Researchers from the University of Alicante (UA), in collaboration with researchers from the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) and the Centre for Forest Science and Technology of Catalonia (CTFC), have developed the first database that quantifies the ecosystem services that native birds of Spain provide to people and the environment. The study, published in Ardeola: International Journal of Ornithology, presents ServiBirds, a pioneering tool that assesses the ecological, cultural, and economic role of 378 bird species belonging to 73 families.

The study, led by Esther Sebastián-González of the University of Alicante's Department of Ecology, analyzes 12 types of ecosystem services—provisioning, regulating, and cultural—that birds provide to society. These include pest control, seed dispersal, organic matter recycling, aesthetic, artistic, and ecotourism value, as well as their importance as game species and symbolic figures.

“Birds are essential for human well-being: they regulate key ecological processes and also inspire our culture, art, and tourism,” the authors explain in this study.

The analysis shows that all bird species provide some type of ecosystem service, and that more than 60% contribute to four or more different services. Among the most important species are the Eurasian magpie (Pica pica) and the common blackbird (Turdus merula), which provide numerous regulatory services, and the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), which stands out for its role in scavenging. In the cultural sphere, species such as the red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa), the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), and the European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) are notable for their aesthetic, artistic, and ecotourism significance. The study emphasizes that the value of birds extends beyond biodiversity: it also has economic and social repercussions, especially for birdwatching tourism.

“ServiBirds allows us to identify which species are key to maintaining ecosystems and how their conservation directly impacts the quality of human life,” the researchers add. In addition to providing a framework for Spain, the ServiBirds approach can be applied to other regions and taxonomic groups, serving as a tool for managing and conserving biodiversity more effectively.

The study appears in the recently published January volume of our scientific journal Ardeola: International Journal of Ornithology and has been carried out by a team composed of researchers Esther Sebastián-González, Susana Carrión, Germán López-Iborra, Claudia Pérez, Gloria Rocher, José García-Rodríguez and Adrian Orihuela-Torres from the Department of Ecology and the Department of Information Technology and Computing of the UA, researchers from the Ecology area of the UMH José Antonio Sánchez Zapata, Francisco Botella and Juan Manuel Pérez-García, and Cristian Pérez-Granados from the Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC) and is part of the CHAN-TWIN project, funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities with NextGeneration funds (TED2021-130890B-C21).

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