Biodiversity and ecological value of conservation lands in agricultural landscapes of southern Ontario, Canada

Milne, Robin; Bennett, Lorne

doi:10.1007/s10980-006-9063-5

Cited by 23 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…To compare avian use of the re-established riparian buffers to cropped fields or pastures, total bird abundance, species richness, and Shannon-Wiener Diversity were calculated for each of the survey plots (Margules and Usher 1981;Dunn 2004;Milne and Bennett 2007). Total bird abundance was calculated for each of the plots by summing the maximum number of individuals of each species observed across all eight surveys conducted at each plot.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bird species diversity in riparian buffers, row crop fields, and grazed pastures within agriculturally dominated watersheds

et al. 2010

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In response to concern about the loss of ecosystem services once provided by natural riparian systems, state and federal agencies have established incentive programs for landowners to convert sensitive lands from agricultural to conservation uses. Enhancement of wildlife habitat, while identified as a function of such systems, has often been of secondary importance to soil conservation and water quality objectives. Though greatly important, little consideration has been given to how specific species will respond to the design and management of riparian buffers or other conservation lands. This study compared avian communities within a chronosequence of riparian buffers established on previously cropped or pastured land with those of the nearby matrix land cover types (row crop fields and an intensively grazed pasture). The riparian buffers consisted of native grasses, forbs, and woody vegetation established at three different times (2, 9, and 14? years prior to survey). At each site, 10 min point counts for breeding birds were conducted using 50 m fixed radius plots, which were visited eight times between May 15 and July 10, 2008. A total of 54 bird species were observed over all of the study sites. The re-established riparian buffers in this study had higher bird abundance, richness, and diversity than the crop and pasture sites. These results suggest that re-establishing native riparian vegetation in areas of intensive agriculture will provide habitat for a broad suite of bird species, but that specific species will reflect successional stage, horizontal and vertical vegetative structure, and compositional diversity of the buffer vegetation. These results emphasize the importance of matching buffer design and management to species requirements if the objectives are to attract specific target species or species groups.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bird species diversity in riparian buffers, row crop fields, and grazed pastures within agriculturally dominated watersheds

et al. 2010

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“…Although one objective of the WRP is to restore habitat for wetland‐dependent wildlife, there have been few quantitative studies measuring the benefit to wildlife species of WRP conservation practices (Gray & Teels 2006). In a recent review, Faulkner et al (2011) found no studies specific to the MAV; however, results from other regions of the country have reported positive effects from wetland restoration on amphibian abundance and species richness (Vasconcelos & Calhoun 2006; Milne & Bennett 2007; Petranka et al 2007). This knowledge gap is especially important to amphibians because wetland hydrology is a critical component of their habitat.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Quantitative Assessment of the Conservation Benefits of the Wetlands Reserve Program to Amphibians

Waddle

Glorioso

Faulkner

2012

Restoration Ecology

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The Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV) originally consisted of nearly contiguous bottomland hardwood (BLH) forest encompassing approximately 10 million hectares. Currently, only 20–25% of the historical BLH forests remain in small patches fragmented by agricultural lands. The Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) was established to restore and protect the functions and values of wetlands in agricultural landscapes. To assess the potential benefit of WRP restoration to amphibians, we surveyed 30 randomly selected WRP sites and 20 nearby agricultural sites in the Mississippi Delta. We made repeat visits to each site from May to August 2008 and performed both visual encounter and vocalization surveys. We analyzed the encounter history data for 11 anuran species using a Bayesian hierarchical occupancy model that estimated detection probability and probability of occurrence simultaneously for each species. Nine of the 11 species had higher probabilities of occurrence at WRP sites compared to agriculture. Derived estimates of species richness were also higher for WRP sites. Five anuran species were significantly more likely to occur in WRP than in agriculture, four of which were among the most aquatic species. It appears that the restoration of a more permanent hydrology at the WRP sites may be the primary reason for this result. Although amphibians represent only one group of wildlife species, they are useful for evaluating restoration benefits for wildlife because of their intermediate trophic position. The methods used in this study to evaluate the benefit of restoration could be used in other locations and with other groups of indicator species.

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“…Cifaldi et al (2004), Kearns et al (2005) and Pascual-Hortal and Saura (2006) used these metrics to determine the functioning of many landscapes. Sundell- Turner and Rodewald (2008) and Milne and Bennett (2007) used these metrics to assess the landscape along with other macroscopic parameters such as rarity and species richness. The importance of the boundaries between patches in characterising the structure and function of landscapes has also been explored in studies of ecological flows (Burel and Baudry, 1990;Franklin and Forman, 1987;Noss, 1983) and the causes, processes, and consequences of changes in land use and land cover (Rescia et al, 1994;Wu and Hobbs, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A procedure of landscape services assessment based on mosaics of patches and boundaries

Agar

Ortega

Pablo

2016

Journal of Environmental Management

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Biodiversity and ecological value of conservation lands in agricultural landscapes of southern Ontario, Canada

Cited by 23 publications

References 31 publications

Bird species diversity in riparian buffers, row crop fields, and grazed pastures within agriculturally dominated watersheds

Bird species diversity in riparian buffers, row crop fields, and grazed pastures within agriculturally dominated watersheds

A Quantitative Assessment of the Conservation Benefits of the Wetlands Reserve Program to Amphibians

A procedure of landscape services assessment based on mosaics of patches and boundaries

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