
Kevin A. WoodWildfowl & Wetlands Trust · Conservation Evidence
Kevin A. Wood
PhD (Bournemouth Uni. 2012)
About
93
Publications
49,150
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Introduction
As part of WWT’s Conservation Evidence team, I’m involved in research that provides the evidence needed to inform the conservation actions of WWT and our partners. My current areas of research include improving our understanding of the benefits of wetlands for nature and people, including their storage of carbon, and their provision of socio-cultural services. I have worked extensively on diagnosing the demographic and environmental causes of population declines in threated wetland species.
Additional affiliations
December 2014 - present
Position
- Principal Research Officer
Description
- As part of WWT’s Conservation Evidence team, I’m involved in research that provides the evidence needed to inform the conservation actions of WWT and our partners. My current areas of research include improving our understanding of the benefits of wetlands for nature and people, including their storage of carbon, and their provision of socio-cultural services. I have worked extensively on diagnosing the demographic and environmental causes of population declines in threated wetland species.
Education
October 2008 - May 2012
September 2007 - September 2008
September 2004 - July 2007
Publications
Publications (93)
Herbivory is a fundamental process that controls primary producer abundance and regulates energy and nutrient flows to higher trophic levels. Despite the recent proliferation of small-scale studies on herbivore effects on aquatic plants, there remains limited understanding of the factors that control consumer regulation of vascular plants in aquati...
Legal regulation of human activities is a key mechanism for alleviating anthropogenic impacts on wildlife populations. Conservationists frequently request the regulation of toxic substances such as lead, which can be harmful to animals even at low levels of exposure. However, without assessments of the effectiveness of legislation , such regulation...
The shift from a ‘reader pays’ to an ‘author pays’ model of scientific publishing presents a financial threat to environmental nongovernmental organizations (eNGOs). Many of these support, conduct and publish applied research on real-world solutions to the planet’s most pressing challenges. Funded mainly by donations, eNGOs must now choose between...
Coastal saltmarshes are found globally, yet are 25%–50% reduced compared with their historical cover. Restoration is incentivised by the promise that marshes are efficient storers of ‘blue’ carbon, although the claim lacks substantiation across global contexts. We synthesised data from 431 studies to quantify the benefits of saltmarsh restoration t...
Wetlands make a disproportionately large contribution to global biodiversity and provide critical ecosystem services for humanity. Yet, our understanding of the cultural ecosystem services (CES) provided by wetlands remains limited, with benefits often only recognised at local scales. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a global systematic...
Understanding individual values people hold can be frequently overlooked in policy planning. All too often, the estimation of these associated costs and benefits become restricted to one area or discipline without recognising the offsetting or compounding effects in other areas of society or economics. Habitat management changes are no exception he...
Risks and costs associated with reproduction may induce iteroparous species to employ intermittent breeding, whereby individuals forgo attempting reproduction in some breeding periods following recruitment to the breeding population. We explore this behaviour through population-level analyses of Somateria mollissima (Common Eider), quantifying the...
Lead is a potent metabolic poison that is highly toxic to all life; the World Health Organization states that there is no safe level of exposure to lead. Despite its toxicity, lead is still commonly used in some recreational activities, such as the "sinkers" and other lead weights used in fishing. Swans foraging for grit to aid digestion may ingest...
Trends in abundance and changes in the distribution of the Northeast Europe/
Northwest Europe Bewick’s Swan Cygnus columbianus bewickii population have been
studied in detail since the second half of the 20th century, but much less is known
about the Northwestern Siberia/Caspian population which was estimated at 1,000–
1,500 individuals at the turn...
Protected areas are one of the major tools used in the conservation of biodiversity, but animals are unlikely always to remain within these human-made boundaries. Understanding when and why species choose to leave protected areas can help us to improve the effectiveness of these management tools. Here, we investigate the use of protected and non-pr...
Williamson et al. (2024) queried elements of our article in Global Change Biology (Mason et al. 2024), where we used data from 431 articles to quantify global and regional carbon benefits from saltmarsh restoration.
Flamingos (Phoenicopteriformes) are relatively well studied species of bird, both in the wild and in captive environments. Arguably, the two most famous anecdotes surrounding flamingo behaviour concerns their time spent on one leg (what is this related to?) and time spent preening (is it more than other species of waterbird?). We conducted an obser...
Access to high‐quality food is critical for long‐distance migrants to provide energy for migration and arrival at breeding grounds in good condition. We studied effects of changing abundance and availability of a marine food, common eelgrass (Zostera marina L.), on an arctic‐breeding, migratory goose, black brant (Brant bernicla nigricans Lawrence...
Analyses of 2,108 re-encounters made during 2013-2021 of 1,042 Canada Geese Branta canadensis marked at Windermere, Cumbria, in summers 2013-2021 are used to describe their post-moult migration site linkages. Birds moulting at Windermere were subsequently sighted in 34 counties, although post-moult migration was mainly to the counties of Lancashire...
Cost-effective use of limited conservation resources requires understanding which data can most contribute to alleviating biodiversity declines. Interventions might reasonably prioritise life-cycle transitions with the greatest influence on population dynamics, yet some contributing vital rates are particularly challenging to document; such pragmat...
This study aims to determine the level of movement of individuals between the Icelandic and Northwest Mainland European (NWME) Whooper Swan Cygnus cygnus populations, and to assess the extent to which this interchange affects total population estimates. Ringing, resighting and recovery data for Whooper Swans ringed across Europe since the early 190...
No previous study has examined the large-scale distributional drivers of the entire global pool of 3,499 macrophyte species, despite the obvious importance of this for understanding the macro-ecology of these plants. To assess the hypothesis that natural rather than human-related transfer vectors act as the primary long-distance drivers of global m...
No previous study has examined the large-scale distributional drivers of the entire global pool of 3,499 macrophyte species, despite the obvious importance of this for understanding the macroecology of these plants. To assess the hypothesis that natural rather than human-related transfer vectors act as the primary long-distance drivers of global mo...
Individual animals engage in many behaviours which are mutually exclusive, and so where individuals increase the duration of time spent on one type of behavioural activity, this must be offset by a corresponding decrease in at least one other type of behaviour. To understand the variation observed in animal behaviour, researchers need to know how i...
Cost-effective use of limited conservation resources requires understanding which data can most contribute to alleviating biodiversity declines. Interventions might reasonably prioritise life-cycle transitions with the greatest influence on population dynamics, yet some contributing vital rates are particularly challenging to document; such pragmat...
This Initial Report describes the findings of a systematic literature review to synthesise data for developing the metrics of a United Kingdom (UK) Saltmarsh Carbon Code. The review aimed to identify the key environmental and biological variables that best predicted carbon storage in saltmarshes in northwestern Europe, targeting published data on c...
Illegal killing of wildlife is a major conservation issue that, to be addressed effectively, requires insight into the drivers of human behaviour. Here we adapt an established socio-psychological model, the theory of planned behaviour, to explore reasons for hunting the Endangered Bewick's swan Cygnus columbianus bewickii in the European Russian Ar...
This database collates vital rate estimates for the common eider (Somateria mollissima), providing a complete demographic parameterization for this slow life‐history species. Monitored across its circumpolar range, the common eider represents a data‐rich exemplar species for the less‐studied seaducks, many of which are under threat.
The database co...
The eighth international census of Whooper Swans Cygnus cygnus wintering in Britain, Ireland and Iceland (also including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands) took place in January 2020, to update the estimates of the size, midwinter distribution, habitat use and breeding success of the Icelandic Whooper Swan population. The total of 43,255 swan...
Background: The long-term monitoring of demographic changes in waterbird populations remains limited, but such information can be valuable for conservationists and waterbird managers. Biased sex ratios can indicate differences in survival rates between sexes. In particular, differences in the sex ratios of fledged juveniles and adults can provide i...
Abstract Background Winter numbers of the northwest European population of Bewick’s Swans (Cygnus columbianus bewickii) declined recently by c. 40%. During the same period, numbers of two sympatric and ecologically-similar congeners, the Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) and Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus) showed increases or stability. It has been suggested th...
The 61st consecutive annual census of Greenland/Iceland Pink-footed Geese and Iceland Greylag Geese took place during autumn and early winter 2020. Sites holding Pink-footed Geese were surveyed in October and November, whilst those holding Greylag Geese were primarily surveyed in November. Coverage in Britain was good, with all of the key sites cov...
The health benefits associated with spending time in natural environments have been highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns and restrictions to safeguard public health have exacerbated the pre-existing mental health crisis and rise of non-communicable diseases. Thus, the importance of nature as a health resource has been elevated, haste...
The long-term monitoring of wildlife populations provides critical data used to inform conservation policy and action. Within the UK, the Goose & Swan Monitoring Programme (GSMP) and affiliated schemes monitor the abundance (i.e. population size) and breeding success of native, migratory species of geese and swans through co-ordinated winter counts...
Identifying temporal and spatial patterns in demography is critical to understanding long‐term fluctuations in population size. Common Eider Somateria mollissima numbers have shown a long‐term decline, resulting in the species being uplisted in 2015 to ‘Endangered’ within European Union countries. Obtaining improved estimates of survival rates of C...
Analyses of 2280 re-encounters made during 2014–20 of 300 adult British Greylag Geese Anser anser marked at Windermere, Cumbria, in summers 2013–16 are used to describe the patterns of their moult migration. Results show that birds moulting at Windermere are migrating mainly from the nearby counties of Lancashire, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire...
Climate change is driving worldwide shifts in the distribution of biodiversity, and fundamental changes to global avian migrations. Some arctic-nesting species may shorten their migration distance as warmer temperatures allow them to winter closer to their high-latitude breeding grounds. However, such decisions are not without risks, since this int...
There is a global trend towards greater use of renewable energy, such as wind power, as part of efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change. However, energy infrastructure such as wind turbines and power lines can pose a hazard to flying wildlife. There is a need to assess the impacts of energy infrastructure on wildlife populations at large...
Many species of large herbivore rely on agricultural land for their feeding habitats, but available food resources are highly variable in space and time. The conservation and management of farmland-dependant herbivores would therefore benefit from predictions about how species will respond to changes in their environment. We developed an individual...
Until recently, almost nothing was known about the migration routes, flyway structure and population status of the Mute Swan Cygnus olor in East Asia. Here, we use a combination of GPS telemetry data, collar resightings, published literature and expert advice to update existing knowledge of its summer and winter distribution in the region, and to p...
This 381-paged book covers the biology, ecology, impact and management of 34 common alien invasive species, with reviews on the history and context of avian introductions and invasions in five major regions (Oceania, Africa, Europe (including the Middle East, Asia and South America)), as well as management challenges and the potential of citizen sc...
A pervasive publication bias, whereby studies that report positive results are prioritised over those that report negative findings, has been shown to exist in the disciplines that conservation practice and policy draw information from. The bias reflects the preferential submission of positive results by scientists and the preferential publication...
Native to the Palearctic region, including Europe, the Mute Swan has also been introduced to areas beyond its native range, most notably to North America. During the Middle Ages, wild birds were present in NE parts of Europe, but in the NW birds were typically bred in captivity. However, the Mute Swan has re-established itself as a wild species and...
The UK supports globally significant numbers of migratory waterbirds and has a requirement to maintain favourable conservation status for these species in the face of climate change and other threats. The growing number of wind turbines are key to the UK’s power supply and play an important role in the UK’s actions on climate change. However, toget...
The ability of a species to adapt to environmental change is ultimately reflected in its vital rates - i.e., survival and reproductive success of individuals. Together, vital rates determine trends in numbers, commonly monitored using counts of species abundance. Rapid changes in abundance can give rise to concern, leading to calls for research int...
Background
Our understanding of any impacts of swans on other waterbirds (including other swans), and potential effects on waterbird community structure, remain limited by a paucity of fundamental behavioural and ecological data, including which species swans interact aggressively with and how frequently such interactions occur.
Methods
Behavioura...
Range shifts and phenological change are two processes by which organisms respond to environmental warming. Understanding the mechanisms that drive these changes is key for optimal conservation and management. Here we study both processes in the migratory Bewick's swan (Cygnus columbianus bewickii ) using different methods, analysing nearly 50 year...
Given their popularity with researchers and public alike, together with their well-documented importance in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, fundamental and applied research on swans continues to develop in the 21st century. The 6th International Swan Symposium (6th ISS), was held at the Estonian University of Life Sciences in Tartu, Estonia, in...
Coordinated international censuses of the Northwest European Bewick’s Swan Cygnus columbianus bewickii population have been undertaken across the swans’ wintering range at c. 5-year intervals since 1984. During the early years of the study, numbers increased steadily to a peak of 29,780 individuals in January 1995, but then declined by 39.4% to 18,...
Our understanding of how energy shapes animal behavioural decisions has been limited by the difficulty of measuring directly the energy gain and expenditure in free-living animals. Mechanistic models that simulate energy gain and expenditure from estimable parameters can overcome these limitations and hence could help scientists to gain a predictiv...
The north-west European population of Bewick’s Swan Cygnus columbianus bewickii declined by 38% between 1995 and 2010 and is listed as ‘Endangered’ on the European Red List of birds. Here, we combined information on food resources within the landscape with long-term data on swan numbers, habitat use, behaviour and two complementary measures of body...
Recent national and international policy initiatives have aimed to reduce the exposure of humans and wildlife to lead from ammunition. Despite restrictions, in the UK, lead ammunition remains the most widespread source of environmental lead contamination to which wildlife may be exposed.
The risks arising from the use of lead ammunition and the mea...
Killing protected species mistaken for morphologically similar quarry species, or species with weaker protection, can hinder their conservation. Despite policy aims to reduce threats from illegal killing, information is lacking on susceptible species, conservation impacts and the identification accuracy of hunters. We examined the ability of hunter...
Duck populations tend to have male-biased adult sex ratios (ASRs). Changes in ASR reflect species demographic rates; increasingly male-biased populations are at risk of decline when the bias results from falling female survival. European and North African Common Pochard Aythya ferina numbers have declined since the 1990s and show increasing male bi...
Assessments of body condition can provide useful information on changes in the state of individuals within a population, which may in turn help to inform conservation efforts. For example, decreases in body condition over time can indicate reduced food resources. Mass and skull length measures recorded for 195 adult and 467 first winter (cygnets) B...
The role of herbivores in regulating aquatic plant dynamics has received growing recognition from researchers and managers. However, the evidence for herbivore impacts on aquatic plants is largely based on short-term exclosure studies conducted within a single plant growing season. Thus, it is unclear how long herbivore impacts on aquatic plant abu...
Aquatic plants fulfil a wide range of ecological roles, and make a substantial contribution to the structure, function and service provision of aquatic ecosystems. Given their well-documented importance in aquatic ecosystems, research into aquatic plants continues to blossom. The 14th International Symposium on Aquatic Plants, held in Edinburgh in...
Following increases in numbers during the second half of the 20th century, several Arctic-breeding migrant bird species are now undergoing sustained population declines. These include the northwest European population of Bewick’s Swan (Cygnus columbianus bewickii), which declined from ~29 000 birds on the winter grounds in 1995 to 18 000 in 2010. I...
Predictive models can take many years to develop, yet as practitioners we need to address conservation problems urgently. Our Letter highlights the need of practitioners for the insights of predictive models, and how conservation scientists can work with practitioners to overcome obstacles that can prevent their implementation. Without the concerte...
Assessments of the sex ratio among Common Pochard Aythya ferina flocks were undertaken in countries across Europe and into North Africa in January 2016, for comparison with results from surveys carried out over the same area in January 1989 and January 1990. The mean (± 95% CI) proportions of males in the population were estimated as 0.617 (0.614-0...
Aggressive behavioural interactions between animals are widespread in nature, with ecological and evolutionary consequences of such interactions reported for both individuals giving and receiving aggression. Yet despite the importance of aggressive interactions in determining social dominance and conferring fitness benefits to successful individual...
Assessing the impacts of invasive organisms is a major challenge in ecology. Some widespread invasive species such as crayfish are potential competitors and reciprocal predators of ecologically and recreationally important native fish species. Here, we examine the effects of signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) on the growth, diet, and trophi...
Population declines among migratory Arctic-breeding birds are a growing concern for conservationists. To inform the conservation of these declining populations, we need to understand how demographic rates such as breeding success are influenced by combinations of extrinsic and intrinsic factors. In this study we examined inter-annual variation and...
It has been long known that wildlife management is often more about working with people than with wildlife (Gilbert 1971). Much of this people management occurs as top down conservation measures codified in rules, regulations, and laws. When such measures are enforced, or when there is an absence thereof, both people and wildlife can be affected; t...
Recent decades have seen great advances in ecological modelling and computing power, enabling ecologists to build increasingly detailed models to more accurately represent ecological systems. To better inform environmental decision-making, it is important that the predictions of these models are expressed in simple ways that are straightforward for...
Kleptoparasitism involves the theft of resources such as food items from one individual by another. Such food-stealing behaviour can have important consequences for birds, in terms of individual fitness and population sizes. In order to understand avian host–kleptoparasite interactions, studies are needed which identify the factors which modulate t...
Effective environmental decision-making, in the form of evidence-based management and policy, is a key prerequisite to help balance nature conservation, natural resource management, and human socio-economic activities (Sutherland et al. 2004). To aid such decision-making, the need for predictive tools that are accurate, robust, and parsimonious has...
Changes in climate, food abundance and disturbance from humans threaten the ability of species to successfully use stopover sites and migrate between non-breeding and breeding areas. To devise successful conservation strategies for migratory species we need to be able to predict how such changes will affect both individuals and populations. Such pr...
The purpose of this project was to assess the mussel (Mytilus edulis) food requirements of oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) in the Exe Estuary, which has been designated a Special Protection Area for overwintering waterbirds, including oystercatcher. The overwintering oystercatcher population of the Exe Estuary has been well-studied, and the b...
The crystal clear waters of the chalk rivers of southern and eastern England are dominated by a keystone plant species, water crowfoot Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. pseudofluitans, which supports an ecosystem of high conservation value, including abundant invertebrates and fish (Berrie, 1992). This ecosystem has supported the development of economic...
The world is undergoing rapid change from increasing human pressure. The scale and intensity of this change are deeply worrying from a conservation perspective. For example, we see severe threats to species, habitat and ecosystems from poaching (Maisels et al., 2013), the illegal use of poison (Ogada, 2014), over-harvesting (Pinsky and Palumbi, 201...
The conservation of biodiversity is an increasingly challenging endeavour. Current pressures from a growing human population have led to concerns of a sixth mass extinction event, bringing mounting pressure to find effective ways of conserving biodiversity (Barnosky et al., 2011). However, our ability to meet this challenge is affected by the fact...
The intertidal areas of UK coasts are important habitats for shellfish species, such as cockles Cerastoderma edule and mussels Mytilus edulis. Commercial harvesting of shellfish is worth an annual £250 million to the UK economy, providing both food and employment (DEFRA, 2013). These shellfish are also the principal food resource for overwintering...
Conflicts over the conservation of biodiversity are increasing and are serious obstacles to wildlife conservation efforts worldwide. Changing patterns in land use, over-exploitation, pollution, climate change and the threat posed by invasive species all challenge the way we currently maintain and protect biodiversity - from the local management of...
Conflicts over the conservation of biodiversity are increasing and are serious obstacles to wildlife conservation efforts worldwide. Changing patterns in land use, over-exploitation, pollution, climate change and the threat posed by invasive species all challenge the way we currently maintain and protect biodiversity - from the local management of...
Conflicts over the conservation of biodiversity are increasing and are serious obstacles to wildlife conservation efforts worldwide. Changing patterns in land use, over-exploitation, pollution, climate change and the threat posed by invasive species all challenge the way we currently maintain and protect biodiversity - from the local management of...