Resource description:
Biodiversity within agroecosystems has declined markedly, largely as a result of intensive farming practices. Over time, heterogeneous agricultural landscapes have been simplified into high‑input monocultures. This study examines how farmland bird species richness is influenced by factors such as field size, crop diversity, the presence of various landscape features (reflecting habitat heterogeneity), and the distribution of winter‑ and spring‑sown crops. Researchers conducted point‑count surveys of birds during the breeding season across 52 sites in northwestern Hungary that differed in field size, crop composition, and landscape elements. The results show that smaller field sizes were more beneficial in the case of winter crops, but larger fields supported more farmland bird species in the case of spring crops. The bird species richness increased with greater diversity of landscape elements and higher invertebrate availability, with invertebrate abundance being especially high in alfalfa and fallow fields. Farmland bird species richness can be improved by enhancing diversity of landscape elements, and reducing the size of fields covered by winter crops and supporting the spring crops.
Author/Contact:
Author: Adriana Hološková
Corresponding author: Jiří Reif Email: jirireif@natur.cuni.cz