Recent and Predicted Changes in Habitat of the Eurasian Skylark Alauda arvensis Based on the Link between the Land Cover and the Field Survey Based Abundance Data

Szilassi, Péter; Csikós, Nándor; Gallé, Róbert; Szép, Tibor

doi:10.3161/00016454ao2019.54.1.006

Cited by 5 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…We found a negative significant correlation between SDI and ESA. Our results confirm that, at the regional (CLC) scale, the increasing landscape heterogeneity has a negative effect on the population of the Eurasian skylark [19,21,37,40,41]. The increasing heterogeneity results in a lower abundance of the Eurasian skylark.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…The pasture and the shrub and/or herbaceous vegetation association categories show a positive significant relationship. This is expected since pasture is a typical habitat of the Eurasian skylark [23,37,38]. The positive correlation with the shrub and/or herbaceous vegetation category is more interesting.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…The positive correlation with the shrub and/or herbaceous vegetation category is more interesting. Szilassi et al [37] found a negative connection between this CLC category and ESA data, which they attributed to the succession process of natural grasslands. This category contains natural grassland, hedgerows, shrubs, and low vegetation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Impact of Energy Landscapes on the Abundance of Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis), an Example from North Germany

Csikós

Szilassi

2020

Sustainability

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The increasing use of biomass for energy production is reshaping landscapes into energy landscapes. Our study aims to analyze the impact of the biogas energy landscape on the abundance of Eurasian skylark. The biogas power plants have a high impact on the landscape, because of the energy crops like silage maize and rape. We analyze land-use and land-cover heterogeneity in connection with this bird species in the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein. Three databases are used: abundance data of a typical farmland bird (Eurasian skylark), Corine land cover, and statistical land-use data from the German Agricultural Structure Survey. Several spatial analyses and statistical analyses were conducted. Generalized linear models are used with model averaging and predicted marginal effects were calculated. We estimate the changes in individuals per km2 by considering six crop types and the Shannon Diversity Index (SDI). The Eurasian skylark abundance has a significant negative correlation with the area of the inland wetlands, the Shannon Diversity Index (SDI), permanent crops, silage maize, and rape. We found significant positive correlation with the pasture, potato, and wheat. The replacement of pastures, Eurasian skylarks’ preferred habitat, with energy crops, mostly silage maize, and the ongoing homogenization of the landscape, negatively affected this species’ distribution in the study area.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

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Impact of Energy Landscapes on the Abundance of Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis), an Example from North Germany

Csikós

Szilassi

2020

Sustainability

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“…Very few studies have investigated the dramatic decline of the abundance of farmland birds, and its connection with change in landscape structure and land-cover heterogeneity [7][8][9]. There are some regional (country)-scale studies that analyze the connection between land-cover types and farmlandbird population data [10][11][12][13][14][15]. These studies have indicated that the abundance of farmland birds is significantly connected with the intensity of agricultural cultivation, crop heterogeneity, and land-use change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These studies have indicated that the abundance of farmland birds is significantly connected with the intensity of agricultural cultivation, crop heterogeneity, and land-use change. Most articles focus on small, local study areas and analyzing the connection between Eurasian skylark (Alauda arvensis) abundance, and the proportions of crop type, height, coverage and heterogeneity [4,6,10,[16][17][18][19]. The skylark does not prefer the fragmented landscapes by urbanized area, road network, hedgerows and heterogeneous land cultivation areas [7,20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling the Impacts of Habitat Changes on the Population Density of Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) Based on Its Landscape Preferences

Csikós

Szilassi

2021

Land

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The dramatic decline of the abundance of farmland bird species can be related to the level of land-use intensity or the land-cover heterogeneity of rural landscapes. Our study area in central Europe (Hungary) included 3049 skylark observation points and their 600 m buffer zones. We used a very detailed map (20 × 20 m minimum mapping unit), the Hungarian Ecosystem Basemap, as a land-cover dataset for the calculation of three landscape indices: mean patch size (MPS), mean fractal dimension (MFRACT), and Shannon diversity index (SDI) to describe the landscape structure of the study areas. Generalized linear models were used to analyze the effect of land-cover types and landscape patterns on the abundance of the Eurasian skylark (Alauda arvensis). According to our findings, the proportions of arable land, open sand steppes, closed grassland patches, and shape complexity and size characteristics of these land cover patches have a positive effect on skylark abundance, while the SDI was negatively associated with the skylark population. On the basis of the used statistical model, the abundance density (individuals/km*) of skylarks could be estimated with 37.77% absolute percentage error and 2.12 mean absolute error. We predicted the skylark population density inside the Natura 2000 Special Protected Area of Hungary which is 0–6 individuals/km* and 23746 ± 8968 skylarks. The results can be implemented for the landscape management of rural landscapes, and the method used are adaptable for the density estimation of other farmland bird species in rural landscapes. According to our findings, inside the protected areas should increase the proportion, the average size and shape complexity of arable land, salt steppes and meadows, and closed grassland land cover patches.

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Scale dependence of landscape-structure-based estimation of abundance of Eurasian skylark (Alauda arvensis)

Szilassi

Gallé

Szép

et al. 2022

Ecological Indicators

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Recent and Predicted Changes in Habitat of the Eurasian Skylark Alauda arvensis Based on the Link between the Land Cover and the Field Survey Based Abundance Data

Cited by 5 publications

References 44 publications

Impact of Energy Landscapes on the Abundance of Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis), an Example from North Germany

Impact of Energy Landscapes on the Abundance of Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis), an Example from North Germany

Modelling the Impacts of Habitat Changes on the Population Density of Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) Based on Its Landscape Preferences

Scale dependence of landscape-structure-based estimation of abundance of Eurasian skylark (Alauda arvensis)

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