Conservation Challenges “Habitat” Effects Land cover change Urbanization Agriculture Land use Natural resources Forestry Fishing Energy Recreation Communication Cell towers “Habitat”-Independent Effects Stewarding, Reserving, and Restoring Habitat are necessary, but NOT SUFFICIENT Exotic Species Disease Overharvest Climate Change Pollution

Conservation Challenges “Habitat” Effects Land cover change Urbanization Agriculture Land use Natural resources Forestry Fishing Energy Recreation Communication Cell towers “Habitat”-Independent Effects Stewarding, Reserving, and Restoring Habitat are necessary, but NOT SUFFICIENT Exotic Species Disease Overharvest Climate Change Pollution √ √ √ √ √ √

Factors associated with the extinction of bird species as identified on the IUCN Red List (www.redlist .org) Threat / Number of Extinctions Invasive Species 84 Natural Ressource Use Hunting/trapping 63 Logging and wood harvest 37 Gathering plants 2 Fishing/harvesting aquatics 4 Agriculture Crops 14 Ranching 11 Natural System Modification Fire suppression 9 Other 2 Climate Change / Weather 7 Human Disturbance Recreation 2 Work 2 Development (Housing and Urbanization) 3 Pollution 2 Geological Event 1

Agriculture Global changes:1700-1990 (Meyer and Turner 1992) Cropland +392 - 466% Irrigated Cropland +2400% Closed Forest -15.1% Forest and woodland -14.9% Grassland/pasture -1% Lands drained 1.6 x 106 km2 Urban settlement 2.5 x 106 km2 Rural settlement 2.1 x 106 km2 (Lambin et al. 2001)

An Example From Czech Republic All Species An Example From Czech Republic Farmland Specialists (Reif et al. 2008) Continued decline could be due to: 1. Factors other than Ag 2. Lag effect 3. Cumulative effect of loss of farm area 4. Abandonment of farms Generalists Bird Declines continued despite reduction in Agricultural Intensity after fall of communism

Getting a Feel for the Land

Nebraska Farm Practices

Nebraska Birds

Improving Agriculture for Birds Intensification generally reduces bird diversity Set asides help (CRP lands, field borders, no till) Herkert 2009

Fishing and Seabirds Eiders and cockles We hypothesize that the population of common eiders collapsed as a result of a combination of factors: heavy fishing pressure on high density cockle banks and rather low stocks in mussel cultures over the past 10 years (Camphuysen et al. 2002)

Spotted Owl Declines in Washington (Forsman et al. unpublished)

Invasive Species (Livezey 2009)

(Livezey 2009)

Disease Example from California (Wheeler et al. 2009)

Cold Water

Local Effects on Goshawk Prey (Bloxton et al.)

When prey decline, hawks have to move more

Lack of prey and increased movement lead to lower reproduction and survivorship

Climate Change European Migrants 1970 – 1990: big birds and those not in ag areas had best population trends 1990 – 2000: change in migration date most important, habitat specialization also associated with declining populations (Møller et al. 2008)

Adapt or Go Extinct

What to Do? Birds are smart Birds are mobile Birds can evolve rapidly But when population size is greatly reduced, extinction happens Keep population size (effective population size) large, so innovation and adaptation can continue to occur

Conservation Manifesto Active Management to Reduce Limiting Factors Reservation Restoration Reconciliation Sustainable Concern Engage people to adopt a land ethic generally and bird ethic specifically Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept of land. We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics. (Leopold 1948)

A Bird Friendly Morality Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s lawn. Thou shall not allow thy cat to roam. Thou shall make thy windows visible. Thou shall not light the night sky. Thou shall provide food and nest boxes. Thou shall not kill native predators. Thou shall abhor uniformity. Thou shall provide safe passage across thy roadways. Thou shall provide functional connections between terrestrial and aquatic worlds. Thou shall nurture the human bond with nearby nature.

Thoughts from the Farm Reduce meat in our diet, esp. grain-fed beef 40% of crops are not eaten; cows burp methane Know your farmer / buy local Waste less Couple agricultural intensification (to close yield gaps) with land sparing, efficient chemical/water use Adopt wildlife-friendly farming on low intensity farms and ranches Tolerate predators Fallow land Keep hedgerows and natural patches Incentivize doing the right thing 2014 Farm Bill sends 6% to conservation CRP pays $150/acre, but corn or soy can net $200-400 Enable farm ownership by women, young farmers of future.

Your Values? our industrial agrarian systems “which divert 40 percent of all food to feed animals or create fuels, suggest that dietary and transportation preferences of wealthier individuals are considered more important than feeding undernourished people, or the stability of the wider biotic community.” Hennig (2015, Daedalus144:90-98)

References Camphuysen, C. J., et al. 2002. Mass mortality of common eiders in the Dutch Wadden Sea, winter 1999/2000: starvation in a commercially exploited wetland of international importance. Biological Conservation 106:303-317. Herkert, J. R. 2009. Response of bird populations to farmland set-aside programs. Conservation Biology 23:1036-1040. Livezey, K. B. 2009a. Range expansion of barred owls, part I: Chronology and distribution. Am. Midl. Nat 161:49-56. Livezey, K. B. 2009b. Range expansion of barred owls, Part II: Facilitating ecological changes. Am. Midl. Nat. 161:323-349. Reif, J. et al. 2008. Agricultural intensification and farmland birds: new insights from a central European country. Ibis 150:596-605. Wheeler, S. S. et al. 2009. Differential impact of West Nile virus on California birds. The Condor 111:1-20.