{"title":"Tall, large-diameter trees and dense shrub layer as key determinants of the abundance and composition of bird communities in oak-dominated forests","authors":"","doi":"10.1007/s11676-024-01714-w","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Abstract</h3> <p>Increasing human activity is altering the structure of forests, which affects the composition of communities, including birds. However, little is known about the key forest structure variables that determine the richness of bird communities in European temperate oak forests. We, therefore, aimed to identify key variables in these habitats that could contribute to the design of management strategies for forest conservation by surveying 11 oak-dominated forest sites throughout the mid-mountain range of Hungary at 86 survey points to reveal the role of different compositional and structural variables for forest stands that influence the breeding bird assemblages in the forests at the functional group and individual species levels. Based on decision tree modelling, our results showed that the density of trees larger than 30 cm DBH was an overall important variable, indicating that large-diameter trees were essential to provide diverse bird communities. The total abundance of birds, the foliage-gleaners, primary and secondary cavity nesters, residents, and five specific bird species were related to the density of high trunk diameter trees. The abundance of shrub nesters was negatively influenced by a high density of trees over 10 cm DBH. The density of the shrub layer positively affected total bird abundance and the abundance of foliage gleaners, secondary cavity nesters and residents. Analysis of the co-dominant tree species showed that the presence of linden, beech, and hornbeam was important in influencing the abundance of various bird species, e.g., Eurasian Treecreeper (<em>Certhia familiaris</em>), Marsh Tit (<em>Poecile palustris</em>) and Wood Warbler (<em>Phylloscopus sibilatrix</em>). Our results indicated that large trees, high tree diversity, and dense shrub layer were essential for forest bird communities and are critical targets for protection to maintain diverse and abundant bird communities in oak-dominated forest habitats.</p>","PeriodicalId":15830,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Forestry Research","volume":"41 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Forestry Research","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-024-01714-w","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"FORESTRY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Increasing human activity is altering the structure of forests, which affects the composition of communities, including birds. However, little is known about the key forest structure variables that determine the richness of bird communities in European temperate oak forests. We, therefore, aimed to identify key variables in these habitats that could contribute to the design of management strategies for forest conservation by surveying 11 oak-dominated forest sites throughout the mid-mountain range of Hungary at 86 survey points to reveal the role of different compositional and structural variables for forest stands that influence the breeding bird assemblages in the forests at the functional group and individual species levels. Based on decision tree modelling, our results showed that the density of trees larger than 30 cm DBH was an overall important variable, indicating that large-diameter trees were essential to provide diverse bird communities. The total abundance of birds, the foliage-gleaners, primary and secondary cavity nesters, residents, and five specific bird species were related to the density of high trunk diameter trees. The abundance of shrub nesters was negatively influenced by a high density of trees over 10 cm DBH. The density of the shrub layer positively affected total bird abundance and the abundance of foliage gleaners, secondary cavity nesters and residents. Analysis of the co-dominant tree species showed that the presence of linden, beech, and hornbeam was important in influencing the abundance of various bird species, e.g., Eurasian Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris), Marsh Tit (Poecile palustris) and Wood Warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix). Our results indicated that large trees, high tree diversity, and dense shrub layer were essential for forest bird communities and are critical targets for protection to maintain diverse and abundant bird communities in oak-dominated forest habitats.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Forestry Research (JFR), founded in 1990, is a peer-reviewed quarterly journal in English. JFR has rapidly emerged as an international journal published by Northeast Forestry University and Ecological Society of China in collaboration with Springer Verlag. The journal publishes scientific articles related to forestry for a broad range of international scientists, forest managers and practitioners.The scope of the journal covers the following five thematic categories and 20 subjects:
Basic Science of Forestry,
Forest biometrics,
Forest soils,
Forest hydrology,
Tree physiology,
Forest biomass, carbon, and bioenergy,
Forest biotechnology and molecular biology,
Forest Ecology,
Forest ecology,
Forest ecological services,
Restoration ecology,
Forest adaptation to climate change,
Wildlife ecology and management,
Silviculture and Forest Management,
Forest genetics and tree breeding,
Silviculture,
Forest RS, GIS, and modeling,
Forest management,
Forest Protection,
Forest entomology and pathology,
Forest fire,
Forest resources conservation,
Forest health monitoring and assessment,
Wood Science and Technology,
Wood Science and Technology.