Abstract

Expansion of secondary forests following the abandonment of agriculture may have important implications for bird conservation, but few studies have examined the dynamics of this process. We studied bird use of a chronosequence of differently-aged abandoned pastures regenerating to dry forest to better understand how the value of these habitats to birds changes over time. In a five year study on Hispaniola, we recorded 7,315 net captures of 60 species of landbirds in sites that began the study at two, five, 10, and 20 years post-abandonment, and in mature native dry forest. Twenty-five species made up 97% of all net captures. Highest capture rates were in the two youngest sites. These early-successional habitats had many over-wintering Neotropical migrants; among residents, granivores and frugivores predominated. In contrast, both the twenty-year-old and mature forest sites had few migrants, more resident insectivores and omnivorous species, and a greater proportion of endemics. Age and sex ratios, body condition and site persistence suggest early successional sites were sub-optimal for most over-wintering migrants, but habitat improved with age for three migratory species; results for permanent residents varied among species. Remnant trees and understory shrubs in the agroecological matrix likely contributed to avian diversity in regenerating dry forest sites, and proximity to mature forest also likely affected the diversity and abundance of birds in regenerating habitat. Our study shows that regenerating forests do not fully compensate for loss of mature dry forest habitat, even after 24 years of regeneration; natural restoration of complex microhabitats in dry forest sites converted to agriculture may take decades or longer. The highest value of regenerating forests may be as habitat for some over-wintering Neotropical migrants, and in creating a buffer zone that enhances biodiversity conservation by re-integrating these lands into the protected tracts of mature forest needed by the islands more unique and endemic bird species.

Highlights

  • Human activity has directly affected half of the earth’s ice-free land surface, with approximately 40% of land dedicated to agricultural crops or pasture (GEF, 2012)

  • The primary objectives of this research were to: (1) determine the abundance and diversity of birds across a chronosequence of different-aged dry forest regenerating from pastures; (2) determine how endemics, permanent residents, over-wintering migratory birds, and birds representing different foraging guilds respond to these regenerating dry forest habitats; (3) determine if there are differences in demographic structure or site persistence among birds occurring in these same early-successional habitats; and (4) compare these results to similar data from mature dry forests representing the native habitat of these sites prior to their deforestation

  • Shannon Diversity Index was highest in the three early-successional sites; diversity was lowest in the mature dry forest (Table 2)

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Summary

Introduction

Human activity has directly affected half of the earth’s ice-free land surface, with approximately 40% of land dedicated to agricultural crops or pasture (GEF, 2012). Attention is being paid to maximizing the conservation value of agricultural lands (Vandermeer & Perfecto, 1997; Petit & Petit, 2003), with investigations seeking to understand how birds respond to changes in land use in the agricultural matrix surrounding mature forest (Daily, Ehrlich & Sanchez-Azofeifa, 2001; Hughes, Daily & Ehrlich, 2002; Sekercioglu et al, 2002). The conservation of biodiversity, and even the functioning of national parks and reserves as repositories of species diversity, is increasingly seen to be dependent upon how we manage the surrounding agricultural landscapes (Vandermeer & Perfecto, 1997; Daily, Ehrlich & Sanchez-Azofeifa, 2001; Green et al, 2005; Sekercioglu et al, 2007). Studies have documented presence/absence or behavioral attributes of birds in scrub or agricultural habitats (Johnson & Sherry, 2001; Komar, 2006), but the employment of avian survival or other demographic variables in these studies is seldom realized despite its importance in assessing habitat quality for birds (but see Wunderle & Latta, 2000; Johnson et al, 2006)

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