Overview
- The peer-reviewed analysis in Conservation Biology used 10-by-10 km maps to compare 2013–2017 with 2018–2022 and found 33 of 43 farmland species lost ground, with researchers calling the outlook critical.
- Declines were strongest in southwestern Europe, including Spain and Portugal, and also showed in parts of central Europe such as Poland and the Czech Republic.
- Authors point to likely combined pressures from intensive farming, pesticide use, rural abandonment that closes open habitats, heavy rain that damages nests, and rising temperatures, while noting the study did not test causes directly.
- The new maps are meant to guide on-the-ground action and reassessments by the IUCN, with cases flagged such as the Iberian shrike losing range and the European turtle dove showing recent gains after a hunting moratorium that remains contested.
- Galicia’s new Galifire project responds to recent megafires by enlisting skilled volunteers to run five-minute, 100-meter listening counts each spring to track which birds return, how fast habitats recover, and what that means for services like pest control and seed dispersal.