Adapting agri-environment management to multiple drivers of decline of corn buntings Emberiza calandra across their UK range

摘要

At the turn of the twentieth century, corn buntings Emberiza calandra werecommon wherever cereals were grown in the UK. Since then, there have beensevere population declines and regional extinctions. Recent research in southernEngland, north-east Scotland and the Western Isles shows that there are severalagricultural drivers of population decline whose relative importance variesregionally. Although current agri-environment schemes offer severalmanagement options likely to benefit corn buntings, geographical targeting isessential for population recovery, and further development of managementoptions is needed to reduce rates of nest loss to cereal and silage harvesting insouthern England and north-east Scotland, respectively, and restore cereal grainas a winter food source on the Western Isles. For species such as corn bunting,where geographically flexible adaptation and targeting of management isnecessary across the species' range, measures to achieve this, that are built intoEngland's Environmental Stewardship scheme and proposed for Scotland's newsystem of Land Management Contracts, may be essential for population recovery.