scholarly journals Ecological value of different vegetated strip types in providing valuable insect-rich habitats for grey partridge chicks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Volpato ◽  
J. Moran
Keyword(s):  
Natural Regeneration ◽  
Population Change ◽  
Significant Decline ◽  
Chick Survival ◽  
Farmland Birds ◽  
Ecological Value ◽  
Pitfall Trapping ◽  
Grey Partridge ◽  
Key Resources ◽  
Grass Strip

The intensification and specialisation of agriculture has contributed to farmland wildlife decline, including farmland birds. Grey partridge is a farmland species which has experienced a significant decline across Europe in recent decades. Chick survival rate is a key determinant of grey partridge population change and depends essentially on the availability of insect food. In this study, ground-dwelling and canopy-dwelling insects were collected using pitfall trapping and sweep netting methodologies, respectively, on different strip types in an area established for the conservation of grey partridge. The aim was to further our understanding of the value of different vegetated strip types in providing insect-rich habitats for grey partridge chicks. Overall, wildflower strip (WS) provided the greatest insect abundance. Significantly more ground-dwelling insects were found on WS, natural regeneration (NS) and leguminous strips (LS) than on grass strip (GS). Canopy-dwelling insects were also significantly more abundant on WS compared to all other strip types. This study highlights that WSs may represent important habitats in providing insect-rich food for grey partridge chicks and sowing these strips may therefore play a key role in decreasing chick mortality and supporting grey partridge conservation. It also demonstrates that other different vegetated strip types may still provide strip-specific insect taxa, in addition to other valuable resources. This study recommends a complex mosaic of different strip types to provide key resources for grey partridge, such as insect and plant food, nesting habitats and overwinter cover.

scholarly journals Big trees drive forest structure patterns across a lowland Amazon regrowth gradient

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tassiana Maylla Fontoura Caron ◽  
Victor Juan Ulises Rodriguez Chuma ◽  
Alexander Arévalo Sandi ◽  
Darren Norris
Keyword(s):  
Forest Structure ◽  
Natural Regeneration ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Significant Decline ◽  
Forest Regrowth ◽  
Large Trees ◽  
Amazonian Forests ◽  
Mammal Diversity ◽  
Structure Patterns ◽  
Plot Type

AbstractDegraded Amazonian forests can take decades to recover and the ecological results of natural regeneration are still uncertain. Here we use field data collected across 15 lowland Amazon smallholder properties to examine the relationships between forest structure, mammal diversity, regrowth type, regrowth age, topography and hydrology. Forest structure was quantified together with mammal diversity in 30 paired regrowth-control plots. Forest regrowth stage was classified into three groups: late second-regrowth, early second-regrowth and abandoned pasture. Basal area in regrowth plots remained less than half that recorded in control plots even after 20–25 years. Although basal area did increase in sequence from pasture, early to late-regrowth plots, there was a significant decline in basal area of late-regrowth control plots associated with a decline in the proportion of large trees. Variation in different forest structure responses was explained by contrasting variables, with the proportion of small trees (DBH < 20 cm) most strongly explained by topography (altitude and slope) whereas the proportion of large trees (DBH > 60 cm) was explained by plot type (control vs. regrowth) and regrowth class. These findings support calls for increased efforts to actively conserve large trees to avoid retrogressive succession around edges of degraded Amazon forests.

Floristic composition and conservation value of the stubble-field weed community, dominated by Stachys annua in western Hungary

Biologia ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gyula Pinke ◽  
Robert Pál
Keyword(s):  
Vegetation Type ◽  
Floristic Composition ◽  
Ambrosia Artemisiifolia ◽  
Significant Decline ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Conservation Priority ◽  
Farmland Birds ◽  
Coturnix Coturnix ◽  
The Past ◽  
High Conservation

AbstractThe stubble-field weed community, dominated by Stachys annua, was generally distributed in Hungary until the 1950s on mid-heavy and heavy, base-rich soils. Stachys annua is an excellent nectar-producer, and from the nectar collected in its habitats popular stubble-honey was produced. This vegetation type has suffered significant decline, mainly due to the early ploughing of stubbles associated with the intensification of agriculture. In the present study, the floristic composition of this community is assessed based on 213 phytosociological records, and its distribution in the past ten years in western Hungary is mapped. Sixty-five percent of the species are of Eurasian, European and Mediterranean elements, and the largest proportion of the species are spring-germinating summer annuals. The proportion of insect-pollinated plant species is approximately 70%, and the species composition also offers significant seed food sources for farmland birds, e.g. Coturnix coturnix and Perdix perdix. Therefore this community should deserve a high conservation priority for biodiversity. The factors that offer the greatest threats to the continuing existence of this community type are intensive agricultural management and the increasing spread of Ambrosia artemisiifolia.

Restored meadow harvestman communities (Opiliones) in the Bílé Karpaty Protected Landscape Area, Czech Republic

Biologia ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Slavomír Stašiov ◽  
Karel Tajovský ◽  
Květoslav Resl
Keyword(s):  
Crop Rotation ◽  
Natural Regeneration ◽  
Deciduous Forest ◽  
Plant Cover ◽  
Subsequent Development ◽  
Plant Succession ◽  
Pitfall Trapping ◽  
Successive Formation ◽  
Seed Mixture ◽  
Forest Habitats

AbstractHarvestman communities inhabiting plots treated differently for grassland restoration were investigated at the Výzkum site near Malá Vrbka village (Bílé Karpaty Protected Landscape Area). Harvestman were sampled by pitfall trapping from 1999 to 2003 on plots sown with native haymeadow seed mixture, also on plots where narrow strips of regional seed mixtures were sown either within a matrix of commercial grass mixture or within vegetation cover in natural regeneration state and on plots in a natural regeneration state. Additionally, harvestman were collected in a field under permanent crop rotation and in a neighbouring xerothermic deciduous forest. In total, 5,086 individuals of harvestman representing 15 species from three families were obtained. Phalangium opilio was dominant (78%) and P. opilio, Rilaena triangularis and Zachaeus crista were the most frequent species. The results confirmed colonisation and subsequent development of harvestman communities on meadows in various state of restoration, including plots with spontaneous plant succession. Nevertheless, biotope character and successive formation of plant cover evidently influenced the structure of harvestman communities. The highest number of taxa (12) was recorded on plots with natural regeneration; the lowest one (9) was recorded in the field with permanent crop rotation. The highest values of diversity and equitability indices of harvestman communities were found in neighbouring forest habitats representing possible sources of harvestman migration.

Repeatability of cell-mediated and innate immunity, and other fitness-related traits, in the Grey Partridge

2006 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Cucco ◽  
Giorgio Malacarne ◽  
Roberta Ottonelli ◽  
Mauro Patrone
Keyword(s):  
Innate Immunity ◽  
Egg Quality ◽  
Additive Genetic Variance ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Egg Mass ◽  
Chick Survival ◽  
Grey Partridge ◽  
Mass Size ◽  
Host Parasite ◽  
First Time

Immunocompetence is considered a reliable indicator of general body condition and ultimately of fitness. It has been suggested that, as a parameter subjected to intense directional selection, the level of additive genetic variance expressed should be reduced; on the other hand, theoretical models of host–parasite coevolution assume that variation in parasite resistance has a genetic basis. Contradictory results have been reported in birds, since the heritability of immune responses varies from nil to high. In this study of Grey Partridge (Perdix perdix (L., 1758)), we examined the heritability of immune condition (PHA reaction, an index of T-cell-mediated immunocompetence) and of some parameters traditionally considered important for chick survival, such as egg mass and chick growth. Two statistical approaches were used: parent–offspring regression and full-sibling intra-clutch repeatability. The repeatability of other parameters that reflect egg quality (egg proteins, lipids, and carotenoids) and of substances that confer innate immunity (lysozyme and avidin) was also investigated. In agreement with previous studies, we found nonsignificant heritability for cell-mediated immunocompetence. In contrast, there were significant repeatabilities of chick mass and several egg characteristics (mass, size, total proteins), while lipid and carotenoid concentrations were not repeatable. For the first time in birds, we found significant repeatability of two molecules, lysozyme and avidin, that confer innate immunity to the developing embryo.

scholarly journals Coexistence without conflict, the recovery of Ireland’s endangered wild grey partridge Perdix perdix

2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kieran Buckley ◽  
Conor O. Gorman ◽  
Michael Martyn ◽  
Brendan Kavanagh ◽  
Alex Copland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Peat Bogs ◽  
Chick Survival ◽  
Perdix Perdix ◽  
Grey Partridge ◽  
Average Maximum ◽  
Average Maximum Temperature ◽  
The Impact

AbstractBy 1995, Ireland’s wild grey partridge (Perdix perdix) was extinct nationally as a breeding species on farmland. The two populations remaining were confined to Ireland’s industrial cutaway peat bogs. One of these populations was deemed viable. In 1996, the National Parks and Wildlife Service of Ireland and the Irish Grey Partridge Conservation Trust established a conservation project to prevent the extirpation of this population. In this paper, we explore the impact of each management factor on two key demographic response variables: chick survival rates and the number of breeding pairs. The numbers of linear metres of nesting strips had the most significantly positive effect on spring pairs, followed by the total number of supplementary food hoppers and the total hectares of brood-rearing and over-winter cover. Counterintuitively, encounters with Hen Harriers (Circus cyaneus) did not negatively affect chick survival or the number of spring pairs. While we cannot rule out the contribution of each explanatory variable, none had a statistically significant effect on chick survival, suggesting there may be locally confounding factors that our model could not capture. The weather conditions during the peak hatching period had a significant influence on chick survival, with the average maximum temperature observed in June having the strongest positive association with an increase of 1 °C in the average maximum temperature in June associated with an increase in chick survival of 9.4% on average. Conversely, for every additional 1 mm of rain in June, there was a 0.23% drop in chick survival on average.

scholarly journals Rural landscape dynamics over time and its consequences for habitat preference patterns of the grey partridge Perdix perdix

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0255483
Author(s):  
Sabine Marlene Hille ◽  
Eva Maria Schöll ◽  
Stéphanie Schai-Braun
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Rural Landscape ◽  
Landscape Changes ◽  
Farmland Birds ◽  
Perdix Perdix ◽  
Grey Partridge ◽  
Over Time

Intensification of agricultural practices has drastically shaped farmland landscapes and generally caused a decline in spatial and temporal heterogeneity, thus leading to changes in habitat quality and food resources and a decline for most farmland birds Europe-wide. The relationship between complex landscape changes and habitat preferences of animals still remains poorly understood. Particularly, temporal and spatial changes in diversity may affect not only habitat choice but also population sizes. To answer that question, we have looked into a severely declining typical farmland bird species, the grey partridge Perdix perdix in a diverse farmland landscape near Vienna to investigate the specific habitat preferences in respect to the change of agricultural landscape over two decades and geographic scales. Using a dataset collected over 7.64 km² and between 2001 and 2017 around Vienna, we calculated Chesson’s electivity index to study the partridge’s change of habitat selection over time on two scales and between winter and spring in 2017. Although the farmland landscape underwent an ongoing diversification over the two decades, the grey partridges declined in numbers and shifted habitat use to less diverse habitats. During covey period in winter, partridges preferred also human infrastructure reservoirs such as roads and used more diverse areas with smaller fields than during breeding where they selected harvested fields but surprisingly, avoided hedges, fallow land and greening. Known as best partridge habitats, those structures when inappropriately managed might rather function as predator reservoirs. The avoidance behaviour may further be a consequence of increasing landscape structuring and edge effects by civilisation constructions. Besides, the loss in size and quality of partridge farmland is altered by crop choice and pesticides reducing plant and insect food. With declining breeding pairs, the grey partridge does not seem to adjust to these unsustainable landscape changes and farmland practices.

scholarly journals Big trees drive forest structure patterns across a lowland Amazon regrowth gradient

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tassiana Maylla Fontoura Caron ◽  
Victor Juan Ulises Rodriguez Chuma ◽  
Alexander Arévalo Sandi ◽  
Darren Norris
Keyword(s):  
Forest Structure ◽  
Natural Regeneration ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Significant Decline ◽  
Forest Regrowth ◽  
Large Trees ◽  
Amazonian Forests ◽  
Mammal Diversity ◽  
Structure Patterns ◽  
Plot Type

AbstractDegraded Amazonian forests can take decades to recover and the ecological results of natural regeneration are still uncertain. Here we use field data collected across 15 lowland Amazon smallholder properties to examine the relationships between forest structure, mammal diversity, regrowth type, regrowth age, topography and hydrography. Forest structure was quantified together with mammal diversity in 30 paired regrowth-control plots. Forest regrowth stage was classified into three groups: late second-regrowth, early second-regrowth and abandoned pasture. Basal area in regrowth plots remained less than half that recorded in control plots even after 20-25 years. Although basal area did increase in sequence from pasture, early to late-regrowth plots, there was a significant decline in basal area of late-regrowth control plots associated with a decline in the proportion of large trees. There was also contrasting support for different non-mutually exclusive hypotheses, with proportion of small trees (DBH <20cm) most strongly supported by topography (altitude and slope) whereas the proportion of large trees (DBH >60cm) supported by plot type and regrowth class. These findings support calls for increased efforts to actively conserve large trees to avoid retrogressive succession around edges of degraded Amazon forests.

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