This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Birds play vital roles in ecosystem functioning and human well-being, however, anthropogenic threats have led to alarming population declines and extinctions. Concerted efforts of international and local partners have attained tangible progress in the recovery of the mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei), demonstrated by a rise in numbers. The mountain gorilla conservation approach initiated in Rwanda has been scaled-up to include gorilla habitats in DRC and Uganda, and recently the Greater Virunga landscape, which comprises eight reserves. Adapting key steps from the mountain gorilla conservation model to birds presents multiple benefits, especially if conducted methodically within a Systematic Conservation Planning framework, notwithstanding obvious perceptual and geographical differences between the taxa. Birds provide an efficient conservation surrogate, therefore, management interventions targeting birds in Rwanda will simultaneously support other affected taxa and ecosystem services more broadly across the region.
Varied strategies to alleviate the loss of farmland biodiversity have been tested, yet there is still insufficient evidence supporting their effectiveness, especially when considering phylogenetic and functional diversity alongside traditional taxonomic diversity metrics. This conservation challenge is accentuated in the Afrotropics by the rapid agricultural expansion and intensification for the production of cash crops and by a comparative lack of research. In this study, we assessed how farming practices influence avian phylogenetic and functional diversity. We conducted point‐count surveys to assess avian diversity in monocultures of tea and mixed crop farming systems surrounding the Nyungwe rainforest in south‐west Rwanda, allowing us to investigate the drivers of avian diversity at farm level. Species composition was found to be moderately different between farm types, with mixed crop farms supporting higher phylogenetic diversity than tea plantations. There were no significant seasonal differences in species composition, functional or phylogenetic diversity. Overall, functional diversity did not differ between farm types, but the dispersion of trophic‐related traits was significantly higher in mixed crop farms. Both functional and phylogenetic diversity were influenced by floristic diversity, vegetation height, tree number, and elevation to varying degrees. Our results also (i) highlight the role of farmland heterogeneity (e.g., crop species composition, height, and tree cover extent) in encouraging avian functional and phylogenetic diversity in the Afrotropics and (ii) indicate that the generally negative biodiversity impacts of monoculture agriculture can be partially alleviated by extensive agroforestry with an emphasis on indigenous tree species.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.