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Effects of intergraded farming on herbal and bird species diversity in Czech agricultural landscapes

Štefanova M., Šálek M.

Polish Journal of Ecology

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2014

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Vol. 62, nr 1

147--162

EN

Negative impacts from application of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture have been observed since the mid-20th century, when their use rapidly increased. This led to decrease in the number of species connected to the agricultural landscape. So-called integrated farming practices are currently being introduced that aim to mitigate negative impacts on the environment and to stabilize the numbers of wild flora and fauna. A number of studies have examined the positive influence of integrate and organic farming as modern agricultural practices in a European perspective. The positive impact of these practices is particularly evident in plants and invertebrates studied in Italy, Austria, Germany and the UK, for example. There is little such data from Central and Eastern Europe, however, even as the region has specific environmental conditions due especially to the more moderate impact of agriculture there during the second half of the 20th century. In this study, we compared the numbers of herbal and bird species on crop fields and meadows managed with conventional versus integrated systems in Southern and Central Bohemia, the Czech Republic. Our analysis included also the effects of land parcel size, position within these parcels and presence of other habitat elements (ditch, tree, field roads, dunghill, field margins – boundaries, bushes, fallow area) in the vicinity of study plots. We found that herbal communities were significantly more species-rich on lands with integrated farming and similar results were obtained in the case of birds, except there was a non-significant effect of integrated farming on bird species richness in meadows. In addition, the species richness of plants decreased as land parcel size increased. In conclusion, herbal and bird communities were shown to benefit more distinctively from integrated farming in Central Europe, where this effect is not considered unambiguous due to the higher overall habitat heterogeneity and historically lower burdening of farmland with pesticides and fertilizers. The results support the idea that it makes sense even here to introduce integrated forms of agricultural practice.

2

Factors shaping a breeding bird community along an urbanization gradient : 26-year study in medium size city (Lublin, SE Poland)

Biaduń W., Żmihorski M.

Polish Journal of Ecology

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2011

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Vol. 59, nr 2

381-389

EN

We investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics of a breeding bird community in the urbanized landscape of Lublin city (150 km2, 0.5 million inhabitants, SE Poland). We conducted 211 separate territory mapping surveys during 26 years (1982-2007) in 24 green areas (0.2-30.1 ha in size), distributed along an urbanization gradient. We recorded a total of 16,151 territories of 65 species. According to the estimated species richness, we detected all the species present in the studied plots. The three species community indices (species richness, Shannon-Wiener index and abundance - number of breeding pairs in census plot) increased with increasing tree stand age and area of the site, while it decreased as the proportion of biologically inactive areas increased. The three indices showed significant negative trends as the study period progressed. The mean decreasing rate was 0.2 species and 2.3 territories per year. Distance to the city centre and understorey cover negatively affected bird abundance, while they positively affected species richness and the Shannon index. Tree stand age seems to be the most important of the three indices among the analyzed explanatory variables. Our results show that the diversity of breeding avifauna in an urbanized landscape can be significantly shaped by the proper management of vegetation and size of green areas in the city. The long term decline of the three diversity indices seems to be the most important outcome of our study and requires further research and monitoring.

3

Effect of change in land use on breeding bird communities in a Silesian farmland (SW Poland)

Kopij G.

Polish Journal of Ecology

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2008

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Vol. 56, nr 3

511-519

EN

Two study areas, 210 ha (A) and 120 ha (B), have been selected. Arable grounds dominated (92%) in the study area A, while meadows (63% in 1989 and 47% in 2003) - in the study area B. The changes in land use in both study areas have occurred in 2003 comparatively with 1989. In the study area A, an increase of the area with maize (from 1.1 ha to 38.4 ha) and oat (from 5.6 to 28.4 ha), and decrease in area of the rape (from 41.3 to 0.3 ha) and root plants (from 16.7 to 6.4 ha) have been recorded, while the clover and broad bean have totally disappeared as cultivated plants. In the study area B, a conversion of some dry meadows into arable grounds and an abandonment of more than half of the remaining area of meadows has been carried out. The landscape in the study area A was more fragmented in 1989 than in 2003, while in the study area B the reverse was true. On average, cereal areas increased - especially wheat (from 1.5 to 2.4 ha), maize (from 0.6 to 3.8 ha) and oat (from 0.6 to 1.9 ha), while rape areas decreased (from 2.0 to 0.3 ha). The mapping method has been employed to show the effect of these changes on breeding bird community in both years (1989 vs. 2003). In the study area A, density (pairs x 100[^-1] ha) of the Skylark Alauda arvensis (28.1 vs. 17.1) and Marsh Warbler Acrocephalus palustris (12.9 vs. 2.4) has significantly decreased; while that of Corn Bunting Miliaria calandra (1.4 vs. 8.1) and gallinaceous birds (2.9 vs. 8.1) has significantly increased over the last 14 years. The most numerous species in the group of gallinaceous birds, the Common Quail Coturnix coturnix, probably benefits from the enlargement of oat and barley cultivations. The Skylark was negatively affected by the enlargement of study areas with cultivated plants, especially with the wheat and maize. The Corn Bunting has been, probably, positively affected by the enlargement of maize and barley cultivations, as well as from the warming effect. The decline of the Marsh Warbler could have been caused by the decrease of the area with rape cultivations but it may also reflect short-term fluctuations. In the study area B, only densities of the Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs and Blackbird Turdus merula have significantly increased, and no statistically significant declines were recorded. These increases can be linked to changes in the age structure of tree and shrub stands in the existing small forests, clumps and hedgerows, but these species show probably a general increase in numbers over large areas of farmlands in Poland and possibly in some other European countries.

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Zmiany w ugrupowaniu ptaków ekosytemu łąki turzycowej po wznowieniu użytkowania rolniczego

Kupis J.

Woda-Środowisko-Obszary Wiejskie

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2003

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T. 3, z. 1

129-137

PL

Celem badań przeprowadzonych na terenie Bagna Ławki, w Biebrzańskim Parku Narodowym, było określenie zmian w ugrupowaniu ptaków łąki turzycowej, które zaszły pod wpływem wznowienia jej koszenia. Uwzględniono wyniki dwu lat badań prowadzonych od 1999 r. na powierzchni "Batalionowa" (38,5 ha otwartego turzycowiska) i dane z 2000 r. z powierzchni "Mozaika" (15 ha turzycowiska częściowo zakrzaczonego i pokrytego trzciną). Jesienią 1999 r. wykoszono 17,5 ha łąki turzycowej pierwszej powierzchni. W roku następnym tylko na części koszonej "Batalionowej" pojawiły się lęgowe rycyki (Limosa limosa) i krwawodzioby (Tringa totanus). Ich powrót na dawne lęgowiska, jako jednoznacznie związany z faktem koszenia łąki turzycowej, pozwala wnioskować o częściowej antropogeniczności biocenozy turzycowiska i sugeruje konieczność aktywnej ochrony bioróżnorodności łąk turzycowych Bagna Ławki.

EN

The purpose of this paper is to present changes of bird populations on a sedge fen meadow as a result of restoration of mowing. Observations were carried out in the years 1999-2000 on two study plots located in Biebrza National Park . The first - study plot "Batalionowa" (38.5 hectares) - represents an open type of the sedge meadow landscape. The second study plot called "Mozaika" (15 hectares) represents the sedge meadow covered partly by small bushes and reeds. The combined mapping method was used. In autumn 1999 17.5 hectares of the first plot were mown for the first time after a long break. Two new species of breeding birds: Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) and Redshank (Tringa tetanus) appeared next spring after mowing on "Batalionowa". Their return to this place of breeding as directly connected to mowing suggests partly antropogenic character of the ecosystem and the necessity of its active protection.