Birds and Habitat Quality: Effects of Wood Size and Spatial Arrangement in the Landscape
Authors: Hinsley, S.A., Bellamy, P.E., Hill, R.A. and Dawson, A.
Conference: 11th Annual Conference of the International-Association-for-Landscape-Ecology,
Dates: 10-13 September 2002
Pages: 15-24
Publisher: IALE
ISBN: 978-0952426394
Abstract:For birds in large tracts of continuous woodland, resources are patchily distributed and such effects may be amplified in UK woods given their long history of human intervention. However, for birds in small woods, problems of resource quantity and accessibility are exacerbated by patch size and isolation. Even with good intrinsic quality, a patch may simply be too small to supply sufficient resources. The mobility of birds gives them the option of multiple patch use, but this incurs costs in terms of the time and energy required to move between patches (and increases exposure to predators). Birds in small woods also breed and hence moult later than birds in large woods. Late moulting, in relation to photoperiodic effects on the speed of moult, may be detrimental to feather quality and hence to bird survival and future performance. These costs are discussed in relation to feather quality in Starlings Sturnus vulgaris and to breeding success of Great Tits Parus major and Blue Tits P. caeruleus in small woods in eastern England. Despite the importance of habitat quality, quantifying it in terms meaningful to a particular organism is difficult, and especially so in strongly three-dimensional habitats such as woodland. The application of airborne remote-sensing in quantifying woodland habitat quality is discussed.
In: Avian Landscape Ecology: Pure and Applied Issues in the Large-scale Ecology of Birds by D. Chamberlain (Editor), A. Wilson (Editor)
Source: Manual
Preferred by: Ross Hill