New European project on bird conservation

The new project SPEAR  will identify gaps in the current European land and marine protected area networks for the conservation for threatened species and critical habitats and assess the resilience of the protected area networks under different future scenarios for environmental change.

SPEAR will develop best practice guidelines to inform managers of protected areas about improving implementation of conservation actions to mitigate adverse impacts of climate change on birds.

SPEAR will also focus on huntable waterbird species, and the regulations needed to ensure sustainable harvest under climate change.

Lastly, SPEAR will evaluate the benefits of created and restored wetlands for biodiversity, including their recreational value, the scientific results from which will guide development of best practice guidelines for future wetland restoration projects.

The SLU researchers will focus on wetlands

At the Department of Ecology, SLU, Professor Tomas Pärt and Post-Doc Ineta Kačergytė, together with SPEAR collaborators, will focus on local wetland management and its conservation benefits for birds, but also other parts of wetland biodiversity and ecosystem functionality.

First, they will look at time effects since the restoration of shallow eutrophic lakes, which may indicate which restoration measures work for more years than others, and if and when repeated restoration measures are needed to maintain higher biodiversity estimates.

Secondly, they will investigate the effectiveness of wetland creation for biodiversity not only for the target taxa such as birds and amphibians, but also for other taxa including insects, other invertebrates, fish and plants. They will also identify other functions that created wetlands can provide, in order to achieve cost-effective synergies between biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Follow the project 

Web site, SPEAR

twitter @SPEAR_biodiv