The contribution of broadscale and finescale habitat structure to the distribution and diversity of birds in an Alpine forest-shrub ecotone

Abstract

In a mountain context, the forest-shrub ecotone is an area of high biodiversity. Relatively little is known about the habitat requirements of birds in this habitat, yet it is facing potential threats from changes in grazing practices and climate change. Moreover, it is not clear at which scale habitat associations should be assessed in Alpine birds. Further information on key habitat components affecting bird communities of the ecotone is needed in order to inform management strategies to counteract potential habitat loss, and to better inform predictions of how bird communities may be affected by future environmental change. Data on bird occurrence and broadscale (land cover) and finescale (vegetation structure and shrub species composition) habitat variables were collected in an Alpine forest-shrub ecotone in Val Troncea (northwestern Italian Alps) in order to address two objectives: to identify the key habitat variables associated with the occurrence of individual species and with the diversity of the bird community; and, to assess which scale of habitat measurement (broadscale, finescale or both combined) is needed to model bird occurrence. Broadscale variables, or combinations of broadscale and finescale variables, tended to have the best performing models. When combined models performed best, shrub species identity was included in many cases. Shrubs also played an important role in explaining variations in species diversity and richness. Vegetation structure was of relatively little importance, either for individual bird species or for species richness and diversity. These findings suggest that management should strive to maintain a mosaic of habitats whilst minimizing forest encroachment, which could be achieved through targeted grazing. Broadscale habitat data and data on shrub species composition should provide a sufficient basis for identifying relevant species-specific habitat parameters in a mountain environment in order to model future scenarios of effects of habitat change on the bird community of the alpine forest-shrub ecotone.