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Diversity
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Avian Diversity in Forest and Grassland—2nd Edition
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Avian Diversity in Forest and Grassland—2nd Edition

A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 799

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Grzegorz Kopij

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Vertebrate Ecology, Wrocław University of Environmental & Life Sciences, ul. Kożuchowska 5b, 51-631 Wroclaw, Poland
Interests: animal ecology; wildlife management; biodiversity; ornithology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Throughout the world, forest and grassland (including savanna) are major biomes, and their most attractive components are birds. Despite intensive research on their diversity, population density, habitat selection, population changes, and other aspects of ecology, there is still an urgent need for further studies. This Special Issue is an excellent opportunity to report on recent research on ecological aspects of forest and grassland birds. Authors are encouraged to submit reviews, synthesis work, and specific case studies with broad implications. Topics of interest for this Special Issue include the following: 1) the impact of environmental changes (e.g., forest and grassland fragmentation, edge effect, climate change, nest boxes, breeding and feeding ecology, habitat selection) on diversity, population density, and population dynamics of forest and grassland birds; 2) comparison between avian communities in natural and cultivated forests and grasslands, and between urban and exurban woodlands; 3) birds (woodpeckers, raptors, hole-nesting passerines) as indicators of forest and grassland condition. If you are interested in this opportunity, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Prof. Dr. Grzegorz Kopij
Guest Editor

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2100 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

  • avian community
  • avian diversity
  • environmental changes
  • forest fragmentation
  • population density and dynamics
  • conservation of forest birds
  • nest box studies
  • effect of habitat
  • structure and floral composition
  • urbanized versus natural woodlands
  • natural versus cultivated forests

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

23 pages, 2104 KB  
Article
Bird Species Diversity and Community Structure Across Southern African Grassland Types
by Grzegorz Kopij
Diversity 2026, 18(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/d18010011 - 23 Dec 2025
Viewed by 498
Abstract
Grasslands occupy 24% of the Earth’s surface. In most areas of the world these are either destroyed, fragmented or converted into cultivated fields. In Africa, their biodiversity is still insufficiently known. This study reports on the avian assemblages associated with grasslands in South [...] Read more.
Grasslands occupy 24% of the Earth’s surface. In most areas of the world these are either destroyed, fragmented or converted into cultivated fields. In Africa, their biodiversity is still insufficiently known. This study reports on the avian assemblages associated with grasslands in South African Highveld and Lesotho Drakensberg. Special attention was paid to the species richness, diversity, and population densities and dominance of particular species. Birds were counted by means of the Line Transect Method in three distinguished grassland types: Dry Cymbopogon-Themeda Grassland (transect length: 28 km), Wet Cymbopogo-Themeda Grassland (27 km) km, and Mountain Themeda-Festuca Grassland (31 km). In total, 86 bird species were recorded. While cumulative dominance was similar between the Dry and Wet Grassland (61–65%), these two were much different from that in the Mountain Grassland (46%). However the dominance index was similar in all three grassland types compared (0.25–0.33). Only one species, the long-tailed widow Euplectes orix was a common dominant species for all three grassland types. African stonechat, wing-snapping cisticola Cisticola ayresii, Levaillant’s cisticola Cisticola tinniens and yellow bishop Euplectes capensis were dominant only in the Mountain Grassland; northern black korhaan Afrotis afroides and the eastern clapper lark Mirafra fasciolata—only in the Dry and Wet Grassland; ostrich Struthio camelus, cloud cisticola Cisticola textrix, African quailfinch Ortygozpiza atricollis and pied starling Spreo bicolor—only in the Dry Grassland, while the helmeted guineafowl Numida meleagris, zitting cisticola Cisticola juncidis and African pipit Anthus cinnamomeus—only in the Wet Grassland. Despite these obvious differences in dominance and population densities of species, Diversity and evenness indices were similar in all three grassland types. Shannon’s Diversity Index (H′) varied between 1.22 and 1.35; Simpson Diversity Index between 0.91 and 0.94, while Pielou’s Evenness Index (J′) varied between 0.33 and 0.36. However, Sørensen Similarity Index between the three grassland types was low, ranging between 0.07 and 0.26. Proportions of ecological guilds were similar in the Dry and Wet Grassland but differed from mountain Grassland. In comparison with other tropical grassland, avian communities in southern Africa are characterized by higher species richness and higher its variance between particular grassland types. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Avian Diversity in Forest and Grassland—2nd Edition)
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