Why do open-farmland specialist birds prefer small fields? The evaluation of mechanisms using a cross-border study
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11310%2F24%3A10491387" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11310/24:10491387 - isvavai.cz</a>
Alternative codes found
RIV/61989592:15310/24:73628300
Result on the web
<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=sa40-bMTUk" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=sa40-bMTUk</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2024.e03327" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.gecco.2024.e03327</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Why do open-farmland specialist birds prefer small fields? The evaluation of mechanisms using a cross-border study
Original language description
European farmland serves as a crucial habitat for many organisms, but the transition from extensive to intensive agriculture has led to a loss of biodiversity that also concerned farmland birds. Intensification has various aspects including landscape homogenisation, whereby large field blocks are created in once heterogeneous landscapes that traditionally consisted of small fields. However, some farmland specialists may indeed benefit from homogeneous landscapes, as they contain a greater share of preferred open habitats. To elucidate this paradox, we focused on a farmland specialist ground-nesting insectivorous bird, the Eurasian Skylark ( Alauda arvensis), unravelling its abundance in different landscape structures. The contrasting landscape structures are found in a lowland region along the border between two countries: Slovakia with large fields and Austria with small fields. In this "natural experiment", bird censuses, food supply assessments, and vegetation structure analyses were carried out during the Skylark breeding season. Austria showed significantly higher local abundance of Skylark compared to Slovakia, which persisted whole season. The Skylark numbers were positively correlated with an increasing number of crop types. This positive effect of crop number was likely associated with higher food availability at sites with more crops, highlighting the role of diverse crop compositions in fostering a stable food supply for farmland birds. These results indicate that even open-habitat farmland specialists benefit from the landscape heterogeneity provided by small fields composed of different crops. Slovakia-Austria differences highlight the need for context-specific conservation that should also be a concern for agri-environmental measures within the EU's Common Agricultural Policy.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10511 - Environmental sciences (social aspects to be 5.7)
Result continuities
Project
<a href="/en/project/GA23-07103S" target="_blank" >GA23-07103S: Towards the understanding of processes responsible for farmland biodiversity loss: insights from Central European birds</a><br>
Continuities
P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)
Others
Publication year
2024
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Global Ecology and Conservation
ISSN
2351-9894
e-ISSN
2351-9894
Volume of the periodical
56
Issue of the periodical within the volume
December 2024
Country of publishing house
NL - THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS
Number of pages
12
Pages from-to
e03327
UT code for WoS article
001369938000001
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-85210140430