Why do open-farmland specialist birds prefer small fields? The evaluation of mechanisms using a cross-border study

Kód výsledku v 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>

Nalezeny alternativní kódy

RIV/61989592:15310/24:73628300

Výsledek na webu

<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>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Why do open-farmland specialist birds prefer small fields? The evaluation of mechanisms using a cross-border study

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

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 &quot;natural experiment&quot;, 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&apos;s Common Agricultural Policy.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Why do open-farmland specialist birds prefer small fields? The evaluation of mechanisms using a cross-border study

Popis výsledku anglicky

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 &quot;natural experiment&quot;, 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&apos;s Common Agricultural Policy.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

10511 - Environmental sciences (social aspects to be 5.7)

Projekt

<a href="/cs/project/GA23-07103S" target="_blank" >GA23-07103S: Cesta k porozumění procesům zodpovědným za úbytek biodiverzity zemědělské krajiny: poučení od ptáků střední Evropy</a><br>

Návaznosti

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Rok uplatnění

2024

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Global Ecology and Conservation

ISSN

2351-9894

e-ISSN

2351-9894

Svazek periodika

56

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

December 2024

Stát vydavatele periodika

NL - Nizozemsko

Počet stran výsledku

12

Strana od-do

e03327

Kód UT WoS článku

001369938000001

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-85210140430