Relative conservation value of Nova Scotia’s forests: forested wetlands as avian diversity hotspots

Abstract

Nova Scotia’s forested landscapes are degraded and under stress. As the province moves toward an ecological forestry management approach, land managers need more complete information about the relative biodiversity value of various habitats in landscapes that they manage to fully assess conservation consequences of different management options. To begin assessing the relative conservation value of different forest types, we surveyed bird communities in 18 forested wetlands (wooded bogs, tall shrub swamps, and treed swamps), mature upland forest stands, and regenerating upland forest stands in western Nova Scotia during the breeding season in 2017 and 2018. There were distinct differences among the bird communities in each forest type. Bird species diversity, overall abundance, and abundance of several guilds and species of conservation concern were higher in forested wetlands than in mature and regenerating upland forests. Bogs and shrub swamps had the highest number of species with strong habitat affinities, but treed swamps and mature sites had unique suites of strongly associated species and guilds — several of conservation concern. Regenerating sites were occupied mainly by forest-edge species and conservation value was low. Our study highlights the importance of forested wetlands to bird conservation and supports the idea that forested wetlands are avian diversity hotspots.