Habitat characteristics associated with occupancy of declining waders in Polish wet grasslands

Żmihorski, Michał; Krupiński, Dominik; Kotowska, Dorota; Knape, Jonas; Pärt, Tomas; Obłoza, Przemysław; Berg, Åke

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2017.09.033

Cited by 21 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…This is due to the fact that people often plant fruit trees, fruit shrubs or trees providing shade in the proximity to buildings and for aesthetic reasons. On the other hand, these building‐breeders and tree‐dependent species are replaced in farmland by ground‐nesting specialists that breed mainly in open areas and avoid proximity to buildings (Żmihorski et al., ). This group, however, seems to be less species‐rich and thus the overall bird species richness is higher on farmsteads compared to farmland.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One reason explaining the low effectiveness of these conservation measures could be incomplete identification of habitats acting as hotspots for birds of conservation concern. Most of the conservation measures focus on crop land and grasslands being important for some open field species that have declined (Żmihorski et al., ). However, there is increasing evidence showing that a substantial part of rare and declining farmland birds, mainly those nesting in tree cavities or buildings, depends on human settlements (Rosin et al., ; Šálek, Havlíček, et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Active farmsteads are year‐round strongholds for farmland birds

Šálek

Bažant

Żmihorski

2018

Journal of Applied Ecology

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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: (1) differences in bird communities in three types of farmsteads and open farmland; (2) changes in species‐specific habitat preferences between winter and spring; and (3) 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 towards 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. Synthesis and applications. Active farmsteads are local bird diversity hotspots in agricultural landscapes, and host species of conservation concern. Our results highlight the importance of farmsteads during winter, which is a critical period for several wintering farmland species. Our research thus indicates that recent conservation measures for farmland birds should also focus on conservation within non‐farmed habitats, such as actively used farmsteads.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Active farmsteads are year‐round strongholds for farmland birds

Šálek

Bažant

Żmihorski

2018

Journal of Applied Ecology

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“…Grassland waterbirds are an important group of farmland birds characteristic of European agricultural meadows. Most populations of grassland waterbirds are in steep decline in many European countries (Franks et al 2018) and are among the most threatened bird guilds in Europe (Leyrer 2017;Zmihorski et al 2018). It is therefore essential to develop effective recovery plans for this particular group, including the large proportion of populations that breed on seminatural and agriculturally altered wet grassland habitats (Leyrer 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating intraseasonal grassland dynamics in cross‐scale distribution modeling to support waterbird recovery plans

Regos

Vidal

Lorenzo

et al. 2019

Conservation Biology

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Despite much discussion about the utility of remote sensing for effective conservation, the inclusion of these technologies in species recovery plans remains largely anecdotal. We developed a modeling approach for the integration of local, spatially measured ecosystem functional dynamics into a species distribution modeling (SDM) framework in which other ecologically relevant factors are modeled separately at broad scales. To illustrate the approach, we incorporated intraseasonal water‐vegetation dynamics into a cross‐scale SDM for the Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago), which is highly dependent on water and vegetation dynamics. The Common Snipe is an Iberian grassland waterbird characteristic of European agricultural meadows and a member of one of the most threatened bird guilds. The intraseasonal dynamics of water content of vegetation were measured using the standard deviation of the normalized difference water index time series computed from bimonthly images of the Sentinel‐2 satellite. The recovery plan for the Common Snipe in Galicia (northwestern Iberian Peninsula) provided an opportunity to apply our modeling framework. Model accuracy in predicting the species’ distribution at a regional scale (resulting from integration of downscaled climate projections with regional habitat–topographic suitability models) was very high (area under the curve [AUC] of 0.981 and Boyce's index of 0.971). Local water‐vegetation dynamic models, based exclusively on Sentinel‐2 imagery, were good predictors (AUC of 0.849 and Boyce's index of 0.976). The predictive power improved (AUC of 0.92 and Boyce's index of 0.98) when local model predictions were restricted to areas identified by the continental and regional models as priorities for conservation. Our models also performed well (AUC of 0.90 and Boyce's index of 0.93) when projected to updated water‐vegetation conditions. Our modeling framework enabled incorporation of key ecosystem processes closely related to water and carbon cycles while accounting for other factors ecologically relevant to endangered grassland waterbirds across different scales, allowed identification of priority areas for conservation, and provided an opportunity for cost‐effective recovery planning by monitoring management effectiveness from space.

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“…Other studies have found that redshank prefers nesting habitats with a grass sward higher than 5 cm (Smart et al, 2006) and fields with a heterogeneous grassland typology (Verhulst, Kleijn, Loonen, Berendse, & Smit, 2011;Żmihorski et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…These results were expected for oystercatcher and lapwing, which nest in open grassland or on bare ground, but contrary to expectations for redshank and black‐tailed godwit, which conceal their nests in the vegetation. Other studies have found that redshank prefers nesting habitats with a grass sward higher than 5 cm (Smart et al, ) and fields with a heterogeneous grassland typology (Verhulst, Kleijn, Loonen, Berendse, & Smit, ; Żmihorski et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Does intensive goose grazing affect breeding waders?

Madsen

Marcussen

Knudsen³

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Increasing goose population sizes gives rise to conflicts with human socioeconomic interests and in some circumstances conservation interests. Grazing by high abundances of geese in grasslands is postulated to lead to a very short and homogeneous sward height negatively affecting cover for breeding meadow birds and impacting survival of nests and chicks. We studied the effects of spring grazing barnacle geese Branta leucopsis and brent geese Branta bernicla on occupancy of extensively farmed freshwater grasslands by nesting and brood‐rearing waders on the island Mandø in the Danish Wadden Sea. We hypothesized that goose grazing would lead to a shorter grass sward, negatively affecting the field occupancy by territorial/nesting and chick‐rearing waders, particularly species preferring taller vegetation. Goose grazing led to a short grass sward (<5 cm height) over most of the island. To achieve a variation in sward height, we kept geese off certain fields using laser light. We analyzed effects of field size, sward height, mosaic structure of the vegetation, proximity to shrub as cover for potential predators, and elevation above ground water level as a measure of wetness on field occupancy by nesting and chick‐rearing waders. The analysis indicated that the most important factor explaining field occupancy by nesting redshank Tringa totanus, black‐tailed godwit Limosa limosa, oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus and lapwing Vanellus vanellus as well as by chick‐rearing black‐tailed godwit and lapwing was short vegetation height. Distance to shrub cover and elevation were less important. Hence, despite very intensive goose grazing, we could not detect any negative effect on the field occupancy by nesting nor chick‐rearing waders, including redshank and black‐tailed godwit, which are known to favor longer vegetation to conceal their nests and hide their chicks. Possible negative effects may be buffered by mosaic structures in fields and proximity to taller vegetation along fences and ditches.

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Habitat characteristics associated with occupancy of declining waders in Polish wet grasslands

Cited by 21 publications

References 47 publications

Active farmsteads are year‐round strongholds for farmland birds

Active farmsteads are year‐round strongholds for farmland birds

Integrating intraseasonal grassland dynamics in cross‐scale distribution modeling to support waterbird recovery plans

Does intensive goose grazing affect breeding waders?

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