Markus Piha

• PhD
• Senior Scientist at Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)

Migratory species experience various conditions and events throughout their annual cycle that influence their spatial and demographic dynamics. To understand these dynamics, it is essential to describe the origin and destination of individuals. Migratory connectivity, which is defined as the geographic linkage between populations across the annual...

In war and conflict zones, the jamming of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNNS) signals by military forces disrupts the tracking of tagged animals, and has increased in frequency following the recent escalation of conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Such disruption to data collection strongly hampers research into the protection an...

The recovery of threatened species after conservation measures can lead to human–wildlife conflicts. One example of such is the recent population growth of the Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis, a large herbivorous bird. During migration, geese stage in large numbers on agricultural fields in range countries and cause substantial damage to farms. A c...

Aim Ongoing climate changes represent a major determinant of demographic processes in many organisms worldwide. Birds, and especially long-distance migrants, are particularly sensitive to such changes. To better understand these impacts on long-distance migrants' breeding productivity, we tested three hypotheses focused on (i) the shape of the rela...

Context Farmland biodiversity has been declining because of agricultural intensification and landscape simplification. Many farmland birds breeding in non-crop habitats use arable land as their feeding habitat (and vice versa) and understanding habitat composition and configuration at the landscape scale is important for their conservation. Object...

Farmland habitats witness steep declines in biodiversity. One rapidly declining farmland species is the ortolan bunting Emberiza hortulana. In Finland, a staggering 99% of the population has been lost during the past 30 years. Changes in the breeding habitats have been proposed as a reason for the decline, although hazards during migration and wint...

Wetland habitats are changing under multiple anthropogenic pressures. Nutrient leakage and pollution modify physico‐chemical state of wetlands and affect the ecosystem through bottom‐up processes, while alien predators affect the ecosystems in a top‐down manner. Boreal wetlands are important breeding areas for several waterbird species, the abundan...

Farmland habitats are witnessing steep declines in biodiversity. One rapidly declining farmland species is the Ortolan Bunting. In Finland, a staggering 99% of the population has been lost during the past 30 years. Changes in the breeding habitats have been proposed as a reason for the decline, although hazards during migration and wintering may al...

Aim Recent evidence has shown changes in body size and shape of individuals, which are suggested to be a result of global warming caused by climate change. Here, we explored the spatiotemporal changes in wing length and body mass of 24 wintering bird species in Northern Europe and how these relate to temperature anomaly. Location Finland and Swede...

Coastal, and to a lesser extend inland wetlands, are critical habitats for wintering shorebirds. Given the significant population declines of most shorebird species worldwide, the current degradation of coastal habitats through climate change and human activities raises severe conservation concerns. In order to ensure sufficient and adequate habita...

EU member countries and the UK are currently installing numerous offshore windfarms (OWFs) in the Baltic and North Seas to achieve decarbonization of their energy systems. OWFs may have adverse effects on birds; however, estimates of collision risks and barrier effects for migratory species are notably lacking, but are essential to inform marine sp...

Body size of individuals is typically increasing towards colder and higher latitudes, as larger body size is known to be a thermoregulatory adaptation to colder circumstances. Here we explored the spatio–temporal changes in wing length and body weight of 24 wintering bird species in Northern Europe and how these relate to annual changes in winter t...

Some animal populations are rapidly increasing in numbers and expanding their ranges, leading to intensified human–wildlife conflicts. A wide range of tools has been developed to repel animals from areas where they are suspected to cause damage. For waterfowl, direct comparisons of multiple repelling methods have so far focused only on species´ pre...

Installation of offshore wind farms (OWFs) is becoming increasingly important to ensure a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; however, OWFs also pose a threat to migrating birds and other wildlife. Informed marine spatial planning is therefore crucial, but individual‐based high‐resolution data on bird migration across the sea are currently lacki...

Certain species experience rapid population increases in human-modified and -affected environments. Conservation actions and increased wintertime food availability have led to a population increase of several large herbivorous waterbird species. In Northern Europe, this trend is opposite to the overall decrease of several smaller waterbird species....

The dynamics of wild populations are governed by demographic rates which vary spatially and/or temporally in response to environmental conditions. Conservation actions for widespread but declining populations could potentially exploit this variation to target locations (or years) in which rates are low, but only if consistent spatial or temporal va...

Cavities provide suitable microhabitats for various organisms. Therefore, cavity excavators are important species in forest environments. We observed large differences in both persistence and occupancy of the cavities of Grey-headed Woodpecker Picus canus monitored during the whole cavity lifespan in a 33-year study in southern Finland. Of a total...

Aim The configuration of the earth's landmasses influences global weather systems and spatiotemporal resource availability, thereby shaping biogeographical patterns and migratory routes of animals. Here, we aim to identify potential migratory barriers and corridors, as well as general migration strategies within the understudied Indo‐European flywa...

Wildlife conservation policies directed at common and widespread, but declining, species are difficult to design and implement effectively, as multiple environmental changes are likely to contribute to population declines. Conservation actions ultimately aim to influence demographic rates, but targeting actions towards feasible improvements in thes...

The current loss of biodiversity has been broadly acknowledged as the main cause of ecosystem change. To halt this trend, several international agreements have been made, and various biodiversity metrics have been developed to evaluate whether the targets of these agreements are being met. The process of developing good indicators is not trivial. I...

Woodpeckers are important species in forest ecosystems because they make tree cavities that are microhabitats for several other taxa. However, even in boreal areas where most tree cavities are made by woodpeckers, the properties of woodpeckers'nest trees and cavities are poorly known. We studied nest tree characteristics of the Grey-headed Woodpeck...

Each year, billions of songbirds cross large ecological barriers during their migration. Understanding how they perform this incredible task is crucial to predict how global change may threaten the safety of such journeys. Earlier studies based on radar suggested that most songbirds cross deserts in intermittent flights at high altitude, stopping i...

Tree cavities, and especially cavities made by woodpeckers, are important microhabitats in forest ecosystems. However, the properties of woodpecker nest trees and cavities are poorly known even in boreal areas where most tree cavities are made by woodpeckers. We studied the nest tree characteristics of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos min...

Primary cavity-producers such as woodpeckers produce nest sites for several other cavity-nesting animals and, thus, are often considered to be keystone species. However, the persistence and occupancy rates of cavities are rarely known and as such the real importance of primary cavity-producers also remains unclear. Cavities of the Lesser Spotted Wo...

Primary cavity-producers such as woodpeckers produce nest sites for several other cavity-nesting animals and, thus, are often considered to be keystone species. However, the persistence and occupancy rates of cavities are rarely known and as such the real importance of primary cavity-producers also remains unclear. Cavities of the Lesser Spotted Wo...

Monitoring of bird populations is based primarily on volunteer birdwatcher activity in Finland. Hence, development of online user interfaces and data availability have become a priority in order to encourage bird watchers to participate in monitoring schemes. Most Finnish bird monitoring is managed by the Finnish Museum of Natural History LUOMUS, w...

We present species and sex specific body masses and wing lengths (maximum and minimum chord lengths; Fig. 1) based on the Finnish ringing database (Fig. 2). This article includes the non-passerines and corvids. The first part containing the passerines was published earlier in this same journal (Piha & Lehikoinen 2016). Measurements have been active...

By analysing the deuterium concentration in the scapulars and rectrices (δ²Hf) of breeding and spring migrating Ortolan Buntings (Emberiza hortulana), we found a high correlation attesting that spring body and central rectrices have grown in similar isotopic environments. Furthermore, we failed to find a correlation between δ²Hf of the rectrices an...

In France, illegal hunting of the endangered ortolan bunting Emberiza hortulana has been defended for the sake of tradition and gastronomy. Hunters argued that ortolan buntings trapped in southwest France originate from large and stable populations across the whole of Europe. Yet, the European Commission referred France to the Court of Justice of t...

Currently, the deployment of tracking devices is one of the most frequently used approaches to study movement ecology of birds. Recent miniaturization of light‐level geolocators enabled studying small bird species whose migratory patterns were widely unknown. However, geolocators may reduce vital rates in tagged birds and may bias obtained movement...

The Three-toed Woodpecker Picoides tridactylus is a mature and old-growth forest specialist but how the species uses trees for nesting in its breeding sites and whether cavity trees are a critical habitat feature is poorly known. We studied the nest tree characteristics of the species in a 170-km2 area in southern Finland during 1987-2016. The data...

Anthropogenic activities, such as agricultural intensification, caused large declines in biodiversity, including farmland birds. In addition to demographic consequences, anthropogenic activities can result in loss of genetic diversity, reduction of gene flow and altered genetic structure. We investigated the distribution of the genetic variation of...

Woodpeckers are important primary excavators that produce nest-sites that are also used by several other cavity-nesting animals. However, the value of nest sites produced by different woodpecker species for other cavity-nesters is not generally known. We studied old Three-toed Woodpecker Picoides tridactylus cavities to examine their importance for...

Animal body reserves are often linked with demographic parameters such as breeding success and survival. During breeding season individuals face a trade-off between maintaining body reserves and investing in reproduction. Factors influencing the body reserves of species during breeding season are poorly understood. In this study, we used long-term...

Primary cavity-producers like woodpeckers are often considered as keystone species, because they produce nest-sites also for several other cavity-nesting animals and, thus, maintain ecological webs of cavity-breeders. However, the detailed temporal dynamics of cavities and their lifetime occupancy rates and survival are not usually known which make...

Anthropogenic climate warming has already affected the population dynamics of numerous species and is predicted to do so also in the future. To predict the effects of climate change, it is important to know whether productivity is linked to temperature, and whether species’ traits affect responses to climate change. To address these objectives, we...

The Eurasian three-toed woodpecker Picoides tridactylus is considered to be a specialist and obligatory insect-feeder, but the significance of other food sources for its survival and reproduction is unclear. We investigated the importance of tree sap as an alternative food source. We found that three-toed woodpeckers spent up to 33% of their foragi...

Animal body reserves are often linked with demographic parameters such as breeding success and survival. During breeding season individuals face a trade-off between maintaining body reserves and investing in reproduction. Factors influencing the body reserves of species during breeding season are poorly understood. In this study, we used long-term...

The summer of 2017 was cold and rainy, which resulted in poor breeding success of many Passerines and other open-nesting species, such as gulls and terns. Consequently, the number of nestlings ringed, 80 058, was lowest since 1987 (Fig. 1, Appendix 1). Quite unexpectedly, the number of full-grown birds ringed was higher than ever before: 188 916. H...

The Constant Effort Sites scheme (CES) is a monitoring programme that is based on standardized mist-netting and provides data on population changes, productivity and survival of birds. In principle, the protocol was adapted from that in United Kingdom (Baillie et al. 1986) with an objective of 12 visits between May and August annually. In Finland,...

Three-toed Woodpeckers Picoides tridactylus are known to use phloem sap of conifer trees as a food resource mostly in springtime. A local pair instantly began to forage sap of Scots pine Pinus sylvestris trees that were damaged in a prescribed forest burning; before the fire they had used phloem sap elsewhere in their territory. During three weeks...

Following recent updates proposed by BirdLife International and further updates across Europe gathered in the context of a continent-wide study of the migration strategy of the species, we propose here an update of national population sizes and associated recent trends of the Ortolan Bunting (Emberiza hortulana). Previous estimates for the period 1...

To be cited as: Piha, M. & Lehikoinen, E. 2016: Body mass and wing length of birds based on the Finnish ringing database — Part 1: non-corvid passerines. Linnut-vuosikirja 2015: 142-151. (In Finnish with English summary) Bird measurements comprise an essential part of species description. Historically most measurements published in handbooks were...

Partial migration – a part of a population migrates and another part stays resident year‐round on the breeding site – is probably the most common type of migration in the animal kingdom, yet it has only lately garnered more attention. Theoretical studies indicate that in partially migratory populations, the proportion of resident individuals (PoR)...

T. 2010: Improvements in the Finnish agri-environment scheme are needed in order to support rich farmland avifauna. — Ann. Zool. Fennici 47: 287–305. National agri-environment schemes (AESs) aim to promote sustainable farming and protect farmland biodiversity. For efficient maintenance of biodiversity, it is essential to understand the habitat requ...

We studied the concordance of population trends and indices between data from (1) the Finnish Constant Effort mist-netting Scheme (CES) and (2) line transect and point count based National Bird Monitoring Scheme (NMS). Population indices of nine common passerines between 1987-2006 were calculated with log-linear Poisson modelling (TRIM). The concor...

Molecular techniques have revealed that avian mating systems are more diverse and complex than previously thought. We used microsatellite markers to determine genetic parentage, the prevalence of extrapair paternity and quasi-parasitism (i.e. situations where a male's extrapair mate lay in his nest) in a socially monogamous population of three-toed...

We describe primers and polymerase chain reaction conditions to amplify 17 di-, tri- and tetranucleotide microsatellite loci from the three-toed woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus). The primers were tested on 26 to 30 individuals from a single population breeding in southern Finland. The developed primer pairs yielded an average of 7.6 alleles per lo...

This study examined how field boundary habitat quality and farming system (organic or conventional) affect species richness and abundance of diurnal lepidopterans and bumblebees in boreal agricultural landscapes. The results showed positive effects of field boundary area on lepidopteran diversity, as well as positive effects of nectar flower abunda...

Organic farming has been shown to be beneficial to many taxa associated with farmland habitats, but its importance in mosaic farmland landscapes is poorly understood. The impacts of organic farming have been suggested to be more pronounced in large-scaled homogeneous landscapes than in more heterogeneous mosaic ones, but studies conducted in wider...

We studied the relationships between the occupancy of territory sites and environmental and behaviour-related factors in a declining farmland bird, the ortolan bunting Emberiza hortulana, in southern Finland in 1984-2003. We investigated the dependence of different factors on population density. The surrounding breeding group positively affected th...

Tiainen, J. 2007: Linking weather and habitat to population dynamics of a migratory farmland songbird. — Ann. Zool. Fennici 44: 20–34. Although factors influencing population fluctuations of migrant birds have been stud-ied intensively, few studies have applied autoregressive modelling in linking moni-toring data to essential factors from both bree...

Tiainen et al. 2007, The Yearbook of the Linnut Magazine 2006: 100–108 Summary: Recent trends of breeding farmland bird populations in Finland Birds were monitored in 2000–06 for evaluating the impact of the Finnish agri-environmental support scheme (AES). Mapping censuses were conducted in a total of 153 census areas of 1 km2 (see Fig. 1, Table 1...

Climate change in concert with habitat loss and degradation are major threats to global biodiversity. As part of climate change, the occurrence of extreme climatic events is expected to increase. Agricultural intensification has led to the increased homogeneity of agricultural habitats and declines in farmland species diversity. We investigated the...

The ecology and spatial scales of the Three-Toed Woodpecker Picoides tridactylus were studied in this project. Three-toed Woodpeckers were followed by radio-tracking in three territories during the breeding season in 2005 in southern Finland. This report (in Finnish only at the moment!) can also be found at: https://www.luomus.fi/fi/pohjantikat-ra...

The ortolan bunting Emberiza hortulana is a bird species that has shown a particularly dramatic decline during recent decades within the agricultural areas of Europe. We studied the population density changes and environment associations of the ortolan bunting within agricultural landscapes in southern Finland, from territory to landscape scale, in...

The agricultural environments of forest-dominated northern Europe are different from those in southern Europe. One could expect corresponding differences in the ecology of farmland birds such as the Skylark. We studied the habitat characteristics of the Skylark in an agricultural landscape of 30 km2 in southern Finland. GIS-based methods were appli...

During the past decades agricultural intensification has caused dramatic population declines in a wide range of taxa related to farmland habitats, including farmland birds. In this thesis, I studied how boreal farmland landscape characteristics and agricultural land use affect the abundance and diversity of farmland birds using extensive field data...