RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Regional distribution patterns predict bird occurrence in Mediterranean cropland afforestations
A1 Carrascal, Luis M.
A1 Galván Macías, Ismael
A1 Sánchez Oliver, Juan Salvador
A1 Rey Benayas, José María
K1 Bird occurrence
K1 Cropland abandonment
K1 Habitat preferences
K1 Pine plantations
K1 Regional distribution
K1 Ciencia
K1 Medio Ambiente
K1 Science
K1 Environmental science
AB Part of the abandoned cropland in Mediterranean landscapes is being subjected to afforestation dominated by pines. Here we simultaneously evaluate the effect of three categories of factors as predictors of the interspecific variation in bird habitat occupancy of fragmented afforestations, namely regional distribution, habitat preferences, and life-history traits of species. We use the ‘‘natural experiment’’ that highly fragmented pine plantations of central Spain represent due to the prevailing pattern of land ownership of small properties. Many species with marked habitat preferences for woodland habitats were very scarce or were never recorded in this novel habitat within a matrix of deforested agricultural landscape. Interspecific variability in occurrence was mainly explained by regional distribution patterns: occurrence was significantly and positively associated with the proportion of occupied 10 x 10 UTM km squares around the study area, habitat breadth, and population trend of species in the period 1998–2011. It was also positively associated with regional occupancy of mature and large pine plantations. Other predictor variables related to habitat preferences (for woodland, agricultural and urban habitats) or life-history traits (migratory strategy, body mass, and clutch size) were unrelated to the occurrence of species. Thus, small man-made pinewood islands funded by the Common Agrarian Policy within a landscape dominated by Mediterranean agricultural habitats only capture widespread and habitat generalist avian species with increasing population trends, not contributing to enhance truly woodland species.
PB The Ecological Society of Japan
SN 0912-3814
YR 2013
FD 2013
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10017/22857
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10017/22857
LA eng
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
DS MINDS@UW
RD 02-may-2024