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Uncropped habitats under power pylons are overlooked refuges for small mammals in agricultural landscapes
- Source :
- Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. 290:106777
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Agricultural intensification has led to landscape simplification partially due to massive reduction in the area of biodiversity-rich non-cropped habitats. Power lines and their associated infrastructure occurring in homogeneous farmland have recently been suggested to provide suitable habitat resources for some animals. This is the first study to investigate the importance of high-voltage power pylons in providing habitats of uncropped patches for small mammal communities in the agricultural landscape. We found that the abundance and species richness of small mammals during the winter was significantly higher in uncropped habitat patches under power pylons compared to the surrounding farmland. We suggest that power line infrastructure in the agricultural landscape may represent a crucial, though overlooked, refuge for small mammals by providing them with persistent habitat for wintering and spring dispersal.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Ecology
business.industry
Small mammal
04 agricultural and veterinary sciences
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Geography
Habitat
Homogeneous
Agriculture
Abundance (ecology)
040103 agronomy & agriculture
0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries
Biological dispersal
Animal Science and Zoology
Species richness
business
Agronomy and Crop Science
Agricultural landscapes
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 01678809
- Volume :
- 290
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........cdc64224e694892f707dc9913028dbb8