Linking occurrence and changes in local abundance of farmland bird species to landscape composition and land-use changes

Berg, Åke; Wretenberg, Johan; Żmihorski, Michał; Hiron, Matthew; Pärt, Tomas

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2014.11.019

Cited by 39 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The final number of breeding pairs for a given site and year was based on the maximum number of breeding pairs assessed during the three visits at that site in that year, since it is difficult to observe all pairs at a site during a 5‐min period (Berg et al . ). The same sites were surveyed by the same six skilled birdwatchers during 2001–2004.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Effects of water level and grassland management on alpha and beta diversity of birds in restored wetlands

Żmihorski

Pärt

Gustafson

et al. 2016

Journal of Applied Ecology

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Summary Nearly 60% of European wetlands have been lost to drainage or to the cessation of grassland management. Large amounts of resources are put into wetland restoration with the aim to recover biodiversity. However, few studies have simultaneously evaluated effects of management, wetness and flooding dynamics on biodiversity of restored wetlands such as seasonally flooded wet grasslands. We inventoried bird communities over 4 years at 137 sites (each 3·1 ha) within five restored wet grassland areas in Sweden to investigate whether species richness and occurrence of 12 common wet grassland species were related to (i) local conditions such as management (grazing, mowing and unmanaged areas), basic wetness and spring flooding dynamics. Further, we investigated whether (ii) the composition of the adjacent landscape (20 ha) related to local bird diversity and (iii) species turnover (i.e. beta diversity) differed between sites characterized by their basic wetness, degree of flooding and predominant management regime. Local species richness was positively linked to degree of flooding and basic wetness of grasslands but not to type of grassland management. Species richness tended also to be negatively linked to proportion of forest at the landscape scale. Although variable, the same results were also true concerning the probability of the occurrence of a single species at the local scale. Species turnover between sites, and thus total species richness, was distinctly higher in (i) grazed as compared to mowed grasslands except in dry non‐flooded grasslands and (ii) flooded as compared to non‐flooded sites. Similar patterns held for the subset of 12 red‐listed species. We suggest that the high beta diversity in grazed and flooded grasslands is driven by the heterogeneous vegetation structure, resulting in good conditions for foraging and nesting for several wet grassland bird species. Synthesis and applications. The selection of wetlands for conserving wet grassland birds should prioritize temporary flooded grasslands of moderate wetness, preferably far from forest edges. Restoration and management of wet grasslands should include water level management, removal of shrubs and trees, and low‐intensity grazing, whereas mowing could be used in non‐flooded grasslands of low basic wetness.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Effects of water level and grassland management on alpha and beta diversity of birds in restored wetlands

Żmihorski

Pärt

Gustafson

et al. 2016

Journal of Applied Ecology

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“…Loss, alteration, and fragmentation of semi natural grassland patches in Southern Sweden [59,60], and thus reduced functionality of semi-natural grasslands as green infrastructure, are linked to losses in species richness [61,62]. However, evidence indicates that the abundance and breeding success of bird species are dependent on both the patterns within their biophysical land cover patch (e.g., [63]) and the processes within the surrounding landscape's matrix [64]. For example, avian predator abundance and predation rates of ground nesting birds have been shown to affect their composition and abundance [5,65].…”

Section: Reduced Functionality Of Semi-natural Grasslands As a Green mentioning

confidence: 99%

Defining Benchmarks for Restoration of Green Infrastructure: A Case Study Combining the Historical Range of Variability of Habitat and Species’ Requirements

Manton

Angelstam

2018

Sustainability

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Animal husbandry in Europe that sustained once wide-spread semi-natural grasslands has been replaced by maximum sustained yield agriculture and forestry. This transformation coincides with declining populations of species dependent on semi-natural grasslands. A key task is therefore to define benchmarks for landscape restoration in terms of well-planned functional habitat networks, i.e., green infrastructure. Using a representative example of the European landscape gradient between agricultural and forest landscapes in southern Sweden as a case study, we analyzed the historic range of variability of the total area, quality, and size of grassland patches, and compared this to the requirements of focal grassland species. Spatial data covering the past two centuries indicated a 75-80% loss of total grassland area. Three factors affected the functionality of grasslands as green infrastructure. First, during the period 1927-1976, the loss of all grassland areas with high nature values was 41-59%. Second, as a measure of alteration, the number of semi-natural grassland types declined from 5 to 1. Third, to address habitat fragmentation, an analysis of changes in grassland patch size showed that patches sufficiently large to support local populations of complete focal grasslands species assemblages declined by 89-100%. The cumulative effect of loss, alteration, and fragmentation over the past two centuries indicates that the functionality of semi-natural grasslands has declined by at least 98%. However, this estimate does not consider land use changes before 1800, reduced connectivity, and altered biotic and abiotic processes in both semi-natural grasslands and the surrounding matrix. We stress the need to define the historic range of variability as a benchmark in relation to species' requirements to maintain semi-natural grasslands as green infrastructure. Finally, integrated land management and governance that support multi-functionality of grasslands is needed.

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“…All analyses were performed in R (version 3.3.0 [44]. To avoid problems involved in modelling rare species, we conservatively restricted all bird analyses to include those species and groups for which we had records in five or more plots per season [45][46][47][48]. We evaluated the effect of season by comparing community abundance, richness, and bird dietary groups using paired t-Student tests.…”

Section: Statistical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agricultural landscapes as habitat for birds in central Chile

Muñoz‐Sáez

Perez‐Quezada

Estades

2017

Rev. Chil. de Hist. Nat.

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Background: Understanding the role of agroecosystems as habitat for wildlife is crucial for long-term conservation planning, as different crop stratification and landscape elements can influence bird communities, which are also affected by seasonality. The goal of our study was to determine how agricultural landscapes varying in land cover characteristics affect bird richness and abundance. Bird surveys were conducted at 110 locations within agricultural landscapes in central Chile. The surveyed areas were characterized by land cover at two scales (50 and 500 m radii) through direct observation and photo-interpretation, during winter and spring seasons. Generalized Linear Mixed Models were used to evaluate the effects of different agricultural land covers on bird species and communities. Results: Our results show that birds were more abundant during winter, in particular for insectivorous and granivorous birds, and that bird species richness was significantly increased due to cover provided by hedgerows at the plot scale. Conclusions: We found that abundance of some bird species in agroecosystems in central Chile was higher in winter than in spring, and that overall bird richness was favored by structural diversity including non-crop structures such as hedgerows, which thus may be relevant for improving bird conservation management in temperate agroecosystems. Our results suggest that native vegetation proximity and area may affect seasonal changes in bird communities at larger scales, relationships which warrant further study.

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Linking occurrence and changes in local abundance of farmland bird species to landscape composition and land-use changes

Cited by 39 publications

References 33 publications

Effects of water level and grassland management on alpha and beta diversity of birds in restored wetlands

Effects of water level and grassland management on alpha and beta diversity of birds in restored wetlands

Defining Benchmarks for Restoration of Green Infrastructure: A Case Study Combining the Historical Range of Variability of Habitat and Species’ Requirements

Agricultural landscapes as habitat for birds in central Chile

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