The effects of released pheasants on invertebrate populations in and around woodland release sites.

The release of gamebirds for recreational shooting exerts a series of effects on the ecosystems into which they are placed. Pheasants () are omnivorous and eat invertebrates, especially when young or, if females, when breeding. Consequently, the release of large numbers of pheasants into woodland release pens may affect local invertebrate populations.

Dedicated biomass crops can enhance biodiversity in the arable landscape.

Suggestions that novel, non-food, dedicated biomass crops used to produce bioenergy may provide opportunities to diversify and reinstate biodiversity in intensively managed farmland have not yet been fully tested at the landscape scale. Using two of the largest, currently available landscape-scale biodiversity data sets from arable and biomass bioenergy crops, we take a taxonomic and functional trait approach to quantify and contrast the consequences for biodiversity indicators of adopting dedicated biomass crops on land previously cultivated under annual, rotational arable cropping. The abundance and community compositions of biodiversity indicators in fields of break and cereal crops changed when planted with the dedicated biomass crops, miscanthus and short rotation coppiced (SRC) willow.

Multiple behavioural, morphological and cognitive developmental changes arise from a single alteration to early life spatial environment, resulting in fitness consequences for released pheasants.

Subtle variations in early rearing environment influence morphological, cognitive and behavioural processes that together impact on adult fitness. We manipulated habitat complexity experienced by young pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) in their first seven weeks, adding a third accessible dimension by placing elevated perches in their rearing pens mimicking natural variation in habitat complexity. This simple manipulation provoked an interrelated suite of morphological, cognitive and behavioural changes, culminating in decreased wild mortality of birds from complex habitats compared with controls.

Diet complexity in early life affects survival in released pheasants by altering foraging efficiency, food choice, handling skills and gut morphology.

Behavioural and physiological deficiencies are major reasons why reintroduction programmes suffer from high mortality when captive animals are used. Mitigation of these deficiencies is essential for successful reintroduction programmes. Our study manipulated early developmental diet to better replicate foraging behaviour in the wild.