Abstract
AbstractWhile populations of the Endangered Grey Parrot Psittacus erithacus have collapsed across its range, the species remains remarkably abundant on the island of Príncipe, Gulf of Guinea. We examine how aspects of its ecology interplay with local environmental conditions, to inform conservation strategies for this species and other large parrots. On Príncipe, parrots breed in large trees of common species, with nest densities (42 ± 34 km−2) greatly exceeding those for any comparably sized parrot. Productivity is high (1.9 chicks per cavity), probably reflecting the absence of nest competitors and predators. Food sources are abundant and much of the island is inaccessible to trappers, so many nests are successful each year. Historically harvest has involved taking only chicks from trees in a few traditional patches. These conditions have combined to allow Grey Parrots to thrive on Príncipe, while elsewhere nest trees are timber targets, nest competition and nest predation are likely to be more intense, trapping is indiscriminate, and few areas remain unexploited by trappers. Preservation of large trees as breeding refugia, and vigilance against the indiscriminate trapping of adult birds, are identified as key conditions to stabilize and recover mainland Grey Parrot populations and indeed large parrots generally, given their very similar ecological traits and anthropogenic circumstances.
Highlights
Parrots (Psittaciformes) are among the most imperilled bird orders, with 28% of species currently Threatened and 24% Near Threatened (BirdLife International 2020a), with large species being three times more likely at risk than small ones (Collar 1998)
Grey Parrot Psittacus erithacus has a huge range in West and Central Africa, but populations have been subjected to intense anthropogenic pressures (BirdLife International 2020b)
We examined how the same conditions may differ in mainland Africa and how this may influence the health of populations of this and other large parrot species
Summary
Parrots (Psittaciformes) are among the most imperilled bird orders, with 28% of species currently Threatened and 24% Near Threatened (BirdLife International 2020a), with large species being three times more likely at risk than small ones (Collar 1998). Over the last 30 years the species’ habitat has been disappearing at increasing speed (Achard et al 2002, Duveiller et al 2008), and tens of thousands of individuals have been harvested from the wild to satisfy a multi-million dollar international pet trade (Martin 2017, UNEP-CITES 2017). The species’ global conservation status rapidly deteriorated from Near Threatened through Vulnerable to Endangered in just five years (BirdLife International 2020b), resulting in a near-unanimous acceptance of calls for a ban on its international trade in 2016 (CITES 2017). The Grey Parrots on Príncipe present some genetic complexity, with one lineage involving Psittacus erithacus and one involving Timneh Parrot P. timneh (Melo & O’Ryan 2007), there is no evidence that their ecology is significantly different from populations of either species on the African mainland
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