Effect of land-use on bird assemblages of sandy grasslands
Abstract
The traditional land-use has considerably changed in the Kiskunság region of south-central Hungary. We investigated the effect of land-use change on bird assemblages in sandy grasslands. Breeding birds were surveyed using point counts in spring 2007. Explanatory variables were grassland type, shrub canopy cover, current grassland management and proportion of grasslands in the neighbouring landscape. We surveyed birds from grasslands on 97 points at 12 study sites, 5 × 5 km each. We divided the species into grassland birds (specialists) and non-grassland birds (generalists) depending on whether they breed on the ground. For data analyses we used linear mixed models. A total of 45 species were recorded (13 grassland and 32 non-grassland species). We found that species richness and abundance were higher in semi-natural grasslands compared to fallows. The effect of management (extensive grazing or mowing) was not significant. We found a significant effect of shrub canopy: the richness and abundance of non-grassland birds were related positively, whereas those of grassland birds were related negatively to shrub cover in grasslands. The extent of surrounding grasslands did not influence either groups of birds. We conclude that the conservation of remaining grassland patches is of high importance, even if they are relatively small and isolated.
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