Breeding bird communities in an area of the Northern Apennines (Piedmont, NW Italy)

During the Spring of 2011, we studied the bird community in an area of Val Borbera, in the province of Alessandria (NW Italy). In the study area, situated at an altitude between 655 and 1700 m a.s.l., we conducted 110 points count ten minutes each in four microhabitats (agricultural areas, shrubs, f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Rivista Italiana di Ornitologia
Main Authors: Franco Carpegna, Giovanni Soldato, Roberto Toffoli
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Italian
Published: PAGEPress Publications 2019
Subjects:
bird communities
richness
abundance
dominance
diversity
Northern Apennines
Zoology
QL1-991
Parus
Alauda arvensis
Apus apus
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.4081/rio.2018.388
https://doaj.org/article/6ecd5567f45a4ec5bc3d5994f4c21537
Description
Summary:During the Spring of 2011, we studied the bird community in an area of Val Borbera, in the province of Alessandria (NW Italy). In the study area, situated at an altitude between 655 and 1700 m a.s.l., we conducted 110 points count ten minutes each in four microhabitats (agricultural areas, shrubs, forests, and prairies). In total, we surveyed 72 species, of which 51 were passerine and 21 non passerine. The most abundant species were Sylvia atricapilla, Phylloscopus collybita, Apus apus, and Turdus merula. In the agricultural areas, we detected a total of 50 species (Sylvia atricapilla, Parus major, Turdus merula were the most abundant). In the shrubs, we detected 30 species (Sylvia atricapilla, Parus major, Fringilla coelebs, Phylloscopus collybita, Turdus merula, Erithacus rubecula were the most abundant). In the forest areas, we found 45 species (Sylvia atricapilla, Parus major, Fringilla coelebs, Phylloscopus collybita, Turdus merula, Erithacus rubecula were the most abundant), and in the prairies, we detected 48 species (Alauda arvensis, Anthus campestris, Sylvia atricapilla, Turdus merula, Anthus trivialis, Sylvia communis were the most abundant). Compared to the other macro habitats, the agricultural areas have a significantly high abundance and richness in species, which highlights the importance of the agricultural mosaics in the Piedmont and mountain areas. The data which has been collected so far confirms the important role of this area, given the presence of some species which are rare at a regional scale.

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