Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HABITRACK (Habitat tracking for the conservation of huntable bird species)
Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30
The National Museum of Natural History in Paris (France), along with partner organizations from five countries (France, Czechia, Germany, Finland, and the Netherlands), coordinates the project HABITRACK “Habitat tracking for the conservation of huntable bird species.” Funded by the European Union, as part of the HORIZON-CL6-2023-BIODIV-01-4 program, it aims to provide better methods and knowledge to improve the conservation status of EU-protected species and habitats, with a specific focus on huntable bird species listed in Annex II of the Birds Directive (Area B).
The HABITRACK project focuses on 14 species of huntable birds with non-secure conservation status in Europe: the Black-tailed godwit, the Eurasian curlew, Common redshank, Spotted redshank, Eurasian oystercatcher, Northern lapwing, Common snipe, ruff, Common pochard, Northern pintail, Eurasian wigeon, European turtle dove, garganey, and Bean goose. These species are in decline, and there is a severe lack of information on their habitat quality and quantity requirements. This information is needed to effectively organise the management and restoration of their habitats and ensure their conservation status is restored to a favourable level.
HABITRACK proposes to use, as an innovative tool, high-resolution data on individual geolocations through extensive deployment of GPS tags for each species. This new data will contribute to the growing effort across Europe and beyond to fill gaps in species knowledge and overcome many methodological challenges through integrated modeling frameworks and new valuations of tracking data using the multiple sensors embedded in the tracking devices.
The HABITRACK project focuses on 14 species of huntable birds with non-secure conservation status in Europe: the Black-tailed godwit, the Eurasian curlew, Common redshank, Spotted redshank, Eurasian oystercatcher, Northern lapwing, Common snipe, ruff, Common pochard, Northern pintail, Eurasian wigeon, European turtle dove, garganey, and Bean goose. These species are in decline, and there is a severe lack of information on their habitat quality and quantity requirements. This information is needed to effectively organise the management and restoration of their habitats and ensure their conservation status is restored to a favourable level.
HABITRACK proposes to use, as an innovative tool, high-resolution data on individual geolocations through extensive deployment of GPS tags for each species. This new data will contribute to the growing effort across Europe and beyond to fill gaps in species knowledge and overcome many methodological challenges through integrated modeling frameworks and new valuations of tracking data using the multiple sensors embedded in the tracking devices.
In this objective, the scientific consortium and its collaborators first explore the habitat requirements of these species on their breeding grounds and develop an analysis framework that links habitat needs, population trends, and breeding performance. They also consider integrated migratory connectivity to link habitat needs on non-breeding grounds (wintering grounds and stopover site networks) to population trends, tackling potential carry-over effects on breeding performance as well as the projected impacts of ongoing climate change on populations. They investigate how this new use of tracking data can inform migration connectivity within an integrated modeling framework. By utilizing the multiple sensors embedded in the tracking devices, they also explore how remote tracking data can reveal new information about breeding status, performance, and cryptic mortality, aiming for future remote monitoring of demographic parameters.
Along with the Principal Investigators, three postdoctoral researchers, four PhD Students, one research engineer, and two Master students are currently analysing the tracking data and developing a new analysis framework. They can all build on the previous work engaged in by the consortium and their collaborators.
Among the first significant research outcomes, HABITRACK researchers have developed an initial model that integrates migratory connectivity and population dynamics using GPS, capture-recapture, dead-recoveries, and abundance data. This model was tested with available data on the Eurasian Curlew and validates the proof-of-concept for this methodological approach.
The study of the migration of tagged birds has also revealed an unexpected consequence of human conflicts: GPS spoofing in conflict zones. The jamming of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals by military forces in war and conflict zones disrupts the tracking of tagged animals and has increased in frequency following recent escalations of conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. This phenomenon undermines not only the accuracy of migration studies but also critical conservation efforts like mortality detection and epidemic monitoring. The HABITRACK study emphasizes the need to explore solutions to reduce the impacts of GNSS spoofing, as advanced anti-spoofing algorithms and encrypted signals haven't been widely adopted in wildlife tracking yet due to their cost and complexity.
Among the first significant research outcomes, HABITRACK researchers have developed an initial model that integrates migratory connectivity and population dynamics using GPS, capture-recapture, dead-recoveries, and abundance data. This model was tested with available data on the Eurasian Curlew and validates the proof-of-concept for this methodological approach.
The study of the migration of tagged birds has also revealed an unexpected consequence of human conflicts: GPS spoofing in conflict zones. The jamming of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals by military forces in war and conflict zones disrupts the tracking of tagged animals and has increased in frequency following recent escalations of conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. This phenomenon undermines not only the accuracy of migration studies but also critical conservation efforts like mortality detection and epidemic monitoring. The HABITRACK study emphasizes the need to explore solutions to reduce the impacts of GNSS spoofing, as advanced anti-spoofing algorithms and encrypted signals haven't been widely adopted in wildlife tracking yet due to their cost and complexity.