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Rangeland loss and population decline of the critically endangered Liben Lark Heteromirafra archeri in southern Ethiopia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2021

BRUKTAWIT A. MAHAMUED ,
PAUL F. DONALD Open the ORCID record for PAUL F. DONALD [Opens in a new window] ,
NIGEL J. COLLAR Open the ORCID record for NIGEL J. COLLAR [Opens in a new window] ,
STUART J. MARSDEN ,
PAUL KARIUKI NDANG’ANG’A ,
MENGISTU WONDAFRASH ,
YILMA DELLELEGN ABEBE ,
JAMES BENNETT ,
SIMON R. WOTTON  and
DANIEL GORNALL
...Show all authors
BRUKTAWIT A. MAHAMUED
Affiliation:
Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street, ManchesterM1 5GD, UK. Current address: Department of Biology, Kotebe Metropolitan University, P.O. Box 31248, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
PAUL F. DONALD*
Affiliation:
RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, The Lodge, Sandy, BedfordshireSG19 2DL, UK. BirdLife International, David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, CambridgeCB2 3QZ, UK.
NIGEL J. COLLAR
Affiliation:
BirdLife International, David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, CambridgeCB2 3QZ, UK.
STUART J. MARSDEN
Affiliation:
Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street, ManchesterM1 5GD, UK.
PAUL KARIUKI NDANG’ANG’A
Affiliation:
BirdLife International Africa Partnership Secretariat, P.O. Box 3502 – 00100, Nairobi, Kenya.
MENGISTU WONDAFRASH
Affiliation:
Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society, Bole Sub City, P. O. Box 13303, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
YILMA DELLELEGN ABEBE
Affiliation:
Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society, Bole Sub City, P. O. Box 13303, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
JAMES BENNETT
Affiliation:
Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, Coventry University, Ryton Gardens, Wolston Lane, CoventryCV8 3LG, UK.
SIMON R. WOTTON
Affiliation:
RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, The Lodge, Sandy, BedfordshireSG19 2DL, UK.
DANIEL GORNALL
Affiliation:
Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street, ManchesterM1 5GD, UK.
HUW LLOYD
Affiliation:
Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street, ManchesterM1 5GD, UK.
*
*Author for correspondence; e-mail: paul.donald@birdlife.org
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Summary

Liben Lark Heteromirafra archeri is a ‘Critically Endangered’ species threatened by the loss and degradation of grassland at the Liben Plain, southern Ethiopia, one of only two known sites for the species. We use field data from nine visits between 2007 and 2019 and satellite imagery to quantify changes over time in the species’ abundance and in the extent and quality of its habitat. We estimate that the population fell from around 279 singing males (95% CL: 182–436) in 2007 to around 51 (14–144) in 2013, after which too few birds were recorded to estimate population size. Arable cultivation first appeared on the plain in the early 1990s and by 2019 more than a third of the plain had been converted to crops. Cultivation was initially confined to the fertile black soils but from 2008 began to spread into the less fertile red soils that cover most of the plain. Liben Larks strongly avoided areas with extensive bare ground or trees and bushes, but the extent of these did not change significantly over the survey period. A plausible explanation for the species’ decline is that grassland degradation, caused before 2007 by continuous high-pressure grazing by livestock, reduced its rates of reproduction or survival to a level that could not support its previous population. Since 2015, communal kalos (grazing exclosures) have been established to generate forage and other resources in the hope of also providing breeding habitat for Liben Larks. Grass height and density within four grassland kalos in 2018 greatly exceeded that in the surrounding grassland, indicating that the plain retains the potential to recover rapidly if appropriately managed. Improvement of grassland structure through the restitution of traditional and sustainable rangeland management regimes and the reversion of cereal agriculture to grassland are urgently needed to avert the species’ extinction.

Keywords

EthiopiaextinctionbirdsAlaudidae
Type
Research Article
Information
Bird Conservation International , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , March 2022 , pp. 64 - 77
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of BirdLife International

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