Impact of land cover and landfills on the breeding effect and nest occupancy of the white stork in Poland

Joanna T Bialas,Łukasz Dylewski,Zuzanna Pestka,Tomek Królak,Krzysztof Pawlukojć,Tomasz Janiszewski,Robert Kruszyk,Marcin Tobolka,Adam Zbyryt,Andrzej Dylik,Michał Polakowski,Ireneusz Kaługa

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-86529-z

Abstract

Food wastes are among the factors with the greatest effects on animal populations. The white stork is among bird species that clearly profit from feeding at landfills, at least in Western Europe and North Africa. However, the rate and the consequences of this feeding are still unknown in the Central-Eastern European population, which differs from the western population not only in terms of migration routes but also in the greater availability of suitable natural breeding habitats due to less intensified agriculture. The aim of the study was to describe the use of landfills and its consequences in terms of probability of nest occupation and breeding effects in different regions of Poland. Although the most important factors influencing nest-site selection and breeding effect are still habitat quality and weather conditions, distance to landfills is important in selection of nest sites. White storks use landfills most intensively late in the breeding season, independently of the density of breeding pairs. The results suggest that the use of landfills is not currently essential in the Central-Eastern European population of the white stork, does not affect breeding effect, and may be more frequent in non-breeders. However, this phenomenon is still developing and requires continuous monitoring.

Highlights

The tremendous human impact on the environment has caused the decline of many animals due to severe changes, such as d eforestation[1], agricultural intensification[2], and urbanisation[3]
In parallel to anthropogenic changes in land surface, human-produced food wastes provided to animals are among the most important factors influencing population dynamics, food webs, and inter- and intraspecies interactions of wild species living in anthropogenic h abitats[7]
The white stork Ciconia ciconia is one of the bird species that has benefitted from anthropogenic changes in the environment[19]; due to rapid large-scale environmental modification, this species has lacked suitable natural habitats

Summary

Introduction

The tremendous human impact on the environment has caused the decline of many animals due to severe changes, such as d eforestation[1], agricultural intensification[2], and urbanisation[3]. Agricultural intensification on the breeding grounds and severe droughts on the wintering grounds were the most probable causes of the drop in the population of the white stork in Western Europe, which nearly led to the extinction of the species in some r egions[19,22,23]. A recent study of the CEE population indicates a visible trend towards nesting closer to landfills[30], which may suggest that the use of landfills as a food source, and lead to increases in white stork populations in the future. As one of many opportunistic species of b irds[32,33,34,35], are capable of using landfills as feeding areas It is worth assessing the scale of the phenomenon and determining whether it is connected with population density, habitat quality, or reproductive success. To estimate the effect of landfills closing for entire European white stork population more evidence is needed

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Conclusion