Habitat use and diet of Skylarks ( Alauda arvensis ) wintering in an intensive agricultural landscape of the Netherlands
In recent decades, Skylark (Alauda arvensis) populations in Europe have declined sharply due to agricultural intensification. Insufficient reproduction rates are one reason. Increased winter mortality may also be important, but studies outside the breeding season are scarce and mostly limited to the...
Published in: | Journal of Ornithology |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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2014
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11370/0e093215-f56b-4f78-9451-bb9cff57c7de https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/0e093215-f56b-4f78-9451-bb9cff57c7de https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-013-1033-5 |
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ftunigroningenpu:oai:pure.rug.nl:publications/0e093215-f56b-4f78-9451-bb9cff57c7de 2024-06-23T07:45:04+00:00 Habitat use and diet of Skylarks ( Alauda arvensis ) wintering in an intensive agricultural landscape of the Netherlands Geiger, Flavia Hegemann, Arne Gleichman, Maurits Flinks, Heiner de Snoo, Geert R. Prinz, Sebastian Tieleman, B. Irene Berendse, Frank 2014-04 https://hdl.handle.net/11370/0e093215-f56b-4f78-9451-bb9cff57c7de https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/0e093215-f56b-4f78-9451-bb9cff57c7de https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-013-1033-5 eng eng https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/0e093215-f56b-4f78-9451-bb9cff57c7de info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Geiger , F , Hegemann , A , Gleichman , M , Flinks , H , de Snoo , G R , Prinz , S , Tieleman , B I & Berendse , F 2014 , ' Habitat use and diet of Skylarks ( Alauda arvensis ) wintering in an intensive agricultural landscape of the Netherlands ' , Journal of Ornithology , vol. 155 , no. 2 , pp. 507-518 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-013-1033-5 Nutrition Energy intake Droppings Predation risk Winter ecology Non-breeding FARMLAND BIRDS STUBBLE FIELDS GRANIVOROUS BIRDS EUROPEAN FARMLAND LOWLAND FARMLAND SOUTHERN ENGLAND FOOD ABUNDANCE INTENSIFICATION CONSERVATION article 2014 ftunigroningenpu https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-013-1033-5 2024-06-10T16:17:37Z In recent decades, Skylark (Alauda arvensis) populations in Europe have declined sharply due to agricultural intensification. Insufficient reproduction rates are one reason. Increased winter mortality may also be important, but studies outside the breeding season are scarce and mostly limited to the UK. We studied habitat selection of wintering Skylarks in an agricultural area in the Netherlands. We monitored Skylarks between November 2008 and March 2009 on 10 survey plots including 77 different arable fields and permanent grasslands and covering in total 480 ha. We simultaneously measured food availability, vegetation structure and field boundary characteristics. We also analysed 158 faecal pellets collected on potato and cereal stubble fields to relate Skylark diet to seasonal changes in food availability and foraging habitat. We show that cereal stubble fields larger than 4.3 ha, surrounded by no or low boundary vegetation and a density of dietary seeds of more than 860 seeds m(-2), were most suitable for wintering Skylarks. Skylark group densities were low on permanent grasslands and on maize stubble fields. Densities of dietary seeds were highest in soils of potato stubble fields followed by cereal stubble fields, grasslands and maize stubble fields. Skylarks showed a strong preference for cereal grains, but their proportion in the diet fell sharply at the end of November, indicating that cereal grains were depleted and birds had to switch to less profitable food sources, such as weed seeds and leaves. We conclude that Skylarks wintering in agricultural landscapes possibly suffer from a lack of energy-rich food sources and only a few fields provide sufficient food. Conservation measures should strive to improve the wintering situation by creating food-rich habitats such as over-winter stubble with a rich layer of weeds on large fields and localised in open areas. Article in Journal/Newspaper Alauda arvensis University of Groningen research database Journal of Ornithology 155 2 507 518 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Groningen research database |
op_collection_id |
ftunigroningenpu |
language |
English |
topic |
Nutrition Energy intake Droppings Predation risk Winter ecology Non-breeding FARMLAND BIRDS STUBBLE FIELDS GRANIVOROUS BIRDS EUROPEAN FARMLAND LOWLAND FARMLAND SOUTHERN ENGLAND FOOD ABUNDANCE INTENSIFICATION CONSERVATION |
spellingShingle |
Nutrition Energy intake Droppings Predation risk Winter ecology Non-breeding FARMLAND BIRDS STUBBLE FIELDS GRANIVOROUS BIRDS EUROPEAN FARMLAND LOWLAND FARMLAND SOUTHERN ENGLAND FOOD ABUNDANCE INTENSIFICATION CONSERVATION Geiger, Flavia Hegemann, Arne Gleichman, Maurits Flinks, Heiner de Snoo, Geert R. Prinz, Sebastian Tieleman, B. Irene Berendse, Frank Habitat use and diet of Skylarks ( Alauda arvensis ) wintering in an intensive agricultural landscape of the Netherlands |
topic_facet |
Nutrition Energy intake Droppings Predation risk Winter ecology Non-breeding FARMLAND BIRDS STUBBLE FIELDS GRANIVOROUS BIRDS EUROPEAN FARMLAND LOWLAND FARMLAND SOUTHERN ENGLAND FOOD ABUNDANCE INTENSIFICATION CONSERVATION |
description |
In recent decades, Skylark (Alauda arvensis) populations in Europe have declined sharply due to agricultural intensification. Insufficient reproduction rates are one reason. Increased winter mortality may also be important, but studies outside the breeding season are scarce and mostly limited to the UK. We studied habitat selection of wintering Skylarks in an agricultural area in the Netherlands. We monitored Skylarks between November 2008 and March 2009 on 10 survey plots including 77 different arable fields and permanent grasslands and covering in total 480 ha. We simultaneously measured food availability, vegetation structure and field boundary characteristics. We also analysed 158 faecal pellets collected on potato and cereal stubble fields to relate Skylark diet to seasonal changes in food availability and foraging habitat. We show that cereal stubble fields larger than 4.3 ha, surrounded by no or low boundary vegetation and a density of dietary seeds of more than 860 seeds m(-2), were most suitable for wintering Skylarks. Skylark group densities were low on permanent grasslands and on maize stubble fields. Densities of dietary seeds were highest in soils of potato stubble fields followed by cereal stubble fields, grasslands and maize stubble fields. Skylarks showed a strong preference for cereal grains, but their proportion in the diet fell sharply at the end of November, indicating that cereal grains were depleted and birds had to switch to less profitable food sources, such as weed seeds and leaves. We conclude that Skylarks wintering in agricultural landscapes possibly suffer from a lack of energy-rich food sources and only a few fields provide sufficient food. Conservation measures should strive to improve the wintering situation by creating food-rich habitats such as over-winter stubble with a rich layer of weeds on large fields and localised in open areas. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Geiger, Flavia Hegemann, Arne Gleichman, Maurits Flinks, Heiner de Snoo, Geert R. Prinz, Sebastian Tieleman, B. Irene Berendse, Frank |
author_facet |
Geiger, Flavia Hegemann, Arne Gleichman, Maurits Flinks, Heiner de Snoo, Geert R. Prinz, Sebastian Tieleman, B. Irene Berendse, Frank |
author_sort |
Geiger, Flavia |
title |
Habitat use and diet of Skylarks ( Alauda arvensis ) wintering in an intensive agricultural landscape of the Netherlands |
title_short |
Habitat use and diet of Skylarks ( Alauda arvensis ) wintering in an intensive agricultural landscape of the Netherlands |
title_full |
Habitat use and diet of Skylarks ( Alauda arvensis ) wintering in an intensive agricultural landscape of the Netherlands |
title_fullStr |
Habitat use and diet of Skylarks ( Alauda arvensis ) wintering in an intensive agricultural landscape of the Netherlands |
title_full_unstemmed |
Habitat use and diet of Skylarks ( Alauda arvensis ) wintering in an intensive agricultural landscape of the Netherlands |
title_sort |
habitat use and diet of skylarks ( alauda arvensis ) wintering in an intensive agricultural landscape of the netherlands |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11370/0e093215-f56b-4f78-9451-bb9cff57c7de https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/0e093215-f56b-4f78-9451-bb9cff57c7de https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-013-1033-5 |
genre |
Alauda arvensis |
genre_facet |
Alauda arvensis |
op_source |
Geiger , F , Hegemann , A , Gleichman , M , Flinks , H , de Snoo , G R , Prinz , S , Tieleman , B I & Berendse , F 2014 , ' Habitat use and diet of Skylarks ( Alauda arvensis ) wintering in an intensive agricultural landscape of the Netherlands ' , Journal of Ornithology , vol. 155 , no. 2 , pp. 507-518 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-013-1033-5 |
op_relation |
https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/0e093215-f56b-4f78-9451-bb9cff57c7de |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-013-1033-5 |
container_title |
Journal of Ornithology |
container_volume |
155 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
507 |
op_container_end_page |
518 |
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1802651078300270592 |