How extensive is the effect of modern farming on bird communities in a sand dune desert?

Faris Khoury,Mohammed Al-Shamlih

doi:10.3897/zookeys.31.192

Abstract

Bird community structure and diversity measures in sand dune habitats far from and close to modern farms in Wadi Araba, south-west Jordan, were compared using 52 line transects for breeding birds and habitat variables. A change in the bird community of sand dunes surrounding farming projects was measured to a distance of 1 km, but could neither be related to changes in habitat structure nor to the activity of op- portunistic predators (Red Fox) as these did not vary significantly between the two samples. The farms included lines of trees and offered a constant source of water, which attracted a variety of opportunistic species, thus increasing bird diversity and total bird abundances. The absence of characteristic ground-dwelling species of open sand dune habitats in the structurally intact sand dunes surrounding farms was likely to be the result of localized, but effectively far-reaching habitat modification (farms acting as barriers) and/or competition with some of the opportunistic species, which were common around farms.

Highlights

The anthropogenic impact on bird communities of arid ecosystems has been studied only tentatively
The aim of this study was to determine the impact of intensive agricultural practices on bird communities by comparing the community structure and diversity measures of sand dune habitats immediately surrounding farms with those, which are distant but of the same type
Most of these transects contained a relatively dense shrub cover, supporting larger numbers of a few species occurring along the edges of farms, e.g. Collared Dove and Little Green Bee-eater, and lower numbers of grounddwelling species of the open sand dune habitat

Summary

Introduction

The anthropogenic impact on bird communities of arid ecosystems has been studied only tentatively. The hyper-arid Wadi Araba in south-western Jordan exhibits a variety of habitat types ranging from sand dunes and alluvial fans to salt marshes and arid acacia savannahs. Still considered as one of the least populated and spoilt areas of Jordan (Andrews 1995), current expansion of agricultural projects in Wadi Araba is probably interfering with ecosystem function and modifying the habitats of birds at an increasing rate. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of intensive agricultural practices on bird communities by comparing the community structure and diversity measures of sand dune habitats immediately surrounding farms with those, which are distant but of the same type. We tested a variety of approaches and analytical methods to determine the best indication of agricultural impact in arid landscapes using quantitative data on birds

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