The abundance of a farmland specialist bird, the skylark, in three European regions with contrasting agricultural management
Advances in our understanding of recent farmland biodiversity loss have mainly come from studies in Western Europe. The application of such findings to other regions is questionable, however, and limits the outcomes of management actions. To bridge this knowledge gap, we focused on relationships bet...
Published in: | Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2015.06.018 http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0247778 |
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ftczacademyscien:oai:asep.lib.cas.cz:CavUnEpca/0445716 2023-12-24T10:07:42+01:00 The abundance of a farmland specialist bird, the skylark, in three European regions with contrasting agricultural management Koleček, J. (Jaroslav) Reif, J. Weidinger, K. 2015 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2015.06.018 http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0247778 eng eng doi:10.1016/j.agee.2015.06.018 urn:pissn: 0167-8809 urn:eissn: 1873-2305 http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0247778 Crops Extensive farming Landscape mosaic Seasonal change info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2015 ftczacademyscien https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2015.06.018 2023-11-28T17:19:04Z Advances in our understanding of recent farmland biodiversity loss have mainly come from studies in Western Europe. The application of such findings to other regions is questionable, however, and limits the outcomes of management actions. To bridge this knowledge gap, we focused on relationships between farmland bird abundance and sward height and crop type, counting breeding birds in three Central European regions with different agricultural histories and practices: the Eastern Czech Republic, Western Germany and Central Poland. We used the skylark (Alauda arvensis) as a model species due to its tight association with open habitats year-round and its commonness in European farmland. Skylarks were more abundant in Poland than in Germany and the Czech Republic, probably due to less intensive farmland management. Mean abundance declined with growing sward height from April to June and slightly declined with the number of fields surrounding study sites in all regions. Autumn- and spring-sown cereals hosted the highest abundance of skylarks in May, with lower abundance in maize, oilseed rape and meadows irrespective of region. This variation in skylark numbers suggests a temporal shift in abundance, probably reflecting movement between crops with optimal sward height. Taken together, these results indicate that skylark habitat use is somewhat conserved over regions and this knowledge can be used in management plans throughout Europe. However, the observed differences in skylark abundance between regions suggest that the regional-specific level of agricultural intensity may affect the delivery of conservation benefits from such plans. Article in Journal/Newspaper Alauda arvensis The Czech Academy of Sciences: Publication Activity (ASEP) Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 212 30 37 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
The Czech Academy of Sciences: Publication Activity (ASEP) |
op_collection_id |
ftczacademyscien |
language |
English |
topic |
Crops Extensive farming Landscape mosaic Seasonal change |
spellingShingle |
Crops Extensive farming Landscape mosaic Seasonal change Koleček, J. (Jaroslav) Reif, J. Weidinger, K. The abundance of a farmland specialist bird, the skylark, in three European regions with contrasting agricultural management |
topic_facet |
Crops Extensive farming Landscape mosaic Seasonal change |
description |
Advances in our understanding of recent farmland biodiversity loss have mainly come from studies in Western Europe. The application of such findings to other regions is questionable, however, and limits the outcomes of management actions. To bridge this knowledge gap, we focused on relationships between farmland bird abundance and sward height and crop type, counting breeding birds in three Central European regions with different agricultural histories and practices: the Eastern Czech Republic, Western Germany and Central Poland. We used the skylark (Alauda arvensis) as a model species due to its tight association with open habitats year-round and its commonness in European farmland. Skylarks were more abundant in Poland than in Germany and the Czech Republic, probably due to less intensive farmland management. Mean abundance declined with growing sward height from April to June and slightly declined with the number of fields surrounding study sites in all regions. Autumn- and spring-sown cereals hosted the highest abundance of skylarks in May, with lower abundance in maize, oilseed rape and meadows irrespective of region. This variation in skylark numbers suggests a temporal shift in abundance, probably reflecting movement between crops with optimal sward height. Taken together, these results indicate that skylark habitat use is somewhat conserved over regions and this knowledge can be used in management plans throughout Europe. However, the observed differences in skylark abundance between regions suggest that the regional-specific level of agricultural intensity may affect the delivery of conservation benefits from such plans. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Koleček, J. (Jaroslav) Reif, J. Weidinger, K. |
author_facet |
Koleček, J. (Jaroslav) Reif, J. Weidinger, K. |
author_sort |
Koleček, J. (Jaroslav) |
title |
The abundance of a farmland specialist bird, the skylark, in three European regions with contrasting agricultural management |
title_short |
The abundance of a farmland specialist bird, the skylark, in three European regions with contrasting agricultural management |
title_full |
The abundance of a farmland specialist bird, the skylark, in three European regions with contrasting agricultural management |
title_fullStr |
The abundance of a farmland specialist bird, the skylark, in three European regions with contrasting agricultural management |
title_full_unstemmed |
The abundance of a farmland specialist bird, the skylark, in three European regions with contrasting agricultural management |
title_sort |
abundance of a farmland specialist bird, the skylark, in three european regions with contrasting agricultural management |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2015.06.018 http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0247778 |
genre |
Alauda arvensis |
genre_facet |
Alauda arvensis |
op_relation |
doi:10.1016/j.agee.2015.06.018 urn:pissn: 0167-8809 urn:eissn: 1873-2305 http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0247778 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2015.06.018 |
container_title |
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment |
container_volume |
212 |
container_start_page |
30 |
op_container_end_page |
37 |
_version_ |
1786213450546937856 |