Links between agricultural management and wader populations in sub-arctic landscapes

147 Pages·2017·3.94 MB·English

Links between agricultural management and
wader populations in sub-arctic landscapes

Lilja Jóhannesdóttir

Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences
School of Engineering and Natural Sciences
University of Iceland
2017

Links between agricultural management
and wader populations in sub-arctic
landscapes

Lilja Jóhannesdóttir

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of a
Philosophiae Doctor degree in biology

Advisor
Dr. Tómas Grétar Gunnarsson

PhD Committee
Professor Jennifer A. Gill
Dr. José A. Alves

Opponents
Dr. Hlynur Óskarsson
Dr. James Pearce-Higgins

Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences
School of Engineering and Natural Sciences
University of Iceland
Reykjavik, June 2017
Links between agricultural management and wader populations in sub-arctic landscapes
Agriculture and wader populations in Iceland
Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of a Philosophiae Doctor degree in Biology

Copyright © 2017 Lilja Jóhannesdóttir
All rights reserved

Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences
School of Engineering and Natural Sciences
University of Iceland
Sæmundargata 2
101 Reykjavík
Iceland

Telephone: [phone]

Bibliographic information:
Lilja Jóhannesdóttir, 2017, Links between agricultural management and wader populations
in sub-arctic landscapes, PhD dissertation, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences,
University of Iceland, 129 pp.

ISBN 978-9935-9344-5-1

Printing: Háskólaprent
Reykjavik, Iceland, June 2017
Abstract
The development and expansion of agriculture throughout the world has been a major
driver of biodiversity loss in recent decades. Icelandic agriculture is currently not as
intense and widespread as in many other western countries, and the effects of agriculture
on biodiversity in Iceland and similar farming systems are largely unknown. Iceland
supports big populations of several wader species of international importance and the aim
of this thesis is to explore the links between agriculture and breeding wader populations.
This was done by surveying waders in agricultural landscapes across Iceland and by
carrying out a questionnaire survey among farmers. Surveys of wader density in areas of
varying agricultural management intensity throughout lowland Iceland revealed high
densities of breeding waders in all three management categories. However densities are
generally lower on more intensely managed land, suggesting possible negative effects of
future expansion of agriculture, given that the majority of farmers questioned for the study
reported they were likely to expand cultivated land in the coming years. The volcanic
nature of Iceland and varying temperatures have a strong influence on bird distribution and
abundance, and interact with the effects of cultivated land on birds. In areas further from
volcanic activity, wader density increases when there is more cultivated land around but
the reverse occurs in areas with high levels of historic volcanic ash fall. This suggests that
the location of cultivated land expansion can partly determine future effects on birdlife.
Currently there are few efforts towards protecting these species in Iceland and, when
questioned about their views towards birdlife, farmers reported that they do not currently
take bird conservation into consideration in their land use management, although they do
consider it important to have rich birdlife on their land and were positive towards
participating in proposed conservation management. Cooperation with farmers, who own
most of the lowlands, will therefore be crucial in maintaining these widespread and
internationally important wader breeding populations.

Útdráttur
Hnignun líffræðilegrar fjölbreytni í heiminum á síðustu áratugum má að stórum hluta rekja
til aukinnar útbreiðslu og ákefðar í landbúnaði. Íslenskur landbúnaður hefur enn ekki náð
sömu ákefð og útbreiðslu og víða í vestrænum ríkjum og áhrif landbúnaðar á líffræðilega
fjölbreytni eru að mestu óþekkt hérlendis, sem og í öðrum sambærilegum
landbúnaðarkerfum. Ísland er mikilvægt varpsvæði margra ábyrgðartegunda og hér finnast
stórir stofnar vaðfugla. Markmið doktorsverkefnisins er að skýra tengsl landbúnaðar og
vaðfuglastofna á norrænum slóðum með mælingum á Íslandi. Þetta var gert bæði með að
meta þéttleika vaðfugla á landbúnaðarsvæðum sem og að spyrja bændur um fyrirætlanir
þeirra í landnýtingu og viðhorf þeirra til fuglalífs á landi þeirra. Mat á þéttleika vaðfugla á
svæðum undir mismiklum áhrifum landbúnaðar sýnir að almennt er hár þéttleiki á öllum
svæðunum en þéttleikinn er lægri á svæðum undir meiri landbúnaðaráhrifum. Þetta bendir
til að ef flatarmál ræktað lands eykst muni það hafa neikvæð áhrif á þéttleika vaðfugla en
meirihluti þeirra bænda sem rætt var við fyrir verkefnið sögðust stefna á að auka ræktað
land á komandi árum. Eldvirkni og hitastig hafa umtalsverð áhrif á fuglalíf á Íslandi, en að
auki geta áhrif ræktaðs lands á þéttleika vaðfugla ráðist af þessum tveimur þáttum. Á
sumum svæðum minnkar þéttleiki með aukinni útbreiðslu ræktað lands en á öðrum
svæðum eykst þéttleikinn. Áhrif aukningar ræktaðs lands á vaðfuglastofna ráðast því að
hluta til af staðsetningu. Það eru litlar áherslur lagðar á vernd þessara tegunda á Íslandi og
þegar bændur voru spurðir út í viðhorf þeirra til fuglalífs á landi þeirra sögðust þeir
almennt ekki taka mikið tillit þess við landnýtingu þrátt fyrir að telja mikilvægt að hafa
ríkulegt fuglalíf. Aftur á móti voru bændur jákvæðir gagnvart þeim verndraðgerðum sem
lagðar voru til en vitað er að samvinna við landeigendur er lykilatriði ef á að viðhalda þeim
þáttum líffræðilegrar fjölbreytni sem hafa víðtæka útbreiðslu.

List of publications
This thesis is based on the following papers. Within the thesis, references to these papers
will be by their Roman numerals.
Paper I: Jóhannesdóttir, L., Gill, J. A., Alves, J. A., & Gunnarsson, T. G. (201X).
Icelandic meadow breeding waders: status, threats and conservation challenges.
International Wader Study - Submitted.
Paper II: Jóhannesdóttir, L., Alves, J. A., Gill, J. A., & Gunnarsson, T. G. (201X). Use of
agricultural land by breeding waders in low-intensity farming landscapes. In review.
Paper III: Gunnarsson, T. G., Jóhannesdóttir, L., Alves, J. A., Þórisson, B., & Gill, J. A.
(2016). Effects of spring temperature and volcanic eruptions on wader productivity. Ibis,
doi: 10.1111/ibi.12449
Paper IV: Jóhannesdóttir, L., Gill, J. A., Alves, J. A., & Gunnarsson, T. G. (201X).
Interacting effects of agriculture and landscape structure on breeding wader populations in
Iceland. Manuscript.
Paper V: Jóhannesdóttir, L., Alves, J. A., Gill, J. A., & Gunnarsson, T. G. (2017).
Reconciling biodiversity conservation and agricultural expansion in the sub-arctic
environment of Iceland. Ecology and Society, doi: 10.5751/es-08956-220116

Papers I and III, V are reproduced with kind permission from the publishers. In addition,
some unpublished data are presented.

Other publications included as an appendix in the doctoral thesis (with permission from the
publisher):
Jóhannesdóttir, L., Arnalds, Ó., Brink, S., & Gunnarsson, T. G. (2014). Identifying
important bird habitats in a sub-arctic area undergoing rapid land-use change. Bird Study,
61(4), 544-552. doi: 10.1080/00063657.2014.962481