Effects of land abandonment on bird communities of smallholder farming landscapes in post-war Croatia: implications for conservation policies

K. Mikulić; A. Radović; V. Kati; S. Jelaska; N. Tepić

doi:10.1556/comec.15.2014.2.5

Community Ecology

Volume/Issue:: Volume 15: Issue 2

Effects of land abandonment on bird communities of smallholder farming landscapes in post-war Croatia: implications for conservation policies

Authors:

K. Mikulić

K. Mikulić Association BIOM Biankinijeva 12b 10 000 Zagreb Croatia

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A. Radović

A. Radović University of Zagreb Group for Terrestrial Biodiversity, Division of Biology, Faculty of Science Marulićev trg 20/II HR - 10000 Zagreb Croatia

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V. Kati

V. Kati University of Patras Department of Environmental & Natural Resources Management Seferi 2 30100 Greece

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S. Jelaska

S. Jelaska University of Zagreb Group for Terrestrial Biodiversity, Division of Biology, Faculty of Science Marulićev trg 20/II HR - 10000 Zagreb Croatia

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, and

N. Tepić

N. Tepić National Center for External Evaluation of Education Marulićev trg 18 HR-10000 Zagreb Croatia

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Pages:: 169–179

Online Publication Date:: 17 Nov 2014

Publication Date:: 01 Dec 2014

Article Category:: Research Article

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1556/comec.15.2014.2.5

Keywords:: Conservation value; Diversity index; Habitat gradient; Indicator species

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Land abandonment is a widespread phenomenon in agricultural systems, especially in former communist countries of Eastern and South-eastern Europe. Moreover, Croatia was affected by acts of war which enhanced the depopulation of marginal areas impelling further land abandonment. Agricultural landscapes in Croatia are highly parcelled with various proportions of forest habitats due to traditional smallholder farming systems. Secondary successions as a consequence of land abandonment affect farmland birds that are among the most endangered bird species in Europe. We examined bird communities along a habitat gradient in heterogeneous agricultural landscapes. We used the share of woody vegetation cover as a proxy measure for land abandonment that we classified in four classes. Our results showed no significant Shannon Wiener Index differences of bird communities along the land abandonment gradient. However, there were differences in abundances when we examined bird guilds such as farmland, forest and “other” birds separately. However, the conservation value of each of the four land abandonment classes did not show significant differences. We extracted single bird species such as the Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella), Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio), Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) and European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) as potential indicator species for the four examined land abandonment levels. With these four species we successfully modelled the distribution of the recorded bird assemblages at the plot level along the four vegetation succession stages. We emphasized the need to develop new and integrative land use management concepts for areas affected by land abandonment in order to formulate sound conservation policy.

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Community Ecology An Interdisciplinary Journal Reporting Progress in Community and Population Studies

Print ISSN:: 1585-8553

Online ISSN:: 1588-2756

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Community Ecology
Language	English
Size	A4
Year of Foundation	2000
Volumes per Year	1
Issues per Year	3
Founder	Akadémiai Kiadó
Founder's Address	H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245
Publisher	Akadémiai Kiadó Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Publisher's Address	H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245. CH-6330 Cham, Switzerland Gewerbestrasse 11.
Responsible Publisher	Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN	1585-8553 (Print)
ISSN	1588-2756 (Online)