Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37609628›Full record

ArticleiScience2023

Illegal shooting is now a leading cause of death of birds along power lines in the western USA.

Eve C Thomason, Natalie J S Turley, James R Belthoff, Tara J Conkling, Todd E Katzner

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in iScience, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 14% of its field
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

1 citing paper in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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

5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Eve C ThomasonDepartment of Biological Sciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID 83725, USA.
Natalie J S TurleyIdaho Power Company, Boise, ID 83702, USA.
James R BelthoffDepartment of Biological Sciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID 83725, USA.
Tara J ConklingUS Geological Survey, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Boise, ID 83702, USA.
Todd E KatznerUS Geological Survey, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Boise, ID 83702, USA.
Boise State University · USUnited States Geological Survey · USIdaho State Board of Education · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Human actions, both legal and illegal, affect wildlife in many ways. Inaccurate diagnosis of cause of death undermines law enforcement, management, threat assessment, and mitigation. We found 410 dead birds collected along 196 km of power lines in four western USA states during 2019-2022. We necropsied these carcasses to test conventional wisdom suggesting that electrocution is the leading cause of death of birds at electrical infrastructure. Of 175 birds with a known cause of death, 66% died from gunshot. Both raptors and corvids were more likely to die from gunshot than from other causes, along both transmission and distribution lines. Past mitigation to reduce avian deaths along power lines has focused almost exclusively on reducing electrocutions or collisions. Our work suggests that, although electrocution and collision remain important, addressing illegal shooting now may have greater relevance for avian conservation.

Indexed as

AnimalsElectricity

Identifiers

PMID37609628
PMCPMC10440709
OpenAlexW4385454827

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.