Effects of land abandonment and changing habitat structure on avian assemblages in upland pastures of Bulgaria

Abstract

SummaryOver the past half century, grassland birds in Europe have declined dramatically and in order to maintain and restore their populations it is critical to understand how habitat structures and quality within pastures affect birds. This study investigated the effects of habitat structure and pasture abandonment on grassland birds in IBA Ponor, western Bulgaria. Birds were sampled using the point count method at 143 randomly located circular plots and a total of 1,401 observations of birds from 31 species were recorded. The results showed that habitat complexity, management and landscape position influenced bird community structure and species occurrence within the upland pastures. Extensively grazed pastures supported higher structural complexity of vegetation cover and higher bird-species richness and diversity compared with abandoned ones. Moreover, bird species with a preference for grazed rather than abandoned pastures had higher conservation status and most were associated with shrub cover. To maintain high levels of avian diversity, habitat complexity within pastures should be maintained through extensive grazing, to ensure availability of scrub vegetation wherever possible. Finally, this study provided evidence that agri-environmental schemes should not be directly extrapolated from one country or region to another without been tested first, because within the same management, differences in habitat structural characteristics may exist due to the landscape and socio-economic characteristics of the region.