More information
Description
Since 2000, the threat level for Charadriiformes nesting on the Vistula River has increased. The key threat for adults and offspring is predation by American minks and foxes. As a result, breeding success of gulls and terns nesting on river islands is close to zero, and adult mortality is high. The giving up grazing after 2004 led to fast loss of nesting sites for terns and Mew Gulls. Long periods of hydrological drought in recent years have accelerated this process. For Mew Gulls, another factor has a negative impact on reproduction - low intra-population genetic diversity, leading to higher hatching failure (e.g. Bukaciński et al 2018).
We propose (a) to reduce the numbers of American minks (trapping and euthanasia) and foxes (shooting), (b) to neutralize the pressure of those predators and livestock near breeding areas by electric fencing (for colonies) and through a procedure involving the use of incubators and dummy eggs (for single nests), (c) to renew breeding habitats by grazing; and in the case of Mew Gulls also (d) to increase genetic diversity within colonies by exchanging of clutches between nests distant from each other.
The long-term goal of the project is to stop the population declines of key species in the middle Vistula riverbed bird community: first of all Mew Gulls - the species currently considered the most threatened with extinction in Poland.
Regional Directors for Environmental Protection in Warsaw and Lublin responsible for managing Natura 2000 SPA Dolina Wisły Środkowej PLB140004 will benefit as our protection measures are consistent with Plans of Protection Tasks for this area. All private and public entities or NGOs working for nature protection can implement the proposed protective measures in other areas inhabited by Charadriiformes or other ground-nesting species.