Large-scale versus small-scale agriculture: Disentangling the relative effects of the farming system and semi-natural habitats on birds’ habitat preferences in the Ethiopian highlands

Marcacci, Gabriel; Gremion, Jérémy; Mazenauer, Julien; Sori, Tolera; Kebede, Fanuel; Ewnetu, Mihret; Christe, Philippe; Arlettaz, Raphaël; Jacot, Alain

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2019.106737

Cited by 30 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…In the adjacent ranched land, a similar trajectory was followed, but with an additional time lag. Although some other studies of land conversion in Africa (e.g., Baudron et al, 2019 ; Coetzee & Chown, 2016 ; Marcacci et al, 2020 ; Mulwa et al, 2012 ; Norfolk et al, 2017 ) have identified benefits for certain bird groups, our results suggest an overall benign impact on the entire bird community in this specific case. The increased species' richness that we recorded in the ranched area was unexpected, as the habitat in this area has remained unchanged.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 67%

“…This study supports growing evidence that, where interspersed with intact natural habitat, subsistence farming in Africa can support an abundant and richly diverse avian community. Recent research findings from Kenya (Norfolk et al, 2017 ) and Ethiopia (Baudron et al, 2019 ; Marcacci et al, 2020 ) suggest that, for taxa such as birds, a multifunctional landscape that includes small‐scale agriculture can play an important role in biodiversity conservation. Common factors that link these studies are the presence of a wide range of habitat‐generalist species, and the heterogeneous habitat mosaics in which low‐level farming activities are embedded.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Increases in subsistence farming due to land reform have negligible impact on bird communities in Zimbabwe

Pringle

Chiweshe²,

Dallimer

2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Habitat alterations resulting from land‐use change are major drivers of global biodiversity losses. In Africa, these threats are especially severe. For instance, demand to convert land into agricultural uses is leading to increasing areas of drylands in southern and central Africa being transformed for agriculture. In Zimbabwe, a land reform programme provided an opportunity to study the biodiversity response to abrupt habitat modification in part of a 91,000 ha dryland area of semi‐natural savannah used since 1930 for low‐level cattle ranching. Small‐scale subsistence farms were created during 2001–2002 in 65,000 ha of this area, with ranching continuing in the remaining unchanged area. We measured the compositions of bird communities in farmed and ranched land over 8 years, commencing one decade after subsistence farms were established. Over the study period, repeated counts were made along the same 45 transects to assess species' population changes that may have resulted from trait‐filtering responses to habitat disturbance. In 2012, avian species' richness was substantially higher (+8.8%) in the farmland bird community than in the unmodified ranched area. Temporal trends over the study period showed increased species' richness in the ranched area (+12.3%) and farmland (+6.8%). There were increased abundances in birds of most sizes, and in all feeding guilds. New species did not add new functional traits, and no species with distinctive traits were lost in either area. As a result, species' diversity reduced, and functional redundancy increased by 6.8% in ranched land. By 2020, two decades after part of the ranched savannah was converted into farmland, the compositions of the two bird communities had both changed and became more similar. The broadly benign impact on birds of land conversion into subsistence farms is attributed to the relatively low level of agricultural activity in the farmland and the large regional pool of nonspecialist bird species.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 67%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increases in subsistence farming due to land reform have negligible impact on bird communities in Zimbabwe

Pringle

Chiweshe²,

Dallimer

2022

Ecology and Evolution

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“…In addition, degraded forest areas may be restored through tree planting to create additional semi-natural habitats for birds. Doing this will increase landscape complexity which should positively influence bird abundance [ 11 ], increase bird-mediated pest control [ 90 ], and allow the spill-over of other ecosystem services from the natural habitats to farmlands [ 91 ]. There are additional benefits to promoting semi natural habitats: on the Mambilla plateau tree planting can directly benefit farmers by reducing soil erosion, preventing springs from drying out and rivers from flooding.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pest-removal services provided by birds on subsistence farms in south-eastern Nigeria

2021

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To what extent birds provide the ecosystem service of pest control in subsistence farms, and how this service might depend on retained natural habitats near farmlands is unexplored in West Africa. To fill this knowledge gap, we placed plasticine mimics of insect pests on experimentally grown crops on the Mambilla Plateau, South Eastern Nigeria. We recorded bird attacks on the mimics and the proportion of mimics removed by birds. We also determined the influence of distance of crops from forest fragments on both attack and removal rates. We placed 90 potted plants of groundnut (Arachis hypogea) and bambara nut (Vigna subterranea) along 15 transects running 4.5 km from forest edge into open grassland. Each plant had six of the 540 mimics in total placed on their leaves. We inspected the potted plants weekly for 12 weeks to record (i) the presence of bird beak marks on mimics, and (ii) the number of missing mimics. Once a week we collected all the mimics from the plants and counted the number of assumed beak marks. After counting we replaced the mimics on the plants, mark free. We found a strong positive correlation between the abundance of insectivorous birds and the mean number of missing mimics and/or bird attack marks on mimics. However, this positive effect of insectivorous bird abundance on prey mimic attack/removal became less strong the farther they were from a forest fragment. We found increased predation rates and abundance of insectivorous birds closer to forest fragments. Our data suggest that pest predation may be a key ecosystem service provided by insectivorous birds on Nigerian farmlands. Farmlands that are closer to forest fragments may experience a higher rate of pest control by insectivorous birds than those further away, suggesting that retaining forest fragments in the landscape may enhance pest control services in sub-Saharan subsistence farms.

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“…Multi-functional agricultural landscapes are needed (Fischer et al 2008(Fischer et al , 2014 that promote agricultural yield, biodiversity and ecosystem services (Tscharntke et al 2012, Baudron et al 2019). In the context of the Ethiopian Highlands, this will probably be best achieved in the context of small-scale farming with multiple crops (but see Marcacci et al 2020) where new agricultural practices (e.g. new crop varieties, intercropping) will lead to a significant increase in yield, thereby ensuring food security without marked negative impacts on seed-eating bird species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat preferences of the Ortolan Bunting (Emberiza hortulana) in its prime wintering grounds, the cereal‐dominated Ethiopian Highlands

Gremion

Marcacci

Mazenauer

et al. 2021

Ibis

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Agricultural intensification and land‐use changes are major factors impacting farmland biodiversity. The Ortolan Bunting Emberiza hortulana is the long‐distance trans‐Saharan migratory passerine that has undergone the most dramatic decline among all European farmland birds. The factors responsible for this decline may originate from the breeding grounds, migration stopovers and/or overwintering quarters. Very little is known about conditions on the species' wintering grounds, but a recent study has highlighted the utmost importance of the traditionally managed agroecosystems in the Ethiopian Highlands as a key wintering area, apparently harbouring as much as 90% of the world's Ortolan Bunting population. Using radiotracking and line transect surveys, this study aimed to provide fine‐grained information about species–habitat relationships in the Ortolan Bunting overwintering quarters. Our results showed the importance, at the landscape scale, of small‐scale agriculture, notably of traditionally managed, cereal‐dominated fields interspersed with semi‐natural structures. At a foraging‐site scale, on the other hand, patches of bare ground in combination with large areas of post‐harvesting stubble represented key habitat features. Stubbles provide an essential food resource and bare ground promotes ground foraging by enhancing food accessibility. The maintenance of a traditional agricultural economy will be essential to maintain the habitat potential for the Ortolan Buntings overwintering in the Ethiopian Highlands and will be instrumental in preserving its world population from further decline.

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Large-scale versus small-scale agriculture: Disentangling the relative effects of the farming system and semi-natural habitats on birds’ habitat preferences in the Ethiopian highlands

Cited by 30 publications

References 56 publications

Increases in subsistence farming due to land reform have negligible impact on bird communities in Zimbabwe

Increases in subsistence farming due to land reform have negligible impact on bird communities in Zimbabwe

Pest-removal services provided by birds on subsistence farms in south-eastern Nigeria

Habitat preferences of the Ortolan Bunting (Emberiza hortulana) in its prime wintering grounds, the cereal‐dominated Ethiopian Highlands

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