Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Islands in the forest: effects of patch size and isolation on farmland bird species richness and community composition of farmland patches in forest landscapes

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Landscape Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Context

Theory predicts that species diversity of isolated habitat patches depends on patch size and isolation. However, there are few previous studies of how patch size and isolation influence community composition. This study tested theory using small and isolated farmland patches in a forested matrix.

Objectives

I tested whether bird species diversity and community composition of isolated farmland patches depended on patch size, measures of isolation (e.g. distance from the main farmland areas; up to 15 km), and other variables such as presence of human habitation.

Methods

Farmland bird species diversity and community composition (relative proportions of different ecological guilds) of 130 farmland patches within forest landscapes were recorded in Norway.

Results

Species diversity and proportion of the species that nested on the ground or low in bushes increased with patch size. Distance from the main farmland region was not related to species diversity or community composition, but species diversity increased when there were stepping stones present. Sites inhabited by humans had higher species diversity, a larger proportion of species nesting high in trees or in cavities (such as in buildings), and a larger proportion of resident species. Other variables were less important. There was also a strong relationship between the occupancy of individual species in the main farmland region and their occupancy in the forest region, suggesting that colonisation pressure also influenced species diversity of these habitat islands.

Conclusions

I found weak evidence of isolation effects on bird species diversity and community composition of farmland patches within forest, whereas most of the variation was explained by patch size and presence of humans.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andrén H (1994) Effects of habitat fragmentation on birds and mammals in landscapes with different proportions of suitable habitat: a review. Oikos 71:355–366

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrén H, Angelstam P (1988) Elevated predation rates as an edge effect in habitat islands: experimental evidence. Ecology 69:544–547

    Google Scholar 

  • Askins RA, Philbrick MJ, Sugeno DS (1987) Relationship between the regional abundance of forest and the composition of forest bird communities. Biol Conserv 39:129–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Bélichon S, Clobert J, Massot M (1996) Are there differences in fitness components between philopatric and dispersing individuals? Acta Oecol 17:503–517

    Google Scholar 

  • Bélisle M, Desrochers A (2002) Gap-crossing decisions by forest birds: an empirical basis for parameterizing spatially-explicit, individual-based models. Landscape Ecol 17:219–231

    Google Scholar 

  • Bélisle M, Desrochers A, Fortin M-J (2001) Influence of forest cover on the movements of forest birds: a homing experiment. Ecology 82:1893–1904

    Google Scholar 

  • Bender DJ, Contreras TA, Fahrig L (1998) Habitat loss and population decline: a meta-analysis of the patch size effect. Ecology 79:517–533

    Google Scholar 

  • Brotons L, Mönkkönen M, Martin JL (2003) Are fragments islands? Landscape context and density–area relationship in boreal forest birds. Am Nat 162:343–357

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dale S (2001) Female-biased dispersal, low female recruitment, unpaired males, and the extinction of small and isolated bird populations. Oikos 92:344–356

    Google Scholar 

  • Dale S (2018) Urban bird community composition influenced by size of urban green spaces, presence of native forest, and urbanization. Urban Ecosyst 21:1–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Dale S, Andersen GS, Eie K, Bergan M, Stensland P (2001) Guide til fuglelivet i Oslo og Akershus. Norsk Ornitologisk Forening, avdeling Oslo og Akershus, Oslo

  • Dale S, Lifjeld JT, Rowe M (2015) Commonness and ecology, but not bigger brains, predict urban living in birds. BMC Ecol 15:12

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Dale S, Steifetten Ø, Osiejuk TS, Losak K, Cygan JP (2006) How do birds search for breeding areas at the landscape level? Interpatch movements of male ortolan buntings. Ecography 29:886–898

    Google Scholar 

  • Donald PF, Green RE, Heath MF (2001) Agricultural intensification and the collapse of Europe’s farmland bird populations. Proc R Soc Lond B 268:25–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewers RM, Didham RK (2006) Confounding factors in the detection of species responses to habitat fragmentation. Biol Rev 81:117–142

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fahrig L (2007) Non-optimal animal movement in human-altered landscapes. Funct Ecol 21:1003–1015

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferraz G, Nichols JD, Hines JE, Stouffer PC, Bierregaard ROJ, Lovejoy TE (2007) A large-scale deforestation experiment: effects of patch area and isolation on Amazon birds. Science 315:238–241

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ford HA (1987) Bird communities on habitat islands in England. Bird Stud 34:205–218

    Google Scholar 

  • Haavik A, Dale S (2012) Are reserves enough? Value of protected areas for boreal forest birds in southeastern Norway. Ann Zool Fenn 49:69–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Haftorn S (1971) Norges Fugler. Universitetsforlaget, Oslo

    Google Scholar 

  • Heldbjerg H, Sunde P, Fox AD (2018) Continuous population declines for specialist farmland birds 1987–2014 in Denmark indicates no halt in biodiversity loss in agricultural habitats. Bird Conserv Int 28:278–292

    Google Scholar 

  • Kålås JA, Dale S, Gjershaug JO, Husby M, Lislevand T, Strann K-B, Strøm H (2015) Norwegian Red List for Species 2015. Birds Aves. Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre, Trondheim

    Google Scholar 

  • Kupfer JA, Malanson GP, Franklin SB (2006) Not seeing the ocean for the islands: the mediating influence of matrix-based processes on forest fragmentation effects. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 15:8–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Laurance WF (2008) Theory meets reality: how habitat fragmentation research has transcended island biogeographic theory. Biol Conserv 141:1731–1744

    Google Scholar 

  • Laurance WF, Camargo JLC, Luizão RCC, Laurance SG, Pimm SL, Bruna EM, Stouffer PC, Williamson GB, Benítez-Malvido J, Vasconcelos HL (2011) The fate of Amazonian forest fragments: a 32-year investigation. Biol Conserv 144:56–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Lomolino MV, Brown JH, Davis R (1989) Island biogeography of montane forest mammals in the American Southwest. Ecology 70:180–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch JF, Whigham DF (1984) Effects of forest fragmentation on breeding bird communities in Maryland, USA. Biol Conserv 28:287–324

    Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur RH, Wilson EO (1963) An equilibrium theory of insular zoogeography. Evolution 17:373–387

    Google Scholar 

  • MacArthur RH, Wilson EO (1967) The theory of island biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Mazerolle MJ, Villard M-A (1999) Patch characteristics and landscape context as predictors of species presence and abundance: a review. Ecoscience 6:117–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore NW, Hooper MD (1975) On the number of species in British woods. Biol Conserv 8:239–250

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore RP, Robinson WD, Lovette IJ, Robinson TR (2008) Experimental evidence for extreme dispersal limitation in tropical forest birds. Ecol Lett 11:960–968

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Morgado R, Beja P, Reino L, Gordinho L, Delgado A, Borralho R, Moreira F (2010) Calandra lark habitat selection: strong fragmentation effects in a grassland specialist. Acta Oecol 36:63–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Newton I (2004) The recent declines of farmland bird populations in Britain: an appraisal of causal factors and conservation actions. Ibis 146:579–600

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen AB, van den Bosch M, Maruthaveeran S, van den Bosch CK (2014) Species richness in urban parks and its drivers: a review of empirical evidence. Urban Ecosyst 17:305–327

    Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson SG (1986) Are bird communities in small biotope patches random samples from communities in large patches? Biol Conserv 38:179–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Nores M (1995) Insular biogeography of birds on mountain-tops in North Western Argentina. J Biogeogr 22:61–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Opdam P, Rijsdijk G, Hustings F (1985) Bird communities in small woods in an agricultural landscape: effects of area and isolation. Biol Conserv 34:333–352

    Google Scholar 

  • Orell M (1989) Population fluctuations and survival of great tits Parus major dependent on food supplied by man in winter. Ibis 131:112–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Prevedello JA, Vieira MV (2010) Does the type of matrix matter? A quantitative review of the evidence. Biodivers Conserv 19:1205–1223

    Google Scholar 

  • Prugh LR, Hodges KE, Sinclair ARE, Brashares JS (2008) Effect of habitat area and isolation on fragmented animal populations. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:20770–20775

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reino L, Beja P, Osborne P, Morgado R, Fabiao A, Rotenberry JT (2009) Distance to edges, edge contrast and landscape fragmentation: interactions affecting farmland birds around forest plantations. Biol Conserv 142:824–838

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricketts TH (2001) The matrix matters: effective isolation in fragmented landscapes. Am Nat 158:87–99

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Robb GN, McDonald RA, Chamberlain DE, Bearhop S (2008) Food for thought: supplementary feeding as a driver of ecological change in avian populations. Front Ecol Environ 6:476–484

    Google Scholar 

  • Saunders DA, Hobbs RJ, Margules CR (1991) Biological consequences of ecosystem fragmentation: a review. Conserv Biol 5:18–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Soulé ME, Alberts AC, Bolger DT (1992) The effects of habitat fragmentation on chaparral plants and vertebrates. Oikos 63:39–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornton DH, Branch LC, Sunquist ME (2011) The influence of landscape, patch, and within-patch factors on species presence and abundance: a review of focal patch studies. Landsc Ecol 26:7–18

    Google Scholar 

  • van Dorp D, Opdam PFM (1987) Effects of patch size, isolation and regional abundance on forest bird communities. Landscape Ecol 1:59–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Watling JI, Donnelly MA (2006) Fragments as islands: a synthesis of faunal responses to habitat patchiness. Conserv Biol 20:1016–1025

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zollner PA (2000) Comparing the landscape level perceptual abilities of forest sciurids in fragmented agricultural landscapes. Landsc Ecol 15:523–533

    Google Scholar 

  • Zollner PA, Lima SL (1997) Landscape-level perceptual abilities in white-footed mice: perceptual range and the detection of forested habitat. Oikos 80:51–60

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I thank Roar Økseter for help with producing maps, and Geir A. Sonerud and two anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, 1432, Ås, Norway

    Svein Dale

Authors
  1. Svein Dale
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Svein Dale.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 45563 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dale, S. Islands in the forest: effects of patch size and isolation on farmland bird species richness and community composition of farmland patches in forest landscapes. Landscape Ecol 34, 2823–2836 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-019-00920-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-019-00920-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation