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Animals
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Birds in Agricultural Environments
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Birds in Agricultural Environments

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Birds".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 20695

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Jesús Domínguez

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Departamento de Zooloxía, Xenética e Antropoloxía Física, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Interests: bird ecology; bird conservation; breeding biology; conservation biology; endangered species; waders
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Sandra Goded

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
International Bird Conservation Partnership (IBCP)
Interests: conservation biology; bird ecology; forest conservation; agricultural biodiversity conservation; human-wildlife interactions

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The ongoing decline of farmland biodiversity has been generally attributed to the intensification of agriculture in the past. Agricultural intensification can occur both at field and at landscape scales, although agri-environment schemes and organic farming have been suggested as a way of counteracting the decline of farmland bird communities.

In another sense, lands are being abandoned, for example, in many regions of Europe. Agriculture abandonment began throughout Europe during the second half of the nineteenth century, in mountainous and Mediterranean regions where economic benefits of agriculture were low. However, the intensity of land-use change varies greatly, and the situation is context-specific; thus, although seminatural areas are modified and intensive agriculture increases in some locations, while agropastoral activities are abandoned in others. The widespread abandonment of agricultural practices in some areas increases landscape homogenization, leading to biodiversity declines, although it also gives a chance to rewilding.

On the other hand, climate change is creating new opportunities for farming to expand to higher altitudes and latitudes that will enjoy longer growing seasons, but the environmental consequences of these climate-driven agricultural frontiers are not fully appreciated.

The Special Issue will focus on species ecology, population trends, current threats, and conservation of birds in agricultural landscapes all over the world. It will also include the implications of different agricultural mechanisms on bird ecology and conservation and possible conservation measures for reaching a more sustainable agricultural environment overall.

We invite you to share your recent findings through this Special Issue. 

Dr. Jesús Domínguez
Dr. Sandra Goded
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • agricultural bird population trends
  • agricultural bird conservation measures
  • agri-environment schemes
  • agricultural management
  • climate change
  • land abandonment
  • organic farming
  • rewilding

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1692 KiB  
Article
Fruit Size and Structure of Zoochorous Trees: Identifying Drivers for the Foraging Preferences of Fruit-Eating Birds in a Mexican Successional Dry Forest
by R. Carlos Almazán-Núñez, Edson A. Alvarez-Alvarez, Pablo Sierra-Morales and Rosalba Rodríguez-Godínez
Animals 2021, 11(12), 3343; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11123343 - 23 Nov 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3995
Abstract
Tropical dry forests (TDFs) are affected by land-use changes. These modifications impact their composition and arboreal structure, as well as the availability of food for several bird groups. In this study, we evaluated the foraging preferences in zoochorous trees of fruit-eating birds during [...] Read more.
Tropical dry forests (TDFs) are affected by land-use changes. These modifications impact their composition and arboreal structure, as well as the availability of food for several bird groups. In this study, we evaluated the foraging preferences in zoochorous trees of fruit-eating birds during the dry season of the year in three successional stages (early, intermediate, and mature) of TDFs in southern Mexico. The fruits of these trees are important in the diet of several birds during the dry season, a period during which food resources are significantly reduced in TDFs. We estimated foliar cover (FC) and foliage height diversity (FHD) of zoochorous trees in 123 circular plots. These variables were recognized as proxies of food availability and tree productivity. Foraging preferences were evaluated at the community level, by frugivore type, and by bird species. We evaluated the effect of the structural variables and the fruit size of zoochorous plants on fruit removal by birds and related the bird body mass and fruit size removed in the successional gradient. A total of 14 zoochorous tree species and 23 fruit-eating bird species were recorded along the successional gradient. Intermediate and mature stages showed greater fruit removal. The birds removed mainly B. longipes fruits across the three successional stages. The FHD and fruit size were important drivers in the selection of zoochorous trees and fruit removal by fruit-eating birds. Fruit size and bird body mass were positively related along the successional gradient. The results suggest that fruit removal by fruit-eating birds in the successional gradient can promote the demographic dynamics of several zoochorous tree species, especially of Bursera spp. along the TDFs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Birds in Agricultural Environments)
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21 pages, 16172 KiB  
Article
Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) Declines Follow Bison (Bison bison) Reintroduction on Private Conservation Grasslands
by Rachel H. Kaplan, Kristen M. Rosamond, Sandra Goded, Alaaeldin Soultan, Alex Glass, Daniel H. Kim and Nico Arcilla
Animals 2021, 11(9), 2661; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11092661 - 10 Sep 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5680
Abstract
Among the most rapidly declining birds in continental North America, grassland birds evolved with American bison (Bison bison) until bison nearly became extinct due to overhunting. Bison populations have subsequently rebounded due to reintroductions on conservation lands, but the impacts of [...] Read more.
Among the most rapidly declining birds in continental North America, grassland birds evolved with American bison (Bison bison) until bison nearly became extinct due to overhunting. Bison populations have subsequently rebounded due to reintroductions on conservation lands, but the impacts of bison on grassland nesting birds remain largely unknown. We investigated how bison reintroduction, together with other land management and climate factors, affected breeding populations of a grassland bird species of conservation concern, the Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus). We quantified population changes in Bobolinks over an 18-year period in conservation grasslands where bison were reintroduced, compared with adjacent grasslands grazed by cattle and where hay was harvested after the bird breeding season. Four years after bison reintroduction, the bison population in the study area had doubled, while Bobolink abundance declined 62% and productivity declined 84%. Our findings suggest that bison reintroduction as a conservation strategy may be counterproductive in grassland fragments where overgrazing, trampling, and other negative impacts drive declines in grassland breeding birds. Where bird conservation is an objective, small grassland reserves may therefore be inappropriate sites for bison reintroduction. To maximize conservation benefits to birds, land managers should prioritize protecting grassland birds from disturbance during the bird breeding season. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Birds in Agricultural Environments)
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13 pages, 3073 KiB  
Article
Caution Is Needed When Using Niche Models to Infer Changes in Species Abundance: The Case of Two Sympatric Raptor Populations
by Adrián Regos, Luis Tapia, Alberto Gil-Carrera and Jesús Domínguez
Animals 2021, 11(7), 2020; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11072020 - 6 Jul 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4699
Abstract
Despite the mounting evidence supporting positive relationships between species abundance and habitat suitability, the capacity of ecological niche models (ENMs) to capture variations in population abundance remains largely unexplored. This study focuses on sympatric populations of hen harrier (Circus cyaneus) and [...] Read more.
Despite the mounting evidence supporting positive relationships between species abundance and habitat suitability, the capacity of ecological niche models (ENMs) to capture variations in population abundance remains largely unexplored. This study focuses on sympatric populations of hen harrier (Circus cyaneus) and Montagu’s harrier (Circus pygargus), surveyed in 1997 and 2017 in an upland moor area in northwestern Spain. The ENMs performed very well for both species (with area under the ROC curve and true skill statistic values of up to 0.9 and 0.75). The presence of both species was mainly correlated with heathlands, although the normalized difference water index derived from Landsat images was the most important for hen harrier, indicating a greater preference of this species for wet heaths and peat bogs. The findings showed that ENM-derived habitat suitability was significantly correlated with the species abundance, thus reinforcing the use of ENMs as a proxy for species abundance. However, the temporal variation in species abundance was not significantly explained by changes in habitat suitability predicted by the ENMs, indicating the need for caution when using these types of models to infer changes in population abundance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Birds in Agricultural Environments)
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16 pages, 1276 KiB  
Article
Is Hay for the Birds? Investigating Landowner Willingness to Time Hay Harvests for Grassland Bird Conservation
by Matthew P. Gruntorad, Katherine A. Graham, Nico Arcilla and Christopher J. Chizinski
Animals 2021, 11(4), 1030; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11041030 - 5 Apr 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3986
Abstract
Birds in agricultural environments have exhibited steep global population declines in recent decades, and effective conservation strategies targeting their populations are urgently needed. In grasslands used for hay production, breeding birds’ nest success improves substantially if hay harvests are delayed until after mid-July. [...] Read more.
Birds in agricultural environments have exhibited steep global population declines in recent decades, and effective conservation strategies targeting their populations are urgently needed. In grasslands used for hay production, breeding birds’ nest success improves substantially if hay harvests are delayed until after mid-July. However, few studies have investigated private hay producers’ willingness to alter their harvesting practices, which is a critical factor for bird conservation where most land is privately owned, such as in the North American Great Plains. We surveyed Nebraska hay producers to examine whether livestock production, wildlife knowledge, and hunting activity affects their willingness to alter haying practices for bird conservation. The majority (60%) of respondents expressed willingness to delay harvesting hay to allow birds time to nest successfully. Livestock producers and those more knowledgeable about wildlife were more willing to delay hay harvests, whereas active hunters were less willing to do so. Our findings suggest that a majority of private producers show a high potential for engaging in grassland bird conservation activities. Landowners’ willingness to participate in bird conservation programs and actions could be further encouraged through extension and education efforts connecting hay producers with information, support, and funding for bird conservation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Birds in Agricultural Environments)
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