As tropical regions are converted to agriculture, conservation of biodiversity will depend not only on the maintenance of protected forest areas, but also on the scope for conservation within the agricultural matrix in which they are embedded. Tree cover typically retained in agricultural landscapes in the neotropics may provide resources and habitats for animals, but little is known about the extent to which it contributes to conservation of animal species. Here, we explore the animal diversity associated with different forms of tree cover for birds, bats, butterflies, and dung beetles in a pastoral landscape in Nicaragua. We measured species richness and abundance of these four animal taxa in riparian and secondary forest, forest fallows, live fences, and pastures with high and low tree cover. We recorded over 20,000 individuals of 189 species including 14 endangered bird species. Mean abundance and species richness of birds and bats, but not dung beetles or butterflies, were significantly different among forms of tree cover. Species richness of bats and birds was positively correlated with tree species richness. While the greatest numbers of bird species were associated with riparian and secondary forest, forest fallows, and pastures with >15% tree cover, the greatest numbers of bat species were found in live fences and riparian forest. Species assemblages of all animal taxa were different among tree cover types, so that maintaining a diversity of forms of tree cover led to conservation of more animal species in the landscape as a whole. Overall, the findings indicate that retaining tree cover within agricultural landscapes can help conserve animal diversity, but that conservation efforts need to target forms of tree cover that conserve the taxa that are of interest locally. Preventing the degradation of remaining forest fragments is a priority, but encouraging farmers to maintain tree cover in pastures and along boundaries may also make an important contribution to animal conservation.

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Although agriculture dominates much of Central America, little is known about the bat assemblages that occur within agricultural landscapes and how bats use different types of tree cover within these landscapes. Using mist‐nets and a mark‐recapture protocol, we compared bat diversity and movement across six types of tree cover within an agricultural landscape in central Nicaragua. The tree cover types surveyed included secondary forests, riparian forests, forest fallows, live fences, pastures with high tree cover and pastures with low tree cover. We captured a total of 3084 bats of 39 species, including two new species records for the country (Lonchorhina aurita and Molossops greenhalli). Of these, 2970 bats and 27 species were in the Phyllostomidae family. There were significant differences in mean species density, abundance and evenness of phyllostomid bats across the different types of tree cover, but not in bat diversity. Riparian forests had the highest mean species density and bat abundance per plot. In contrast, mean bat abundance and species density were lowest in pastures with low tree cover. Of the 1947 phyllostomid bats marked, a total of 64 bats of eight species were recaptured. The average linear distance between extra‐site recaptures was 2227 m (± 228 SE) and the maximum distance was 10.6 km. Bats were recorded moving between almost all types of tree cover, and especially to and from riparian forests. Our study suggests that agricultural landscapes retaining a heterogeneous tree cover may maintain a diverse bat assemblage, and that bats visit and use a variety of tree cover types within the agricultural matrix.

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In tropical regions where forests have been replaced by agriculture, the future of biodiversity is increasingly dependent on the presence of remnant forest patches and on-farm tree cover within agricultural landscapes. While there is growing evidence of the importance of tree cover within agricultural landscapes, most studies have been conducted in a single landscape, making it difficult to ascertain whether the conservation value of different types of tree cover can be generalized across landscapes. To explore whether use of different forms of tree cover by birds is consistent across landscapes, we compared the number of individuals, species richness, and diversity of birds associated with different forms of tree cover in four agricultural landscapes in Central America, using a standardized methodology and sampling effort. In each landscape, we compared bird assemblages in six tree cover types (secondary forests, riparian forests, forest fallows, live fences, pastures with high tree cover, and pastures with low tree cover). We observed a total of 10 723 birds of 283 species, with 83-196 species per landscape. The specific patterns of bird species richness, number of individuals, and diversity associated with tree cover types varied across the four landscapes, but these variables were consistently higher in the forest forms of tree cover (riparian forests, secondary forests, and forest fallows) than in non-forest habitats. In addition, forest forms of tree cover had distinct species composition from non-forest forms in all landscapes. There was also consistency in the use of different types of tree cover by forest birds across the four landscapes, with higher richness and number of individuals of forest birds in forested than non-forested forms of tree cover, and more forest bird species in pastures with high tree cover than in pastures with low tree cover. Our findings indicate that riparian and secondary forests are consistently of higher value for bird conservation (particularly for forest species) than live fences and pastures with tree cover. Consequently, agricultural and land use policies that promote the retention of secondary and riparian forests and increase tree cover within pastures would greatly benefit bird conservation, regardless of the landscape in which they are applied.