The influence of habitat edge on a ground nesting bird species: hen harrier Circus cyaneus

Sheridan, Kathryn; Monaghan, Jason; Tierney, T. David; Doyle, Susan; Tweney, Charles; Redpath, Steve; McMahon, Barry J.

doi:10.2981/wlb.00677

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 46 publications

(70 reference statements)

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“…Roads and trails are thought to negatively influence grassland bird demography due to traffic, anthropogenic noise, and edge effects. Such features increase predator and brood-parasite densities and/or predator foraging efficiency [29,49] leading to reduced density, reproductive success, and survival [50][51][52]. It is unlikely that traffic and anthropogenic noise played a major role in influencing the abundance of species along roads and trails in our study given the low traffic volumes (see also [53]).…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 89%

Grassland songbird abundance is influenced more strongly by individual types of disturbances than cumulative disturbances associated with natural gas extraction

Davis

Bogard

Kirk³

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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Grassland birds have undergone widespread global population declines due to loss and degradation of native grasslands. Activities associated with non-renewable energy derived from oil and natural gas extraction have substantially increased on grasslands. The cumulative disturbance generated by natural gas development creates a network of non-linear (e.g., bare ground and exotic plant species) and linear (e.g., roads, trails, pipelines) features that may degrade habitat quality for grassland species. We quantified grassland songbird abundance in two areas of southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada, to determine whether variation in abundance 1) depended on the type and amount of disturbance at two spatial extents, and 2) was more affected by the cumulative impacts of natural gas development than any single type of disturbance. We found that specific types of disturbances impacted the abundance of most species to varying degrees. The cover of different types of linear disturbance had the strongest effect on the most species. Natural gas disturbance within 450 m of point counts was more influential than disturbance within 200 m for nearly all species in both areas. Only Savannah sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis) abundance was most strongly influenced by the cumulative amount of disturbance with abundance decreasing with increased disturbance. Overall, we detected few consistent patterns among species, or within species between our two study areas. Our results indicated that the impact of natural gas infrastructure can extend beyond the local influences associated with well sites and that relatively small amounts of disturbance (<2%) may impact grassland songbird abundance. We recommend that researchers use caution when studying well-density effects or combining individual types of disturbance without understanding the separate effects each type of disturbance has on the species or community of interest. Not doing so may lead to investing resources into management practices that do not have the greatest possible benefit for grassland songbirds.

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Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 89%

Grassland songbird abundance is influenced more strongly by individual types of disturbances than cumulative disturbances associated with natural gas extraction

Davis

Bogard

Kirk³

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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“…Due to the range of species-specific variations described, there are limitations to the application of FBEGS in the case of certain farmland bird species which do not conform to general ecological assumptions. Certain ground-nesting species, for example, have been shown to be negatively associated with habitat edge including field boundaries (Batary et al 2004;Sheridan et al 2020), and skylark Alauda arvensis are negatively associated with tree lines (Chamberlain and Gregory 1999). Therefore, surveyors should apply ecological interpretation and expertise with respect to certain species to identify when the FBEGS Index should be used and when score provides a score that is inappropriate for conservation of certain species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Assessment of the Relationship Between Individual Farmland Bird Species Abundance and the Field Boundary Evaluation and Grading System

Quinn,

Sheridan,

Kinsella

et al. 2023

bae

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Field boundaries, including hedgerows, are important semi-natural habitats for many Irish farmland birds. There is a need for proactive conservation measures targeted towards common species. An investigation was conducted into the relationship between the Field Boundary Evaluation and Grading System index (FBEGS) and individual farmland bird species in Ireland. FBEGS is a tool that can be used to assess the ecological quality of field boundaries and is a useful predictor of total farmland bird communities. Here, we used data collected during 2005–06 to evaluate the relationship between field boundary quality (using FBEGS) and the abundance of a range of individual bird species recorded in the winter and breeding seasons. Blackbird Turdus merula and robin Erithacus rubecula had positive relationships with FBEGS in winter, and blackbird T. merula , wren Troglodytes troglodytes and woodpigeon Columba palumbus had positive relationships with FBEGS in the breeding season. This indicates that FBEGS can be used to predict the abundance of particular bird species within hedgerows. However, there are limitations to this predictive ability, likely due to species-specific preferences in terms of the ecological quality of hedgerows.

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The decline of ground nesting birds in Europe: do we need to manage predation in addition to habitat?

McMahon,

Doyle,

Mougeot

et al. 2024

Global Ecology and Conservation

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The influence of habitat edge on a ground nesting bird species: hen harrier Circus cyaneus

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 5 publications

References 46 publications

Grassland songbird abundance is influenced more strongly by individual types of disturbances than cumulative disturbances associated with natural gas extraction

Grassland songbird abundance is influenced more strongly by individual types of disturbances than cumulative disturbances associated with natural gas extraction

An Assessment of the Relationship Between Individual Farmland Bird Species Abundance and the Field Boundary Evaluation and Grading System

The decline of ground nesting birds in Europe: do we need to manage predation in addition to habitat?

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