Influence of forest landscape on birds associated with lowland water bodies

Abstract

Water surfaces are important landscape elements with respect to ongoing climate change. The most important water surfaces in central Europe are rivers and ponds. Forest ponds are beneficial reservoirs of water and neglected islands, potentially promoting bird fauna. We aimed to determine the response of the bird fauna associated with ponds in lowlands to forest land use type. We predicted that forest ponds would host different species composition and would be of importance mainly for forest dwelling species. Birds were studied in the lowland landscape of the Czech Republic, which is dominated by a large area of the eastern Bohemian Forest. We focused on two groups of birds: (i) water communities on the pond surface and (ii) tree communities in vegetation on pond dikes. The species richness of water bird communities was mainly influenced by water surface area and diversification. Tree bird communities were influenced by the total length of woody vegetation surrounding the ponds. Forest ponds most promoted several species of passerines, including some that are not forest specialists. We found that the bird species richness of forest ponds was generally not greater than that of non-forest ponds. Nevertheless, forest ponds also supported open landscape specialists and increased the diversity of forests. Increases in woody vegetation surrounding ponds appear to be important management targets for improving bird diversity. The same effect could be achieved by diversifying of the water surface with terrestrial islets and the occurrence of plants, both of which goes hand in hand with low water pollution.