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45 results for “grassland birds”
Comparative Bird Community Assessments in Grassland, Shrubland, and Woodland Habitats at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico (1991-1997 and 2022-2023)
Across North America, avifauna abundance has declined by 30% since 1970 (Rosenberg, K.V. et al. 2019). Direct mortality from anthropogenic sources (pets, cars, collisions with building, power lines, wind turbines, etc.) and indirect mortality (habitat loss, disturbance, climate change, etc.) have both been major contributors to these declines (Loss, S.R. et al. 2015 and Calvert, A.M. et al. 2013). Variables such as migration patterns, family, breeding and non-breeding biomes show differing rates of decline (Rosenberg, K.V. et al. 2019). In New Mexico, there are three breeding biomes all classified with declining avian abundance. Avian abundance in grasslands has declined by 53.3% since 1970, western forests by 29.5% and arid lands by 17.0% (Rosenberg, K.V. et al. 2019). All three of these biomes also occur at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge thus temporal declines in species richness and abundance are expected. This project was originally designed to sample the species richness and abundance of birds on the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in three types of habitat: grassland, creosote shrubland and pinyon-juniper woodland. Surveys were conducted between January 1991 and May 1997 (Parmenter, R. 2016). Surveys were re-established in 2022 to document current species richness and abundance and to capture any temporal changes from the 90s data. Avian point count survey stations in grassland, creosote and pinyon-juniper habitats run through existing study sites which have all been subjected to intense research activity. Literature Cited A. M. Calvert, C. A. Bishop, R. D. Elliot, E. A. Krebs, T. M. Kydd, C. S. Machtans, G. J. Robertson, A synthesis of human-related avian mortality in Canada. Avian Conserv. Ecol. 8, art11 (2013). https://www.ace-eco.org/vol8/iss2/art11/ Loss, S. R., Will, T., Marra, P. P. 2015. Direct Mortality of Birds from Anthropogenic causes. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 46, 99–120. https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-1124
Fig. 2 in Population Densities And Community Structure Of Birds Breeding In A Suburban Wooded Grassland In The Highveld Of Lesotho
Fig. 2. Numbers (right axis; dot or square signs) of species (A), all breeding pairs (B), and breeding pairs of selected bird species (C: Ss — Streptopelia senegalensis, Sc — Streptopelia capicola; D: RwS — Onychognathus morio, ES — Sturnus vulgaris; E — Passer griseus; F — Ploceus velatus; G — Columba guinea, H — Lanius collaris) in relation to the rainfall (columns; in mm per annum; left axis).
Fig. 3 in Population Densities And Community Structure Of Birds Breeding In A Suburban Wooded Grassland In The Highveld Of Lesotho
Fig. 3. Comparison of main feeding (A) and nesting (B) guilds in avian community in 1998 and 2001.
Grassland bird population declines at three Breeding Bird Survey spatial scales in contrast to a large native prairie
<p>Grassland biomes in North America are threatened by agricultural intensification with implications for grassland associated bird populations via habitat loss, alteration, pesticide use and declining landscape heterogeneity. Despite decades of conservation concern, steep declines of North American grassland bird populations continue. Key to optimizing conservation effort is understanding how land-use practices, such as agriculture, across the annual cycle affects population status. Determining the relative influence of impacts on grassland bird declines is difficult given that the most robust estimates of population trends, the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), are from surveys throughout agriculturally dominated regions. Our goal was to explore whether agriculture during the breeding season is a major driver of grassland bird declines. We derived trends for 16 grassland bird species spanning 23 years (1994-2016) at a large (459 km2), native prairie site, Suffield National Wildlife Area (SNWA) in Alberta, Canada. We compared those trends to the BBS across three spatial scales, a regional monitoring scheme with higher than average native grass cover (GBM), BCR 11 - Canada (Canada) and all of BCR 11 (BCR 11). Trends measured as annual percent change and credible interval varied greatly among species and survey strata. Across all species, declines were greatest for Canada (-1.3%, CI: -2.8, 0.0) and BCR 11 (-1.9%, CI: -3.2, -0.6). This contrasts with positive mean trends for GBM routes (1.0%, CI: -0.4, 2.3) and the SNWA data (1.7%, CI: 0.3, 3.3). Six of 16 species at SNWA were increasing with one decreasing. Five species increased at GBM and four declined. Canada had 10 species declines and three increases and BCR 11 had 10 declines and no increases. None of six grassland obligate species declined at SNWA, two declined at GBM, and all six declined over the two larger BBS strata. Our results showing fewer negative population trends at a large native grassland site compared to BBS at three spatial scales across the North American prairies support the prediction that agricultural intensification on breeding grounds is a major driver of declining populations and protection of remaining native grasslands should remain a key component of grassland bird conservation efforts.</p>
Landscape-scale conservation mitigates the biodiversity loss of grassland birds
<p>The decline of biodiversity from anthropogenic landscape modification is among the most pressing conservation problems world-wide. In North America, long-term population declines have elevated the recovery of the grassland avifauna to among the highest conservation priorities. Because the vast majority of grasslands of the Great Plains are privately owned, the recovery of these ecosystems and bird populations within them depend on landscape-scale conservation strategies that integrate social, economic, and biodiversity objectives. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a voluntary program for private agricultural producers administered by the United States Department of Agriculture that provides financial incentives to take cropland out of production and restore perennial grassland. We investigated spatial patterns of grassland availability and restoration to inform landscape-scale conservation for a comprehensive community of grassland birds in the Great Plains. The research objectives were to 1) determine how apparent habitat loss has affected spatial patterns of grassland bird biodiversity, 2) evaluate the effectiveness of CRP for offsetting the biodiversity declines of grassland birds and 3) develop spatially explicit predictions to estimate the biodiversity benefit of adding CRP to landscapes impacted by habitat loss. We used the Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions program to evaluate hypotheses for the effects of habitat loss and restoration on both the occupancy and species richness of grassland specialists within a continuum modelling framework. We found the odds of community occupancy declined by 37% for every 1 Standard Deviation (SD) decrease in grassland availability [log<i><sub>e</sub></i>(km<sup>2</sup>)] and increased by 20% for every 1 SD increase in CRP land cover [log<i><sub>e</sub></i>(km<sup>2</sup>)]. There was 17% turnover in species composition between intact grasslands and CRP landscapes, suggesting grasslands restored by CRP retained considerable, but incomplete representation of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Spatially explicit predictions indicated absolute conservation outcomes were greatest at high latitudes in regions with high biodiversity, whereas the relative outcomes were greater at low latitudes in highly modified landscapes. By evaluating community-wide responses to landscape modification and CRP restoration at bioregional scales, our study fills key information gaps for developing collaborative strategies, and balancing conservation of avian biodiversity and social well-being in agricultural production landscapes of the Great Plains.</p>
Figure 1 in Birds of Parque Estadual do Tainhas, an important protected area of the highland grasslands of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Figure 1. Location of Parque Estadual do Tainhas (white polygon on upper right detail) in southern Brazil. Source: Google Earth.
Data from: Long-term trends in grassland bird relative abundance on focal grassland landscapes in Missouri
<p><span>North American grassland birds have widely declined over the past 50 years, largely due to anthropogenic-driven loss of native prairie habitat. In response to these declines, many conservation programs have been implemented to help secure wildlife habitat on private and public lands. The Grasslands Coalition is one such initiative established to advance the conservation of grassland birds in Missouri. The Missouri Department of Conservation conducted annual point count surveys for comparison of grassland bird relative abundance between focal grassland areas and nearby paired (i.e., containing no targeted management) sites. We analyzed 17 years of point count data with a generalized linear mixed model in a Bayesian framework to estimate relative abundance and trends across focal or paired sites for nine bird species of management interest that rely on grasslands: barn swallow (<em>Hirundo</em> <em>rustica</em>), brown-headed cowbird (<em>Molothrus</em> <em>ater</em>), dickcissel (<em>Spiza</em> <em>americana</em>), eastern meadowlark (<em>Sturnella</em> <em>magna</em>), grasshopper sparrow (<em>Ammodramus</em> <em>savannarum</em>), Henslow's sparrow (<em>A</em>. <em>henslowii</em>), horned lark (<em>Eremophila</em> <em>alpestris</em>), northern bobwhite (<em>Colinus</em> <em>virginianus</em>), and red-winged blackbird (<em>Agelaius</em> <em>phoeniceus</em>). Relative abundance of all species except eastern meadowlarks declined regionally. Relative abundance of barn swallows, brown-headed cowbirds, dickcissels, eastern meadowlarks, Henslow's sparrows, and northern bobwhites was higher in focal than paired sites, though relative abundance trends were only improved in focal vs. paired areas for dickcissels and Henslow's sparrows. Relative abundance increased with increasing grassland cover at the local (250-m radius) scale for all species except horned larks and red-winged blackbirds and at the landscape (2,500-m radius) scale for all species except dickcissels, eastern meadowlarks, and northern bobwhites. Our results suggest focal areas contained greater relative abundances of several grassland species of concern, likely due to increased availability of grassland habitat at local and landscape scales. Further efforts to decrease landscape-scale fragmentation and improve habitat quality may be needed to achieve conservation goals.</span></p>
Data for: Plants, invertebrates, and birds of grasslands of northeastern Pennsylvania
<p>This dataset contains data for a study of primary productivity and diversity for grassland, meadow, and savanna (GMS) vegetation in northeastern Pennsylvania, USA, where the landscape is primarily forests, agriculture, and urban or suburban development. Data were collected in late summer and early fall of 2014-2015. It includes data for primary productivity, plant species diversity, invertebrate order diversity, and avian abundance and species diversity of 14 grasslands and open areas that were actively managed and three that apparently occurred naturally. Four grasslands were dominated by warm season grasses with the C<sub>4</sub> photosynthetic pathway, nine were dominated by C<sub>3</sub> grasses, forbs, and shrubs, and four had a mixture of both types.</p>
Nest initiation and end dates for eight grassland bird species in Wisconsin and Illinois
<p>We used nest records from published grassland bird studies done in Wisconsin and Illinois to compile a dataset for 8 obligate grassland bird species Study sites were clustered in southwestern Wisconsin near Mt. Horeb (43.0167°N, 89.7500°W); sites were located in Dane, Grant, Green, Iowa, Lafayette, Monroe, and Rock counties. In northern Illinois, study sites were located in Lee, Ogle, Will, Grundy, Carroll, and Jo Daviess counties (40.9822 to 42.2356°N, -87.5433 to -90.3489°W).The dataset consists of 3257 nests with observations on nest initiation date (date first egg laid), nest fate (success, failure), number of fledglings, and nest end date (date the nest either failed or fledged at least one nestling). The species were Bobolink, Dickcissel, Eastern Meadowlark, Grasshopper Sparrow, Henslow's Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, and Western Meadowlark. </p>
Landscape-scale conservation mitigates the biodiversity loss of grassland birds
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Data for: Plants, invertebrates, and birds of grasslands of northeastern Pennsylvania
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Nest initiation and end dates for eight grassland bird species in Wisconsin and Illinois
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Data from: <em>Typha</em>-based paludiculture offers potential for greater bird species abundance and diversity than drained agricultural grassland
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Code from: Metrics for conservation success: using the bird‐friendliness index to evaluate grassland and aridland bird community resilience across the Northern Great Plains ecosystem
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Data from: Long-term trends in grassland bird relative abundance on focal grassland landscapes in Missouri
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Grassland bird population declines at three Breeding Bird Survey spatial scales in contrast to a large native prairie
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Bird Community Assessment in Grassland, Shrubland, and Woodland Habitats at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico (1991-1997)
This project was designed to sample the richness and abundance of birds on the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge. Three types of habitat were surveyed: grassland, creosote shrubland and pinyon-juniper woodland.
Data from: Finding clarity in ecological outcomes using empirical integrated social-ecological systems: a case study of agriculture-dependent grassland birds
<p>1. Efforts to monitor and conserve populations and ecosystems in human-dominated landscapes can benefit from an empirical social-ecological systems approach.<br> 2. Here we illustrate how latent variable structural equation modelling of regional time series data can effectively describe interconnected drivers of population fluctuations in dynamic landscapes and can help to reveal previously unknown system drivers.<br> 3. Using a declining farmland-dependent bird species (Ammodramus savannarum) in the eastern United States (1994-2015) as a case study, our analysis reveals how farm management decisions drive population fluctuations (R<sup>2</sup> = 20%), while management is in turn highly influenced by climate (R<sup>2</sup> = 23-51%), but not by regional conservation spending.<br> 4. Synthesis and applications. Structural equation modelling revealed potential social-ecological pathways for halting regional population declines in a grassland bird, the Grasshopper Sparrow. Lower population growth rates followed years of higher hay yields (~4 percentage points per metric ton increase in hay yield) and later harvests (~2 percentage points per 10-day delay in harvest). Thus, one pathway for stabilising regional populations could involve compensating farmers for reducing hay harvests, potentially requiring a six-fold increase in current annual agri-environmental conservation spending.</p>
Elevation and landscape change drive the distribution of a montane, endemic grassland bird
<p>This dataset documents the presence and abundance of the Nilgiri pipit (<em>Anthus nilghiriensis</em>) in 170 survey sites across most of its global range. Between one and four surveys were carried out at each site between November 2017 and May 2018 by experienced observers. Survey duration was proportional to site area. A wide range of habitat characteristics were also surveyed, and additional habitat characteristics for each site were gathered from remotely sensed data. </p>
Data from: Earthworm activity and availability for meadow birds is restricted in intensively managed grasslands
1. Earthworms are an important prey for the endangered meadow birds of north-west Europe. Although intensive grassland management with high manure inputs generally promotes earthworm abundance, it may reduce the effective food availability for meadow birds through desiccation of the topsoil, which causes earthworms to remain deeper in the soil. 2. We studied the response of Red Worm Lumbricus rubellus, a detritivore, and Grey Worm Aporrectodea caliginosa, a geophage, to soil moisture profiles in the field and under experimental conditions. Surfacing earthworms were counted weekly in eight intensively managed grasslands (treated with high inputs of slurry by slit injection) with variable groundwater tables in the Netherlands. At each count, soil penetration resistance, soil moisture tension and groundwater level were measured, while air temperature and humidity were obtained from a nearby weather station. The response to variation in the vertical distribution of soil moisture was also experimentally studied in the two earthworm species. 3. In the field, earthworms' surfacing activity at night was negatively associated with soil moisture tension and positively by relative air humidity. Surprisingly, there was no effect of groundwater level; an important management variable in meadow bird conservation. Under experimental conditions, both L. rubellus and A. caliginosa moved to deeper soil layers (>20 cm) in drier soil moisture treatments, avoiding the upper layer when moisture levels dropped below 30%. 4. Synthesis and applications. We propose that in intensively managed grasslands with slurry application, topsoil desiccation reduces earthworm availability for meadow birds. This can be counteracted by keeping soil moisture tensions of the top soil above -15 kPa. We suggest that the late raising of groundwater tables in spring and the disturbance of the soil by slit injection of slurry increase topsoil desiccation. This decreases earthworm availability when it matters most for breeding meadow birds. Meadow bird conservation will benefit from revised manure application strategies that promote earthworm activity near or at the soil surface.
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