Almost no empirical work has been done before on the plants dispersed by migratory shorebirds (Charadriiformes). By sampling faeces and regurgitated pellets in Doñana (Spain), England, Ireland and Iceland, scientists found intact seeds of 27 plant taxa, only four of which have a fleshy fruit widely considered diagnostic for this “endozoochory” dispersal process.

Consequences of human actions like global warming, spread of exotic species or resource consumption are pushing species to extinction. Even species considered to be at low extinction risk often show signs of local declines. Here, the impact of eucalypt plantations, the best-known exotic tree species worldwide, was evaluated as well as its interaction with temperature and predators on amphibian development, growth, antipredator responses and physiology. For this purpose, a fully factorial...

From an initial working list of 329 alien species considered to pose threats to biodiversity recently published by the EU, scientists have derived and agreed a list of eight species considered to be very high risk, 40 considered to be high risk, and 18 considered to be medium risk.

It is well known that some plants and plant fragments can become attached to the feathers of ducks and other waterbirds and be transported short distances. An increasing diversity of plant seeds have also been shown to survive gut passage and to be able to disperse longer distances inside migratory birds. For the first time, this paper shows that entire flowering plants can be dispersed on the inside.

Waterbird communities are potential indicators of ecological changes in threatened wetland ecosystems and a potential object of ecological monitoring programs. Waterbirds often breed in largely inaccessible colonies in flooded habitats, so unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveys provide a robust method for estimating their breeding population size. In this study the main breeding colony of Glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) at the Doñana National Park was surveyed.