2025 Publications
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Wu Y, Lei W, Wu E, Pan H, Jia Y, Lu C, Han Y, Wang J, Fan R, Ma Z, Zhang Z & Fuller RA (in prep) A multi-perspective understanding of population change in migratory species: A case study with pied avocets (Recurvirostra avosetta) in East Asia. Biological Conservation, 304, 111048.
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Understanding the population dynamics of migratory species is crucial for their conservation. However, researchers often encounter challenges due to insufficient data, especially when monitoring migratory species throughout their annual cycle. One solution to this issue is to combine multiple types of data. Here we develop and test such an approach, using the Pied Avocet, a migratory waterbird species in East Asia, as a case study. We integrate count data, presence-only records, satellite tracking data, and species distribution models.
Our findings reveal an 85 % increase in the annual population of Pied Avocets in East Asia over the past 13 years, despite inconsistent trends across their four major wintering sites. Tracking data indicated that the species experiences low migratory mortality and a moderate to high overall survival rates, with survival not differing significantly between first-year birds and adults. We estimated a 109 % increase in suitable wintering habitat extent and a 42 % increase in breeding habitat extent for Pied Avocets over the past 20 years. These changes are primarily attributed to the proliferation of artificial wetlands, with climate change also contributing to the expansion of wintering habitats.
We conclude that multi-dimensional sources of evidence can be combined to assess and explain population changes even though data of any particular type are relatively limited. We emphasize the effectiveness and importance of using diverse methods to obtain comprehensive information on the population dynamics of migratory species, while concurrently establishing and improving long-term monitoring networks.
Submitted to Biological Conservation on 27 Feb 2024; revisions requested 15 Jun 2024; resubmitted 11 Feb 2025; accepted 23 Feb 2025; published 28 Feb 2025.
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Oh RRY, Suarez-Castro AF, Fuller RA, Tervo M, Rozario K, Peters B, Chowdhury S, von Gönner J, Friedrichs-Manthey M, Berger A, Schultz T, Dean AJ, Tulloch A & Bonn A (in press, accepted 14 Jan 2025) Using nature-based citizen science initiatives to enhance nature connection and mental health. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 13, 1461601.
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The global rise in mental health issues underscores the critical importance of assessing the mental health benefits of engaging with nature. Beyond their primary aim of involving citizens in scientific data collection, nature-based citizen science initiatives offer significant potential for enhancing outcomes related to conservation (e.g., connection to nature) and human health and wellbeing (e.g., emotions, depression, stress, anxiety). However, the effectiveness of various types of initiatives in achieving specific outcomes remain unclear. This study evaluates changes in eight outcomes related to nature connection and health and wellbeing before and after participation in five initiatives in Australia and Germany. These initiatives varied in ecosystem type (urban parks, terrestrial forests and freshwater streams) and the participation duration (from 15 min to 48 h). We assessed three dimensions of connection to nature (Self, Experience and Perspective) measured by the Nature-Relatedness scale, mental health outcomes (symptoms of depression, stress and anxiety) using the DASS-21 scale, and emotional states (positive and negative emotions) using the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE). We found that while participants generally reported improvements across all measured outcomes, only participation in the Queensland Trust for Nature initiative, characterized by its extended duration and social interactions, demonstrated statistically significant enhancements in mental health and emotions after controlling for socio-economic confounders. These findings suggest that while short-term nature-based interventions can effectively alleviate anxiety and stress symptoms and boost emotions, significant changes in nature connection and depression may require more intensive interventions than what is available through typical citizen science experiences. We advocate for reframing nature-based initiatives as integral components of broader health-promoting strategies. By aligning citizen science efforts with health promotion frameworks, these initiatives can achieve greater impact and simultaneously advance scientific understanding, support conservation strategies while improving human health.
Submitted to Frontiers in Environmental Science on 9 Jul 2024; revision requested soon thereafter; resubmitted 23 Dec 2024; accepted 14 Jan 2025; published 18 Feb 2025.
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Border JA, Pearce-Higgins JW, Hewson CM, Howard C, Stephens PA, Willis SG, Fuller RA, Hanson JO, Sierdsema H, Foppen RPD, Brotons L, Gargallo G, Fink D & Baillie SR (2025) Expanding protected area coverage for migratory birds could improve long-term population trends. Nature Communications, 16, 1813.
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Populations of many migratory taxa have been declining over recent decades. Although protected areas are a cornerstone for conservation, their role in protecting migratory species can be incomplete due to the dynamic distributions of these species. Here, we use a pan-European citizen science bird occurrence dataset (EurobirdPortal) with Spatiotemporal Exploratory Modelling to assess how the weekly distributions of 30 passerine and near passerine species overlap with protected areas in Europe and compare this to range adjusted policy protection targets. Thirteen of our 30 species were inadequately covered by protected areas for some, or all, of the European part of their annual cycle under a target based on the 2020 Convention on Biodiversity framework and none were adequately covered under a target based on the 2030 Convention on Biodiversity framework. Species associated with farmland had the lowest percentage of their weekly distribution protected. The percentage of a species’ distribution within protected areas was positively correlated with its long-term population trend, even after accounting for confounding factors, suggesting a positive influence of protected areas on long-term trends. This emphasises the positive contribution that an informed expansion of the European protected area system could play for the future conservation of migratory land birds.
Submitted to Nature on 12 Apr 2024; desk rejected 18 Apr 2024; submitted to Nature Communications 19 Apr 2024; sent out for review 25 Apr 2024; revisions requested 2 Jul 2024; resubmitted 20 Sep 2024, in-principle accept 3 Dec 2024; resubmitted 18 Jan 2025; accepted 4 Feb 2025; published 20 Feb 2025. -
Lin D-L, Amano T, Fuller RA, Ding T-S & Maron M (2025) Designing biodiversity-friendly landscapes: the effects of landscape heterogeneity across scales on bird species richness in Taiwan. Landscape Ecology, 40, 39.
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Context
Promoting heterogeneous landscapes could help to reduce the negative impacts of habitat conversion on biota, especially for countries with limited lands. However, the benefits of landscape heterogeneity can vary among spatial scales and taxa.
Objectives
To design biodiversity-friendly landscapes, we use nationwide bird survey data and land use maps to examine the effects of compositional heterogeneity, configurational heterogeneity, and habitat amount at different scales on the species richness of different bird groups.
Methods
We examined the effects of configurational heterogeneity (measured using edge density), compositional heterogeneity (Shannon’s diversity index of habitat types), and habitat amount (proportion of forest and farmland cover) at both transect (local) and landscape (0.5, 1, and 2 km) scales on the species richness of all breeding birds, forest birds, farmland birds, and introduced birds.
Results
Total species richness had a hump-shaped relationship with local forest cover, and with farmland cover at landscape scale. Richness of both forest birds and richness of farmland birds increased with Shannon’s diversity index of habitat types at both local and landscape scales, but only increased with the amount of their preferred habitat at the local scale. Richness of introduced birds was greater in landscapes with higher edge density, suggesting those species are associated with human-dominated landscapes.
Conclusions
High compositional heterogeneity with low configurational heterogeneity at the landscape scale may help maintain native bird richness while minimising the spread of introduced species in Taiwan. These results can help guide land use planning to achieving biodiversity goals in a country with intensive land use competition.
Submitted to Landscape Ecology on 15 Nov 2023; revision requested 15 Sep 2024; resubmitted late 2024; accepted 25 Jan 2025, published 5 Feb 2025.
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Wilson JP, Amano T & Fuller RA (2025) Inconsistent scientific methods hamper the management of drone use near birds. Journal of Wildlife Management, 89, e22692.
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Drone use has increased in the last decade, prompting efforts to manage their operation near wildlife. These efforts are hampered by variations in methods among studies, leading to evidence that is fragmented, inconsistent, and incomplete. To address this, we extracted evidence from 194 studies involving drones and birds, covering 314 species, including 61 studies on drone-induced bird disturbance that encompassed 206 species. We summarized the results of these 61 studies, identified evidence gaps, and developed a standard method for characterizing drone-induced bird disturbance. Drone-induced bird disturbance varied with species, breeding status, and distance of the drone from the birds. Key evidence gaps include a lack of studies on small terrestrial species likely to occur in urban environments where drones are often used and limited research in Africa, Asia, and South America. Methods were inconsistent among studies, with only 20% of studies reporting the often-recommended response variable of flight initiation distance (FID). We conclude that 1) managers should use evidence, including our database, to inform regulations, such as buffer distances, that account for species, breeding status, and drone type, 2) researchers should target contexts where interactions between drones and birds are likely but few studies exist, such as urban environments, and 3) researchers investigating drone-induced bird disturbance should conduct horizontal and vertical approaches directly towards birds, and record the FID along with predictors describing the environment, target, and stimulus.
Submitted to Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation on 11 Feb 2024; desk rejected on 12 Feb; submitted to Journal of Wildlife Management 13 Feb 2024; R&R decision on 6 Mar 2024; resubmitted 6 Apr 2024; further minor revision requested 23 May 2024; resubmitted on 9 Jul 2024; further minor revision requested 12 Aug 2024; resubmitted 5 Sep 2024; accepted 8 Oct 2024.
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Backstrom LJ, Callaghan CT, Worthington H, Fuller RA & Johnston A (2025) Estimating sampling biases in citizen science datasets. Ibis, 167, 73-87.
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The rise of citizen science (also called community science) has led to vast quantities of species observation data collected by members of the public. Citizen science data tend to be unevenly distributed across space and time, but the treatment of sampling bias varies between studies, and interactions between different biases are often overlooked. We present a method for conceptualizing and estimating spatial and temporal sampling biases, and interactions between them. We use this method to estimate sampling biases in an example ornithological citizen science dataset from eBird in Brisbane City, Australia. We then explore the effects of these sampling biases on subsequent model inference of population trends, using both a simulation study and an application of the same trend models to the Brisbane eBird dataset. We find varying levels of sampling bias in the Brisbane eBird dataset across temporal and spatial scales, and evidence for interactions between biases. Several of the sampling biases we identified differ from those described in the literature for other datasets, with protected areas being undersampled in the city, and only limited seasonal sampling bias. We demonstrate variable performance of trend models under different sampling bias scenarios, with more complex biases being associated with typically poorer trend estimates. Sampling biases are important to consider when analysing ecological datasets, and analysts can use this method to ensure that any biologically relevant sampling biases are detected and given due consideration during analysis. With appropriate model specification, the effects of sampling biases can be reduced to yield reliable information about biodiversity.
Submitted to Methods in Ecology and Evolution on 31 Jan 2023; rejected after review on 5 Apr 2023; submitted to Ibis on 12 Jun 2023; Reject & Resubmit decision on 20 Aug 2023; resubmitted 17 Feb 2024; further minor revision requested 31 Mar 2024; resubmitted 26 Apr 2024; accepted 15 Jun 2024.