Changes in a Bird Community in an Agricultural Landscape in Northeast Germany between 1999 and 2015
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- Changes across the landscape: “How do changes at individual sample plots affect species occurrence and abundance across the entire landscape?”
- Habitat type-specific changes: “Are there differences between the sample plots dominated by different habitat types?”
- Bird guild-specific changes: “How have different bird guilds been affected by temporal changes?”
- Changes in bird community composition: “Did the temporal changes affect the bird community composition?”
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Area, Land Use and Climate
2.2. Bird Observation Data
2.3. Data Analysis
2.4. Statistical Analyses
- The Wilcoxon signed rank test (if species numbers or abundance at sample plots were considered);
- The sign test (if only an increase or decrease in the target feature was considered);
- The Spearman rank correlation coefficient rS (if mutual dependencies of target features at sample plots were considered).
3. Results
3.1. RQ A: Changes across the Landscape
3.2. RQ B: Habitat Type-Specific Changes
3.3. RQ C: Bird Guild-Specific Changes
3.4. RQ D: Bird Community Composition Changes
3.5. Synthesis of Results
4. Discussion
- Changes at sample plots manifest differently at the landscape level depending on the target variable, whereas changes in species diversity might be compensated by different change patterns at single sample plots, and changes in bird abundance at sample plots cumulate to the landscape scale.
- 2.
- The decline in bird species occurrence and abundance is systematic and similar in range in different habitat types and bird guilds.
- 3.
- The habitat use pattern of birds has changed over the landscape.
- 4.
- The composition of the bird community has changed.
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Habitat Type | 1995 | 2009 | Change |
---|---|---|---|
Standing water | 0.84 | 0.69 | −0.15 |
Raw soil/ruderal areas * | 0.00 | 1.49 | +1.49 |
Permanent grassland ** | 1.97 | 6.93 | +4.96 |
Cultivated grassland ** | 14.07 | 0.13 | −13.94 |
Hedges | 0.50 | 1.10 | +0.60 |
Forest | 17.55 | 17.72 | +0.17 |
Arable land | 61.90 | 68.82 | +6.92 |
Arable fallows | 0.38 | 1.00 | +0.62 |
Settlements and traffic areas | 1.36 | 1.12 | −0.24 |
Analytical Focus, Related to RQ | Data | Statistical Method, Additional to Descriptive Statistics |
---|---|---|
A: Changes across the landscape: Changes at sample plots within the whole landscape | ||
Occurrence and spatial distribution of species | Total number of species | Wilcoxon signed rank test |
Abundance of individuals | Total number of individuals | Wilcoxon signed rank test |
B: Habitat type-specific changes: Changes at sample plots dominated by specific habitat types | ||
Occurrence and spatial distribution of species within specific habitat types | Number of species at sample plots dominated by arable land, grassland or forest | Wilcoxon signed rank test |
Abundance of individuals within specific habitat types | Number of individuals at sample plots dominated by arable land, grassland or forest | Wilcoxon signed rank test |
C: Bird guild-specific changes: Changes in specific bird guilds | ||
Occurrence of guild representatives | Number of guild species at sample plots on arable land, grassland and forest | Sign test |
Abundance of guild representatives | Number of guild individuals at sample plots on arable land, grassland and forest | Wilcoxon signed ranks test |
D: Bird community composition changes: Changes in bird community composition | ||
Occurrence and spatial distribution of selected species | Species occurrences at all sample plots | Correlation analysis, Wilcoxon signed rank test |
Abundance of selected species | Individuals at all sample plots | Wilcoxon signed rank test |
Observation Campaign | Change (%) | ||
---|---|---|---|
1999–2002 | 2013–2015 | ||
Number of bird species | 135 | 126 | −6.67 |
Sum of individual bird recordings | 38,973 | 30,736 * | −21.14 |
Habitat Type | 1999–2002 | 2013–2015 * | Change in Recordings (%) | Change in Share in %) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sum of Recordings | Share in % | Sum of Recordings | Share in % | |||
Arable land | 28,388 | 72.84 | 23,954 | 77.93 | −15.62 | +5.09 |
Grassland | 6488 | 16.65 | 3974 | 12.93 | −38.75 | −3.72 |
Forest | 3635 | 9.33 | 1821 | 5.92 | −49.90 | −3.41 |
Other | 462 | 1.19 | 987 | 3.21 | +113.64 | +2.02 |
Total | 38,973 | 100.00 | 30,736 | 100.00 | −21.14 |
Variable | Indicator | Change between Campaigns |
---|---|---|
A. Changes across the landscape: Changes at sample plots within the whole landscape | ||
Occurrence | Total number of species (landscape level: γ diversity) | Slight decline |
Average number of species on sample plots (plot level: α diversity) | Sharp decline | |
Coefficient of variation among plots | Sharp increase | |
Abundance | Sum of individual recordings across the landscape as a whole | Sharp decline |
Sum of individual recordings per sample plot and campaign | Sharp decline | |
Coefficient of variation among plots | Very sharp increase | |
B. Habitat type-specific changes: Changes at sample plots dominated by specific habitat types | ||
Occurrence | Number of species per habitat type | Statistically significant decline in all three habitat types at similar rates |
Coefficient of variation among plots of same habitat type | Sharp increase in all three habitat types; greatest in forest habitats | |
Abundance | Sum of individual recordings per habitat type | Significant decline in all three habitat types; in absolute values, greatest in arable habitats; in relative numbers, greatest in grassland and forest habitats |
Coefficient of variation among plots of same habitat type | Sharp increase in arable and grassland habitats; greatest in forest habitats | |
C. Bird guild-specific changes: Changes in specific bird guilds | ||
Occurrence | Guild occurrence/presence | Decline for grassland guild only |
Frequency of guild representatives | Fewer arable and grassland species at individual sample plots | |
Abundance | Sum of recordings per guild | Sharp decline in absolute numbers for arable guild species; minor changes for other guilds |
Coefficient of variation among plots | Strong increase for grassland guild; decrease for arable and forest guild | |
D. Bird community composition changes: Changes in the bird community composition | ||
Occurrence | Ranking of most common species | High correlation between campaigns; slight changes |
Frequency of most common species | Systematic decrease | |
Abundance | Ranking of most common species | No significant correlation between campaigns |
Abundance of most common species | No systematic change; three different reaction types |
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Schultz, A.; Glemnitz, M.; Stachow, U.; Schwierz, F. Changes in a Bird Community in an Agricultural Landscape in Northeast Germany between 1999 and 2015. Land 2022, 11, 2115. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11122115
Schultz A, Glemnitz M, Stachow U, Schwierz F. Changes in a Bird Community in an Agricultural Landscape in Northeast Germany between 1999 and 2015. Land. 2022; 11(12):2115. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11122115
Chicago/Turabian StyleSchultz, Alfred, Michael Glemnitz, Ulrich Stachow, and Friederike Schwierz. 2022. "Changes in a Bird Community in an Agricultural Landscape in Northeast Germany between 1999 and 2015" Land 11, no. 12: 2115. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11122115