2021/11/15 by Fiona Burns, Mark A. Eaton, Ian J. Burfield +4 · 1 voice · 2 citations
Environmental Science · #Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies #Land Use and Ecosystem Services #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
paper · doi:10.1002/ece3.8282
openalex publication_date 2021/11/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Although global assessments provide evidence of biodiversity decline, some have questioned the strength of the evidence, with local assemblage studies often showing a more balanced picture of biodiversity change. The multifaceted nature of biodiversity and imperfect monitoring datasets may partially explain these findings. Here, using an extensive dataset, we find significant biodiversity loss in the native avifauna of the European Union (EU). We estimate a decline of 17-19% in the overall breeding bird abundance since 1980: a loss of 560-620 million individual birds. Both total and proportional declines in bird numbers are high among species associated with agricultural land. The distribution of species' population growth rates (ln) is centered close to zero, with numerical decline driven by substantial losses in abundant species. Our work supports previous assessments indicating substantial recent biodiversity loss and calls to reduce the threat of extinctions and restore species' abundances, for the sake of nature and people.