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Supporting bird diversity and ecological function in managed grassland and forest systems needs an integrative approach
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Manfred Ayasse,
Markus Fischer,
Wolfgang W. Weisser,
Swen C. Renner,
Marco Tschapka
Frontiers in Environmental Science, Volume: 12
Swansea University Author:
Konstans Wells
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© 2024 Jung, Teuscher, Böhm, Wells, Ayasse, Fischer, Weisser, Renner and Tschapka. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).
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DOI (Published version): 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1401513
Abstract
In modified production landscapes, biodiversity faces unprecedented pressures from human actions, resulting in significant species declines of plant and animal taxa, including birds. Understanding the underlying mechanisms responsible for such declines is essential to counteract further loss and sup...
| Published in: | Frontiers in Environmental Science |
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| ISSN: | 2296-665X |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media SA
2024
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| Online Access: |
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa67326 |
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| Abstract: |
In modified production landscapes, biodiversity faces unprecedented pressures from human actions, resulting in significant species declines of plant and animal taxa, including birds. Understanding the underlying mechanisms responsible for such declines is essential to counteract further loss and support practitioners in conserving biodiversity and associated ecosystem function. In this study, we used standardized bird monitoring data collected over 6 years in managed forest and grassland areas across different regions in Germany, Central Europe. We combined these data with morphometric, ecological, behavioral, and acoustic trait data and detailed information on local land use management practices to understand how management decisions affect species and functional diversity, as well as ecological processes shaping local species composition. Our results reveal that the ecosystem and regional context must be considered to understand how management practices affect bird diversity aspects and composition. In forests, regional management decisions related to tree species and stand age affected bird diversity, as well as community and functional composition, and indicated environmental sorting due to ecological and behavioral requirements, biotic interactions, and morphometric constraints. In grasslands, independent of local management practices, increased intensity of land use resulted in an overall loss in bird species richness and functional diversity. Predominantly, constraints due to ecological or behavioral requirements affected bird species assemblage composition. In addition, our results indicated the importance of woody vegetation near managed grasslands and of considering environmental conditions beyond the local scale to support bird diversity and associated ecosystem functions. Our results highlighted that local management decisions can support bird diversity and maintain ecological function. However, this needs a view beyond the local scale of management units. It also demands a joint effort of biologists and land managers to integrate targeted conservation actions into regional management practices and create a network of habitats within production landscapes to protect nature, guard against biotic and functional homogenization, and prevent further degradation of ecosystems in production landscapes. |
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| Keywords: |
Birds, functional traits, land use effects, grasslands and forest management, biodiversity conservation |
| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |
| Funders: |
The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was funded by the DFG Priority Program 1374 “Biodiversity Exploratories” (DFG Project numbers: 193945537; 433326865; and 193990583). |