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Remnant Rhine delta population of Great Reed Warblers maintains high diversity in migration timing, stopping sites, and winter destinations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2023

Jan van der Winden Open the ORCID record for Jan van der Winden [Opens in a new window] ,
Peter W. van Horssen Open the ORCID record for Peter W. van Horssen [Opens in a new window] ,
Symen Deuzeman  and
Theunis Piersma Open the ORCID record for Theunis Piersma [Opens in a new window]
Jan van der Winden*
Affiliation:
Jan van der Winden, Ecology, Research and Consultancy, Utrecht, The Netherlands BirdEyes – Centre for Global Ecological Change and Conservation Ecology Group, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
Peter W. van Horssen
Affiliation:
Greenstat, Tricht, The Netherlands
Symen Deuzeman
Affiliation:
Sovon Vogelonderzoek Nederland, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Theunis Piersma
Affiliation:
BirdEyes – Centre for Global Ecological Change and Conservation Ecology Group, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Texel, The Netherlands
*
Corresponding author: Jan van der Winden; Email: jvdwinden@hetnet.nl
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Summary

Many Afro-Palearctic songbird migrants have declined, with conservation efforts mainly focused on the restoration of breeding habitat. However, pressures outside the breeding season might play a role. This includes the possibility that local relict populations no longer maintain the original phenotypic variation in migration patterns, with a loss of flexibility. The Great Reed Warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus kept stable population levels in central and eastern Europe, but was almost extinct in the western part of the breeding range. In the Rhine delta the population declined from 10,000 individuals around 1950, to fewer than 100 at present. Here we document migratory timing, routes, and destinations of members of this remnant songbird population. It turned out that the remaining adults still showed high diversity in migratory phenotypes. This is even true in each of the two last tiny subpopulations in the Netherlands (of 50 and 15 pairs). So, even very small populations maintain the possible adaptive phenotypic variation, and with hindsight this justifies the breeding habitat restoration efforts currently underway.

Keywords

GeolocatorHabitat lossMigratory plasticitySahara
Type
Research Article
Information
Bird Conservation International , Volume 33 , 2023 , e77
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of BirdLife International

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