Hunting sites as ecological traps for coots in southern Europe: implications for the conservation of a threatened species

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Ecological traps, in combination with other factors, can reduce population sizes and even lead to local extinction. Here, we present the first evidence that hunting sites can act as ecolog- ical traps for waterfowl: wintering common coots Fulica atra were preferentially attracted to hunting sites in southern European wetlands, and showed decreasing population trends in these sites, com- pared to non-hunting sites. We demonstrate that the supply of energy-rich supplementary food (grain) triggered the trap. We also show that a behavioural mechanism, acting as an evolutionary load (the tendency to form mixed coot flocks during the winter), decreased population size of a threatened waterfowl species, the crested coot F. cristata. Our results suggest the use of precaution- ary policies regarding supplementary food in coot and associated diving-duck species, if negative conservation impacts are to be avoided.