Conservation of woodland birds in a fragmented rural landscape

Abstract

Increasingly, conservation efforts are being extended towards agricultural and pastoral areas outside large reserves. This indicates a change from the view of the landscape as islands of native habitat in a hostile matrix, to one in which the landscape is regarded as a patchwork of differing levels of disturbance. This latter view considers the whole of the landscape as the biological resource. These trends are discussed in relation to land bird species near Armidale on the New England Tablelands, north-east New South Wales, Australia.We assess the conservation status of 137 species of land birds. Of these, six species are locally extinct, 18 are thought to be declining and 35 are vulnerable due to their dependence on healthy woodland. Only 33 species are abundant and widely distributed on the Tablelands. The remaining 45 species tend to be habitat specialists that are marginal to the Armidale Plateau, and may never have been common in the study area. Most of the species that are dependent on large areas of continuous woodland (>400 hal are in this last group, and it is demonstrated that an emphasis on these species may result in a conservation strategy that is inappropriate for most of the land birds in the region. Indeed, this could result in the extinction of species that at present are secure. An alternative strategy, specific to areas outside large reserves, is proposed that aims to maintain local species richness. In this management plan, priority is given to core species that are tolerant of intermediate levels of habitat fragmentation.

The Combined Effects of Remnant Vegetation and Tree Planting on Farmland Birds

“…Hence, discussions about the integration of conservation and production on farms need to extend beyond conserving patches of remnant native woodland above a certain size (Freudenberger 1999) or maintaining particular levels of vegetation cover above perceived threshold values (e.g., 30% see Lindenmayer & Luck 2005). Given this, one of our key management recommendations is to manage farms in ways that ensure they support many components of native-vegetation cover (see also Barrett et al 1994;Barrett 2000).…”

Managing Trade‐offs in Landscape Restoration and Revegetation Projects

“…Furthermore, in many areas, local extinctions are 5 continuing. For example, population declines of previously common birds have been recorded in 6 agricultural regions of Australia, Europe and North America, in many cases long after broad-scale 7 clearing has ceased (Barrett et al 1994;Fuller et al 1995;Krebs et al 1999). Exacerbating these 8 problems are processes associated with land degradation such as encroaching dryland salinity and 9 soil erosion.…”

Why are woodland-dependent avian insectivore populations vulnerable to declines in highly-modified landscapes?

“…Each pair occupies a home range of about 5-6 ha which they defend southern Australian landscapes, they are thought to be sensitive to woodland patch area and isolation (Barrett et al 1994;Watson et al 2005). Although this species has a Red List status of Least Concern, population declines have been reported in some areas, especially sections of Victoria and New South Wales (Stevens & Watson 2013;BirdLife Australia 2015b).…”

“…Eastern yellow robins are sensitive to both habitat patch area and isolation in agricultural landscapes (Barrett et al 1994;Watson et al 2001;Watson et al 2005). This pattern is typically attributed to more-modified landscapes having lower food availability or higher nest predation (Zanette 2000;Zanette et al 2000).…”

“…This species is sensitive to both patch area and patch 59 isolation in agricultural regions (Barrett et al 1994;Watson et al 2001;Watson et al 2005).…”