Population Trends in the Steppe Birds of Castro Verde in the Period 2006-2011: Consequences of a Drought Event and Land Use Changes?

Abstract

Castro Verde is the main area of cereal steppes in Portugal (ca. 80000 ha), having international importance for several steppe bird species with unfavourable conservation status. In spring 2006, a large-scale census of bird populations in the region was carried out. In the current paper, we (a) update the 2006 population estimates using correction for detectability, (b) report the results of a second census carried out in 2011, (c) explore the likely impacts of the 2005 drought event and land use changes on the observed population trends in the period 2006-2011. Correcting for the detectability bias of the 2006 counts resulted in an increase in population estimates ranging from 6

Publication
Airo
Pedro J. Leitão
Pedro J. Leitão
Postdoctoral scientist / Remote Sensing in Geo- and Ecosystem Research

My research interests include the interactions between society and biosphere. I have been working on the extraction of the global dynamics of ecosystems and society. I have an interest in using machine learning and multivariate statistics to understand the behavior of complex systems.