The effects of forest succession and grazing intensity on bird diversity and the conservation value of a Northern Adriatic karstic landscape

Kmecl, Primož; Denac, Katarina

doi:10.1007/s10531-018-1521-2

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…77,[81][82][83][84][85] Among grasslands, it selects semi-natural grasslands, that are not heavily fertilized or intensively managed, but with both low grazing pressure and mowing activity. [86][87][88] Therefore, as the currently investigated grasslands are of a semi-natural quality, developed through a mix of anthropogenic and natural processes and mainly maintained by sheep grazing, 89 the results of the present research are consistent with earlier research. Results show that the Short-toed Lark selects nonirrigated crops, pastures and dry grasslands, as highlighted by other research.…”

Section: Habitat Selection By Larkssupporting

confidence: 90%

“…108 Hence, the Woodlark benefits from high patch diversity and heterogeneous landscapes. 88,109,114 The analyses of this research showed that Woodlark abundance is also positively influenced by orchards. In particular, in the area under investigation, the orchards in which the species occurs are mainly almond groves which are areas with very low management that are often grazed by sheep and which could be used to forage, likely because almond orchards with some ground cover host many wild insects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…Open woodlands, especially their clearings and edges, as well as both pastures and grasslands are frequently used by the species. 14,88,105,106 In particular, grasslands with short grass to forage are very important, 88,107,108 and therefore, grazing activity is essential in many situations to maintain the grass at a suitable height. 88,107,109 Also, logging can provide suitable sites for the settlement of the Woodlark 110 (Chiatante G. pers.…”

Section: Habitat Selection By Larksmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Habitat use and niche overlap of ground-nesting steppic birds

Chiatante

2022

Avian Biology Research

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Steppic habitats host an extremely high proportion of birds with unfavourable conservation status in Europe, such as larks. This research aims to both investigate habitat-lark relationships and assess the niche overlap among larks in southern Italy during the breeding season. Studied in particular were the Eurasian Skylark ( Alauda arvensis), the Greater Short-toed Lark ( Calandrella brachydactyla), the Calandra Lark ( Melanocorypha calandra), the Crested Lark ( Galerida cristata) and the Woodlark ( Lullula arborea). During the 2012 breeding season, 301 point counts were carried out, and these were randomly placed in the study area according to a stratified sampling design. Resource selection probability functions were used to build two models for each species: (i) a binary logistic regression using the presence units as the dependent variable and (ii) a GLM with Poisson’s error distribution using the abundance of larks in each sampling point as the dependent variable. In the first model, the land cover in the cells of a 100-m-grid superimposed onto the study area was used as a covariate, whereas in the second model, the same covariate was measured, but in a 300-m-buffer around the sampling points. Finally, niche overlap was measured by Hurlbert’s Index with bootstrap resampling. Results showed that the Skylark, Short-toed Lark, Calandra Lark and Crested Lark are tightly associated with both non-irrigated crops and dry grasslands, with these species selecting areas in which both habitats are present in particular. Furthermore, there is a strong niche overlap at macrohabitat level among the species, with the exception of the Woodlark, which is an ecotonal species.

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Section: Habitat Selection By Larkssupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Section: Habitat Selection By Larksmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Habitat use and niche overlap of ground-nesting steppic birds

Chiatante

2022

Avian Biology Research

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“…The algorithm adds trees iteratively into the model and new trees model the residuals of the previous run (Elith, Leathwick & Hastie, 2008). Their popularity in ecology has increased during the last decade (Buston & Elith, 2011; Kmecl & Denac, 2018) owing to the fact that BRT can describe complex nonlinear relationships and reliably identify relevant variables. There is also no need for prior data transformation or the elimination of outliers.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The challenges of bird conservation on an intermittent karst lake: The interplay between changing water level and agriculture

Kmecl¹,

Gamser²,

Ploj³

et al. 2022

Aquatic Conservation

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1.Intermittent karst lakes are important for forming wetland habitats in otherwise dry karstic landscapes. With characteristic water regimes they are unable to retain water owing to their underground drainage system. 2.Many Dinaric intermittent karst lakes (karst poljes) have gone through severe human disturbances in the past, aimed at fluctuating water levels in karst poljes. These measures had the goal of achieving either permanent dry agricultural land or permanent lakes for various purposes. Usually dams were built for water storage to achieve these goals. 3.This research aimed to determine the population responses of bird species that are important for conservation, to water level changes on Cerknica Lake (Slovenia), a large Dinaric intermittent karst lake, to inform effective conservation for such systems. 4.Water level and vegetation were strong drivers of waterbird diversity and abundance, based on analysis using canonical correspondence analysis and boosted regression trees. 5.Water level was critical for the conservation of important bird species. Water and reed specialists (e.g. water rail Rallus aquaticus) require management of refugia in wetlands to create mosaics of water and reedbeds. The formation of nature reserves, quiet zones and habitat restoration is needed for these specialist species. In these areas, mowing should be limited or not present at all. 6.Measures dealing with land‐use change and connectivity between habitats, for instance agri‐environmental measures, are more appropriate for rare bird species with wider niche breadths (but still narrower than generalists), e.g. skylark (Alauda arvensis) and linnet (Linaria cannabina).

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“…Hartel and Plieninger 2014;Plieninger et al 2015;Jakobsson et al 2020;Tschumi et al 2020). Both low-intensity rough grazing and year-round grazing systems with low stocking rates seem to be suitable tools to increase the heterogeneity in mesic grasslands and, thus, should generally be preferred against regular mowing (Olff et al 1999;Fraser et al 2014;Köhler et al 2016;Kmecl and Denac 2018).…”

Section: Such Heterogeneous Habitats Have Generally Become Scarcementioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of local climate and habitat heterogeneity on breeding-bird assemblages of semi-natural grasslands

et al. 2022

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The intensification of agricultural land-use, abandonment and afforestation have caused severe loss and degradation of nutrient-poor, semi-natural grasslands across Europe. Calcareous grasslands have an outstanding value for nature conservation due to their highly diverse flora and fauna, including birds. However, knowledge of environmental factors driving the composition of bird communities in calcareous grasslands is still scarce. The aim of our study was to compare the breeding-bird assemblages of calcareous grasslands and the second most common semi-natural grassland type in the study area (Diemel Valley, Central Germany), mesic grasslands, along an elevation (climate) gradient. For each grassland type, we randomly selected 27 square-shaped plots with a size of 5 ha each and a cover of the focal grassland type of at least 50% within the plot. Our study revealed that both the number and density of threatened species of breeding birds were higher in plots of calcareous grasslands than in those of mesic grasslands. Based on multivariable generalised linear mixed-effects models, the most important predictors of overall species richness and density of breeding birds in plots of calcareous grasslands were the area of juniper-rich calcareous grassland and Shannon habitat diversity. By contrast, the number and density of threatened species were in both grassland types mainly driven by breeding-season temperature. Heterogeneous, juniper-rich calcareous grasslands seem to be a key habitat for bird assemblages with high species richness and density. These grasslands usually consisted of small-scale habitat mosaics providing suitable nesting sites and foraging grounds in close proximity. By contrast, mesic grasslands had rather homogeneous swards and shrubs or trees were normally restricted to the edges of the grassland patches. Based on our study, increasing habitat heterogeneity at the landscape scale and within grasslands is the key to enhancing species richness and density of breeding birds.

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The effects of forest succession and grazing intensity on bird diversity and the conservation value of a Northern Adriatic karstic landscape

Cited by 12 publications

References 39 publications

Habitat use and niche overlap of ground-nesting steppic birds

Habitat use and niche overlap of ground-nesting steppic birds

The challenges of bird conservation on an intermittent karst lake: The interplay between changing water level and agriculture

Effects of local climate and habitat heterogeneity on breeding-bird assemblages of semi-natural grasslands

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