Hear from Simon Wootton, Senior Conservation Scientist, on his latest paper about the Liben lark population.
Liben lark Heteromirafra archeri is a ‘Critically Endangered’ species threatened by the loss and degradation of grassland at the Liben Plain, southern Ethiopia, one of only two known sites for the species. With the support of SOS Sahel, IUCN Save Our Species, co-funded by the European Union, a project to help the recovery of Liben lark on the Liben Plain is continuing during the coronavirus epidemic.
The objectives of the project are to stabilise and increase the Liben Lark’s population through conservation measures which also benefit the local communities on the Plain, and to engage with local communities and relevant stakeholders to look at developing a sustainable plan for the management of the traditional rangelands of the Liben Plain.
Liben lark © Paul Donald
A paper on rangeland loss and the decline of the Liben lark population has recently been published online by Bird Conservation International. This work was led by RSPB and partners included BirdLife International, The Ethiopian Wildlife Natural History Society, SOS Sahel, Coventry University and Manchester Metropolitan University.
From nine field visits between 2007 and 2019, the paper shows that the population fell from around 279 singing males (95%CL: 182–436) in 2007 to around 51 (14–144) in 2013, but too few birds were recorded during subsequent surveys in 2018 and 2109 to estimate population size in these years.
Arable cultivation first appeared on the Liben Plain around 1994 and by 2019 more than a third of the Plain had been converted to crops. Cultivation was initially confined to the fertile black soils but from 2008 began to spread into the less fertile red soils that cover most of the Plain, and where Liben larks occur.
Changes in the area of cropland within a 286-km2 rectangle around the Liben Plain, 1990‒2019, taken from visual digitisation in GIS of Landsat imagery. No obstruction-free images were available for 1996‒1999. Analysis of images back to 1972confirmed that crops first appeared in the area in 1994 © from Mahamued et al. 2021
The paper shows that Liben Larks strongly avoided areas with extensive bare ground or trees and bushes, and therefore clearance of Acacias and other scrub in core areas for Liben lark is part of the current project.
Invasive scrub on the eastern side of the Liben Plain © Simon Wotton
Since 2015, communal kalos (grazing exclosures) have been established to generate forage and other resources in the hope of also providing breeding habitat for Liben larks. Grass height and density within four grassland kalos in 2018 greatly exceeded that in the surrounding grassland, indicating that the Plain retains the potential to recover rapidly if appropriately managed.
Improvement of grassland structure through the restitution of traditional and sustainable rangeland management regimes and the reversion of cereal agriculture to grassland are urgently needed to try to save the species from disappearing from the Liben Plain.
Liben lark is one of Ethiopia’s most threatened bird species and is restricted to just two grassland areas in Ethiopia that are c600km apart. Ethiopian ornithologists and bird tour operators are trying to increase Liben lark awareness in Ethiopia. A new monthly 5km run is being established in Entoto Park in Addis Ababa, with the first kilometre being called the Liben lark km, to help raise awareness.
Despite the pandemic, plans are in place for another Liben lark survey on the Liben Plain in June this year, organised by Ethiopian ornithologists.
This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union through IUCN Save Our Species. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the RSPB and do not necessarily reflect the views of IUCN or the European Union.
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