Increasing the conservation value of ringing studies of passerines, with emphasis on the non‐breeding season

Abstract

The structuring of passerine ringing activity for conservation purposes has hitherto focused mainly on the breeding season; the Constant Effort Sites Scheme provides information on population trends, breeding productivity and survival rates. In this paper, we suggest a rationale for the structuring and targeting of ringing activity outside the breeding season, which will increase its ability to deliver data of conservation value, and make recommendations for its implementation. Ringers should be allowed and encouraged to submit all recapture data for computerised storage. Survival rate models incorporating both recovery and recapture data should be developed in order that recapture data from both within and outside the breeding season can contribute to increasing the power of survival rate estimation. The standardised collection and submission by ringers of biometric data (weight, wing length and fat scores) should be encouraged in order to facilitate studies to assess whether these attributes are correlates of survival probability. The re‐distribution of current passerine ringing effort in favour of species of conservation concern should be encouraged (as already initiated by the new conservation priority‐based ring pricing scheme) via i) the establishment of habitat‐specific ringing study groups with wide representation of interest groups in order to develop and seek funds for new projects to be carried out by ringers either individually, as Ringing Groups or in collaboration with professionals, and ii) the appointment of a Ringing Projects Officer at the British Trust for Ornithology to co‐ordinate the implementation of new projects within the Ringing Scheme. New projects outside the breeding season should be focused on the following general objectives: i) survival rate estimation, ii) improving understanding of patterns of movement and habitat use within local populations, outside the breeding season, Hi) the collection of data on physical condition and diet as potential correlates of survival probability, and iv) studies of the ecological requirements of species breeding within the UK in their wintering areas outside the UK.