130925-studie-wildlife-comeback-in-europe

utilised in Iceland [1, 6] . Until the early 20th century,
Whooper swans traditionally foraged on aquatic
vegetation during the winter, but since the 1980s
most birds in Europe are now using arable land and
improved pasture [1, 7–9] .
Legal protection and conservation status
The Whooper swan is listed in Annex I of the EU
Birds Directive, Annex II of the Bern Convention
and Annex II of the Convention on Migratory
Species, under which all four populations are
covered by the African-Eurasian Waterbird
Agreement (AEWA) [10] . The Icelandic population is
listed in Column A (category 2), and the northwest
European population is listed in Column B
(category 1) [11] .
Abundance:
current status and changes
Breeding Whooper swans came close to extinction
in many countries during the 19 th and early 20 th
centuries, except in Iceland and Russia [15] . However,
recovery is currently ongoing for both populations
of the species.
The results of the regular international
mid-winter census of Icelandic Whooper swans
show that the population was stable or fluctuating
around 16,000–17,000 individuals until
the mid-1990s and has since increased to nearly
30,000 individuals in 2010 (Figure 1) [7] .
Substantial declines occurred in the northwest
European population in the first half of the 20th
century. For example, only 20 breeding pairs
remained in Sweden by the 1920s [16, 17] and only
No. of individuals
35000
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
15 pairs in Finland by 1949 [18, 19] . However, the
population increased greatly from the 1950s [20] . By
2012, 3,800 pairs were breeding in Sweden [17] and in
2010 there were 8,000 breeding pairs in Finland [19] .
Periodic international censuses were initiated for
the northwest European Whooper swan in the
mid-1990s to document the ongoing increase in
the population size, which is now estimated at
59,000 individuals (the final results are not yet
available) [20, 21] .
Distribution:
current status and changes
The breeding distribution of the species contracted
northwards during the late 19 th and early 20 th
centuries. For example, breeding Whooper
swans were present in southernmost Sweden in
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
Figure 1.
Number of Icelandic
breeding Whooper
swans in the
Icelandic population
since 1986 [7] and
the International
Waterbird Census
population trends
for the Icelandic
and the northwest
European
populations [22] .
0
IWC Population Index (%)
Figure 2. Current
breeding and
wintering
distribution of
Whooper swan in
Europe and historical
breeding distribution
in the 1950s [23] and
1980s [24] .
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