 |
Malcolm Henderson with brood of goshawks. |
Persecution by humans is one of the main threats facing several raptor species in Europe. Persecution can take many forms and affect all ages of raptors, although killing of adults is the most problematic because adult survival is the most influential parameter affecting population growth.
The northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) is a medium-sized raptor that breeds in Holarctic temperate and boreal forests. Historically, the species was heavily persecuted in Europe, largely in relation to game bird rearing; the indigenous UK population was extirpated by the 1880s. Re-colonisation in the UK occurred in the late 1960s through informal release or escapees from falconers. The current UK population is approx 400-450 pairs, although goshawks are still heavily persecuted in some areas, and persecution is the main restriction on population expansion.
 |
Moulted goshawk feather from which DNA will be extracted. |
 |
Mouthswabbing a nestling goshawk |
Our study examines the effect of persecution on population turnover and recruitment by comparing annual turnover rates between persecuted and non-persecuted nest sites in the Scottish Borders. With the support of SRSG fieldworkers, we are collecting moulted adult feathers from study sites on a yearly-basis so we can identify individual goshawks by their DNA found in these feathers. This will allow us to calculate breeding survivorship. In addition, we are collecting DNA from the nestlings at these sites by taking mouth swab samples. This will allow us to identify each nestling when/if it is recruited into the breeding population and thus we can calculate immature survivorship.
This genetic work compliments our use of PIT rings to study goshawk longevity and recruitment. Click here to visit our page on that subject.
For more information please contact R. Tingay at
ruth.tingay@natural-research.org
 |
|
 |
| Click logo to link to website |
|
Click logo to link to website |
Prinicipal Investigators: P. Whitfield, R. Tingay, M. McGrady
Photos: R. Tingay and M. Henderson |
