Habitat preferences of farmland birds on the Heves Environmentally Sensitive Area

In the last quarter of the 20th century the populations of many farmland birds declined across north and west Europe, suggesting that this trend will be present in central European countries, including Hungary. The aim of our study was to get more information about the habitat preferences of five fa...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Biró, Judit, Kovács, Anikó, Báldi, András
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:Hungarian
Published: Magyar Biológiai Társaság 2009
Subjects:
út
Online Access:https://ojs.mtak.hu/index.php/termvedkozlem/article/view/11389
Description
Summary:In the last quarter of the 20th century the populations of many farmland birds declined across north and west Europe, suggesting that this trend will be present in central European countries, including Hungary. The aim of our study was to get more information about the habitat preferences of five farmland birds: Quail (Coturnix coturnix), Skylark (Alauda arvensis), Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava), Common Stonechat (Saxicola torquatus) and Corn Bunting (Emberiza calandra). Bird censuses were conducted applying the line transect method on the Heves Environmentally Sensitive Area from April to May, in 2008. The distribution of the five species was species-specific, with the Quail showing similar distributions in all fields (wheat, set-aside, oil-seed rape, maize, semi-natural pasture, alfalfa, sun-flower), while the Yellow Wagtail, Stonechat and Corn Bunting showed preferences for the oil-seed rape and set-aside. The Skylark preferred the set-aside. We hypothetised that the diversity of crops in the region, and the relatively low level of management intensity are responsible for the richness of birdlife in crops. Further investigations are needed to clarify the exact reasons, and to compare breeding success between natural habitats and arable fields. Hazánk kétharmada mezőgazdasági terület, mely számos fajnak jelent fontos életteret. Kutatásunk célja az agrártájhoz kötődő öt madárfaj: a fürj (Coturnix coturnix L. 1758), a mezei pacsirta (Alauda arvensis L. 1758), a sárga billegető (Motacilla flava L. 1758), a cigánycsuk (Saxicola torquatus L. 1766) és a sordély (Emberiza calandra, L. 1758) élőhely–preferenciáinak felmérése volt. A madárszámlálás 2008 áprilisától májusig zajlott a Hevesi–sík Érzékeny Természeti Területen (ÉTT) két, összesen 9700 méter hosszú transzekt mentén. Hét különböző mezőgazdasági kultúrára nézve vizsgáltuk a madarak eloszlását, táblánkénti denzitásokkal számolva. Eredményeink alapján a vizsgált madárfajok eloszlása fajspecifikus volt, a cigánycsuk és a sordély szignifikáns preferenciát ...