Bird communities in traditional wood-pastures with changing management in Eastern Europe

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

Wood-pastures are fragile ecosystems because they were formed by, and depend on specific, low-intensity multifunctional management. Although their ecological and cultural significance is high, wood-pastures are rapidly deteriorating all over Europe, mainly due to changing land use. We still lack a basic understanding of the ecological value of wood-pastures, and in which features they differ from other landscape elements. In this paper we investigated the ecological value of wood-pastures for passerine birds by (i) comparing bird assemblages of wood-pastures with those of closed forests and open pastures and (ii) exploring the relationships between variables describing wood-pastures and species traits of the bird assemblages. Our study region (Southern Transylvania, Romania) provides a unique opportunity to understand the importance of a traditional cultural and ecological environment for many different organisms. Wood-pastures had a higher overall number of bird species, and a higher spatial turnover in bird community composition than closed forests and open pastures. We found significant associations between bird species traits and habitat structural elements in wood-pastures such as large trees, oak- and pear trees and shrubs. Our findings suggest that traditional wood-pastures in Southern Transylvania have distinct and rich passerine bird communities. This richness is inextricably linked to the multifunctional, low-intensity land use traditionally applied in the wood-pastures that promotes high niche diversity. For effective conservation of the biodiversity of wood-pastures, a detailed understanding is needed of how different management regimes may influence the key structural elements of wood-pastures relevant for biodiversity and these should be protected.

Original languageEnglish
JournalBasic and Applied Ecology
Volume15
Issue number5
Pages (from-to)385–395
Number of pages11
ISSN1439-1791
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 08.2014

    Research areas

  • Environmental planning - Biodiversity, Conservation, Dead trees, Grazing, Romania, Scattered trees, Shrub, Traditional cultural landscape

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Reformation process of the neuronal template for nestmate recognition cues in the carpenter ant (Camponotus floridanus)
  2. Impact Assessment of Scottish Independence on the Space Sector
  3. 20 years of Health Promotion Research in and on settings in Europe
  4. Zur Aktualität von Erving Goffman
  5. Jugendhilfe und Schule
  6. Gesellschaftliche Modernisierung als "Realexperiment"
  7. Poststrukturalismus: Dekonstruktion und/als Bewegung
  8. Neue Medien in Grundschulen - eine Bestandsaufnahme in NRW
  9. Early positive effects of tree species richness on herbivory in a large-scale forest biodiversity experiment influence tree growth
  10. § 35
  11. The non-economic motives behind the willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation
  12. #instacops
  13. Transdisciplinarity in a messy world
  14. § 18
  15. Funktionsbereich Krankenhäuser
  16. Anmerkungen zur naturrechtlichen Begründung geistigen Eigentums
  17. Evaluation der Krafttrainingseffekte bei Rollstuhlathleten
  18. § 15 Verbundene Unternehmen
  19. Public Value - Gesellschaftliche Wertschöpfung als unternehmerische Pflicht
  20. Testmethoden zur Qualitätssicherung von Tabellenkalkulationsanwendungen
  21. 'Ins Nichts mit dir zurück, Herr Prinz von Homburg, ins Nichts, ins Nichts!' Heldentum, Grazie und Männlichkeit in Kleists Über das Marionettentheater und Prinz Friedrich von Homburg
  22. +1: Rodrigo Nunes, "Organisation of the Organisationless: Collective Action after Networks", Mute, London and Post-Media Lab, Lüneburg 2014
  23. § 34
  24. Fahrverhalten in Abhängigkeit diskreter Emotionen unterschiedlicher Valenz
  25. Unheimliche Antike
  26. Crew Resource Management Training Within the Automotive Industry
  27. Was Kann der Klimagipfel in Kopenhagen Erreichen?