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Land use types influenced avian assemblage structure in a forest–agriculture landscape in Ghana

The conservation of biodiversity within tropical forest regions does not lie only in the maintenance of natural forest areas, but on conservation strategies directed toward agricultural land types within which they are embedded. This study investigated variations in bird assemblages of different fun...

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Autores principales: Deikumah, Justus Precious, Kwafo, Richard, Konadu, Vida Asieduwaa
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5677502/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29152169
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3355
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author Deikumah, Justus Precious
Kwafo, Richard
Konadu, Vida Asieduwaa
author_facet Deikumah, Justus Precious
Kwafo, Richard
Konadu, Vida Asieduwaa
author_sort Deikumah, Justus Precious
collection PubMed
description The conservation of biodiversity within tropical forest regions does not lie only in the maintenance of natural forest areas, but on conservation strategies directed toward agricultural land types within which they are embedded. This study investigated variations in bird assemblages of different functional groups of forest‐dependent birds in three agricultural land types, relative to distance from the interior of 34 tropical forest patches of varying sizes. Point counts were used to sample birds at each study site visited. Data from counts were used to estimate species richness, species evenness, and Simpson's diversity of birds. Mean species richness, evenness, and diversity were modeled as responses and as a function of agricultural land type, distance from the forest interior and three site‐scale vegetation covariates (density of large trees, fruiting trees, and patch size) using generalized linear mixed‐effect models. Mean observed species richness of birds varied significantly within habitat types. Mean observed species richness was highest in forest interior sites while sites located in farm centers recorded the lowest mean species richness. Species richness of forest specialists was strongly influenced by the type of agricultural land use. Fallow lands, density of large trees, and patch size strongly positively influenced forest specialists. Insectivorous and frugivorous birds were more species‐rich in fallow lands while monoculture plantations favored nectarivorous birds. Our results suggest that poor agricultural practices can lead to population declines of forest‐dependent birds particularly specialist species. Conservation actions should include proper land use management that ensures heterogeneity through retention of native tree species on farms in tropical forest‐agriculture landscapes.
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spelling pubmed-56775022017-11-17 Land use types influenced avian assemblage structure in a forest–agriculture landscape in Ghana Deikumah, Justus Precious Kwafo, Richard Konadu, Vida Asieduwaa Ecol Evol Original Research The conservation of biodiversity within tropical forest regions does not lie only in the maintenance of natural forest areas, but on conservation strategies directed toward agricultural land types within which they are embedded. This study investigated variations in bird assemblages of different functional groups of forest‐dependent birds in three agricultural land types, relative to distance from the interior of 34 tropical forest patches of varying sizes. Point counts were used to sample birds at each study site visited. Data from counts were used to estimate species richness, species evenness, and Simpson's diversity of birds. Mean species richness, evenness, and diversity were modeled as responses and as a function of agricultural land type, distance from the forest interior and three site‐scale vegetation covariates (density of large trees, fruiting trees, and patch size) using generalized linear mixed‐effect models. Mean observed species richness of birds varied significantly within habitat types. Mean observed species richness was highest in forest interior sites while sites located in farm centers recorded the lowest mean species richness. Species richness of forest specialists was strongly influenced by the type of agricultural land use. Fallow lands, density of large trees, and patch size strongly positively influenced forest specialists. Insectivorous and frugivorous birds were more species‐rich in fallow lands while monoculture plantations favored nectarivorous birds. Our results suggest that poor agricultural practices can lead to population declines of forest‐dependent birds particularly specialist species. Conservation actions should include proper land use management that ensures heterogeneity through retention of native tree species on farms in tropical forest‐agriculture landscapes. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2017-09-18 /pmc/articles/PMC5677502/ /pubmed/29152169 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3355 Text en © 2017 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Deikumah, Justus Precious
Kwafo, Richard
Konadu, Vida Asieduwaa
Land use types influenced avian assemblage structure in a forest–agriculture landscape in Ghana
title Land use types influenced avian assemblage structure in a forest–agriculture landscape in Ghana
title_full Land use types influenced avian assemblage structure in a forest–agriculture landscape in Ghana
title_fullStr Land use types influenced avian assemblage structure in a forest–agriculture landscape in Ghana
title_full_unstemmed Land use types influenced avian assemblage structure in a forest–agriculture landscape in Ghana
title_short Land use types influenced avian assemblage structure in a forest–agriculture landscape in Ghana
title_sort land use types influenced avian assemblage structure in a forest–agriculture landscape in ghana
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5677502/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29152169
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3355
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