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The spread of the red-billed leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea) in Europe: The conquest by an overlooked invader?

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Abstract

The red-billed leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea) is an Asian-native passerine which has been introduced across several regions of the world, including Europe. Although it is widely considered to be among the most harmful bird invaders, its occurrence in Europe is still understudied. Here, we aim to assess its distribution and population status in Europe. We obtained records for ten countries distributed throughout 37 spatially independent regions. The species is already established in France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. The distribution range in Europe almost doubled between the periods of 2000–2008 and 2009–2017. A species distribution model showed that leiothrix presence probability increases with increasing combined values of human population density, spatial trend of occurrences, minimum temperature of the coldest month, precipitation of the driest quarter and precipitation seasonality. We identified two main introduction periods: late nineteenth and late twentieth centuries. In 1997, the species trade started to be regulated, resulting in a reduction of the imported numbers during the following years. Thus, the recent increase of the distribution range may be mostly related with self-dispersion. There has apparently been a great introduction rate near large urban areas which resulted in a broad spread into adjacent forests. The relationship between climatic traits and leiothrix presence may be due to its feeding ecology, as it often forages in wet soil and is limited by the availability of fruits and invertebrates. Future climate change scenarios can add further uncertainty to the invasion process by the leiothrix in Europe.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the associate editor and reviewer which contributed with comments and suggestions which improved the first version of the manuscript. We thank Shirley van der Horst for the language and grammar review. We acknowledge the Laboratory of Ornithology, Évora University for logistics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICAAM – Instituto de Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais Mediterrânicas, LabOr – Laboratório de Ornitologia, Universidade de Évora, Núcleo da Mitra, Apartado 94, 7006-554, Évora, Portugal

    Pedro Filipe Pereira, Carlos Godinho, Pedro A. Salgueiro, Rui R. Silva & Rui Lourenço

  2. Centro de Investigação em Ciências Geo-Espaciais (CICGE), Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Observatório Astronómico Prof. Manuel de Barros, Alameda do Monte da Virgem, 4430-146, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal

    A. Márcia Barbosa

  3. UBC – Conservation Biology Lab, Department of Biology, University of Évora, Pólo da Mitra, 7002-554, Évora, Portugal

    Pedro A. Salgueiro

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  1. Pedro Filipe Pereira
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Pereira, P.F., Barbosa, A.M., Godinho, C. et al. The spread of the red-billed leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea) in Europe: The conquest by an overlooked invader?. Biol Invasions 22, 709–722 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-019-02123-5

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