<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Despite the key role of raptors (including birds of prey Falconiformes and owls Strigiformes) in ecosystems and their sensitivity to environmental change, a well coordinated, Europe-wide monitoring of raptors is lacking. EURAPMON, a Research Networking Programme of the European Science Foundation, was launched with the aim of establishing a sustainable Europewide network for monitoring of raptors. An overview of current monitoring schemes for raptor populations in 28 European countries, as reported by EURAPMON National Coordinators at the workshop in Murcia (Spain) in 2012, showed existing monitoring schemes to be limited to a restricted number of species (mostly diurnal and rare raptor species). The most widely monitored species are the Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos amongst diurnal raptors and the Eagle Owl Bubo bubo amongst owls. Broad coverage of a species range across Europe is reached only for restricted-range species. The key driver for monitoring, which is mostly coordinated by NGOs, is conservation, and the main end users are governmental institutions. International collaboration in the field of monitoring of raptors is mainly regional and not yet pan-European in scale. The involvement of volunteers in raptor monitoring was perceived as the main strength of many schemes, but insufficient manpower and a focus on rare species were recognised as the main weaknesses across Europe as a whole. Among priorities identified for the future development of monitoring schemes are: improvements to national coordination; support to increase the number of volunteers; and assurances of stable funding. Further analysis of EURAPMON questionnaires will identify knowledge gaps, which will steer good practice guidance on survey methodologies; the need for the latter was identified as the main benefit that National Coordinators expect to gain from international networking</p></abstract>

Despite the key role of raptors (including birds of prey Falconiformes and owls Strigiformes) in ecosystems and their sensitivity to environmental change, a well coordinated, Europe-wide monitoring of raptors is lacking. EURAPMON, a Research Networking Programme of the European Science Foundation, was launched with the aim of establishing a sustainable Europewide network for monitoring of raptors. An overview of current monitoring schemes for raptor populations in 28 European countries, as reported by EURAPMON National Coordinators at the workshop in Murcia (Spain) in 2012, showed existing monitoring schemes to be limited to a restricted number of species (mostly diurnal and rare raptor species). The most widely monitored species are the Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos amongst diurnal raptors and the Eagle Owl Bubo bubo amongst owls. Broad coverage of a species range across Europe is reached only for restricted-range species. The key driver for monitoring, which is mostly coordinated by NGOs, is conservation, and the main end users are governmental institutions. International collaboration in the field of monitoring of raptors is mainly regional and not yet pan-European in scale. The involvement of volunteers in raptor monitoring was perceived as the main strength of many schemes, but insufficient manpower and a focus on rare species were recognised as the main weaknesses across Europe as a whole. Among priorities identified for the future development of monitoring schemes are: improvements to national coordination; support to increase the number of volunteers; and assurances of stable funding. Further analysis of EURAPMON questionnaires will identify knowledge gaps, which will steer good practice guidance on survey methodologies; the need for the latter was identified as the main benefit that National Coordinators expect to gain from international networking

Overview of raptor monitoring activities in Europe

National Institute of Biology, Večna pot 111, SI–1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Oxford University Centre for the Environment, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, United Kingdom

Finnish Museum of Natural History, P.O. Box 17, FI–00014 University of Helsinki, Finland

British Trust for Ornithology (Scotland), School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland

BirdLife International, Wellbrook Court, Girton Road, Cambridge CB3 0NA, United Kingdom

Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), VU University, De Boelelaan 1087, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Acrocephalus

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

{"article-title":"Overview of raptor monitoring activities in Europe"}

Despite the key role of raptors (including birds of prey Falconiformes and owls Strigiformes) in ecosystems and their sensitivity to environmental change, a...

Overview of raptor monitoring activities in Europe

Published Online: Apr 25, 2014

Page range: 145 - 157

Received: Jun 14, 2013

Accepted: Jul 01, 2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/v10100-012-0003-y

© by Al Vrezec

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.