Abstract
Climate change can reinforce the negative effects caused by human-induced habitat fragmentation. In the agricultural landscape, many plants and animals have suffered from the changes in land-use. For example, abandonment of pastures and meadows has led to declines in breeding shorebirds. Even if the habitat losses have been halted, the whole community of grassland-breeding shorebirds continues to dwindle in numbers throughout Europe. These and other losses in agricultural areas may be caused by large-scale environmental changes. A previous project funded by Formas supports that shorebirds have suffered reductions in reproductive parameters during the last three decades. Moreover, these reductions seem to be due to changes in the environment. The present proposal builds on these results and aims to clarify the impacts of climate and other environmental factors on biodiversity in the agricultural landscape. Using shorebirds as model species, we propose several novel hypotheses. We will, for example, examine how variation in weather conditions and food supply affect start of breeding and egg production, as well as chick foraging behaviour and several aspects of fitness (including immune response and survival). The results from the project may markedly influence decisions about the management of endangered species and habitats, as well as arm us with useful knowledge for facing the effects of climate change.
Sweden