Effects of organic and soil conservation management on specialist bird species

F. C. Ondine^1*, C. Jean² and J. Romain¹

Abstract
Bird abundance was assessed on a total of 58 farms across the Seine-et-Marne department, France (12 organic, 19 conservation-tillage and 27 conventional farms).

Local abundance variations among the three farming systems were related to two species traits, i.e. habitat specialisation and diet, considering both farmland and non-farmland species.

It was found that organic farming favoured specialist birds, either considering the whole community or non-farmland birds only. On the opposite, specialist farmland species were found to be less abundant in conservation-tillage farms than in conventional ones.

Invertebrate-feeders were found to benefit from conservation-tillage practices compared to omnivorous species but not compared to granivorous ones; an interaction between species diet and the species specialisation level was also found. Granivorous species tended to increase with the conservation-tillage duration and in particular specialist birds.


Source
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment (2009) 129: 140-143
DOI: 10.1016/j.agee.2008.08.004 


Author Locations and Affiliations
(1) National Museum of Natural History, Species Conservation, Restoration and Populations Monitoring, UMR 5173 MNHN-CNRS-UPMC, 55 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
(2) Experimental Ecology Station of CNRS in Moulis USR 2936, Moulis, 09200 Saint-Girons, France
* Corresponding author, E-mail ofc@mnhn.fr


Posted December 2010