Startling Decline in European Birds May be Due to Conservation Efforts

There's been a startling decline in bird populations across Europe. Scientists have found that over the past 30 years, more "common" birds in this region have experienced sharp drops in population numbers.

"It is very worrying that the most common species of birds are declining rapidly because it is this group of birds that people benefit from the most," said Richard Inger, one of the researchers, in a news release. "It is becoming increasingly clear that interaction with the natural world and wildlife is central to human wellbeing and significant loss of common birds could be quite detrimental to human society."

The researchers examined data on 144 species of European birds. This included thousands of individual surveys that were conducted in 25 different countries.

In the end, the scientists found that the majority of bird declines could be attributed to considerable losses from relatively few common birds. More specifically, there was a decrease of 421 million individual birds over 30 years. About 90 percent of these losses were from the 36 most common and widespread species, including house sparrows, skylarks, grey partridges and starlings.

That's not to say that all bird populations are declining. Rarer species, such as marsh harriers, ravens, buzzards and stone curlews, are actually increasing. This could be due to direct conservation action and legal protection in Europe.

"The rarer birds in this study, whose populations are increasing, have benefitted from protection across Europe," said Richard Gregory, one of the researchers. "For example, white storks and marsh harriers receive among the highest level of protection in the EU-this is why their numbers have increased. The conservation and legal protection of all birds and their habitats in tandem are essential to reverse decline. This is a warning from birds throughout Europe. It is clear that the way we are managing the environment is unsustainable for many of our most familiar species."

The findings reveal that since conservation efforts are more often focused on rarer species, more common species get lost in the mix. This is likely behind the declines and shows that management strategies may need to be changed in the future.

The findings are published in the journal Ecology Letters.