; builds on research funding in 2004–2019 by the Ministry of LNV, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Province of Fryslân, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) for the TOP grant “Shorebirds in space” and the 2014 Spinoza Premium to T. Piersma; by contributions from the University of Groningen, VBN and World Wildlife Fund to the Chair in Global Flyway Ecology at the University of Groningen, large anonymous donations, the Gieskes-Strijbis Fund; and by contributions from the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund (through It Fryske Gea) and the Van der Hucht De Beukelaar Foundation. Financial support to CESAM was provided by FCT/MCTES (UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020+LA/P/0094/2020); to CE3C by BirdLife International, The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB); and Vogelbescherming Nederland (VBN) under project ‘EAFConnect’. Any use of trade, firm or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government.
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Organisms and the Environment
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	13 Nov 2024 09:30
Last Modified:	16 Jan 2025 01:08
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/97670
DOI:	10.1111/1365-2664.14839

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