Avian Use of Dairy Farm Ponds and Landowners’ Perceptions of Their Management for Wildlife Conservation

Farm ponds are among the last remaining lentic wetland habitats in human-dominated agricultural and suburban landscapes. However, their wildlife value and farmers’ willingness to maintain them for the conservation of regionally declining biodiversity are often both poorly documented. The objectives of this study of 61 dairy farm ponds located in Southern Quebec (Canada) were to (1) describe their biophysical features and birds’ use, (2) determine habitat and landscape characteristics that influence the bird community, and (3) assess the willingness of farmers to support wildlife use. The studied ponds were small (0.17 ha) and had rectangular shape with rocky/muddy steeply slopes (21°), surrounded by 3 m wide riparian strips and pastures, hayfields, and fallows. They were located about 300 m from farmhouses, buildings, streams, and adjacent ponds. A total of 1963 individuals belonging to 46 bird species were observed. The abundance of all bird species, of species with declining populations, and of crop damaging species were positively related to the area of fallow land and to the width of riparian strips; the areas of cereals and of mixed-wood forest had a negative influence. Only two habitat variables had influence on species richness: the width of riparian strips (+) and the distance to the closest farm buildings (–). Most pond landowners (>80%) were in favour of increasing wildlife use if they were given access to associated financial support and logistical assistance. Wider riparian strips and adjacent uncultivated field margins are recommended.

Roosting behaviour of a migratory songbird on Jamaican coffee farms: landscape composition may affect delivery of an ecosystem service

SummaryRecent evidence indicates that insectivorous birds in shade coffee farms provide economically significant ecosystem services by reducing insect pests, which should encourage cultivation practices favouring birds and other wildlife. However, the provisioning of this service may be dependent on landscape composition and movement patterns of these mobile consumers. Very little information is currently available on bird movements in coffee-dominated landscapes. We examined roosting behaviour in Black-throated Blue Warblers Dendroica caerulescens on two Jamaican coffee farms using radio telemetry in order to determine whether birds commute between nocturnal roosts and diurnal foraging ranges in coffee habitat. Nocturnal tracking revealed most birds moved outside diurnal foraging ranges on the farms to roost in forested habitat patches, sometimes up to 1 km away. Of 42 roost locations, only eight roosts were within the coffee farm perimeter: one individual in a coffee bush, and seven others in shade trees or vegetated riparian strips. Logistic regression confirmed that birds strongly selected continuous forest and individual trees over coffee for roosting. These findings reflect the ecological connectivity between coffee habitats and the adjacent landscape and raise the possibility that the provisioning of pest reduction services could be at least partly dependent on a farm’s proximity to forest patches.

Attributes of forest strips used by snowshoe hare in winter within clear-cut boreal landscapes

The snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus Erxleben) is an important prey for many predators in the boreal forest. In this biome, clear-cut landscapes are generally large and consist of aggregated cutting blocks separated by narrow forest strips (typically 60–100 m wide). To identify attributes of forest strips that are important for snowshoe hares, we measured the use of strips using track counts over two winters in six clear-cut landscapes (23–256 km2) in south-central Quebec. Surveys were conducted in 20 riparian strips (RS), 20 upland strips (US), and 15 control sites (CO) at the periphery of clear-cut landscapes. Overall, 392 signs of hare presence were recorded along 50 km of transects. Snowshoe hares were present in one-third of the strips surveyed and were five times less abundant in US and RS than in CO. The species avoided strip edges. Hares were more common in the wider strips (>100 m), in the strips adjacent to residual forest patches (≥25 ha), or in those having a denser shrub canopy, which is often associated with a greater basal area in balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.). To maintain snowshoe hare at moderate densities in large clear-cut landscapes, we suggest leaving uncut forest strips >100 m wide in areas having a good shrub cover with presence of balsam fir.

Nest predation and breeding activity of songbirds in riparian and nonriparian black spruce strips of central Quebec

The black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP) forests of Quebec are often harvested according to a single-pass system where clearcuts are separated by 20- to 60-m-wide forest strips. Little is known about the suitability of these strips as habitats for breeding birds. We selected five nonriparian strips, five riparian strips, and five forest control sites located in a forested area of central Quebec. During 1997–1998, we monitored the predation of artificial bird nests baited with a common quail (Coturnix coturnix L.) egg and a plasticine egg and the breeding activity of adult songbirds in strips and controls. Artificial nest predation was high in all sites (72%). The most common predators were specialists of mature coniferous forests: gray jays (Perisoreus canadensis L.) and red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus Erxleben). In forest-dwelling bird species, the number of breeding pairs was lower in strips than in controls. We conclude that the small number of forest-dwelling breeding birds observed in strips is not related to an increase in predation pressure following harvest of adjacent forests and that forest strips are not suitable breeding habitats for these species.

Evaluating targeted aerial spraying for insect control

The main target zones in early plans for eradicating painted apple moth (PAM) (Teia anartoides) in Auckland New Zealand were narrow riparian strips of vegetation and steep gullies However there were concerns that achieving high levels of Bacillus thuringiensis var kurstaki (Btk) deposition in these riparian areas with minimal drift onto residential areas would be difficult This is because with a combination of small droplets and high release heights there would be considerable downwind movement of the spray cloud The concept of targeting riparian strips was evaluated using an aerial spray application simulation model Results indicated that targeted spraying is not a practical proposition at least where small droplets are used and high release heights are required The only solution would be to build larger target areas around the riparian strips For targeted spraying to become a practical proposition techniques must be developed for achieving efficacy using much larger spray droplets