Density and productivity of breeding Skylarks<i>Alauda arvensis</i>in relation to crop type on agricultural lands in western France

Eraud, C.; Jm, Boutin

doi:10.1080/00063650209461277

Cited by 60 publications

(35 citation statements)

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“…Pheasants, little bustards, linnets and skylarks preferred set-aside as a feeding and/or breeding habitat (Martínez, 1994;Sotherton et al, 1994;Eybert, Constant and Lefeuvre, 1995;Eraud and Boutin, 2002). This arises because set-aside contained higher densities of indigenous weed seeds, plants and invertebrates than crops, which resulted in increased foraging opportunities (Henderson and Evans, 2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of set-aside management on birds breeding in lowland Ireland

Bracken¹,

Bolger²

2006

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

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this has led to the introduction of agri-environmental schemes, of which set-aside is a part. Bird abundance and diversity were compared between set-aside and adjacent tillage or grassland at 18 locations. The set-aside sites were also assigned to one of four management types: rotational set-aside; non-rotational set-aside; first year setaside that was productive grassland in the previous year; and long-term set-aside that was grazed by animals in winter. Species diversity and the abundances of skylark, meadow pipit and woodpigeon were significantly greater in set-aside sites.Species diversity was not significantly different between set-aside management types and meadow pipit, skylark, pheasant, house sparrow, magpie, snipe and starling were closely associated with non-rotational set-aside, which also contained significantly larger numbers of these species compared to the other set-aside types.This study shows that set-aside does enhance bird diversity and abundance and that, in Ireland, the most effective form of set-aside is non-rotational. It also shows that the most appropriate form of set-aside will vary from situation to situation and that a one size fits all view should not be taken in the development of agri-environmental schemes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of set-aside management on birds breeding in lowland Ireland

Bracken¹,

Bolger²

2006

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

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“…In some multi-brooded passerines of agricultural landscapes, habitat suitability changes during the breeding season, causing territory shift (Stiebel 1997, Donald et al 2002, Eraud and Boutin 2002, Brambilla and Rubolini 2009, Gilroy et al 2010; within-season switches might maximize the number of breeding attempts (Gilroy et al 2010). When habitat/distribution changes are strong, they may have critical implications for conservation (Brambilla and Rubolini 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intra-seasonal changes in local pattern of Corncrake Crex crex occurrence require adaptive conservation strategies in Alpine meadows

Brambilla

Pedrini

2011

Bird Conservation International

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SummaryAs a double-brooded species inhabiting grassland habitats subject to mowing and located at different elevations, the Corncrake Crex crex in the Alps is potentially affected by changes in its breeding habitat within a season, thus leading to shifts in occurrence and habitat association, with potentially relevant consequences for conservation. We investigated Corncrake abundance in four sites in Trento province (N Italy); two sites were defined as 'low elevation' (mean elevation 975 m and 976 m a.s.l., respectively) and two as 'high elevation' (mean elevation 1,173 m and 1,177 m). The number of calling males showed a clear variation in relative abundance between early and late periods of the breeding season; in particular, at low elevation sites, abundance decreased from the early to late periods, while the opposite was recorded at high elevation sites. A mixed model suggested that the number of males decreased in the second half of the breeding season and at high elevations, and changed according to mid-season altitudinal shifts. Conservation strategies for this species should take into account the mid-season territory shift.

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“…First, territory limits of pairs were updated each month to take account of changes in boundaries. Territory shifting resulted in abandonment of territories (Eraud & Boutin 2002). We were therefore confident that stable territories throughout the season corresponded to the same pair.…”

Section: Endnotesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the context of a seasonal trend in brood sex-ratio, the use of the male:female ratio to estimate an unbiased OBSR assumes that for a given population, early and late nestlings represent equal proportions of the total number of young produced each season. However, there is a large body of evidence to suggest that this is not the case for breeding Skylarks in intensive farmland, where changes in agricultural practices have led to a tail-shortening of the breeding season (Eraud & Boutin 2002, Donald 2004. Therefore, before drawing any conclusions on the contribution of OBSR to population sex-ratio skews, further studies are needed to investigate whether the tail-shortening of the breeding season could promote an imbalanced OBSR towards males, and consequently an imbalance towards breeding males.…”

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confidence: 99%