Philip W Atkinson

Philip W Atkinson
British Trust for Ornithology | BTO · International Research

PhD, University of East Anglia

About

122
Publications
41,465
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5,984
Citations
Additional affiliations
January 2001 - December 2012
British Trust for Ornithology
January 1994 - December 2006
University of East Anglia

Publications

Publications (122)
Article
Full-text available
Understanding the distribution of breeding populations of migratory animals in the non-breeding period (migratory connectivity) is important for understanding their response to environmental change. High connectivity (low non-breeding population dispersion) may lower resilience to climate change and increase vulnerability to habitat loss within the...
Article
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Background Extreme fire seasons in the Mediterranean basin have received international attention due to the damage caused to people, livelihoods, and vulnerable ecosystems. There is a body of literature linking increasingly intense, large fires to a build-up of fuel from rural land abandonment exacerbated by climate change. However, a better unders...
Article
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Human conflicts can have impacts on wildlife, from direct mortality and environmental damage to the displacement of people, changing institutional dynamics and altering economies. Extreme anthropogenic disturbances related to conflict may act as a barrier to migrating birds and increase the energetic costs of migration. On February 24th, 2022, the...
Article
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Identifying when and where organisms are exposed to anthropogenic change is crucial for diagnosing the drivers of biodiversity declines and implementing effective conservation measures. Accurately measuring individual‐scale exposure to anthropogenic impacts across the annual cycle as they move across continents requires an approach that is both spa...
Article
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Failure to adapt migration timing to changes in environmental conditions along migration routes and at breeding locations can result in mismatches across trophic levels, as occurs between the brood parasitic common cuckoo Cuculus canorus and its hosts. Using satellite tracking data from 87 male cuckoos across 11 years, we evaluate why the cuckoo ha...
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1. Information provided by tracking studies using remote telemetry is providing ecologists with invaluable new insights into animal behaviour and movement strategies. Here we describe a new type of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) tracking device currently under development and nearing commercialisation, which transmits data via LoRaWAN (l...
Preprint
Full-text available
1. Information provided by tracking studies using satellite telemetry is providing ecologists with invaluable new insights into animal behaviour and movement strategies. Here we describe a new type of GPS (global positioning system) tracking device which makes use of a growing network of LoRaWAN (long range, low power wide area network) gateways. T...
Article
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Marine protected areas (MPAs), particularly large MPAs, are increasing in number and size around the globe in part to facilitate the conservation of marine megafauna under the assumption that large-scale MPAs better align with vagile life histories; however, this alignment is not well established. Using a global tracking dataset from 36 species acr...
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Background Migration phenology is shifting for many long-distance migrants due to global climate change, however the timing and duration of migration may influence the environmental conditions individuals encounter, with potential fitness consequences. Species with asynchronous migrations, i.e., with variability in migration timing, provide an exce...
Article
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Wind turbines and power lines can cause bird mortality due to collision or electrocution. The biodiversity impacts of energy infrastructure (EI) can be minimised through effective landscape‐scale planning and mitigation. The identification of high‐vulnerability areas is urgently needed to assess potential cumulative impacts of EI while supporting t...
Article
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The use of GPS tracking technologies has revolutionized the study of animal movement providing unprecedentedly detailed information. The characterization of GPS accuracy and precision under different conditions is essential to correctly identify the spatial and temporal resolution at which studies can be conducted. Here, we examined the influence o...
Article
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We present the results of our 13th annual horizon scan of issues likely to impact on biodiversity conservation. Issues are either novel within the biological conservation sector or could cause a substantial step-change in impact, either globally or regionally. Our global panel of 26 scientists and practitioners identified 15 issues that we believe...
Article
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Migration may expose individuals to a wide range of increasing anthropogenic threats. In addition to direct mortality effects, this exposure may influence post-migratory reproductive fitness. Partial migration—where a population comprises migrants and residents—represents a powerful opportunity to explore carryover effects of migration. Studies of...
Article
We present the results from our 12th annual horizon scan of issues likely to impact biological conservation in the future. From a list of 97 topics, our global panel of 25 scientists and practitioners identified the top 15 issues that we believe society may urgently need to address. These issues are either novel in the biological conservation secto...
Article
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Asking authors who have tested interventions to explain how they have placed their paper in context will help ensure conservation science reduces the perils of cherry picking scientific evidence and will improve the design of future work. It will not provide a complete remedy to bias in conservation articles. Ideally, the impact of this measure wil...
Article
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All ecological measurements are subject to error; the effects of missed detection (false negatives) are well known, but the effects of mistaken detection (false positives) are less understood. Long-term capture–recapture datasets provide valuable ecological insights and baselines for conservation and management, but where such studies rely on nonin...
Article
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The local movements and migration of two Steppe Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus alboaxillaris, a little known subspecies, were studied opportunistically from February to March 2016, in Maputo Bay, Mozambique. Both birds were found to be part of a local sub-population of ca. 30 Whimbrel which hold individual feeding territories on sandy shoreline. One al...
Article
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Individual‐based models ( IBM s) are a powerful tool in predicting the consequences of environmental change on animal populations and supporting evidence‐based decision making for conservation planning. There are increasing proposals for wind farms in UK waters and seabirds are a vulnerable group, which may be at risk from these developments. We de...
Article
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Capsule: There has been a linear increase in the survival rates for both adult and juvenile Northern Gannets Morus bassanus breeding on Alderney in the English Channel. However, given large confidence intervals, improved monitoring is required to better evaluate threats to this population. Aims: To estimate the age-specific survival and reporting r...
Article
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Migratory species are in rapid decline globally. Although most mortality in long-distance migrant birds is thought to occur during migration, evidence of conditions on migration affecting breeding population sizes has been completely lacking. We addressed this by tracking 42 male Common Cuckoos from the rapidly declining UK population during 56 aut...
Article
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The at-sea distribution of seabirds primarily depends on the distance from their breeding colony, and the abundance, distribution and predictability of their prey, which are subject to strong spatial and temporal variation. Many seabirds have developed flexible foraging strategies to deal with this variation, such as increasing their foraging effor...
Article
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During the breeding season seabirds are constrained to coastal areas and are restricted in their movements, spending much of their time in near-shore waters either loafing or foraging. However, in using these areas they may be threatened by anthropogenic activities such as fishing, watersports and coastal developments including marine renewable ene...
Data
The environmental variables in the model; a) depth, b)substrate type, c) distance to the intertidal zone, d) distance to land. (DOCX)
Data
The number of scans conducted at each vantage point over the different states of tide and months of the year. (DOCX)
Article
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Background The migratory patterns of animals are changing in response to global environmental change with many species forming resident populations in areas where they were once migratory. The white stork (Ciconia ciconia) was wholly migratory in Europe but recently guaranteed, year-round food from landfill sites has facilitated the establishment o...
Article
The timing of migration is one of the key life-history parameters of migratory birds. It is expected to be under strong selection, to be sensitive to changing environmental conditions and to have implications for population dynamics. However, most phenological studies do not describe arrival and departure phenologies for a species in a way that is...
Article
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Successful Marine Spatial Planning depends upon the identification of areas with high importance for particular species, ecosystems or processes. For seabirds, advancements in biologging devices have enabled us to identify these areas through the detailed study of at-sea behaviour. However, in many cases, only positional data are available and the...
Article
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The Sahel in West Africa is a major wintering area for many western Palearctic migrants. The breeding populations of many of these have declined over the past 50 years. However, there have been few intensive field studies on migrant ecology in the Sahel and these were generally within a very restricted area. Consequently our knowledge of the distri...
Article
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Increasing population size and demand for food in the developing world is driving the intensification of agriculture, often threatening the biodiversity within the farmland itself and in the surrounding landscape. This paper quantifies bird and tree species richness, tree carbon and farmer's gross income, and interactions between these four variabl...
Article
Trees in farmland provide valuable ecosystem services that enhance agricultural productivity and income, as well as supporting biodiversity such as birds. A better understanding of the benefits of farmland trees for birds, specifically the relative value of native and exotic trees, is essential in developing effective management options, particular...
Article
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Cocoa and coffee are among the most valuable tropical crops, with much of their production in areas of high biodiversity. Although this could suggest a conflict between agricultural expansion and biodiversity conservation, these crops are normally grown in shade plantationsa more biodiversity-friendly agroforestry system. Using SAo Tome Island as a...
Article
Little is known about bee communities and pollination services conservation strategies in sub-Sahara Africa. A study was conducted at 26 different sites with varying local landscape characteristics in farmlands of central Uganda in 2006. Bees were sampled using coloured pantraps, handnet and line transect counts. Overall 80,883 bee individuals from...
Article
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REDD+ aims to offset greenhouse gas emissions through "Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation". Some authors suggest that REDD+ can bring additional benefits for biodiversity, namely for the conservation of extinction-prone restricted-range species. Here, we assess this claim, using São Tomé Island (Democratic Republic of São T...
Article
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Capsule Most birds in a Kenyan highland agroecosystem foraged from the ground, potentially contributing to weed regulation, and invertebrate intake rates by aerial foraging insectivores were high, indicating that birds could contribute to pest regulation. Aims Bird foraging behaviour and its implications for provision of ecosystem services and crop...
Article
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We examined the effects of crop diversity on avian species richness and abundance in the highland farmlands of Nyandarua, Kenya. We surveyed birds using point counts and recorded habitat data at the same locations estimating cover and growth stage of all crop types, whether they were grown as intercrops or monocrops, and the dominant surrounding ve...
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Reconciling the aims of feeding an ever more demanding human population and conserving biodiversity is a difficult challenge. Here, we explore potential solutions by assessing whether land sparing (farming for high yield, potentially enabling the protection of non-farmland habitat), land sharing (lower yielding farming with more biodiversity within...
Data
Population densities (individuals ha−1) of all bird species, estimated for forest and farmland by sum(n)/sum(v) across all sites in each habitat, where n is the number of individuals of that species recorded, v = (a × e), where a is the effective detection area per survey point from Distance and e is effort (number of point counts conducted at the...
Data
The effect of a settling period on the number of individuals seen in the ten minute point count period at forest sites. (DOCX)
Data
Mean difference in total bird registrations and species richness between preliminary and main survey visits. N = number of site pairs (sites where a species was absent on both visits are not included). (DOCX)
Data
Maximum-likelihood estimates of the coefficients for density-yield models for each species. Density is expressed as individuals ha−1, yield in food energy, GJ ha−1 year−1 and gross income, US$ ha−1 year−1. Where species were observed only in forest b0 was set at the natural logarithm of the calculated density in forest and zeroes are given for the...
Article
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Anthropogenic land-use change is a major driver of the current extinction crisis, but the processes through which it acts on biodiversity are complex and still poorly understood. Here, we use several biodiversity metrics to make a comprehensive assessment of the response of an endemic-rich bird assemblage to land-use change. São Tomé Island (São To...
Article
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To African–Palearctic migratory birds that spend the non-breeding season in sub-Saharan Africa, the Sahara desert is an ecological barrier that must be crossed using large energy reserves stored at stopover sites either side. Given the coincidence of spring migration with the height of the dry season in the west African Sahel, spring stopover condi...
Article
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Capsule The bioclimatic zone and habitat type within which birds winter are the most important determinants of population trends. Aims To investigate whether regional factors on wintering grounds, phenological mismatch, or habitat on breeding or wintering grounds show relationships with population changes of Afro-Palaearctic migrant birds. Methods...
Article
Capsule Timed species counts could provide a more valuable bird survey tool in the humid tropics than previously suggested.Aims To compare the relative performance of two bird survey methods that differ in complexity – point counts with distance sampling; and timed species counts – for estimating the species richness and abundance of bird species i...
Article
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The Montserrat Oriole (Icterus oberi) is a critically endangered species, confined to a small range in the hill forests of the volcanic island of Montserrat in the eastern Caribbean. From 1998 to 2005 we studied its breeding biology and survival of adults, finding that the Montserrat Oriole has a smaller clutch, more extended parental care, and hig...
Article
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Understanding how events during one period of the annual cycle carry over to affect survival and other fitness components in other periods is essential to understanding migratory bird demography and conservation needs. Previous research has suggested that western Atlantic red knot (Calidris canutus rufa) populations are greatly affected by horsesho...
Article
Is sea-level rise and (or) climate change responsible for current declines in important coastal bird populations in Great Britain, and how might these processes affect bird populations in future? We review the current status of coastal bird populations in Britain and identify two important species, Common Redshank (Tringa totanus) and Twite (Cardue...
Article
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Capsule Dunnocks Prunella modularis showed a preference for nesting in hedgerows adjacent to sown rather than grass margins on four farms in southwest England.
Article
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The Spoon-billed Sandpiper Eurynorhynchus pygmeus (IUCN Category: Critically Endangered) is in rapid decline. Data from across the entire breeding range (Chukotka and Koryakya in the Russian far north-east) and especially from the well-studied southern core breeding area at Meinypilgyno, confirm the continuing strong decline. At four breeding sites...
Article
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With an average peak of approximately 12 000 birds between 1987 and 1991 the Wash is the most important British estuary for Bar-tailed Godwits, holding 10% of the total European population. This paper describes the biometrics, wing moult and movements of approximately 3500 Bar-tailed Godwits caught on the Wash between 1960 and 1990 and relates this...
Article
Capsule: Distribution varied with age, sex and feeding method. Aims: To investigate how shorebirds are differentially distributed on their overwintering grounds. Methods: We analysed age and bill measurements of Oystercatchers captured on the Wash in the 1990s. Results: Oystercatchers caught on the southwest shores were more likely to be young bird...
Article
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The species composition, relative abundance and vegetation community associations of a wintering passerine assemblage were studied on 7 sites in north Norfolk between 1989 and 1994. A total of 20 species was recorded including coastal specialists as well as habitat generalists; relative abundance varied greatly from Chaffinch and Great Tit with sin...
Article
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Capsule: Biometrics and plumage characteristics can both be used to reliably sex Black-tailed Godwits. Aims: To develop methods of sexing Black-tailed Godwits and to validate their relative accuracy. Methods: A sample of 84 Black-tailed Godwits was sexed by DNA analysis of feather samples. The biometric data and plumage characteristics of these bir...
Article
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Capsule Perimeter counts underestimate the number of birds using agricultural fields. Aims To determine the degree to which farmland birds may be undercounted on field surveys and the factors influencing this. Methods In a study of 96 fields, birds in the field were counted during a walk of the perimeter. Afterwards transects were walked across the...
Article
Ring re-encounter data, in particular ring recoveries, have made a large contribution to our understanding of bird movements. However, almost every study based on ring re-encounter data has struggled with the bias caused by unequal observer distribution. Re-encounter probabilities are strongly heterogeneous in space and over time. If this heterogen...
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1. Overexploited fisheries threaten many species that depend on the exploited resource. Shorebird populations are in decline globally and here we describe how changing shellfishery management and nutrient inputs have had dramatic influence on waterbird communities on an internationally important wetland. 2. Cockle Cerastoderma edule and mussel Myti...