Grazer density and songbird counts in a restored conservation area
Grazing by large herbivores is increasingly used as a management tool in European nature reserves. The aim is usually to support an open but heterogeneous habitat and its corresponding plant and animal communities. Previous studies showed that birds may profit from grazing but that the effect varies...
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crpeerj:10.7717/peerj.10657 2024-06-02T08:06:15+00:00 Grazer density and songbird counts in a restored conservation area Lovász, Lilla Korner-Nievergelt, Fränzi Amrhein, Valentin Fondation de bienfaisance Jeanne Lovioz Foundation Emilia Guggenheim-Schnurr Ornithologische Gesellschaft Basel Swiss Association Pro Petite Camargue Alsacienne Foundation Wolfermann-Nägeli Foundation Frey-Clavel MAVA Foundation 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10657 https://peerj.com/articles/10657.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/10657.xml https://peerj.com/articles/10657.html en eng PeerJ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ PeerJ volume 9, page e10657 ISSN 2167-8359 journal-article 2021 crpeerj https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10657 2024-05-07T14:14:22Z Grazing by large herbivores is increasingly used as a management tool in European nature reserves. The aim is usually to support an open but heterogeneous habitat and its corresponding plant and animal communities. Previous studies showed that birds may profit from grazing but that the effect varies among bird species. Such studies often compared bird counts among grazed areas with different stocking rates of herbivores. Here, we investigated how space use of Konik horses and Highland cattle is related to bird counts in a recently restored conservation area with a year-round natural grazing management. We equipped five horses and five cattle with GPS collars and correlated the density of their GPS positions on the grazed area with the density of bird observations from winter through the breeding season. We found that in the songbirds of our study site, both the overall density of bird individuals and the number of species increased with increasing density of GPS positions of grazers. Correlations of bird density with horse density were similar to correlations with cattle density. Of the eight most common songbird species observed in our study area, the Eurasian Skylark and the Common Starling had the clearest positive correlations with grazer density, while the Blackbird showed a negative correlation. Skylarks and Starlings in our study area thus seem to profit from year-round natural grazing by a mixed group of horses and cattle. Article in Journal/Newspaper Eurasian Skylark PeerJ Publishing PeerJ 9 e10657 |
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English |
description |
Grazing by large herbivores is increasingly used as a management tool in European nature reserves. The aim is usually to support an open but heterogeneous habitat and its corresponding plant and animal communities. Previous studies showed that birds may profit from grazing but that the effect varies among bird species. Such studies often compared bird counts among grazed areas with different stocking rates of herbivores. Here, we investigated how space use of Konik horses and Highland cattle is related to bird counts in a recently restored conservation area with a year-round natural grazing management. We equipped five horses and five cattle with GPS collars and correlated the density of their GPS positions on the grazed area with the density of bird observations from winter through the breeding season. We found that in the songbirds of our study site, both the overall density of bird individuals and the number of species increased with increasing density of GPS positions of grazers. Correlations of bird density with horse density were similar to correlations with cattle density. Of the eight most common songbird species observed in our study area, the Eurasian Skylark and the Common Starling had the clearest positive correlations with grazer density, while the Blackbird showed a negative correlation. Skylarks and Starlings in our study area thus seem to profit from year-round natural grazing by a mixed group of horses and cattle. |
author2 |
Fondation de bienfaisance Jeanne Lovioz Foundation Emilia Guggenheim-Schnurr Ornithologische Gesellschaft Basel Swiss Association Pro Petite Camargue Alsacienne Foundation Wolfermann-Nägeli Foundation Frey-Clavel MAVA Foundation |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lovász, Lilla Korner-Nievergelt, Fränzi Amrhein, Valentin |
spellingShingle |
Lovász, Lilla Korner-Nievergelt, Fränzi Amrhein, Valentin Grazer density and songbird counts in a restored conservation area |
author_facet |
Lovász, Lilla Korner-Nievergelt, Fränzi Amrhein, Valentin |
author_sort |
Lovász, Lilla |
title |
Grazer density and songbird counts in a restored conservation area |
title_short |
Grazer density and songbird counts in a restored conservation area |
title_full |
Grazer density and songbird counts in a restored conservation area |
title_fullStr |
Grazer density and songbird counts in a restored conservation area |
title_full_unstemmed |
Grazer density and songbird counts in a restored conservation area |
title_sort |
grazer density and songbird counts in a restored conservation area |
publisher |
PeerJ |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10657 https://peerj.com/articles/10657.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/10657.xml https://peerj.com/articles/10657.html |
genre |
Eurasian Skylark |
genre_facet |
Eurasian Skylark |
op_source |
PeerJ volume 9, page e10657 ISSN 2167-8359 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10657 |
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PeerJ |
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9 |
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e10657 |
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1800751183331065856 |