Effects of Habitat Type on the Breeding Density of Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

Abstract

A principal aim of habitat selection studies is to understand the roles of the different factors that influence the spatial distribution of individuals. The relationship between microhabitats in farmland, estuary, and island and breeding density of barn swallow are still poorly known. The principal objectives of this study are to compare: i) the proportion of microhabitats in different habitat types and ii) breeding density (i.e., pairs and individuals in a colony) among three habitat types. I hypothesize that i) no microhabitat would be dominant portion across all habitat types and ii) farmland that con- tains relatively greater portion of crop fields has higher breeding density than estuary and island that relatively greater por- tion of non-crop fields. Although microhabitats in farmland, estuary, and island revealed clear proportional difference, densities of breeding pair and individual in a colony did not differ.