A scarcity of females may constrain population growth of threatened bird species: Case notes from the Critically Endangered Raso Lark Alauda razae

M. D L De Brooke, T. P. Flower, M. C. Mainwaring

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    4 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Donald (2007) showed that the adult sex ratios of wild bird populations tended to be male-biased, and that this bias was stronger in threatened species than in those of least concern. Here we show that, in 2004, the world population of the Critically Endangered Raso Lark was 65 individuals, 70% of which were male (adult sex ratio 0.70). In 2008, the population numbered approximately 175 (including juveniles) and the adult sex ratio was 0.58. Both ratios were significantly different from parity. All adult females were observed to be both paired and holding a territory. The observations therefore support Donald's (2007) suggestion that a shortage of females can be an important constraint on the growth of threatened bird populations, a constraint that needs attention in conservation planning.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)382-384
    Number of pages3
    JournalBird Conservation International
    Volume20
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Dec 2010

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