Non‐inversion tillage and farmland birds: a review with special reference to the UK and Europe

Cunningham, Heidi M.; Chaney, Keith; Bradbury, Richard B.; Wilcox, Andrew

doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.2004.00354.x

Cited by 41 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…On the contrary, the lack of such a pattern for omnivores was expected. This suggests that other factors may be more relevant in determining its presence within agricultural landscapes, such as the soil tillage and subsequent exposition of soil invertebrates for Southern lapwing and Chimango caracara [91] or the presence of berries and other complementary food resources for Austral thrush [92].…”

Section: Species Associationsmentioning

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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Section: Species Associationsmentioning

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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“…The only crop harvested during the study period was hay, and sample sizes were insufficient for analysis to include harvesting dates. However, we tallied the number of tills, including disking, for spring-sown crops because tillage can have important effects on farmland birds (Cunningham et al 2004). …”

Section: Agricultural Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk of Agricultural Practices and Habitat Change to Farmland Birds

Kirk¹,

Lindsay²,

Brook³

2011

ACE

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ABSTRACT. Many common bird species have declined as a result of agricultural intensification and this could be mitigated by organic farming. We paired sites for habitat and geographical location on organic and nonorganic farms in Ontario, Canada to test a priori predictions of effects on birds overall, 9 guilds and 22 species in relation to candidate models for farming practices (13 variables), local habitat features (12 variables), or habitat features that influence susceptibility to predation. We found that: (1) Overall bird abundance, but not richness, was significantly (p < 0.05) higher on organic sites (mean 43.1 individuals per site) than nonorganic sites (35.8 individuals per site). Significantly more species of birds were observed for five guilds, including primary grassland birds, on organic vs. nonorganic sites. No guild had higher richness or abundance on nonorganic farms; (2) Farming practice models were the best (∆AIC < 4) for abundance of birds overall, primary grassland bird richness, sallier aerial insectivore richness and abundance, and abundance of ground nesters; (3) Habitat models were the best for overall richness, Neotropical migrant abundance, richness and abundance of Ontario-USA-Mexico (short-distance) migrants and resident richness; (4) Predation models were the best for richness of secondary grassland birds and ground feeders; (5) A combination of variables from the model types were best for richness or abundance overall, 13 of 18 guilds (richness and abundance) and 16 of 22 species analyzed. Five of 10 farming practice variables (including herbicide use, organic farm type) and 9 of 13 habitat variables (including hedgerow length, proportion of hay) were significant in best models. Risk modeling indicated that herbicide use could decrease primary grassland birds by one species (35% decline from 3.4 to 2.3 species) per site. Organic farming could benefit species of conservation concern by 49% (an increase from 7.6 to 11.4 grassland birds). An addition of 63 m of hedgerow could increase abundance and richness of short distance migrants by 50% (3.0 to 4.8 and 1.3 to 2.0, respectively). Increasing the proportion of hay on nonorganic farms to 50% could increase abundance of primary grassland bird by 40% (6.7 to 9.4). Our results provide support for alternative farmland designs and agricultural management systems that could enhance select bird species in farmland. RÉSUMÉ. De nombreuses espèces d'oiseaux ont décliné en raison de l'intensification des pratiques agricoles, mais ces déclins pourraient être atténués grâce à l'agriculture biologique. Nous avons apparié des sites (habitat et situation géographique) sur des fermes biologiques et des fermes non biologiques en Ontario, Canada, afin de tester des prévisions a priori d'effets sur l'avifaune dans son ensemble, 9 guildes et 22 espèces d'oiseaux, en relation avec des modèles candidats testant les pratiques agricoles (13 variables), les caractéristiques locales de l'habitat (12 variables) ou les caractéristiques de l'habitat qui influencent...

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“…These results have clear implications for the management and conservation of Grey Partridges on tilled land and indicate the need for the maintenance of 'short-term', autumn-winter stubbles with natural vegetation of annual weeds. In this context, the reduced tillage systems, that are used by an increasing number of farmers in western Europe and which rely on the use of herbicides to control weeds that emerge from the post-harvest stubble (Cunningham et al 2004), are less beneficial to Grey Partridges and several other species of seed-eating bird, in comparison to the traditional maintance of stubble fields. Crop fields which are uncultivated for a longer period of time (2-3 years), overgrown by biennials and perennials due to vegetation succession, have a considerably smaller value for Grey Partridges (reviewed by Kuijper et al 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%