Papers by Christos Mammides
PLOS ONE, May 10, 2018
The degradation of natural wetlands has significant effects on the ecosystem services they provid... more The degradation of natural wetlands has significant effects on the ecosystem services they provide and the biodiversity they sustain. Under certain conditions, these negative effects can be mitigated by the presence of artificial wetlands. However, the conservation value of artificial wetlands needs to be explored further. In addition, it is unclear how certain anthropogenic variables, such as road networks and hunting reserves (i.e., areas where hunting of birds is prohibited) affect biodiversity in both artificial and natural wetlands. Here, we use data from thirteen artificial and six natural wetlands in Cyprus, to assess their similarities in bird species diversity and composition, and to quantify the relationship between species diversity and the density of road networks, hunting reserves, wetland size, and wetland depth. We found that while on average natural wetlands have more species and support higher abundances, certain artificial wetlands have the potential to support sim...
Scientific reports, Jan 25, 2015
Understory avian insectivores are especially sensitive to deforestation, although regional differ... more Understory avian insectivores are especially sensitive to deforestation, although regional differences in how these species respond to human disturbance may be linked to varying land-use histories. South Asia experienced widespread conversion of forest to agriculture in the nineteenth century, providing a comparison to tropical areas deforested more recently. In Sri Lanka and the Western Ghats of India, we compared understory insectivores to other guilds, and to insectivores with different vertical strata preferences, both inside mixed-species flocks and for the whole bird community. Overall species richness did not change across the land-use gradient, although there was substantial turnover in species composition between land-use types. We found that the proportion of species represented by insectivores was ~1.14 times higher in forest compared to agriculture, and the proportion of insectivores represented by understory species was ~1.32 times higher in forests. Mass-abundance rela...
Current Zoology
Participants in mixed-species bird flocks (MSFs) have been shown to associate with species that a... more Participants in mixed-species bird flocks (MSFs) have been shown to associate with species that are similar in body size, diet, and evolutionary history, suggesting that facilitation structures these assemblages. In addition, several studies have suggested that species in MSFs resemble each other in their plumage, but this question has not been systematically investigated for any MSF system. During the nonbreeding season of 2020 and 2021, we sampled 585 MSFs on 14 transects in 2 habitats of Tongbiguang Nature Reserve in western Yunnan Province, China. We performed social network analysis and the Multiple Regression Quadratic Assignment Procedure to evaluate the effect of 4 species traits (body size, overall plumage color, distinctive plumage patterns, and diet) and evolutionary history on species association strength at the whole-MSF and within-MSF levels. All 41 significant relationships showed that species with stronger associations were more similar in their various traits. Body ...
4 characteristics (including food choice, body length and clutch size), to examine how abundances... more 4 characteristics (including food choice, body length and clutch size), to examine how abundances and presence/absence are influenced by those variables in each site. The results are of significant conservation importance as they give us valuable insight on: a) which factors are most important in determining species richness and b) what species characteristics make birds more vulnerable to change in these factors. Moreover, the results demonstrate that by using an appropriate statistical method there is potential to successfully utilize the enormous amount of available information to derive important conservation conclusions.
A map of Cyprus showing the location of the nineteen study sites
<p>The numbers correspond to those in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:... more <p>The numbers correspond to those in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0197286#pone.0197286.t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a>. The inset map on the bottom right corner shows Cyprus’ location in the eastern Mediterranean Sea (source: 2009–2017 Natural Earth). The island’s location makes it an important stopover site from millions of migratory birds.</p
Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society, Jan 22, 2015
Conservation biology is increasingly concerned with preserving interactions among species such as... more Conservation biology is increasingly concerned with preserving interactions among species such as mutualisms in landscapes facing anthropogenic change. We investigated how one kind of mutualism, mixed-species bird flocks, influences the way in which birds respond to different habitat types of varying land-use intensity. We use data from a well-replicated, large-scale study in Sri Lanka and the Western Ghats of India, in which flocks were observed inside forest reserves, in 'buffer zones' of degraded forest or timber plantations, and in areas of intensive agriculture. We find flocks affected the responses of birds in three ways: (i) species with high propensity to flock were more sensitive to land use; (ii) different flock types, dominated by different flock leaders, varied in their sensitivity to land use and because following species have distinct preferences for leaders, this can have a cascading effect on followers' habitat selection; and (iii) those forest-interior s...
Frontiers in forests and global change, May 18, 2022
Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine, Jan 28, 2017
Cyprus is recognised as a hotspot for illegal bird trapping in the Mediterranean basin. A consume... more Cyprus is recognised as a hotspot for illegal bird trapping in the Mediterranean basin. A consumer demand for the Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) is driving the use of non-selective trapping methods, resulting in the indiscriminate killing of millions of migratory birds. Efforts to tackle the issue have so far been characterised mostly by a top-down approach, focusing on legislation and enforcement. However, trapping levels are not decreasing and conflict between stakeholder groups is intensifying. To understand why efforts to stop illegal bird trapping have not been effective, we used semi-structured interviews to interview 18 local bird trappers and nine representatives from the pertinent environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the governmental agencies responsible for enforcing the legislation. We found distinct differences between the views of the local trapping community and the environmental NGOs, particularly on why trapping is occurring and its impact ...
Applied Ecology and Environmental Research, 2019
The present study was conducted in a population structure of selectively logged tropical wet ever... more The present study was conducted in a population structure of selectively logged tropical wet evergreen forest, Cullenia-Mesua-Palaquium (CMP) forest series in the tropical wet evergreen forests of the Nelliampathy Hills, Western Ghats. The study was aimed to focus on how selectively logged treatment influences the density and basal area of CMP forest series stand structure. We sampled the number of individual trees (≥ 1 cm dbh, diameter at breast height) of CMP at 30 sites (20 × 50 m quadrat size), covering an area of 30.8 hectare (ha) in total. A total of 5936 tree individuals sampled had a mean density of 246 ha-1 and basal area of 20.73 metre square (m 2) ha-1 from an area of 0.1 to 2.5 ha. Tree density per hectare and basal area differed significantly among plots with different logging treatments. Tree density and basal area were significantly lower in highly logged plots as compared to moderately logged and unlogged plots. The density of smaller trees was significantly higher in moderately logged plots. We suggest that heavy logging treatments might be a serious threat to the CMP forest series and may possibly alter its population structure and that the moderately logged treatments showed positive impacts on CMP stand structure and regeneration.
Landscape Ecology, 2014
The large European supra-national network of protected areas, known as Natura 2000, is considered... more The large European supra-national network of protected areas, known as Natura 2000, is considered to be the cornerstone of the European Union's efforts to conserve its biodiversity. The effective management of these areas requires a good understanding of how human-induced ecosystem change, evident in these sites, affects habitats and species of interest. In this study, we examine the factors that influence the presence of birds in thirtyeight Natura 2000 sites in Cyprus. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), we test the direct and indirect effects of human population density, road networks and hunting on the overall species richness of birds and the species richness of four additional bird categories: (1) forest and shrubland species, (2) farmland species, (3) wetland species and (4) species listed in the Annex I of the Birds Directive (2009/147/ EC). Other potentially important factors such as size of the area, habitat diversity, percentage of the area covered by migratory corridors and mean altitude, are also incorporated into the analyses. Our results show that road networks have negative effects on four of the five bird categories tested while area and habitat diversity positively influence all categories. These findings have significant conservation implications for the management of the Natura 2000 sites in the EU.
Topography and soil type are critical to understanding how bird and herpetofaunal communities persist in forest fragments of tropical China
Biological Conservation
Abstract Habitat fragmentation in heterogeneous landscapes is a non-random process, with farmers ... more Abstract Habitat fragmentation in heterogeneous landscapes is a non-random process, with farmers selecting lands with flat topography and fertile soils. To understand the persistence of biodiversity in forest fragments in such landscapes, it is necessary to distinguish between factors associated with fragmentation (e.g., area and distance to edge) and characteristics of where fragments are located (e.g., topography and soil conditions). Location factors have been previously demonstrated to be important in explaining the persistence of trees in fragments in the environmentally diverse region of Xishuangbanna, China (Liu and Slik, Biological Conservation, 2014). However, it is unknown how location factors influence more mobile, short-lived organisms. We sampled 42 of the previous study's plots for birds and herpetofauna across two years. A multi-model inference approach indicated that topography was the most important predictor of amphibian diversity, with valleys having more than three times the species in other locations. Topography interacted with fragment size for bird species, and particularly forest interior (FI) species: diversity in valley plots climbed strongly with fragment area, but the relationship between area and diversity was less strong in other locations. Soil type (limestone or not) most strongly influenced the score of plots on the first axis of a NMDS ordination of FI birds. These results suggest that managers should consider the location of fragments in the landscape in prioritizing forest fragments for protection. For Xishuangbanna, all valley fragments are important to protect amphibians; amalgamating them into large fragments > 1000 ha will make them most useful for bird conservation.
European Union’s conservation efforts are taxonomically biased
Biodiversity and Conservation
According to the European Union’s most recent biodiversity assessment, many of its species are st... more According to the European Union’s most recent biodiversity assessment, many of its species are still threatened by human activities. To address biodiversity loss, the EU has adopted a series of legislation, which aim at protecting important habitats and species. In addition, as part of its most recent biodiversity strategy, the EU has set an ambitious conservation target, to halt biodiversity loss within the EU by the year 2020. While this is a laudable goal, paradoxically it may not be relevant to many of EU’s species. This is because EU’s conservation efforts are taxonomically biased, focusing mostly on the species listed in its legislation—mainly the annexes of the Birds and Habitats Directives. The annexes, though, over-represent vertebrates, especially birds. The taxonomic bias is also evident in the allocation of EU’s conservation budget through the LIFE Programme—its main conservation funding instrument. Since the inception of the programme in 1992, the EU has funded more than 800 projects that targeted species. Half of those projects focused on birds while, for instance, only 7% of them targeted invertebrates or plants. This, despite the fact that according to the European Red Lists there are more endangered invertebrates and plants within the EU than birds or mammals. The apparent taxonomic biases raise concerns regarding the conservation fate of the species belonging to taxonomically neglected groups, many of which are threatened. It is unlikely that the EU will succeed in truly halting the loss of its biodiversity if these taxonomic biases are not addressed.
Increasing geographic diversity in the international conservation literature: A stalled process?
Biological Conservation, Jun 1, 2016
Tropical countries are important to conservation because of the threats to the high levels of bio... more Tropical countries are important to conservation because of the threats to the high levels of biodiversity there, but research on conservation science in these mostly developing countries has traditionally been written by foreigners. This disconnect could have serious implications for the practice of conservation, as local scientists can be more effective than foreigners in interacting with practitioners or pushing forward conservation action themselves. These scientists' careers are strengthened by participation in the international literature, and their knowledge about conservation's success in their country provides necessary feedback to the theoretical literature. We assess the past and current status of geographic diversity in the international conservation literature, over 30 years and in comparison to other fields, as well as present acceptance rate data from prominent journals, broken down by the country of corresponding authorship. While the proportion of articles i...
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Papers by Christos Mammides