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Classic ecological research into the determinants of biodiversity patterns emphasised the important role of three-dimensional (3D) vegetation heterogeneity. Yet, measuring vegetation structure across large areas has historically been difficult. A growing focus on large-scale research questions has caused local vegetation heterogeneity to be overlooked compared with more readily accessible habitat metrics from, for example, land cover maps. Using newly available 3D vegetation data, we investigated the relative importance of habitat and vegetation heterogeneity for explaining patterns of bird species richness and composition across Denmark (42,394 km 2 ). We used standardised, repeated point counts of birds conducted by volunteers across Denmark alongside metrics of habitat availability from land-cover maps and vegetation structure from rasterised LiDAR data (10 m resolution). We used random forest models to relate species richness to environmental features and considered trait-specific responses by grouping species by nesting behaviour, habitat preference and primary lifestyle. Finally, we evaluated the role of habitat and vegetation heterogeneity metrics in explaining local bird assemblage composition. Overall, vegetation structure was equally as important as habitat availability for explaining bird richness patterns. However, we did not find a consistent positive relationship between species richness and habitat or vegetation heterogeneity; instead, functional groups displayed individual responses to habitat features. Meanwhile, habitat availability had the strongest correlation with the patterns of bird assemblage composition. Our results show how LiDAR and land cover data complement one another to provide insights into different facets of biodiversity patterns and demonstrate the potential of combining remote sensing and structured citizen science programmes for biodiversity research. With the growing coverage of LiDAR surveys, we are witnessing a revolution of highly detailed 3D data that will allow us to integrate vegetation heterogeneity into studies at large spatial extents and advance our understanding of species' physical niches., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.)

Due to the long-term disturbance of human activities, natural habitats in the high-intensity development areas have been seriously degraded, causing serious threat to local biodiversity. The conservation efficiency of natural reserves in these regions needs to be improved urgently. Scientific evaluation of conservation efficiency of nature reserves and identification of biodiversity conservation hotspots and conservation gaps in high-intensity development areas are of great significance to sustainable development of urbanization. With birds as the indicator group for biodiversity, we used MaxEnt and InVEST models to calculate the hot spots of bird diversity and habitat quality, and compared with current boundaries of protected areas in Tianjin to accurately identify the conservation gaps. The results showed that 228 bird species belonging to 54 families and 19 orders were recorded. All kinds of natural and artificial wetlands in the coastal area were the most suitable habitats for birds, accounting for 66.8% of bird diversity hotspots in Tianjin, and the artificial wetlands of reservoirs and fish ponds had high suitability as bird habitats due to sufficient food sources, which indicated that moderate anthropogenic interference would improve species diversity. The coverage rate of protected areas for bird diversity hotspots was only 37.7% in Tianjin, which indicated a serious conservation gap. The gaps mainly included wetlands in Dashentang and Lin'gang areas, the river junction and the estuary wetland, which should be planned as the key protected areas in the future. The method of collaborative analysis of the two models could improve the identification accuracy in detecting the conservation gaps and has certain universality for improving the efficiency of biodiversity conservation in high-intensity development areas.

Birds are considered a good model for indicators of biodiversity response to habitat variations, as they are very sensitive to environmental change. However, continuous observations of habitat alterations from undisturbed landscapes to human-dominated ones, as well as the associated effects on bird biodiversity, are lacking. In this study, New Jiangwan Town in Shanghai, China was selected to illustrate the response of bird species, and thus biodiversity, to habitat loss and fragmentation. Land use/land cover (LULC) data and bird records from 2002 to 2013 were collected and analyzed. The results suggested that, due to urban sprawl, the area of wetland and shrub land had dropped by 82.4% and 87.3% by the end of 2013. Four different urbanization stages were identified in terms of the spatio-temporal variations in the landscape. To measure bird biodiversity, species richness and relative abundance were calculated, and they could account for the overall trend in biodiversity but might mask the process of species replacement. As an indicator of biodiversity accounting, the mean species abundance (MSA) of the original species would not include exotic or invasive species in its calculation, and its value decreased from 100% to 76.8% to 52.2% to 24.5% in the four corresponding stages. Finally, suggested by redundant analysis, the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on bird biodiversity differed in various bird communities, and the area and connectivity of wetlands were the most significant variables. Our findings could provide important information to inform bird biodiversity protection and habitat restoration., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

An emerging hypothesis in fire ecology is that pyrodiversity increases species diversity. We test whether pyrodiversity-defined as the standard deviation of fire severity-increases avian biodiversity at two spatial scales, and whether and how this relationship may change in the decade following fire. We use a dynamic Bayesian community model applied to a multi-year dataset of bird surveys at 1106 points sampled across 97 fires in montane California. Our results provide strong support for a positive relationship between pyrodiversity and bird diversity. This relationship interacts with time since fire, with pyrodiversity having a greater effect on biodiversity at 10 years post-fire than at 1 year post-fire. Immediately after fires, patches of differing burn severities hold similar bird communities, but over the ensuing decade, bird assemblages within patches of contrasting severities differentiate. When evaluated at the scale of individual fires, fires with a greater heterogeneity of burn severities hold substantially more species. High spatial heterogeneity in severity, sometimes called 'mixed-severity fire', is a natural part of wildfire regimes in western North America, but may be jeopardized by climate change and a legacy of fire suppression. Forest management that encourages mixed-severity fire may be critical for sustaining biodiversity across fire-prone landscapes., (© 2016 The Author(s).)

As a habitat option for the rapidly declining old-growth forests, secondary forest patches will serve as refugia for forest species in the tropics. The present study was carried out to determine the conservational significance of the Upper Hanthana secondary forest patch in Sri Lanka, based on its avifaunal diversity and endemism. The field survey was conducted from March-November 2019. Data were collected using line transects along with point counts. Peak observation hours were during 0700-1000 h and 1500-1800 h in the sites selected by systematic random sampling. Results were compared with those of a nearby village area. According to statistical analysis, the Upper Hanthana secondary forest patch harbours a comparatively higher avifaunal diversity with 87 bird species and remarkable endemism of 17 endemic bird species out of total 34 endemic bird species in Sri Lanka. The present study highlights the significance of the Upper Hanthana forest patch for biodiversity conservation. Further studies are required to evaluate the total biodiversity of this secondary forest patch and assess better conservational measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity metrics have become a ubiquitous component of conservation assessments across scales. However, whilst indices have become increasingly widely used, their ability to perform in the face of different biases has remained largely untested under realistic conditions. Citizen science data are increasingly available, but present new challenges and biases, thus understanding how to use them effectively is essential. Here, we built a virtual world incorporating BirdLife data and accounting for their biases, then explored how well commonly‐used diversity metrics could estimate known values across a suite of representative scenarios. We used predictive modelling to model bird diversity globally and overcome biases using the approaches found most accurate in prior assessments. Performance was highly variable across the different types of biases, but in many instances Simpson's index performed best, followed by Hill numbers, whereas Pielou's index was almost universally worst. From standardised tests, we then applied these metrics to eBird data using 611 520 112 samples of 10 359 species of bird (around 88% of known species), to reconstruct global diversity patterns at five and ten km resolutions. However, when we mapped out diversity using Maxent based on these indices, Simpson's index generally over‐predicted diversity, whereas Hill numbers were more conservative. Based on an average of the better projected indices, one can map out diversity across resolutions and overcome biases accurately predicting diversity patterns even for data‐poor areas, but if a single metric is used, Hill numbers are most robust to bias. Going forward, this workflow will enable standardized best practices for diversity mapping based on a clear understanding of the performance of different metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensively managed viticulture dominates vast landscapes in the Mediterranean, but considerable vineyard abandonment has been observed over the past two decades. The effect of vineyard abandonment on biodiversity is poorly understood, making it difficult to assess the restoration potential of this common land-use change. We assessed biodiversity responses to vineyard abandonment in Vaucluse, Southern France, using birds as indicator group. We compared bird abundance and diversity in a sample of 64 vineyards, pairing 16 currently managed vineyards with 16 recently abandoned and 16 managed with 16 longer abandoned vineyards. We used mixed models and multivariate techniques to establish relationships between bird diversity and structural attributes of the habitats, and we derived management-specific population densities in a distance sampling approach. Long-abandoned vineyards hosted three times more species and showed a 3.6 times higher total bird abundance than managed viticulture. More recently abandoned vineyards had intermediate species numbers and abundance. Species richness patterns were not modulated by landscape composition and configuration, but higher abundances were found in landscapes with intermediate size of land-cover patches (i.e. field size). In managed vineyards, bird abundances were extremely low, with the exception of Woodlark Lullula arborea , which reached its highest abundance in managed vineyards. The bird community on abandoned vineyards shifted towards forest and woodland shrub species, likely driven by secondary succession, namely shrub encroachment and tree establishment. The strongly positive effects of land abandonment might be due to the fact that only single vineyards (not entire landscapes) were abandoned, thereby increasing habitat heterogeneity at the landscape scale. The future state of the old abandoned vineyards is difficult to predict. As of yet, the abandoned vineyards support a comparably diverse community of breeding birds that reach high abundances in comparison to managed vineyards, within an otherwise impoverished agricultural landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing in human population causes expansion of urban areas, which threatens forest lands and the biodiversity they harbor. Greenspaces act a critical role maintaining bird diversity within urban areas. Here, we evaluated the effect of spatial characteristics of urban greenspaces on bird species richness to identify the role of greenspace design on bird diversity in Mexico City's Metropolitan Area. We collected data on bird species richness residing in 44 greenspaces and quantified abiotic, biotic and dispersal attributes of each site. These attributes include size, degree of urbanization within and around the greenspace, vegetation cover, distance between sampled greenspaces, distance to nearby greenspace, distance to the closest natural vegetation patch, distance to city center and distance to periphery of the city. We used Generalized Linear Models to determine the effect of spatial characteristics of urban greenspaces on bird species richness. We then built matrices of beta diversity between greenspaces and assessed bird taxonomic dissimilarity via multivariate Bray-Curtis cluster analysis. Our results showed that bird species richness varies between greenspaces. However, species richness was not correlated with spatial characteristics or biotic attributes (P > 0.05), and we only found marginal correlations between built cover within the greenspace and richness of resident species (P = 0.065) and waterbird species (P = 0.070). Taxonomic similarity between greenspaces was correlated with distance between sampled greenspaces (P < 0.05), however, some dispersal attributes showed no significant effect, such as distance to periphery of the city and distance to the closest natural vegetation patch. Our resultssuggest that distances from areas with greater natural vegetation cover to the innermost parts of the city were too short to function as constraints on the ability of birds to disperse to and colonize urban greenspaces. Our study provides further support for the importance of greenspaces as refuges for conservation of bird diversity in urban areas and shows how urban greenspaces are being used by different bird species within a constantly growing urban landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To predict how biodiversity will respond to global change, it is crucial to understand the relative roles of abiotic drivers and biotic interactions in driving associations between the biodiversity of disparate taxa. It is particularly challenging to understand diversity–diversity links across domains and habitats, because data are rarely available for multiple above‐ and below‐ground taxa across multiple sites.Here, we analyse data from a unique biodiversity data set gathered across a variety of oceanic temperate terrestrial habitats in Wales, comprising 300 sites with co‐located soil microbial, plant, bird and pollinator surveys along with climate and soil physicochemical information. Soil groups are analysed using metabarcoding of the 16S, ITS1 and 18S DNA regions, allowing in‐depth characterisation of microbial and soil animal biodiversity.We explore biodiversity relationships along three aspects of community composition: First, we assess correlation between the alpha diversity of different groups. Second, we assess whether biotic turnover between sites is correlated across different groups. Finally, we investigate the co‐occurrence of individual taxa across sites. In each analysis, we assess the contribution of linear or nonlinear environmental effects.We find that a positive correlation between alpha diversity of plants, soil bacteria, soil fungi, soil heterotrophic protists, bees and butterflies is in fact driven by complex nonlinear responses to abiotic drivers. In contrast, environmental variation did not account for positive associations between the diversity of plants and both birds and AM fungi, suggesting a role for biotic interactions.Both the diversity and taxon‐level associations between the differing soil groups remained even after accounting for nonlinear environmental gradients. Above‐ground, spatial factors played larger roles in driving biotic communities, while linear environmental gradients were sufficient to explain many group‐ and taxon‐level relationships.Synthesis. Our results show how nonlinear responses to environmental gradients drive many of the relationships between plant biodiversity and the biodiversity of above‐ and below‐ground biological communities. Our work shows how different aspects of biodiversity might respond nonlinearly to changing environments and identifies cases where management‐induced changes in one community could either influence other taxa or lead to loss of apparent biological associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, increased species extinction and habitat loss have significantly reduced biodiversity, posing a serious threat to both nature and human survival. Environmental factors strongly influence bird distribution and diversity. The potential distribution patterns and species richness offer a conservation modeling framework for policymakers to assess the effectiveness of natural protected areas (PAs) and optimize their existing ones. Very few such studies have been published that cover a large and complete taxonomic group with fine resolution at regional scale. Here, using birds as a study group, the maximum entropy model (MaxEnt) was used to analyze the pattern of bird species richness in Jiangsu Province. Using an unparalleled amount of occurrence data, we created species distribution models (SDMs) for 312 bird species to explore emerging diversity patterns at a resolution of 1 km2. The gradient of species richness is steep, decreasing sharply away from water bodies, particularly in the northern part of Jiangsu Province. The migratory status and feeding habits of birds also significantly influence the spatial distribution of avian species richness. This study reveals that the regions with high potential bird species richness are primarily distributed in three areas: the eastern coastal region, the surrounding area of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the surrounding area of Taihu Lake. Compared with species richness hotspots and existing PAs, we found that the majority of hotspots are well‐protected. However, only a small portion of the regions, such as coastal areas of Sheyang County in Yancheng City, as well as some regions along the Yangtze River in Nanjing and Zhenjiang, currently have relatively weak protection. Using stacked SDMs, our study reveals effective insights into diversity patterns, directly informing conservation policies and contributing to macroecological research advancements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of the electric grid is inevitable. Renewable energy is on the rise, and new transmission lines must be built to link new electricity production facilities with the local network. In addition, higher electricity demand due to electrification will lead to the growth of the distribution grid. However, further construction of power lines will affect the local biodiversity. Birds are especially vulnerable: every year, power lines cause the deaths of hundreds of millions of birds by collision and electrocution. Yet the environmental impacts of the electric grid in life cycle assessment (LCA) are limited to a few impact categories, failing to cover the area of protection for damages to ecosystem quality. We developed the first methodology to quantify power lines' collision and electrocution impacts on bird richness within LCA. We calculated the potentially disappeared fraction of species (PDF) by developing species–area relationships using high‐resolution species distribution maps, species‐specific characteristics, and the location of power lines and pylons. We applied our models to Norway, a country that aims to become a low‐emission nation by 2050. The characterization factors ranged between 8.48 × 10−16 and 5.6 × 10−15 PDF*yr/kWh for collision and 3.27 × 10−18 and 1.66 × 10−16 PDF*yr/kWh for electrocution. Integrating power lines' impacts on biodiversity in LCA is essential, as harmonized models can estimate the effects of electricity production alongside the impacts of electricity distribution. This brings us a step further in promoting a holistic assessment of energy systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how human‐modified landscapes maintain biodiversity and provide ecosystem services is crucial for establishing conservation practices. Given that responses to land‐use are species‐specific, it is crucial to understand how land‐use changes may shape patterns of species diversity and persistence in human‐modified landscapes. Here, we used a comprehensive data set on bird distribution from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest to understand how species richness and individual occurrences of frugivorous bird species responded to land‐use spatial predictors and, subsequently, assess how ecological traits and phylogeny modulated these responses. Using Bayesian hierarchical modeling, we reveal that the richness of frugivorous birds was positively associated with the amount of native forest and negatively with both agriculture and pasture amount at the landscape scale. Conversely, the effect of these predictors on species occurrence and ecological traits was highly variable and presented a weak phylogenetic signal. Furthermore, land‐use homogenization (i.e., the conversion of forest to pasture or agriculture) led to pervasive consequences for forest‐dependent bird species, whereas several generalist species thrived in deforested areas, replacing those sensitive to habitat disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization has far‐reaching consequences on birds, and knowledge of the impacts on taxonomic and functional diversity is necessary to make cities as compatible as possible for species. Avian diversity in parks in urban centers has been investigated multiple times, but rarely so in long‐term studies due to lacking data. The Tiergarten in Berlin is a large‐scale park in the city center of great value for people and many species including birds. We compiled bird species lists since 1850 and from monitoring in 2022 in one dataset to investigate how bird communities and guilds have changed over time and how these alterations were influenced by the eventful history of the park's vegetation conditions. Long‐term changes in species assemblages were analyzed with an ordination analysis, and changes in guild presence and functional richness were discussed with regard to landscape transitions. A gradual development of species assemblages yet only small changes in guild composition since 1850 was detected, whereas the 1950 community stands out with a drop in species richness and replacement of forest species with an open land community, which reflects the deforestation of the park during World War II. Consideration of habitat, lifestyle, trophic, and migration guilds revealed no sign of functional homogenization over the last 172 years (1850–2022). Despite the high frequentation of the park by humans it still allows for a high bird diversity due to the Tiergarten's sheer size and heterogeneity of vegetation and habitats. We recommend that the park is maintained and managed accordingly to preserve this condition and advise other urban parks to strive for these beneficial features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The disturbance of infrastructures may affect biological communities that are exposed to them. This study assesses the impact of high-speed (highway and railway) infrastructures in a protected study site, the Natural Reserve Fontanili di Corte Valle Re (Emilia–Romagna, Italy). We compared bird diversity with sound intensity and frequency in three sampling areas, increasingly distant from the infrastructures at the border with the reserve, during the last 4 years (2019–2022), monitoring sedentary, nesting, and migratory bird species. We hypothesize a decreasing diversity closer to the source of disturbance, which is mostly attributable to noise pollution. Our findings confirmed this trend, and we show that, in particular, disturbance seems to influence species richness more than the total abundance of birds. We also discovered that highway disturbance was much higher than railway in terms of frequency and duration. In light of these results, we suggest that some species, which have a behavioral ecology strongly based on singing to communicate with each other for their reproductive and defensive strategies, may suffer more from constant acoustic disturbance. The installation of effective noise barriers to shield the sound produced by the highways should be considered a mandatory request not only in proximity to houses but also in the vicinity of protected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The protection of urban biodiversity plays a critical role in maintaining urban ecological security. As a unique taxon of urban wildlife, birds have been intensively used as an indicator of our surrounding environment. Although the diversity of urban bird species has received increasing attention, present studies are mainly focused on urban parks. As one of the important components of the urban ecosystem, the university campus also plays a critical role in maintaining bird diversity. Due to the lack of observation data, it is a challenge to evaluate the impact of the environmental conditions on campus bird diversity. Given the most concentrated higher education resources in China, Nanjing has a large number of universities, covering a wide area of the urban landscape. The landscape of these universities usually has a high percentage of green space as well as waterbodies, which is conducive to attracting various bird species to inhabit. Here, we conducted a one-year bird survey from January 2019 to December 2019 in 12 universities in Nanjing and provided an occurrence dataset containing detailed species and geographical information, providing a good source to study the ecological and anthropogenic factors on urban bird diversity on a local and larger scale. New information: This dataset represents the first annual record of birds publicly released by 12 universities in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. It includes classification information, population, distribution and survey details. All data have been published on GBIF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mountain ecosystems are crucial for global biodiversity conservation. However, their landscape features are constantly changing owing to urban expansion. Understanding the relationships between biotic communities and landscape features is essential for biodiversity conservation. This study aimed to examine the effect of land cover type on avian communities in Lishui, a mountainous urban area in eastern China. Avian surveys were conducted using 168 line transects in total across different land cover types once per season from December 2019 to January 2021. We assessed the diversity of bird communities by calculating various metrics at both taxonomic and functional levels. Among the land cover types measured, woodland, built-up land, cultivated land, and water bodies significantly influenced bird community diversity and composition. Species richness, species abundance, and functional richness were negatively correlated with the proportion of woodland but were positively correlated with the proportion of non-natural land cover, such as built-up and cultivated land. In contrast, functional evenness was positively correlated with the proportion of woodland and grassland but negatively correlated with the proportion of non-natural land cover. Land cover type also exhibited significant correlations with avian functional characteristics such as diet, foraging strata, and body mass, thereby influencing the overall community structure. Our results indicated that mountainous landscape patterns substantially affect avian communities. Different land cover types possess varying resource endowments that affect the distribution of avian species. Therefore, urban landscape planning in mountainous areas should carefully consider the various functions provided to organisms by different types of land cover to promote biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensification and homogenization of agricultural landscapes have led to a strong decline in European farmland birds. Agroforestry systems, which were widespread in the past, are regaining attention as they could return structural heterogeneity to agricultural landscapes. However, few studies focus on the effects of such systems on biodiversity and especially bird diversity. We hypothesized that agroforestry systems host a higher alpha and beta diversity of birds compared to open agriculture as well as distinct bird communities. Moreover, we expected that bird communities in temperate Europe and the Mediterranean are differently affected by agroforestry systems. In this study, we assessed breeding bird diversity via audio recordings in nineteen mature agroforestry plots, comprising both silvoarable and silvopastoral systems distributed across seven countries in temperate and Mediterranean Europe. For comparison, bird diversity was also assessed in nearby open agricultural land, forests, and orchards. Bird species richness in agroforestry was more than doubled compared to open agricultural land and similar to the diversity found in forests and orchards. Community composition and within-habitat beta diversity differed between the habitat types and between European regions. While temperate agroforestry systems hosted generalist and woody habitat species, bird communities in Mediterranean agroforestry were composed of species from both open and woody habitats. Beta diversity was significantly higher in agroforestry than in open agriculture in temperate systems but not in the Mediterranean. Our study demonstrates that agroforestry systems represent a valuable habitat for breeding birds in European agricultural landscapes. A wider adoption of these systems could thus contribute to halting and reversing the decline in bird diversity, especially in temperate agricultural landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the diversity of biological communities in areas of agricultural production is a very current debate since protected areas may not be sufficient to ensure biodiversity conservation. Among the biological communities affected by the production areas are birds, which show rapid responses to changes in the landscape. Here we seek to understand how landscape planning, concerning its composition and configuration, in areas with a matrix of planted Eucalyptus spp. forests influences the functional diversity of bird assemblages in the Atlantic Forest. Our results show that the spatial distribution design of planted forests in terms of age, land cover and clone types have effects on bird diversity with regard to functional divergence, functional evenness and species richness. These results reinforce the importance of good management for the maintenance of bird diversity. We found that bird functional diversity in planted forest matrices increased with the proximity index, proportion of native vegetation and age importance value, and is negatively influenced by edge density and proportion of forest plantation. For bird conservation, it is thus better to associate Eucalyptus spp. with other cover types in the landscape. These results corroborate that, to increase bird functional diversity, it is possible to associate conservation and production in the same landscape. Mosaic landscapes have great potential to contribute to the conservation of bird biodiversity outside protected areas. However, decisions regarding the management of planted forests and planning of improved areas intended for conservation seem to be decisive to ensure the maintenance of bird biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensive agriculture has had a negative impact on biodiversity and human health across the world. Specifically, bird populations have declined for many years due to soil degradation and agrochemical pollution. This review, which draws on 890 sources, including research articles and literature reviews, examines the interaction between birds and intensive agriculture to better understand its effects and conservation implications. Intensive agricultural activities have resulted in significant population declines among insectivorous and carnivorous birds, while generalist bird populations have increased. The heavy use of pesticides in intensive agriculture affects food availability for birds by reducing invertebrate and vertebrate populations as well as natural vegetation cover, which has a significant impact on bird diversity. Additionally, the accumulation of toxic compounds reduces bird reproductive success. In general, intensive agroecosystems have consistently had lower avian diversity than forest habitats and even lower-impact agricultural systems. However, some agroecosystems, such as rice fields, agricultural drainages, and canal systems, create alternative habitats that can benefit waterfowl. Future work should consider strategies such as restoring and enhancing vegetation edges, preserving natural vegetation, implementing organic farming practices, maintaining water bodies, and providing economic incentives for landowners to conserve biodiversity on their land to promote bird diversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic habitat modification is a leading contributor to biodiversity change, but it is unclear what factors, including scale, influence the magnitude of change. Changes in species richness and its scaling relationship across an anthropogenic gradient can be influenced by changes in the total number of individuals in each sample, the species abundance distribution, and/or the spatial arrangement of conspecific individuals. Here, we integrated continental‐scale citizen science data on bird occurrences across the contiguous United States – from eBird – with an analytical framework capable of dissecting the aforementioned biodiversity components to quantify bird diversity changes along an anthropogenic landscape habitat modification gradient. We found an overall decline in bird diversity along an anthropogenic modification gradient, with peak levels of bird diversity at low to moderate levels of modification. The magnitude of biodiversity change was greater at gamma than at alpha scales and was most strongly associated with a declining number of individuals along the anthropogenic gradient. Spatial species turnover was lower at higher impacted sites, but this was also due to the sampling of fewer individuals rather than changes in spatial species patchiness. Our results suggest that local‐scale management can promote bird diversity, especially at the natural–rural–suburban interface. Management efforts (e.g. managing natural habitat or preserving urban greenspaces against development) should be focused on creating, restoring, and preserving resources (e.g. nesting habitat, foraging resources) necessary for a large number of individuals, as this is the primary influence of diversity change along an anthropogenic gradient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accelerated rates of urbanization negatively impact natural habitats and biodiversity. Studies of the effects of urbanization on fauna have emphasized taxonomic diversity, but this does not necessarily reflect effects on the evolutionary history of assemblages. Here, we study how urbanization influences phylogenetic diversity (PD) of bird assemblages in a small–medium city in the Central Andes of Colombia. Between 2016 and 2017, we performed bird surveys in 76 urban cells and 23 rural cells around the city. Then, we measured habitat characteristics (e.g. anthropogenic noise level, impervious and forested area) in sampled cells. PD of birds was between 1.37–1.42 MY higher in the rural than in the urban habitat. Within the urban habitat, the PD of birds reduces as impervious area and noise levels increase, while in the urban cells with most forested areas reach the highest PD values. Most of these differences and relationships disappear when we performed similar analysis controlling for differences in species richness. A low turnover of PD between assemblages of birds recorded inside Armenia and its less urbanized surroundings suggest green areas in the study area could mitigate the effects of urbanization in native fauna, and ameliorate connectivity between urban cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brazilian region known as Triângulo Mineiro and Alto Paranaíba (TMAP) has some areas of high bird diversity. Yet, the region has not been systematically surveyed despite the large transformations its original vegetation has suffered over the past few decades. We report on the most comprehensive bird inventory of the TMAP region, in which we surveyed in 353 sites. For this, we used point transects (11,120 sampling hours) and mist nets (41,920 net-hours). We recorded 469 species belonging to 27 orders and 73 families. Forest-associated species represented 49.04% of the total, grassland and savanna species 38.81%, and aquatic species 11.73%. We found 44 endemic species and 37 species that are threatened at some level. An annotated list of the rare, endemic, and threatened species is provided. This study may serve as a baseline for future studies within the region, including those designed to identify areas of conservation priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Natural environments provide a myriad of health benefits, yet the role of species diversity within these spaces remains underexplored. Bird diversity may yield mental health benefits for humans, through birdsong or feelings of connection to nature. In an initial effort to establish whether bird diversity may be linked with human health in a US context and to test the consistency in such trends from year to year, we combine widely available community (aka citizen) science data (eBird) estimating bird diversity across the state of Michigan with anxiety/mood disorder hospitalisation records (2008–18). We found a negative, significant association between bird species diversity and anxiety/mood disorder hospitalisations (β = −0.36, 95% CI = −0.69 to −0.04). The relationship between bird diversity and hospitalisations found at this scale is significant, given the potential for biodiversity to affect severe mental health outcomes. Thus, these initial findings should be further explored in studies with finer resolution of exposure to bird species and longitudinal or experimental designs that account for other demographic characteristics, risk factors and other neighbourhood features. If future studies confirm these findings, there are important implications for urban greening efforts, some of which are explicitly focused on increasing bird habitat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exploration of factors and processes affecting biodiversity loss is central to nature management and wildlife conservation, but only recently has knowledge about the absence of species been recognized as a valuable asset to understand the current biodiversity crisis. In this paper, we explore the dark diversity (species that belong to a site-specific species pool but that are not locally present) of breeding birds in Denmark assessed through species co-occurrence patterns. We apply a nation-wide atlas survey of breeding birds (with a 5 × 5 km resolution), to investigate how landscape characteristics may influence avian diversity, and whether threatened and near threatened species are more likely to occur in dark diversity than least concern (LC) species. On average, the dark diversity constituted 41% of all species belonging to the site-specific species pools and threatened and near-threatened species had a higher probability of belonging to the dark diversity than least concern species. Habitat heterogeneity was negatively related to dark diversity and the proportional cover of intensive agriculture positively related, implying that homogeneous landscapes dominated by agricultural interests led to more absent avian species. Finally, we found significant effects of human disturbance and distance to the coast, indicating that more breeding bird species were missing when human disturbance was high and in near-coastal areas. Our study provides the first attempt to investigate dark diversity among birds and highlights how important landscape characteristics may shape breeding bird diversity and reveal areas of considerable species impoverishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: The increase of areas destined for tree plantations worldwide, combined with a reduction in native habitats, has generated a growing debate about the capacity of these production systems in maintaining biodiversity. Indeed, tree plantations' landscape context and local vegetation structure can affect biological diversity. Objectives: To assess the influence of landscape and local variables on multiple facets of bird diversity in eucalypt plantations distributed in Atlantic Forest landscapes. Methods: Using Generalized Additive Models, we assessed the effects of landscape (i.e. forest cover, pasture cover, number of forest fragments and edge density) and local variables (i.e. number of understory plants, native trees, perches, understory layer height and mean diameter at breast height) on bird taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic richness and diversity. Results: Only the number of forest fragments and understory plants showed a significant effect on the different facets of bird diversity. Taxonomic and functional diversities, and phylogenetic richness were negatively influenced by the number of forest fragments in the landscape. Conversely, taxonomic richness and diversity, functional diversity, and phylogenetic richness were positively influenced by the number of plants in the understory of the eucalypt plantations. Conclusion: To maintain multiple facets of bird diversity in anthropic landscapes, we reinforce the need to avoid fragmenting the existing forest remnants in the landscape and ensure the presence of understory vegetation in eucalypt plantations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia indicates an urgent need for long-term monitoring, which is lacking. Much attention is being directed toward bird diversity monitoring using remote sensing, based on relation to forest structure. However, few studies have utilized space-borne active microwave remote sensing, which has considerable advantages in terms of repetitive observations over tropical areas. Here, we evaluate threatened bird occurrence from L-band satellite data explaining forest structure in Sumatra, Indonesia. First, we identified L-band parameters with strong correlations with the forest layer structure, defined as forest floor, understory, and canopy layers. Then, we analyzed the correlation between threatened bird occurrence and L-band parameters identified as explaining forest structure. The results reveal that several parameters can represent the layers of forest floor, understory, and canopy. Subsequent statistical analysis elucidated that forest-dependent and threatened bird species exhibit significant positive correlations with the selected L-band parameters explaining forest floor and understory. Our results highlight the potential of applying microwave satellite remote sensing to evaluate bird diversity through forest structure estimation, although a more comprehensive study is needed to strengthen our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that rates of urbanization are rising globally, the need to maintain and enhance urban biodiversity has become important. This study examines the relative influence of different land-use types as well as environmental resources (trees, flowering trees, fruiting trees, shrubs, telecommunication mast, pylons, electric poles, buildings) on bird diversity indicators in a rapidly developing urban settlement in Ghana. Remote sensing was used to estimate the extent of conversion of natural habitats into urban settlements. Using point count surveys, bird species were recorded and compared in randomly selected plots of four land-use types of farmlands, remnant forest, residential and commercial areas. We further evaluated the relative influence of habitat resources on bird diversity indicators. We found a significant expansion of built-up areas into natural habitats in the study area. Also, there has been a significant increase in sparse vegetation coupled with a drop in the area covered by dense vegetation over the last three decades. Avifauna diversity indicators differ significantly across the four land-use types with urban farmlands being the most species diverse, followed by urban remnant forests, then residential and finally commercial areas. Our findings suggest that avian species diversity indicators decreased significantly with increasing land-use intensity and revealed that the study area still possesses significant conservation potentials for urban birds and by extension biological diversity as long as vegetation fragments are maintained within a sustained urban expansion framework. We propose increasing the quantity and complexity of the vegetation cover in residential areas by supporting citizens to establish private yards to increase the city's green network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The experience of nature is different for everybody. Some studies used perceived biodiversity as an approach to measure the biodiversity of a location. This present study assessed if laypeople could estimate bird species richness at specific places in southwest Germany. We compared their assessment with bird counts of professional ornithologists and data from the citizen science platform Ornitho (Germany). With a survey, laypeople were asked about the bird diversity they perceived at a given place. About 30 people were surveyed per place, summing up a total of 1184 respondents. The results show that laypeople have a generally good assessment of the bird species richness in recreational areas, correlating with the data of professionals. But since the surveys often were done in the afternoon and their assessment coincided with the professional data of morning and total counts, laypeople seem to make their assessment of biodiversity due to other factors than actual birds seen. The counts of professional ornithologists and citizen science data did not correlate; therefore, we suggest carrying out own professional surveys if possible. Studies about biodiversity and well-being used different approaches to assess biodiversity, e.g., scientific counts and censuses or perceived biodiversity estimated by the respondents. Here, we assessed whether laypeople could estimate the breeding bird diversity or species richness at specific places. For comparison, we carried out bird censuses with standard methods of professional ornithologists and used citizen science data from the internet platform Ornitho (Germany). Lay people from the public (1184 respondents) were surveyed between May and July 2022 at 40 different places in southwest Germany between Rottenburg/Tübingen and Stuttgart following the catchment of the river Neckar (30 people surveyed per place). People were asked to estimate the bird species richness/diversity at this current place. Here, we show that the data from the citizen science platform does not correlate with the professional census counts nor with the perceived species richness of laypeople. Laypeople have a generally good assessment of the bird species richness, correlating with the data of professionals (r = 0.325, p = 0.041). On average, the number of species assessed by laypeople lies in between the values of the professional morning and afternoon census. People were most often surveyed in the afternoon; therefore, their assessment must be done on other factors than actual birds present. This result is valuable for future studies on the connection between biodiversity and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The value of urban green spaces as important habitats for the maintenance of diverse wildlife species is not well explored in the Philippines. Data on bird diversity in urban areas like Davao City is very scant. Thus, the study documented bird species diversity in 15 urban green spaces of Davao City. These areas were previously not surveyed based on published literature. This study is also the first attempt to determine the correlation between green space size and Shannon diversity values. Green spaces were pre-selected, and bird censuses following a zigzag walk across each green space were conducted from October--December 2019. Coordinates of surveyed areas plotted on a digital map were used to estimate green space size. Diversity values were calculated using Shannon and Simpson indices. Pearson r correlation was employed to calculate the correlation between green space size and Shannon diversity values. Fifty-three (53) species (32 families) were accounted for, with 28 species added to the current list of birds from Davao City's urban green spaces. Endemism was relatively low across all sites (17%). Only four species were common in all sites -- namely, Passer montanus, Lanius cristatus, Cinnyris jugularis, and Pycnonotus goiavier. Shannon diversity values varied across sites (highest H' = 3.128, lowest H' = 1.688) and showed a positive correlation (r = 0.54) with green space size. Despite positive correlation, larger green spaces do not necessarily have the highest Shannon diversity values, suggesting that bird diversity in urban green spaces may be influenced by other factors. This warrants verification in the future to include studies on green space vegetation and complexity, noise level, and impact of anthropogenic activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bird diversity is often used as surrogates for other species diversity, but there is a limited understanding of the extent of this surrogate in identifying representative priority conservation areas (PCAs). We used Yunnan Province in China as a case to measure the surrogacy of birds in systematic conservation planning. Here, we collected distribution records of mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds from public databases and literature, and applied systematic conservation planning methods to identify PCAs. We targeted four taxonomic groups at conservation targets of 17%, 31%, and 50% of the total study area, and used the Jaccard similarity index to evaluate the surrogate extent of bird PCAs for the other three groups. Then, we overlapped different portfolios of PCAs with six categories of protected areas (PAs) in Yunnan, calculated the protection rates, and evaluated the effect of sustainable-use PAs on improving the protection rate of strict Nature Reserves. The results showed that bird PCAs generally had the highest surrogacy for representing PCAs of the other three taxa. At the 50% conservation target, the Jaccard indices between birds and the other taxa reached about 0.50. Moreover, amphibian PCAs had a good surrogacy for conserving reptiles, with a Jaccard index of 0.30, 0.44 and 0.51 at the 17%, 31% and 50% conservation targets, respectively. The existing PA system had quite low coverages for PCAs of these four taxa, and the average protection rates were 22.97%, 19.78% and 16.52% at the three levels of conservation targets, respectively. The sustainable-use PAs can greatly complement the strict Nature Reserves by achieving average increased PA coverages of 10.00%, 9.20% and 7.90% at the three conservation targets. Our findings provide a basis for surrogate-based conservation planning for areas with insufficient biodiversity information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Shifting cultivation is a widespread land‐use in many tropical countries that also harbours significant levels of biodiversity. Increasing frequency of cultivation cycles and expansion into old‐growth forests have intensified the impacts of shifting cultivation on biodiversity and carbon sequestration. We assessed how bird diversity responds to shifting cultivation and the potential for co‐benefits for both biodiversity and carbon in such landscapes to inform carbon‐based payments for ecosystem service (PES) schemes. Location: Nagaland, Northeast India. Methods: We surveyed above‐ground carbon stocks and bird communities across various stages of a shifting cultivation system and old‐growth forest using composite carbon sampling plots and repeated point counts directly overlaying the carbon plots in both summer and winter. We assessed species diversity using species accumulation and rarefaction curves based on Hill numbers. We fitted a linear mixed‐effect model to assess the relationship between species richness and fallow age. We also examined possible co‐benefits between carbon and biodiversity from fallow regeneration in terms of relative community similarity to old‐growth forest across carbons stocks. Results: Farmland and secondary forests regenerating on fallowed land had similar bird species richness to old‐growth forests in summer and relatively higher species richness in winter. Within regenerating fallows, we did not find any strong evidence that fallow age influenced bird species richness. Bird community resemblance to old‐growth forest increased with secondary forest maturity, correlating also with carbon stocks in summer. However, bird community assemblage did not show a strong association with habitat types and carbon stocks during winter. Main conclusions: This study underscores the important role of traditional non‐intensive shifting cultivation in providing refuges for biodiversity within heterogeneous habitat mosaics. Effectively managing these landscapes is crucial for both biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration in the subtropics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is a major threat to global biodiversity. A common claim is that large‐scale agro‐industrial farming is mainly responsible for the biodiversity decline, while smaller family farms are more wildlife friendly. Here we leverage a natural experiment along the former inner German border to estimate the causal impact of farm size on biodiversity. We combine land cover data with bird diversity data to establish the mechanisms through which farm size affects bird diversity. Our main results show that the increase in farm size at the former inner German border reduces bird diversity by 15%. The results suggest further that the decline is the result of land cover simplification rather than land use intensification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main driver of biodiversity loss and subsequent decreases in ecosystem functionality is undeniably human interference, destruction and encroachment. The creation and establishment of protected areas serve as tools for guaranteeing biodiversity conservation. In this study, we examined the diversity of medium- and large-sized mammals and flightless walking birds that are supported by a protected area system, the Ischigualasto–Talampaya system, and its area of influence. We set up 106 camera traps and analysed all data with rank–abundance curves and Hill numbers as a measure of diversity. Species richness was lower in protected areas, unlike in the buffer zone, due to the absence of domestic species. Native species were present all over the area, but with variations in their abundances, showing that the presence of domestic species in low densities would not negatively affect the richness of native species, but would indeed affect their abundance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical peat swamp forests retain large carbon stocks and support unique biodiversity, but clearance and drainage for agriculture have resulted in fires, carbon emissions and biodiversity losses. Initiatives to re‐wet cultivated peatlands may benefit biodiversity if this protects remaining forests from fire and agricultural encroachment, but there are concerns that re‐wetting could reduce yields and damage livelihoods, as relationships between drainage, on‐farm biodiversity, and crop yields have not been studied.We examined oil palm fruit yields and bird diversity on 41 smallholder farms in Jambi (Sumatra, Indonesia), which varied in drainage intensity (12‐month mean water table per plot from August 2018 to August 2019: −52 to −3 cm below‐ground). We also compared farm bird diversity with a neighbouring area of protected peat swamp forest (11,000 ha, 21 plots; mean water table per plot −3 to +15 cm).Bird species richness (3–18 species per plot), species composition and oil palm yields (4.5–19.2 t fresh fruit bunch ha−1 year−1) varied among farms, but were not detectably affected by water table depth, although ground‐level vegetation was more complex on wetter farms. Bird richness in oil palm (mean = 10.3 species per plot) was <50% of that in forest (26 species per plot), and only 3 of 35 conservation‐priority species found in forest were recorded in oil palm.Synthesis and applications. Tropical peatlands in Indonesia have been drained to allow farmer access and improve farm yields, but we found no trade‐offs between drainage depth, yields and bird diversity on smallholder oil palm farms in our study landscape within the studied range of drainage depths. Current restoration initiatives to re‐wet peat may benefit farmers by reducing fire risk, without affecting yields. Wetter farms had increased understorey vegetation complexity, but this did not affect bird diversity, so we find no evidence that re‐wetting improves on‐farm biodiversity. However, on‐farm fire reduction efforts in cultivated peatlands, including re‐wetting, will be vital for reducing the risk of fires escaping into nearby forests, which contain unique and diverse bird species assemblages. Protection of remaining peatland forests from fire and clearance is key for biodiversity conservation, and for providing a source of seed dispersers and genetic material for future forest and landscape restoration efforts. Restoration of more biodiversity‐friendly land covers will improve landscape permeability and help conserve species and the ecosystem services they deliver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Private yards provided habitat for birds in two neighboring cities. • Private yards had less bird diversity than public parks in the summer. • Private and public lands had equally diverse but distinct communities in the winter. • Land cover and season explained differences in bird diversity between the two cities. • Heterogenous landscapes with both land sparing and land sharing maximize bird diversity. Greenspaces are increasingly valued for supporting biodiversity in urbanized landscapes. Previous research efforts have emphasized the importance of public land such as parks and nature preserves for biodiversity, yet private yards in residential neighborhoods also have great potential for species conservation. Our study considered the importance of adjacent public and private greenspaces for urban bird diversity. We surveyed birds in public parks (n = 39) and private yards (n = 41) distributed across neighboring twin cities (Champaign and Urbana) in Illinois, USA, to assess potential differences in bird diversity across: (1) the public–private divide; (2) seasons (winter vs. summer); and (3) the two cities. We found a seasonal interaction across the public–private divide. In summer, communities in private yards were a subset of those found in public parks, whereas in winter, both private yards and public parks hosted equally diverse yet distinct species assemblages. Between the two cities, Urbana supported greater bird diversity and a distinct species assemblage compared to the warmer, more urbanized city of Champaign. Our results demonstrate that both public parks and private yards play key roles in supporting native bird diversity, but also highlight that these roles can shift across seasons. Furthermore, we show that neighboring cities within the same conurbation can differ substantially in bird community structure and diversity. Our findings reinforce the importance of maintaining heterogeneous landscape mosaics and combining land sparing and land sharing approaches to maximize bird diversity in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agrochemical use and habitat loss associated with agriculture are drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide, and biodiversity-friendly farming practices, including organic management, are increasingly promoted by policy and industry in an attempt to offset this. Grapes are an important perennial crop globally, and in the UK, viticulture is the fastest growing agricultural sector and sustainable vineyard management is promoted by the Sustainable Wines of Great Britain 'SWGB' scheme. Here, we performed the first assessment of the simultaneous effects of surrounding habitats and vineyard management practices on bird and arthropod biodiversity across 22 English vineyards (10 certified-organic, 11 SWGB-accredited, and 3 both). We surveyed birds using point counts and arthropods with pitfall traps, and used linear mixed modelling to relate diversity and abundance to habitat and management predictors at landscape and local scales. We show that arthropod abundance is significantly higher on organic vineyards, whilst bird diversity is significantly lower on SWGB-accredited vineyards, but we find no other significant effects of organic certification or SWGB-accreditation on biodiversity. We also find no significant effects of the surrounding habitat structure on the biodiversity of birds and arthropods. Instead, we show that ecotoxicity scores derived from agrochemical use data have a significant negative impact on bird diversity, and on arthropod abundance and diversity. Organic status predicts a significant reduction in ecotoxicity scores, but only when application frequency is not considered, and contradictorily, SWGB-accredited vineyards have higher ecotoxicity scores than those without accreditation. Ground vegetation cover has a consistent, positive effect on bird and arthropod diversity, with model predicted diversity increasing 1.5 and 2.5-fold, respectively, in vineyards with the highest vegetation cover, and herbicide use has a negative effect on the vegetation cover. Our research demonstrates that individual management practices have a stronger effect on vineyard biodiversity than the habitat context, overall management regime or certification. Our study sets an important baseline for vineyard management and accreditation schemes and generates key recommendations for improvement. To benefit biodiversity within vineyards, we recommend that sustainability accreditation schemes include requirements to reduce the ecotoxicity of used agrochemicals, and promote higher ground vegetation cover and height by reducing herbicide use. • Organic vineyards support higher arthropod abundance but have no effect on birds. • Vineyards accredited through a sustainability scheme host lower bird diversity. • Landscape structure does not affect vineyard biodiversity. • Ecotoxicity scores based on agrochemical use have detrimental effects on biodiversity. • Higher ground vegetation cover supports biodiversity in vineyards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Wetlands provide diverse ecological services to sustain rich biodiversity, but they are recklessly exploited around the globe. East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW; Ramsar site No. 1208, ~ 125 km2) was once very rich in faunal diversity that declined over the years due to various anthropogenic pressures. In such scenarios, effective management plans need to contemplate local and landscape level initiatives and prioritize areas for conservation. Studying the foraging guild structure and spatial patterns of relationship between bird and its environment provides important insight of ecological processes of avifauna. Thus, we carried out extensive surveys in 142 point count stations to explore the diversity and foraging guild structure of birds in EKW. We addressed two important questions that how bird diversity varied from the outer periphery of the city towards the wetlands and how bird diversity is influenced by land cover features at local and landscape level in wetland complex. The goal of this study was to prepare a spatial map of avian diversity and to find the conservation priority areas for birds in this internationally recognized wetland complex. Results: We recorded 94 species of birds and the Shannon diversity index values ranged between 1.249 and 3.189. We found that the avian diversity increased with increasing distance from city periphery. Omnivores and insectivores were the dominant foraging guilds, followed by carnivores, granivores, frugivores and piscivores. Generalized Linear Models revealed that bird communities were positively influenced by areas of wetlands, dikes and banks, agricultural field and emergent vegetation, and negatively influenced by built-up area. In the projected spatial map of species diversity, 74.15 km2 area has high diversity. Finally, we identified 12.82 km2 of top 10% conservation priority areas. Conclusions: Low bird diversity near city periphery is related to habitat degradation due to anthropogenic pressure. Dominance of omnivores and insectivores indicates a possible impact of urbanization in EKW. We suggest that a mix of agricultural field, wetland areas and emergent vegetation helps to sustain a greater avian community. Besides, protection of conservation priority areas, restoration of the degraded habitats and reduction of threats (particularly in the north-eastern parts of EKW near the city periphery) will ensure the conservation of avifauna, and also the overall biodiversity of EKW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshwater wetlands are widely recognized as biodiversity hotspots for many organisms, including birds. Climate change and the projected increased risk of wetland fires may pose a major threat to wetland biodiversity in the future. There is urgent need to assess short- and long-term effect of fires on avian biodiversity and to establish relevant management implications. We analysed the short-term (first 3 months after fire) effect of a large (5 500 ha) spring wildfire on the community of breeding marshland birds in the best-preserved Polish local wetland biodiversity hotspot: Biebrza Valley. We compared the avian community structure and abundance of certain species before and after the fire on the 18 permanent transects located in both burned and unburned habitats. Within first breeding season post fire, fire significantly reduced pooled abundance and species richness of the whole bird community. Three bird species of special conservation concern (including aquatic warbler) temporarily disappeared from burned areas, and the numbers of 11 other species declined. In contrast, only 3 species benefited from the fire, none of which depended on marshes as their primary habitat. Although the reported strong initial fire effect is likely to fade away in subsequent years, its immediate detrimental effects on marshland birds should not be underestimated. We conclude that it is essential to temporarily provide the unburned adjacent refuge areas with additional protection and bird-friendly management and to focus on preventing further degradation of marshes to increase their resilience to fire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We found no support for differences in diversity of forest specialists and omnivores between agricultural systems and forest, although forest specialists were unstudied in low shade cocoa and monoculture (Figure 3c & Appendix S8). Because the diversity relationship between cocoa and forest did not vary with landscape for the full bird community, these findings suggest that agriculture avoiders were lost from the forest patches in low forest landscapes and replaced by agriculture associates. Keywords: avian; biodiversity; cacao; chocolate; farm; land sparing; meta-analysis; sustainable; Aves; biodiversidad; conservación de tierras; metaanálisis; sustentable EN avian biodiversity cacao chocolate farm land sparing meta-analysis sustainable Aves biodiversidad conservación de tierras metaanálisis sustentable 1 10 10 03/02/22 20220201 NES 220201 INTRODUCTION Global biodiversity peaks in tropical regions and is threatened by increasing demand for agricultural commodities (Laurance et al., 2014). In the supported model, biodiversity indicator metrics in rustic and mixed cocoa agroforestry systems were similar to nearby forest baselines, whereas low shade cocoa and monoculture had significantly lower biodiversity indicator metrics than forest (Figure 2 & Appendix S5). [Extracted from the article]

Protected areas are considered important for biodiversity conservation, however, studies have shown that habitats outside protected areas can also support high diversity and are important for biodiversity conservation. In this context, we compared the bird diversity between protected (Rani Taal in Shuklaphanta National Park) and non-protected (Sati Karnali Taal) wetlands in western Nepal. Bird surveys were conducted from February to August 2019, using open width point count method in 100 m intervals along transects. A total of 122 species belonging to 18 orders and 44 families were recorded from the protected wetland, and 107 species belonging to 16 orders and 41 families from the non-protected wetland area. Insectivores had high abundance in both wetlands (43% and 47% in protected and non-protected wetlands, respectively). Forest-dependent birds were more abundant in protected wetland compared to non-protected wetland. Our study showed that both protected and non-protected wetlands along with agricultural landscapes, support a richness of birds. Hence priority should be given to both wetlands for the conservation of birds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the effects of the anthropocene continue, the presence and absence of birds has become a growing concern. Citizen science provides a way to collect data about birds and their locations while also building citizen engagement with biodiversity. Recent research on citizen science has highlighted the need to move beyond monitoring projects to understand the outcomes and impacts of citizen science for social-ecological systems. Researchers have explored how science constructs certain categories and ways of knowing, people's diverse participation experiences, and the potential changes in ecological systems as people shift their practices (or not) in response to citizen science. In this article, we draw on research from a citizen science initiative, the New Zealand Garden Bird Survey, to describe the self-reported outcomes for participants, and consequent impacts/actions for people and nature. We then use the Nature Futures Framework (NFF) to organise the outcomes and impacts to make visible the diverse values around nature that are expressed and fostered through the New Zealand Garden Bird Survey. We conclude by suggesting how citizen science can help mobilise action for more diverse nature futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizen science is an important approach for ecological studies that require county-scale or broader geographic coverage. Here we report on project management, technology, and the variety of roles and levels of engagement of citizen scientists in the Soundscapes to Landscapes project, focused in Sonoma County, California, USA. The project uses lowcost autonomous recording units (ARUs) and bioacoustic analysis to monitor bird diversity and soundscape components at a regional scale. In five years, 259 citizen scientists collectively volunteered 8,390 hours on a range of tasks, with 40% field work and 41% bioacoustic reference data collection, but also including geographic information systems, social media, and data upload. Citizen scientists were a mix of expert collaborators, community volunteers, and undergraduate students. In five distinct field campaigns, 141 citizen scientists deployed recording devices during the breeding bird season at 1,281 sites on public and private lands, and collected 12,431 hours of raw audio recordings. For bioacoustic analysis, we used a custom web-based citizen science interface to produce labeled reference data, through which seven expert citizen scientists and 105 user-level citizen scientists produced 230,066 labeled audio clips. We found that word-of-mouth and personal connections were the best strategies for recruitment and retainment of citizen scientists. Levels of engagement among citizen scientists varied, and community volunteers who participated in more than one task contributed more time to the project overall. Undergraduate students were a valuable citizen scientist group in the project, contributing 48% of the total citizen scientist effort and were particularly important for field work success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The identification of the mechanisms determining spatial variation in biological diversity along elevational gradients is a central objective in ecology and biogeography. Here, we disentangle the direct and indirect effects of abiotic drivers (climatic conditions, and land use) and biotic drivers (vegetation structure and food resources) on functional diversity and composition of bird and bat assemblages along a tropical elevational gradient. Location: Southern slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, East Africa. Methods: We counted birds and recorded bat sonotypes on 58 plots distributed in near‐natural and anthropogenically modified habitats from 700 to 4,600 m above sea level. For the recorded taxa, we compiled functional traits related to movement, foraging and body size from museum specimens and databases. Further, we recorded mean annual temperature, precipitation, vegetation complexity as well as the number of fruits, flowers, and insect biomass as measures of resource availability on each study site. Results: Using path analyses, we found similar responses of bird and bat functional diversity to the variation in abiotic and biotic drivers along the elevational gradient. In contrast, the functional composition of both taxa showed distinct responses to abiotic and biotic drivers. For both groups, direct temperature effects were most important, followed by resource availability, precipitation and vegetation complexity. Main Conclusions: Our findings indicate that physiological and metabolic constraints imposed by temperature and resource availability determine the functional diversity of bird and bat assemblages, whereas the composition of individual functional traits is driven by taxon‐specific processes. Our study illustrates that distinct filtering mechanisms can result in similar patterns of functional diversity along broad environmental gradients. Such differences need to be taken into account when it comes to conserving the functional diversity of flying vertebrates on tropical mountains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central tenet of European farmland ecology is that agricultural intensification during the 20th century was largely responsible for dramatic declines in species abundances. However, during this time, human rural settlements were also undergoing radical changes through modernization, with undocumented biodiversity impacts in this important wildlife habitat. We performed the first ever large‐scale study to disentangle the impact of these simultaneous processes on farmland bird diversity in 104 Polish villages. We show that modernized villages and their surrounding agricultural fields had 50–60% fewer birds than those in and around comparable older villages. The relative contribution of modernization versus agricultural intensification to predicted bird declines was 88% versus 12% for bird communities in villages and 56% versus 44% in surrounding croplands, with considerable variation among ecological species subgroups. These results challenge our current understanding of agricultural ecosystem ecology and how best to implement conservation measures costing billions of euros annually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are designed for humans but are also highly dynamic ecosystems that provide habitats for wild animals. These habitats depend on a city's green infrastructure which is increasingly threatened by urban densification. A commonly studied model taxon for wild animals in cities are birds, and the importance of large green spaces for the diversity of birds in cities has been shown. However, how small-scale green spaces affect bird communities, which local characteristics are important, and whether there are seasonal differences remains unclear. We asked how and to what extent the characteristics of city squares in Munich affect the diversity and abundance of birds and if there are differences between bird communities in spring, autumn, and winter. We monitored birds on 103 city squares in Munich using a search-route method. Sampled squares spanned a spatial gradient from the center to the periphery of the city and differed in sealed surface proportion and vegetation structures, such as trees, shrubs, and lawns. The diversity and abundance of birds increased with a higher proportion of green characteristics on the square. Especially the proportion of grass cover and the density of trees had strong positive effects. Old trees had additional effects on birds beyond the effects of trees in general, while the mean number of people on a square negatively influenced bird abundance and diversity. Despite seasonal changes in bird composition, square characteristics showed consistent effects on bird abundance and diversity over seasons. These results underline that the green characteristics of city squares, and therefore of small-scale green spaces, affect their suitability as habitat for wildlife in cities. Integrating this knowledge into city planning can help to maintain or even increase urban biodiversity in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There exists limited information on biodiversity including avifaunal diversity and habitat condition in community forests (CF) of Nepal; thus we aimed to fulfull such gaps in Tibrekot CF of Kaski district. We used the point count method for assessing bird diversity and laid out a circular plot size of radius 5-m within 15-m distance from each point count station for recording the biophysical habitat characteristics. Bird species’ diversity, richness and evenness were calculated using popular indexes and General Linear Model (GLM) was used to test the respective effect of various biophysical factors associated with the richness of bird species. In total, 166 (summer 122, winter 125) bird species were recorded in 46 sample plots. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index was calculated as 3.99 and 4.09, Margalef’s richness index as 16.84 and 17.53 and Pielou’s evenness index as 0.83 and 0.84 for summer and winter, respectively. The influencing factors for richness of bird species were season (χ21, 90= 112.21; P= 0.016) with higher richness in the summer season and low vegetation cover (χ21, 89= 113.88; P= 0.0064) with higher richness in lower percentage cover. Thus, community managed forest should be protected as it has a significant role in increasing bird diversity, which has potential for attracting avifaunal tourism for the benefit of the local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]