Bird Diversity in Mediterranean Pine and Mixed Forests

Abstract

Only a handful of bird species can be considered specialists of Mediterranean pine forests; however, many forest birds occupy pine and mixed forest, due to the biogeographic history of Mediterranean forest birds. Nevertheless, pine forest bird communities show clear-cut responses to changes in forest distribution, structure and composition at both local and landscape scales. Both forest management (especially plantation and harvesting strategies, forest fragmentation and landscape distribution of pine stands) and climate change may have strong effects on bird communities, and potential interactions between these two drivers may mitigate, or amplify, negative effects, depending on management strategies. Relationships are non-linear, with saturation points at which biodiversity increases no further (and may even decrease). Furthermore, relationships vary geographically and temporally due to interactions with climate and landscape-scale land uses. Bird diversity provides direct regulating ecosystem services of pest control and seed dispersal, cultural services, and even provisioning services in the case of game birds. Knowledge of the variable relationships between bird diversity, societal attitudes and the effects of global change drivers on pine forests is essential for designing realistic, regionally adapted management strategies aimed at enhancing the multifunctional role of forests beyond the market.