Declining populations of European mountain birds

dictions that mountain bird species have experienced significant declines (c. -7%) during 2002–2014. Mountain specialists showed a significant c. -10% decline in population numbers, and the slope for generalists was also negative but not significantly so. The slopes of specialists and generalists did not differ from each other. Fennoscandian and south-western populations were on average declining, but UK or south-central mountain birds showed on average stable situations. Our findings support the hypothesis that mountain species are declining. Thus more efforts should be undertaken to identify the causes of decline in order to protect these populations. [1] Lehikoinen, A., Green, M., Husby, M., Kålås, J. A. & Lindström, Å. 2014: Common montane birds are declining in northern Europe. Journal of Avian Biology 45: 3–14. [2] Scridel, D., Brambilla, M., Martin, K., Lehikoinen, A., Iemma, A., Anderle, M., Jähnig, S., Caprio, E., Bogliani, G., Pedrini, P., Rolando, A., Arlettaz, R. & Chamberlain, D. E.: The effect of climate change on holarctic mountain and upland birds: a review and meta-analysis. Ibis (in press).