Targeted management intervention reduces rate of population decline of Corn Buntings Emberiza calandra in eastern Scotland

Abstract

Capsule: Breeding populations were less likely to decline when farmland was subject to management intervention designed to benefit the species. Aims: To determine whether targeted management intervention helps to halt or reverse the decline of Corn Buntings in eastern Scotland. Methods: Counts of territorial male Corn Buntings in the breeding seasons of 2002 and 2004 were compared across 53 2-km squares. Nineteen of these were subject to management intervention designed to benefit Corn Buntings, effective from 2003. The other 34 had no such management. For a subset of 44 tetrads, counts in 2000 and 2002 were also compared between the two sets of tetrads. Results: Between 2002 and 2004, Corn Bunting numbers showed no significant change in tetrads with targeted management intervention, but declined by 43% in tetrads with no intervention. By contrast, population changes did not differ significantly in these two groups of tetrads between 2000 and 2002, before management was implemented. Conclusion: Targeted management intervention was associated with reduced short-term probability of Corn Bunting population decline on farms in eastern Scotland. Management interventions that are designed to provide habitats required by the species have the potential to halt, or perhaps reverse, the Corn Bunting decline in eastern Scotland. © 2008 British Trust for Ornithology.