Correlates of extinction risk and hunting pressure in gamebirds (Galliformes)

Abstract

The 284 species of Galliformes are a highly threatened group of birds subject to direct exploitation for food, sport and cultural practices. The impact of hunting is often assumed to contribute to the high percentage of species (26.4%) listed as threatened with extinction in the IUCN Red List. We take a macroecological approach to examine the anthropogenic and ecological correlates of extinction risk and hunting pressure using linear and stepwise regression. Independent contrasts are analysed, as well as raw species data, to control for the potential confounding influence of phylogenetic trends. Extinction risk is found to be predicted both by the ecological factors considered (e.g., latitudinal range, body mass, elevational range, habitat use) and secondarily by human factors (e.g., human population density, total calorie intake, composition of diet). Hunting pressure itself is also predicted well for the threatened species by several of the anthropogenic and ecological variables. The study demonstrates that human variables can be used successfully to predict extinction risk, and represent an improvement upon methods which examine ecological variables alone. Furthermore, we show that individual threats can be explored using similar techniques, providing a more detailed insight into the processes leading to extinction. As applied to the Galliformes, both approaches provide evidence supporting the hypothesis that hunting pressure has contributed to the high proportion of threatened species in this group, and thus reinforce the case for urgent measures to reduce the impacts of direct exploitation upon these birds.