130925-studie-wildlife-comeback-in-europe

Some changes in land-use have had negative
impacts on the Common crane population in
Europe. Specifically, some of the species’ wintering
grounds in Iberia are threatened by the conversion
of traditionally managed open holm oak pastoral
woodlands and extensive cereal fields to irrigated
agriculture [39–42] . Decreased food resources in
northwest Russia after the break-up of the Soviet
Union [6, 43] may have driven more cranes from the
east to use the West-European flyway [44] .
Owing to the loss of habitat, Common cranes
are increasingly concentrated in large flocks at
foraging and roosting sites during migration,
particularly in the West European population [12] .
This results in a conflict with agriculture, as the
birds cause damage to crops [5] . This is likely to
continue, as populations recover in areas in which
they had previously declined, but where the
suitable habitat has decreased [41, 45] . This puts the
species at risk of persecution in some parts of its
range [30] .
Historically, hunting probably contributed
to the extirpation of breeding populations in
the UK, Hungary and southern Europe [5] and
illegal shooting is still a problem in southeastern
Europe [42, 46] , but it is mainly a problem outside the
species’ range in Europe [6] .
Drivers of recovery
In western Europe, conservation actions for
Common crane include legal protection,
systematic research and monitoring programmes,
creation and restoration of wetlands, and
protection of important staging areas, roosting
sites and wintering grounds [1] . The extension of
international collaborative effort into eastern
Europe has been particularly important, as there
Table 3.
Major threats that
drove Common crane
decline and may
still constrain the
population [1, 5, 6, 35] .
Threat Description Impact
Natural systems
modification
Loss and degradation of breeding habitat due to
wetland drainage, dam building, expansion of
agriculture and building development.
High
Agricultural
intensification
Hunting and
collecting
Persecution/
control
Human intrusions
and disturbance
Transportation
and service
corridors
Climate change
and severe
weather
Agricultural intensification results in the loss of
traditional low-intensity farming in wintering
grounds in Iberia.
Illegal hunting on wintering grounds and during
migration in the Balkans.
Persecution due to crop depredation.
Disturbance at staging and winter roosting sites.
Collision with and electrocution by overhead
power lines [36] .
Climate change is expected to have adverse
effects on wetland habitat.
High
Medium
Potentially high
Low-Medium
Low
Potentially high
257