26 April 2002 Survival of yellowhammers goes under spotlight

Conservation of introduced farmland bird species will be discussed at a Lincoln University seminar on Tuesday (30 April) by visiting Scottish scientist Dr Catriona MacLeod, who is in New Zealand for a year as a Royal Society Postdoctoral Fellow.

A graduate of the University of Dundee, with a research project on yellowhammers, Dr MacLeod is using her Royal Society Fellowship to investigate why yellowhammers are thriving in New Zealand at a time when they are on the decline in Europe.

For this work she is attached to Lincoln University's Ecology and Entomology Group.

"Farmland songbird populations in Britain have undergone significant declines over the past three decades," she says. "Although these declines have been linked to the intensification of agricultural practices, the actual mechanisms are not fully understood.

"My research at the University of Dundee focused on the farmland yellowhammer, a species that started to decline significantly later than most other declining farmland birds.

"The aim of the research was to determine the habitat requirements of the species during the breeding season. This involved investigating patterns in yellowhammer habitat selection and relating those patterns to different measure of habitat quality."

In her seminar, entitled Breeding ecology of the farmland yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella): a Scottish case study, Dr MacLeod will outline her main findings and explain why she is carrying out a similar study of yellowhammers in New Zealand.

She hopes this will be a contribution to discussion on issues related to the conservation of biodiversity on New Zealand farmland, and in particular help draw out what people feel about the conservation of introduced farmland bird species.

Community Diary is produced by Lincoln University's Communications Group.