Indigenous Peoples and local communities report a consistent decline in the body mass of birds across three continents

Abstract Increasing evidence shows that genuine collaboration between scientists and Indigenous Peoples and local communities can deepen global understanding of species’ ecological distribution ranges, baselines and trends. In this study, we explore trends in bird body mass as reflected in the collective biocultural memory of 10 place-based communities on three continents. To do so, we conducted a globally coordinated survey, asking 1,434 adult participants about the most common bird species around their territories both at present and during their childhood. The survey resulted in 6,914 unique bird reports, corresponding to 283 bird species and covering an 80-year period (1940–2020). By combining our ethno-ornithological dataset with scientific data on species’ body mass, we assessed whether the composition of locally abundant bird assemblages has shifted towards smaller-bodied species over time. Our results show a general shift in the bird species observed over the participants’ lifetimes, with recent species assemblages being composed of species with smaller body sizes than those in the past. Despite variation among sites, we find an overall statistically significant body mass reduction of 72% across all sites over 80 years. This work illustrates that the depth of the current avian extinction crisis, which has been well documented by scientists, is also widely acknowledged by Indigenous Peoples and local communities through their deep ecological knowledge and place-based observations. It highlights the substantial benefits of establishing meaningful collaborations across different knowledge systems to increase the evidence basis that underpins biodiversity policy and practice.

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Publication Details

Journal
Oryx
Published
2026-02-10
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0030605325102615
Primary Topic
Animal and Plant Science Education
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Indigenous Peoples and local communities report a consistent decline in the body mass of birds across three continents

X. Li, Yolanda López-Maldonado, Emmanuel M. N. A. N. Attoh, Vincent Porcher et al.
Oryx
Animal and Plant Science Education
article

Indigenous Peoples and local communities report a consistent decline in the body mass of birds across three continents

X. Li, Yolanda López-Maldonado, Emmanuel M. N. A. N. Attoh, Vincent Porcher, Miquel Torrents‐Ticó, Anna Porcuna-Ferrer, Sara Fraixedas, João Vitor Campos‐Silva, Ramin Soleymani-Fard, Laura Calvet‐Mir, Daniel Burgas, Santiago Álvarez‐Fernández, Anna Schlingmann, Rosario Carmona, Tomás Fernando Huamán Huanca, Julián Caviedes, Esther Conde, José Tomás Ibarra, André B. Junqueira, Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares, Tungalag Ulambayar, Théo Guillerminet, Victoria Reyes-García, Mar Cabeza, Juliette Mariel, Rihan Wu, David García-del-Amo
article en

Abstract

Abstract Increasing evidence shows that genuine collaboration between scientists and Indigenous Peoples and local communities can deepen global understanding of species’ ecological distribution ranges, baselines and trends. In this study, we explore trends in bird body mass as reflected in the collective biocultural memory of 10 place-based communities on three continents. To do so, we conducted a globally coordinated survey, asking 1,434 adult participants about the most common bird species around their territories both at present and during their childhood. The survey resulted in 6,914 unique bird reports, corresponding to 283 bird species and covering an 80-year period (1940–2020). By combining our ethno-ornithological dataset with scientific data on species’ body mass, we assessed whether the composition of locally abundant bird assemblages has shifted towards smaller-bodied species over time. Our results show a general shift in the bird species observed over the participants’ lifetimes, with recent species assemblages being composed of species with smaller body sizes than those in the past. Despite variation among sites, we find an overall statistically significant body mass reduction of 72% across all sites over 80 years. This work illustrates that the depth of the current avian extinction crisis, which has been well documented by scientists, is also widely acknowledged by Indigenous Peoples and local communities through their deep ecological knowledge and place-based observations. It highlights the substantial benefits of establishing meaningful collaborations across different knowledge systems to increase the evidence basis that underpins biodiversity policy and practice.

Oryx
Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ES), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), University of Helsinki (FI), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (CL), Southern Methodist University (US), Université de Montpellier (FR), Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NO), Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive (FR), Centro de Información y Desarrollo de la Mujer (BO), Sensor Electronics (United States) (US), Amélioration Génétique et Adaptation des Plantes méditerranéennes et tropicales (FR), Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications (ES), Instituto Maria e Joao Aleixo (BR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), Universidad de Magallanes (CL), Frankfurt Zoological Society (DE), Senshu University (JP), University of Jyväskylä (FI)
European Commission, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Generalitat de Catalunya, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Fondo de Financiamiento de Centros de Investigación en Áreas Prioritarias
Openalex Percentile: Top 66%
Animal and Plant Science Education
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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