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Sylvia communis

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
ANIMALIA CHORDATA AVES PASSERIFORMES SYLVIIDAE

Scientific Name: Sylvia communis
Species Authority: Latham, 1787
Common Name/s:
English – Common Whitethroat, Whitethroat
French – Fauvette grisette

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria: Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Published: 2012
Assessor/s: BirdLife International
Reviewer/s: Butchart, S. & Symes, A.
Contributor/s:
Justification:
This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
History:
2009 – Least Concern
2008 – Least Concern
2004 – Least Concern

Geographic Range [top]

Countries:
Native:
Afghanistan; Albania; Algeria; Andorra; Armenia (Armenia); Austria; Azerbaijan; Bahrain; Belarus; Belgium; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Botswana; Bulgaria; Burkina Faso; Cameroon; Chad; China; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Côte d'Ivoire; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Djibouti; Egypt; Eritrea; Estonia; Ethiopia; Faroe Islands; Finland; France; Gambia; Georgia; Germany; Ghana; Gibraltar; Greece; Guinea; Hungary; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Iraq; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Kenya; Kuwait; Kyrgyzstan; Latvia; Lebanon; Liberia; Libya; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of; Malawi; Mali; Malta; Mauritania; Moldova; Mongolia; Montenegro; Morocco; Namibia; Netherlands; Niger; Nigeria; Norway; Oman; Palestinian Territory, Occupied; Poland; Portugal; Qatar; Romania; Russian Federation; Russian Federation; Russian Federation; Saudi Arabia; Senegal; Serbia (Serbia); Slovakia; Slovenia; Somalia; South Africa; South Sudan; Spain (Canary Is.); Spain (Canary Is.); Sudan; Swaziland; Sweden; Switzerland; Syrian Arab Republic; Tajikistan; Tanzania, United Republic of; Togo; Tunisia; Turkey; Turkmenistan; Uganda; Ukraine; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; Uzbekistan; Western Sahara; Yemen; Zambia; Zimbabwe
Vagrant:
Angola (Angola); Central African Republic; Gabon; Iceland; Rwanda; Seychelles
Range Map: Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population: Shirihai et al. (2001) estimated the population to exceed 10 million individuals, but in Europe, the breeding population is estimated to number 14-25 million breeding pairs, equating to 42-75 million individuals (BirdLife International 2004). Europe forms 50-74% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 56.8-150 million individuals, although further validation of this estimate is needed.
Population Trend: Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Systems: Terrestrial

Bibliography [top]

BirdLife International. 2001. Threatened birds of Asia: the BirdLife International Red Data Book. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K.

Crick, H. Q. P.; Dudley, C.; Glue, D.E.; Thomson, D.L. 1997. UK birds are laying earlier. Nature 388: 526.

Hüppop, O.; Hüppop, K. 2003. North Atlantic Oscillation and timing of spring migration in birds. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 270: 233-240.

IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (ver. 2012.1). Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 19 June 2012).

Jenni, L.; Kery, M. 2003. Timing of autumn bird migration under climate change: advances in long-distance migrants, delays in short-distance migrants. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 270(1523): 1467-1471.

Jonzén, N.; Lindén, A.; Ergon, T.; Knudsen, E.; Vik, J. O.,;Rubolini, D.; Piacentini, D.; Brinch, C.; Spina, F.; Karlsson, L.; Stervander, M.; Andersson, A.; Waldenström, J.; Lehikoinen, A.; Edvardsen, E.; Solvang, R.; Stenseth, N. C. 2006. Rapid advance of spring arrival dates in long-distance migratory birds. Science 312(5782): 1959-1961.

Shirihai, H.; Gargallo, G.; Helbig, A. J. 2001. Sylvia warblers: identification, taxonomy and phylogeny of the genus Sylvia. Helm, London.

Sparks, T. H.; Huber, K.; Bland, R. L.; Crick, H. Q. P.; Croxton, P. J.; Flood, J.; Loxton, R. G.; Mason, C. F.; Newnham, J.A.; Tryjanowski, P. 2007. How consistent are trends in arrival (and departure) dates of migrant birds in the UK? Journal of Ornithology 148: 503-511.

Tøttrup, A. P.; Thorup, K.; Rahbek, C. 2006. Patterns of change in timing of spring migration in North European songbird populations. Journal of Avian Biology 37: 84-92.

Zalakevicius, M.; Bartkeviciene, G.; Raudonikis, L.; Janulaitis, J. 2006. Spring arrival response to climate change in birds: a case study from eastern Europe. Journal of Ornithology 147: 326-343.
Citation: BirdLife International 2012. Sylvia communis. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 22 May 2013.
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