1
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Lee MB, Chen D, Zou F. Winter Bird Diversity and Abundance in Small Farmlands in a Megacity of Southern China. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.859199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Urban expansion often accompanies a loss of natural habitats and arable lands but an increase in urban population. In China, vegetable-dominant small farmlands are common in urban/peri-urban areas. Some farmlands are also associated with government policy that aims to enhance local farmers’ livelihoods as well as increase food availability for city citizens. While small urban farmlands create open greenery cover that may provide birds with resources such as food and shelter, little attention has been given to understanding bird diversity in urban farmlands. Using two hierarchical models (multi-species occupancy model and N-mixture model), we examined how species richness and abundance of birds were associated with environmental characteristics within and surrounding urban farmlands in Guangzhou, one of the largest cities in China. We conducted crop and bird surveys at urban farmlands during two winter seasons between December 2019 and January 2021. Species richness increased with non-woody (herbaceous) vegetation cover within a farmland. Abundance of three species was also positively associated with the local non-woody vegetation variable. Two species were more abundant at farmlands with higher crop diversity. Compositional features of matrix surrounding a farmland (a 500-m circular area) did not affect species richness. However, species richness and abundance of one species tended to decrease with increasing farmland fragmentation (patch density of farmlands) within a 1-km circular area. These findings suggest that (1) birds could be more influenced by environmental features within farmlands than matrix features surrounding farmlands, (2) local uncultivated herbaceous vegetation is an important environmental feature, and (3) diverse crops in farmlands may benefit some birds. They also indicate that the landscape pattern of farmlands, such as degree of fragmentation, could affect bird diversity in urban farmlands.
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2
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Sanz‐Pérez A, Sardà‐Palomera F, Bota G, Sollmann R, Pou N, Giralt D. The potential of fallow management to promote steppe bird conservation within the next EU Common Agricultural Policy reform. J Appl Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ana Sanz‐Pérez
- Landscape Dynamics and Biodiversity Program Conservation Biology Group (GBIC) Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) Solsona Spain
| | - Francesc Sardà‐Palomera
- Landscape Dynamics and Biodiversity Program Conservation Biology Group (GBIC) Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) Solsona Spain
| | - Gerard Bota
- Landscape Dynamics and Biodiversity Program Conservation Biology Group (GBIC) Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) Solsona Spain
| | - Rahel Sollmann
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology University of California Davis CA USA
| | - Nuria Pou
- Landscape Dynamics and Biodiversity Program Conservation Biology Group (GBIC) Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) Solsona Spain
| | - David Giralt
- Landscape Dynamics and Biodiversity Program Conservation Biology Group (GBIC) Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) Solsona Spain
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3
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Tschumi M, Birkhofer K, Blasiusson S, Jörgensen M, Smith HG, Ekroos J. Woody elements benefit bird diversity to a larger extent than semi-natural grasslands in cereal-dominated landscapes. Basic Appl Ecol 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2020.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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4
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Li D, Lee M, Xiao W, Tang J, Zhang Z. Noncrop features and heterogeneity mediate overwintering bird diversity in agricultural landscapes of southwest China. Ecol Evol 2020; 10:5815-5828. [PMID: 32607192 PMCID: PMC7319240 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6319] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2019] [Revised: 03/25/2020] [Accepted: 04/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Farmland birds are of conservation concerns around the world. In China, conservation management has focused primarily on natural habitats, whereas little attention has been given to agricultural landscapes. Although agricultural land use is intensive in China, environmental heterogeneity can be highly variable in some regions due to variations in crop and noncrop elements within a landscape. We examined how noncrop heterogeneity, crop heterogeneity, and noncrop features (noncrop vegetation and water body such as open water) influenced species richness and abundance of all birds as well as three functional groups (woodland species, agricultural land species, and agricultural wetland species) in the paddy-dominated landscapes of Erhai water basin situated in northwest Yunnan, China. Birds, crop, and noncrop vegetation surveys in twenty 1 km × 1 km landscape plots were conducted during the winter season (from 2014 to 2015). The results revealed that bird community compositions were best explained by amounts of noncrop vegetation and compositional heterogeneity of noncrop habitat (Shannon-Wiener index). Both variables also had a positive effect on richness and abundance of woodland species. Richness of agricultural wetland species increased with increasing areas of water bodies within the landscape plot. Richness of total species was also greater in the landscapes characterized by larger areas of water bodies, high proportion of noncrop vegetation, high compositional heterogeneity of noncrop habitat, or small field patches (high crop configurational heterogeneity). Crop compositional heterogeneity did not show significant effects neither on the whole community (all birds) nor on any of the three functional groups considered. These findings suggest that total bird diversity and some functional groups, especially woodland species, would benefit from increases in the proportion of noncrop features such as woody vegetation and water bodies as well as compositional heterogeneity of noncrop features within landscape.
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Affiliation(s)
- Depin Li
- Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological EngineeringCollege of Life SciencesBeijing Normal UniversityBeijingChina
- Institute of Eastern‐Himalaya Biodiversity ResearchDali UniversityDaliChina
| | - Myung‐Bok Lee
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource UtilizationGuangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and UtilizationGuangdong Institute of Applied Biological ResourcesGuangzhouChina
| | - Wen Xiao
- Institute of Eastern‐Himalaya Biodiversity ResearchDali UniversityDaliChina
| | - Jia Tang
- Institute of Eastern‐Himalaya Biodiversity ResearchDali UniversityDaliChina
| | - Zhengwang Zhang
- Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological EngineeringCollege of Life SciencesBeijing Normal UniversityBeijingChina
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5
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Increasing crop heterogeneity enhances multitrophic diversity across agricultural regions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:16442-16447. [PMID: 31358630 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1906419116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 125] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Agricultural landscape homogenization has detrimental effects on biodiversity and key ecosystem services. Increasing agricultural landscape heterogeneity by increasing seminatural cover can help to mitigate biodiversity loss. However, the amount of seminatural cover is generally low and difficult to increase in many intensively managed agricultural landscapes. We hypothesized that increasing the heterogeneity of the crop mosaic itself (hereafter "crop heterogeneity") can also have positive effects on biodiversity. In 8 contrasting regions of Europe and North America, we selected 435 landscapes along independent gradients of crop diversity and mean field size. Within each landscape, we selected 3 sampling sites in 1, 2, or 3 crop types. We sampled 7 taxa (plants, bees, butterflies, hoverflies, carabids, spiders, and birds) and calculated a synthetic index of multitrophic diversity at the landscape level. Increasing crop heterogeneity was more beneficial for multitrophic diversity than increasing seminatural cover. For instance, the effect of decreasing mean field size from 5 to 2.8 ha was as strong as the effect of increasing seminatural cover from 0.5 to 11%. Decreasing mean field size benefited multitrophic diversity even in the absence of seminatural vegetation between fields. Increasing the number of crop types sampled had a positive effect on landscape-level multitrophic diversity. However, the effect of increasing crop diversity in the landscape surrounding fields sampled depended on the amount of seminatural cover. Our study provides large-scale, multitrophic, cross-regional evidence that increasing crop heterogeneity can be an effective way to increase biodiversity in agricultural landscapes without taking land out of agricultural production.
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Stjernman M, Sahlin U, Olsson O, Smith HG. Estimating effects of arable land use intensity on farmland birds using joint species modeling. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2019; 29:e01875. [PMID: 30761672 PMCID: PMC6850359 DOI: 10.1002/eap.1875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2018] [Revised: 09/20/2018] [Accepted: 12/21/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Declines in European farmland birds over past decades have been attributed to the combined effects of agricultural intensification and abandonment. Consequently, aspirations to stop declines should focus attention on reversing these changes through voluntary or policy-driven interventions. The design of such interventions should ideally be informed by scientific knowledge of which aspects of the transformation of agricultural landscapes have contributed to the farmland bird declines. Declines may be associated with loss of natural habitats or the intensification and homogenization of land use management on production land, and furthermore, these changes may interact. Here, we applied an orthogonal design exploiting spatial variation in land use in a major agricultural region of Sweden to seek evidence for benefits to farmland birds of reversing some of the intensifications on and among arable fields and whether effects are modified by the availability of seminatural habitats (pastures and field borders) in the landscape. We accounted for the potentially confounding effect of interactions between species by using a joint species distribution model explicitly controlling for additional variation and covariation among species. We found that interventions aimed specifically at land in production could provide benefits to farmland birds. Landscapes with a higher proportion leys or fallows and/or with a more diverse set of crops held higher abundances of most farmland birds. However, effects were only apparent in landscapes with low availability of seminatural habitats and were sometimes even negative in landscapes with high amounts of such habitats, demonstrating context dependence. Even if we found little evidence of interactions between species, the joint modeling approach provided several benefits. It allowed information to be shared between species making analyses robust to uncertainty due to low abundances and provided direct information about the mean and variability in effects of studied predictors among species. We also found that care needs to be taken regarding prior and distributional assumptions as the importance of species interactions might otherwise be overstated. We conclude that this approach is well suited for evaluating agricultural policies by providing evidence for or against certain interventions or to be linked to policy scenarios of land use change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Stjernman
- Department of Biology, Biodiversity UnitLund UniversitySölvegatan 37LundSE 223 62Sweden
| | - Ullrika Sahlin
- Centre for Environmental and Climate ResearchLund UniversitySölvegatan 37LundSE 223 62Sweden
| | - Ola Olsson
- Department of Biology, Biodiversity UnitLund UniversitySölvegatan 37LundSE 223 62Sweden
| | - Henrik G. Smith
- Department of Biology, Biodiversity UnitLund UniversitySölvegatan 37LundSE 223 62Sweden
- Centre for Environmental and Climate ResearchLund UniversitySölvegatan 37LundSE 223 62Sweden
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White PJC, Lee MA, Roberts DJ, Cole LJ. Routes to achieving sustainable intensification in simulated dairy farms: The importance of production efficiency and complimentary land uses. J Appl Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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8
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Daskalova GN, Phillimore AB, Bell M, Maggs HE, Perkins AJ. Population responses of farmland bird species to agri‐environment schemes and land management options in Northeastern Scotland. J Appl Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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9
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Tschumi M, Ekroos J, Hjort C, Smith HG, Birkhofer K. Rodents, not birds, dominate predation-related ecosystem services and disservices in vertebrate communities of agricultural landscapes. Oecologia 2018; 188:863-873. [PMID: 30187116 PMCID: PMC6208704 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-018-4242-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2018] [Accepted: 08/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
To understand the relationship between conservation measures and agricultural yields, we need to know the contributions of organisms to both ecosystem services and disservices. We studied the activity and contribution of birds and mammals to intermediate ecosystem services (predation of weed seeds or invertebrate pests) and disservices (predation of crop seeds or beneficial invertebrates) in southern Sweden between June and November 2016. We measured seed and invertebrate predation rates using trays placed in front of 32 wildlife cameras in 16 cereal fields with a local habitat contrast (8 fields adjacent to another crop field and 8 fields adjacent to a semi-natural grassland) and along a landscape heterogeneity gradient (amount of semi-natural grassland). Both activity and predation were dominated by small mammals (mainly rodents), yet only a few species contributed to predation services and disservices according to camera records. Small mammal activity and predation varied considerably over time. Small mammal activity was significantly higher at trays with crop seeds or beneficial invertebrate prey compared to trays with pest prey, and crop seed predation by small mammals was significantly higher than weed seed predation. In contrast, bird activity and predation did not differ significantly between resource types, but varied over time depending on the habitat contrast. Predation of animal prey by birds was highest after cereal harvest, independent of habitat contrast. Our study highlights that birds and in particular rodents provide important intermediate ecosystem services, but also disservices, which fluctuate strongly in intensity over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Tschumi
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
- Ecology Department, Swiss Ornithological Institute, Sempach, Switzerland.
| | - Johan Ekroos
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Research, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Cecilia Hjort
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Henrik G Smith
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Research, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Klaus Birkhofer
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Department of Ecology, Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus, Germany
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Redlich S, Martin EA, Wende B, Steffan-Dewenter I. Landscape heterogeneity rather than crop diversity mediates bird diversity in agricultural landscapes. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0200438. [PMID: 30067851 PMCID: PMC6070203 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2017] [Accepted: 06/26/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Crop diversification has been proposed as farm management tool that could mitigate the externalities of conventional farming while reducing productivity-biodiversity trade-offs. Yet evidence for the acclaimed biodiversity benefits of landscape-level crop diversity is ambiguous. Effects may strongly depend on spatial scale and the level of landscape heterogeneity (e.g. overall habitat diversity). At the same time, contrasting within-taxon responses obscure benefits to specific functional groups (i.e. species with shared characteristics or requirements) if studied at the community level. The objectives of this study were to 1) disentangle the relative effects of crop diversity and landscape heterogeneity on avian species richness across five spatial scales ranging from 250 to 3000 m radii around focal winter wheat fields; and 2) assess whether functional groups (feeding guild, conservation status, habitat preference, nesting behaviour) determine the strength and direction of responses to crop diversity and landscape heterogeneity. In central Germany, 14 landscapes were selected along independent gradients of crop diversity (annual arable crops) and landscape heterogeneity. Bird species richness in each landscape was estimated using four point counts throughout the breeding season. We found no effects of landscape-level crop diversity on bird richness and functional groups. Instead, landscape heterogeneity was strongly associated with increased total bird richness across all spatial scales. In particular, insect-feeding and non-farmland birds were favoured in heterogeneous landscapes, as were species not classified as endangered or vulnerable on the regional Red List. Crop-nesting farmland birds, however, were less species-rich in these landscapes. Accordingly, crop diversification may be less suitable for conserving avian diversity and associated ecosystem services (e.g. biological pest control), although confounding interactions with management intensity need yet to be confirmed. In contrast, enhancement of landscape heterogeneity by increasing perennial habitat diversity, reducing field sizes and the amount of cropland has the potential to benefit overall bird richness. Specialist farmland birds, however, may require more targeted management approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Redlich
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Emily A. Martin
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Beate Wende
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
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11
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Josefsson J, Pärt T, Berg Å, Lokhorst AM, Eggers S. Landscape context and farm uptake limit effects of bird conservation in the Swedish Volunteer & Farmer Alliance. J Appl Ecol 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Josefsson
- Department of EcologySwedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden
| | - Tomas Pärt
- Department of EcologySwedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden
| | - Åke Berg
- Swedish Biodiversity CentreSwedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden
| | - Anne Marike Lokhorst
- Sub‐Department Communication, Technology and PhilosophyWageningen University and Research Centre Wageningen The Netherlands
| | - Sönke Eggers
- Department of EcologySwedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden
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12
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Méndez V, Wood JR, Butler SJ. Resource diversity and provenance underpin spatial patterns in functional diversity across native and exotic species. Ecol Evol 2018; 8:4409-4421. [PMID: 29760883 PMCID: PMC5938469 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.3998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2017] [Revised: 02/07/2018] [Accepted: 02/28/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Functional diversity metrics are increasingly used to augment or replace taxonomic diversity metrics to deliver more mechanistic insights into community structure and function. Metrics used to describe landscape structure and characteristics share many of the same limitations as taxonomy‐based metrics, particularly their reliance on anthropogenically defined typologies with little consideration of structure, management, or function. However, the development of alternative metrics to describe landscape characteristics has been limited. Here, we extend the functional diversity framework to characterize landscapes based on the diversity of resources available across habitats present. We then examine the influence of resource diversity and provenance on the functional diversities of native and exotic avian communities in New Zealand. Invasive species are increasingly prevalent and considered a global threat to ecosystem function, but the characteristics of and interactions between sympatric native and exotic communities remain unresolved. Understanding their comparative responses to environmental change and the mechanisms underpinning them is of growing importance in predicting community dynamics and changing ecosystem function. We use (i) matrices of resource use (species) and resource availability (habitats) and (ii) occurrence data for 62 native and 25 exotic species and 19 native and 13 exotic habitats in 2015 10 × 10 km quadrats to examine the relationship between native and exotic avian and landscape functional diversity. The numbers of species in, and functional diversities of, native and exotic communities were positively related. Each community displayed evidence of environmental filtering, but it was significantly stronger for exotic species. Less environmental filtering occurred in landscapes providing a more diverse combination of resources, with resource provenance also an influential factor. Landscape functional diversity explained a greater proportion of variance in native and exotic community characteristics than the number of habitat types present. Resource diversity and provenance should be explicitly accounted for when characterizing landscape structure and change as they offer additional mechanistic understanding of the links between environmental filtering and community structure. Manipulating resource diversity through the design and implementation of management actions could prove a powerful tool for the delivery of conservation objectives, be they to protect native species, control exotic species, or maintain ecosystem service provision.
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Affiliation(s)
- Verónica Méndez
- School of Biological Sciences University of East Anglia Norwich UK
| | | | - Simon J Butler
- School of Biological Sciences University of East Anglia Norwich UK
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13
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Redlich S, Martin EA, Steffan-Dewenter I. Landscape-level crop diversity benefits biological pest control. J Appl Ecol 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Redlich
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology; Biocenter University of Würzburg; Würzburg Germany
| | - Emily A. Martin
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology; Biocenter University of Würzburg; Würzburg Germany
| | - Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology; Biocenter University of Würzburg; Würzburg Germany
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14
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Šálek M, Bažant M, Żmihorski M. Active farmsteads are year-round strongholds for farmland birds. J Appl Ecol 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Martin Šálek
- Institute of Vertebrate Biology; Czech Academy of Sciences; Brno Czech Republic
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences; Czech University of Life Sciences Prague; Prague Czech Republic
| | - Miroslav Bažant
- Department of Zoology; Faculty of Science; University of South Bohemia; České Budějovice Czech Republic
| | - Michał Żmihorski
- Department of Ecology; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Uppsala Sweden
- Institute of Nature Conservation; Polish Academy of Sciences; Kraków Poland
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15
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Liu G, Shafer ABA, Hu X, Li L, Ning Y, Gong M, Cui L, Li H, Hu D, Qi L, Tian H, Wang B. Meta-barcoding insights into the spatial and temporal dietary patterns of the threatened Asian Great Bustard ( Otis tarda dybowskii) with potential implications for diverging migratory strategies. Ecol Evol 2018; 8:1736-1745. [PMID: 29435248 PMCID: PMC5792609 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.3791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2017] [Revised: 11/24/2017] [Accepted: 12/06/2017] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Food resources are often not sufficient to satisfy the nutritional and energetic requirements during winter conditions at high latitudes. Dietary analysis is a prerequisite to fully understanding the feeding ecology of a species and the nature of trophic interactions. Previous dietary studies of Asian Great Bustard (Otis tarda dybowskii) relied on behavioral observations, resulting in categorization of diet limited to broad taxonomic groupings. Here, we applied a high-throughput sequencing meta-barcoding approach to quantify the diet of resident and migratory Asian Great Bustard in three wintering sites during early winter and late winter. We detected 57 unique plant taxa in the bustard diet, among which 15 species were confirmed by a local plant database we generated. Both agricultural and natural foods were detected, indicating a relatively broad dietary niche. Spatiotemporal dietary changes were discovered, revealing diet differences among wintering sites and a general shift toward lower plant diversity later in winter. For the nonmigratory population, we detected a significantly more diverse array of plant species in their diet. We hypothesize that dietary variation between resident and migratory populations could be involved in the recent transition to partial migration in this species, although climate change can not be excluded. Collectively, these results support protecting unharvested grain fields and naturally unplowed lands to help conserve and promote population growth of Asian Great Bustard.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gang Liu
- Research Institute of WetlandBeijing Key Laboratory of Wetland Services and RestorationChinese Academy of ForestryBeijingChina
| | - Aaron B. A. Shafer
- Forensics & Environmental and Life SciencesTrent UniversityPeterboroughONCanada
| | - Xiaolong Hu
- College of Nature ConservationBeijing Forestry UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Linhai Li
- State Forestry Planning and Design Institute of Forest Products IndustryBeijingChina
| | - Yu Ning
- Research Institute of WetlandBeijing Key Laboratory of Wetland Services and RestorationChinese Academy of ForestryBeijingChina
| | - Minghao Gong
- Research Institute of WetlandBeijing Key Laboratory of Wetland Services and RestorationChinese Academy of ForestryBeijingChina
| | - Lijuan Cui
- Research Institute of WetlandBeijing Key Laboratory of Wetland Services and RestorationChinese Academy of ForestryBeijingChina
| | - Huixin Li
- Research Institute of WetlandBeijing Key Laboratory of Wetland Services and RestorationChinese Academy of ForestryBeijingChina
| | - Defu Hu
- College of Nature ConservationBeijing Forestry UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Lei Qi
- College of Nature ConservationBeijing Forestry UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Hengjiu Tian
- Beijing Wildlife Rescue and RehabilitationBeijingChina
| | - Bojun Wang
- Beijing Wildlife Rescue and RehabilitationBeijingChina
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16
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Santana J, Reino L, Stoate C, Moreira F, Ribeiro PF, Santos JL, Rotenberry JT, Beja P. Combined effects of landscape composition and heterogeneity on farmland avian diversity. Ecol Evol 2017; 7:1212-1223. [PMID: 28303190 PMCID: PMC5306015 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.2693] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2016] [Revised: 11/18/2016] [Accepted: 11/27/2016] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Conserving biodiversity on farmland is an essential element of worldwide efforts for reversing the global biodiversity decline. Common approaches involve improving the natural component of the landscape by increasing the amount of natural and seminatural habitats (e.g., hedgerows, woodlots, and ponds) or improving the production component of the landscape by increasing the amount of biodiversity-friendly crops. Because these approaches may negatively impact on economic output, it was suggested that an alternative might be to enhance the diversity (compositional heterogeneity) or the spatial complexity (configurational heterogeneity) of land cover types, without necessarily changing composition. Here, we develop a case study to evaluate these ideas, examining whether managing landscape composition or heterogeneity, or both, would be required to achieve conservation benefits on avian diversity in open Mediterranean farmland. We surveyed birds in farmland landscapes of southern Portugal, before (1995-1997) and after (2010-2012) the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform of 2003, and related spatial and temporal variation in bird species richness to variables describing the composition, and the compositional and configurational heterogeneity, of the natural and production components of the landscape. We found that the composition of the production component had the strongest effects on avian diversity, with a particularly marked effect on the richness of farmland and steppe bird species. Composition of the natural component was also influential, mainly affecting the richness of woodland/shrubland species. Although there were some effects of compositional and configurational heterogeneity, these were much weaker and inconsistent than those of landscape composition. Overall, we suggest that conservation efforts in our area should focus primarily on the composition of the production component, by striving to maximize the prevalence of biodiversity-friendly crops. This recommendation probably applies to other areas such as ours, where a range of species of conservation concern is strongly associated with crop habitats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joana Santana
- CIBIOCentro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos/InBIO Universidade do Porto Vairão Portugal; CEABN CIBIOCentro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos/InBIO Instituto Superior de Agronomia Universidade de Lisboa Lisboa Portugal
| | - Luís Reino
- CIBIOCentro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos/InBIO Universidade do Porto Vairão Portugal; CEABN CIBIOCentro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos/InBIO Instituto Superior de Agronomia Universidade de Lisboa Lisboa Portugal; CIBIOCentro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos/InBIO Universidade de Évora Évora Portugal
| | - Chris Stoate
- Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust Allerton Project Loddington Leics UK
| | - Francisco Moreira
- CIBIOCentro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos/InBIO Universidade do Porto Vairão Portugal; CEABN CIBIOCentro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos/InBIO Instituto Superior de Agronomia Universidade de Lisboa Lisboa Portugal
| | - Paulo F Ribeiro
- CEF Centro de Estudos Florestais Instituto Superior de Agronomia Universidade de Lisboa Lisboa Portugal
| | - José L Santos
- CEF Centro de Estudos Florestais Instituto Superior de Agronomia Universidade de Lisboa Lisboa Portugal
| | - John T Rotenberry
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior University of Minnesota Saint Paul Minnesota USA
| | - Pedro Beja
- CIBIOCentro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos/InBIO Universidade do Porto Vairão Portugal; CEABN CIBIOCentro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos/InBIO Instituto Superior de Agronomia Universidade de Lisboa Lisboa Portugal
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