Active farmsteads are year-round strongholds for farmland birds

0484871 - ÚBO 2019 RIV GB eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Šálek, Martin - Bažant, M. - Żmihorski, M.
Active farmsteads are year-round strongholds for farmland birds.
Journal of Applied Ecology. Roč. 55, č. 4 (2018), s. 1908-1918. ISSN 0021-8901. E-ISSN 1365-2664
Institucionální podpora: RVO:68081766
Klíčová slova: biodiversity * birds * conservation * farmland * farmsteads * hotspots * landscape structure * red-listed species * species richness
Obor OECD: Biodiversity conservation
Impakt faktor: 5.782, rok: 2018

Farmland birds have experienced substantial declines over recent decades and various conservation measures have been designed to halt their massive decrease. The effectiveness of these measures is however limited, due to inappropriate identification of crucial breeding and wintering habitats. Identification of appropriate habitats, like farmsteads, and understanding seasonal changes in species richness and abundance of farmland birds within these habitats may therefore be key for farmland bird conservation.

We investigated the effect of variation in farmstead management on alpha and gamma diversity of all farmland birds and red-listed farmland birds in the Czech Republic. In particular, we evaluated the diversity of wintering and breeding birds at over 200 sites to explore: i) differences in bird communities in three types of farmsteads and open farmland, ii) changes in species-specific habitat preferences between winter and spring, iii) effect of landscape composition, ruderal vegetation and altitude on bird assemblages.

Farmsteads with animal production harboured the highest, whereas open farmland areas had the lowest, species richness and abundance of all farmland birds and red-listed farmland birds. The decline of species richness in winter was more pronounced in farmland and abandoned farmsteads compared to farmsteads with plant and animal production.

Single bird species showed different habitat preferences but the majority of species including red-listed farmland birds changed preferences toward animal farmsteads during winter. Bird species richness was negatively correlated with altitude and positively with representation of ruderal vegetation. Rarefied gamma diversity confirmed local patterns for both all species and red-listed species: the highest total species richness was observed in active animal farmsteads but differences among types were significant only during winter.


Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0280002


Vědecká data: Dryad