Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36471120›Full record

ArticleNature ecology & evolution2023

Rare and declining bird species benefit most from designating protected areas for conservation in the UK.

A E Barnes, J G Davies, B Martay, P H Boersch-Supan, S J Harris, D G Noble, J W Pearce-Higgins, R A Robinson

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Limited capacity of habitat features to buffer grassland bird declines.Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

A E BarnesBritish Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-0510-3100
J G DaviesBritish Trust for Ornithology (Scotland), Unit 15 Beta Centre, Stirling University Innovation Park, Stirling, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-9486-0180
B MartayBritish Trust for Ornithology (Scotland), Unit 15 Beta Centre, Stirling University Innovation Park, Stirling, UK.
P H Boersch-SupanBritish Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-6723-6833
S J HarrisBritish Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, UK.
D G NobleBritish Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, UK.
J W Pearce-HigginsBritish Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-1341-5080
R A RobinsonBritish Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, UK. rob.robinson@bto.org.ORCID 0000-0003-0504-9906

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

There have been recent renewed commitments to increase the extent of protected areas to combat the growing biodiversity crisis but the underpinning evidence for their effectiveness is mixed and causal connections are rarely evaluated. We used data gathered by three large-scale citizen science programmes in the UK to provide the most comprehensive assessment to date of whether national (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) and European (Special Protection Areas/Special Areas of Conservation) designated areas are associated with improved state (occurrence, abundance), change (rates of colonization, persistence and trend in abundance), community structure and, uniquely, demography (productivity) on a national avifauna, while controlling for differences in land cover, elevation and climate. We found positive associations with state that suggest these areas are well targeted and that the greatest benefit accrued to the most conservation-dependent species since positive associations with change were largely restricted to rare and declining species and habitat specialists. We suggest that increased productivity provides a plausible demographic mechanism for positive effects of designation.

Indexed as

BiodiversityConservation of Natural ResourcesAnimalsBirdsEcosystemUnited Kingdom

Identifiers

PMID36471120
PMCPMC9834046

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.