130925-studie-wildlife-comeback-in-europe

halted in the 1980s and most colonies have
been stable or increasing since 1990 [2] , with the
exception of the colony in Albania, where declines
were ongoing until 2006 [13] and the population in
the European part of Russia, for which the trend is
unknown [6] . Up-to-date information from Russia
is not available [6] and so only limited discussion of
this part of the population is possible.
The current estimate of Dalmatian pelican
population size in southeastern Europe (excluding
Russia) comes to around 1,660 breeding pairs, with
73% of the population found in Greece and 19%
in Romania (Table 2). The population in Greece
increased from 70–120 pairs in 1980 [7] to about
1,200 pairs in 2008 [13] , while overall the total southeastern
European population increased by 245%
between 1994 and 2009 (Figure 1).
Distribution:
current status and changes
of the 1940s [7] . Dalmatian pelicans returned to
Ukraine in the 1970s [17] , with some evidence of
eastward expansion since [18] , and two new colonies
have become established in Greece in the last
decade [6, 13, 19] (Figure 2).
Major threats
The most important threat that drove population
decline and extinction of colonies of Dalmatian
pelican was loss of wetlands, which were drained
or their hydrology modified for agriculture [13] .
Wetlands within the species’ range have already
been lost (e.g. drained or dried up lakes in Greece,
Albania and Montenegro), which limits the recovery
of Dalmatian pelicans, as there is little remaining
habitat available for new colonies to establish [2, 19] .
Habitat loss and degradation remains an
important threat today, caused by pollution, hydro-
Figure 2.
Current distribution
of known Dalmatian
pelican colonies
in southeastern
Europe [6] and
historical distribution
in the 1900s [7, 8, 15–17] ,
and 1990s [9, 15, 16] . NB:
size of points does
not correspond to
colony size.
Table 2.
Latest population
estimates of
Dalmatian pelican
breeding populations
in Europe [13] , indicating
those countries
holding more than 1%
of the total.
The Dalmatian pelican’s breeding range has
contracted since the 1900s, with a number of
colonies in Europe becoming extinct in the
last century [2, 7, 9] , particularly in central Europe
(Figure 2). Known colonies have been lost in
former Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Montenegro
and Romania [2, 7, 9] . The species became extinct
in Hungary in 1868 and in Ukraine by the end
Country No. of breeding pairs Year trend %
Albania 27 2005–2007 - 1
Bulgaria 14–150 1990–2009 + 2
Greece 1,150–1,300 2008 + 55
Montenegro 5–14 2000–2010 Stable
Romania 312–330 2009 + 14
Russia 450–710 2006 ? 25
Ukraine 2–14 1994–2009 ?
195