{"id":3902,"date":"2019-07-16T15:21:34","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T15:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/?p=3902"},"modified":"2019-07-16T15:21:34","modified_gmt":"2019-07-16T15:21:34","slug":"parrotnet-publishes-policy-brief-on-invasive-parrots-and-their-impact-on-biodiversity-people-and-the-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/2019\/07\/16\/parrotnet-publishes-policy-brief-on-invasive-parrots-and-their-impact-on-biodiversity-people-and-the-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"ParrotNet publishes policy brief on invasive parrots and their impact on biodiversity, people and the economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Non-native parrots can cause substantial agricultural damage and threaten native biodiversity, although impacts vary strongly depending on where these parrots have been introduced, according to new research led by Professor Jim Groombridge<\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology<\/a> (DICE).<\/p>\n

Brought to Europe\u00a0as pets, escaped or released parrots have established numerous wild populations across Europe.\u00a0Tens of thousands of ring-necked and monk parakeets make up the bulk of Europe\u2019s parrots, but several more species are gaining a foothold too.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0pan-European team of researchers, conservationists, wildlife managers and policy-makers,\u00a0led by\u00a0Professor Groombridge\u00a0worked together under the umbrella of\u00a0ParrotNet<\/a>. They\u00a0reviewed available evidence on parrot damage\u00a0and concluded that measures to prevent parrots from invading new areas are paramount for limiting future harm.<\/p>\n

Introduced parrots can damage the environment, but severe impacts are rare and localised. Most reports of damage were linked to the widespread and locally abundant ring-necked and monk parakeets.\u00a0Studies show that in their native ranges, both species can and regularly do inflict large crop losses, but, in Europe, expectations of comparable widespread and severe damage to agriculture have so far failed to materialise.<\/p>\n

Based on the results of the study<\/a>, the ParrotNet members published\u00a0a \u2018policy brief\u2019<\/a>\u00a0available in seven different languages, summarising and discussing the implications of their findings for policy makers and wildlife managers.<\/p>\n

Their recommendations include\u00a0stricter regulation aimed at preventing parakeet introductions, rapid response when emerging populations are detected, and better dissemination of information to the public about the impact parakeets can have.\u00a0For example, using bird feeders that parakeets cannot access may help reduce the abundance of these birds in cities.<\/p>\n

Professor Groombridge said, “What should be done to minimise damage by invasive parakeets is ultimately up to policy-makers. But,\u00a0as scientists, we stress that our work again highlights that the best way to combat invasive species is to prevent their introduction and spread.<\/p>\n

“Parakeet populations have already been successfully removed, for example, from islands such as the Seychelles, demonstrating that it is possible to stop them when prompt and decisive action is taken by governments. For the already established and large parakeet populations that can be found across parts of Europe,\u00a0there is no ‘silver bullet’ solution to the problems they may locally pose. More applied research is needed to find cost-effective and acceptable methods to reduce parakeet impacts in those areas where they do cause damage.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Non-native parrots can cause substantial agricultural damage and threaten native biodiversity, although impacts vary strongly depending on where these parrots have been introduced, according to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40284,"featured_media":3903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[159353,6599,124,70,6600],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3902"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40284"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3902"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3904,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3902\/revisions\/3904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/sac-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}