Summary: The Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola is a globally threatened habitat specialist that breeds in open fens in Central and Eastern Europe. Because bush and reed encroachment threaten many suitable breeding areas, habitat management is necessary to maintain the open wetlands that Aquatic Warblers require for nesting. The effectiveness of mowing as habitat management has so far only been assessed by counting the number of singing males. To assess whether mowing also affected vital reproduction parameters, we analysed Aquatic Warbler productivity in the Biebrza National Park, Poland, on plots in four different successional stages after mowing. Our study showed that productivity was lowest in the first year after mowing, but increased to the highest levels in the second year after mowing. The productivity differences between areas at different stages after mowing resulted from differences in nest density, since we found little evidence for an effect of mowing on nest survival or the number of fledglings produced per successful nest. Nest survival was highly variable between years and varied mostly with nest age and nest initiation date. The density of singing males was positively correlated with both the nest density and the number of fledglings produced in an area, suggesting that this simple indicator could be used to rank the quality of Aquatic Warbler habitats. We recommend that in mesotrophic fen mires, such as the Biebrza valley, mowing as habitat management is applied less frequently than every second year.

In birds, vector-borne parasites invading the bloodstream are important agents of disease, affect fitness and shape population viability, thus being of conservation interest. Here, we molecularly identified protozoan blood parasites in two populations of the threatened Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola, a migratory passerine nesting in open marsh. We explored whether prevalence and lineage diversity of the parasites vary by population and whether infection status is explained by landscape metrics of habitat edge and individual traits (body mass, fat score, wing length and sex). Aquatic Warblers were infected by genera Plasmodium, Leucocytozoon and Trypanosoma, with seven, one and four lineages, and 29.9, 0.7 and 12.5% prevalence, respectively. No Haemoproteus infections were detected. Prevalence did not vary between the populations, but lineage diversity was higher in Polesie than in Biebrza for all the lineages pooled and for Plasmodium. Infection by Trypanosoma decreased with patch core area and increased with density of habitat edge. Infection status was not predicted by the individual traits. Our study is the first to show an association between edge-related landscape features and blood parasitism in an open habitat bird. This finding will support informed conservation measures for avian species of the globally shrinking marshland and other treeless habitats.

A global genome database of all of Earth's species diversity could be a treasure trove of scientific discoveries. However, regardless of the major advances in genome sequencing technologies, only a tiny fraction of species have genomic information available. To contribute to a more complete planetary genomic database, scientists and institutions across the world have united under the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), which plans to sequence and assemble high-quality reference genomes for all ~1.5 million recognized eukaryotic species through a stepwise phased approach. As the initiative transitions into Phase II, where 150,000 species are to be sequenced in just four years, worldwide participation in the project will be fundamental to success. As the European node of the EBP, the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) seeks to implement a new decentralised, accessible, equitable and inclusive model for producing high-quality reference genomes, which will inform EBP as it scales. To embark on this mission, ERGA launched a Pilot Project to establish a network across Europe to develop and test the first infrastructure of its kind for the coordinated and distributed reference genome production on 98 European eukaryotic species from sample providers across 34 European countries. Here we outline the process and challenges faced during the development of a pilot infrastructure for the production of reference genome resources, and explore the effectiveness of this approach in terms of high-quality reference genome production, considering also equity and inclusion. The outcomes and lessons learned during this pilot provide a solid foundation for ERGA while offering key learnings to other transnational and national genomic resource projects.

The Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola is one of the rarest European passerines and is characterised by promiscuity, lack of pair-bonds and female-only parental care. This makes the species an important model for studying the function of avian courtship song. The song of the Aquatic Warbler consists of whistle and rattle phrases produced as discontinuous A-, B- and C-songs, which are built by a single rattle, a rattle and a whistle, and more than two phrases of both kinds, respectively. The A- and B-songs are thought to be aggressive signals in male-male interactions, while C-songs are thought to be important for female choice. Here, we analysed recordings of 40 individually marked males, and determined the phrase repertoire. The enumerated repertoire (males recorded for ≥ 10 min) ranged from 16 to 158 (mean 99), however, it did not capture the complete phrase repertoires. We then used models from species diversity ecology to estimate the actual phrase repertoire size, which ranged between 18 and 300 phrases (mean 155). The estimated repertoire was predicted by the number of C-songs. The rattle repertoire was larger than the whistle repertoire, and both positively correlated with the number of C-songs. Our study indicates that male Aquatic Warblers have highly complex phrase repertoires that vary widely in size. Their courtship song is flexible and efficient, enabling relative song complexity to be demonstrated in a short sample, thus facilitating both female attraction through the quick presentation of large phrase repertoires and rival deterrence through the production of many short and simple A- and B-songs.

Summary: Owing to habitat loss, the entire breeding population of the globally threatened Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola, a flagship bird species of fen mires, is now limited to scattered areas in east-central Europe. The breeding biology of the Aquatic Warbler was studied between 2012 and 2015 in calcareous fens dominated by the Cladietum marisci sedge community at the south-western range limit of the species, near Chełm, in south-east Poland. Two nesting peaks were observed during the breeding season, corresponding to first and second breeding attempts. Nest densities were greater during the first- rather than the second-brood period but singing male densities did not differ between the brood periods. Clutch size and post-hatching fledging success were significantly lower during the second-brood period. Total nest fledging success (whether or not a nest fledged at least one young) was 76.6% in 124 nests with known outcomes with an average of 2.7 (± SE 0.2) fledglings per nest. Mayfield probability of nest survival was 56.9% with losses mainly due to predation (55%), nest desertion or female predation (28%), and changes in water level (14%). Nest survival to fledging increased along the gradient of increasing levels of litter layer thickness, stagnating water, and vegetation height at the nest, and increasing height of the nest above the soil. Fledgling production tended to be lower than in the Biebrza Marshes (north-east Poland) habitats, assumed to be optimal for breeding. Otherwise, the reproductive success estimates did not deviate from nests found in the core breeding areas in north-east Poland or Belarus. Brood feeding frequency (15.5 ± 1.0/hour) was similar to that observed in the Biebrza Marshes. Our results suggest that the calcareous fens at the margins of the current species’ range provide a suitable breeding habitat. However, as the nesting area has contracted, management programmes tailored to the ecological requirements of the Aquatic Warbler are required.