Spatial and temporal variations in the use of rice-paddy dominated landscapes by birds in Japan

Agricultural landscapes with spatial and temporal variations interact with each other to affect the existing biodiversity. Though rice fields provide important habitats for birds all over the world, studies so far have rarely explored the effects of landscape heterogeneity on bird species in rice paddy areas. This study investigated the effects of habitat cover and landscape variables on the species richness and the abundance of birds in rice paddy areas in Japan. Data on bird occurrence and the environment were collected at 32 grid squares (1 × 1 km) in the Tone River basin. The richness and the abundance of agricultural wetland species were particularly high in landscapes with large areas of rice fields in summer, when rice fields were irrigated, but in those with large areas of open water in winter, when rice fields were drained. It is important to maintain a combination of rice fields and open water to satisfy multiple habitat requirements by agricultural wetland species throughout the year. Grassland species were positively associated with a rich diversity of land cover including fallow fields and open water, indicating the importance of a simultaneous existence of multiple landscape elements. Forest cover in landscapes positively affected edge species and woodland species. Since forest cover had a relatively strong correlation with edge density, the responses of bird species to changes in forest cover and edge density need to be explored further. This study illustrates the importance of spatial and temporal landscape complementation for bird species in rice paddy areas.     

The conservation effects of meadow bird agreements on farmland in Zeeland, The Netherlands, in the period 1989-1995

Meadow bird agreements are the most important Dutch agri-environment schemes, both in terms of uptake and of aim. Meadow bird agreements postpone the first agricultural activities on grassland thus reducing egg and chick mortality due to mowing or grazing. We investigated the conservation effects of meadow bird agreements by analysing settlement densities of meadow birds on 34 fields in 1989, 1992 and 1995 in the province of Zeeland, The Netherlands. We compared territory numbers on fields with meadow bird agreements with paired nearby control fields that were conventionally managed. In 1995, the number of territories of black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa), lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) and the total number of meadow birds were significantly higher on fields with conservation management. These differences were partly caused by the higher quality (i.e. higher groundwater level) of fields with meadow bird agreements. Population trends were similar on fields with and without meadow bird agreements and the observed difference in settlement density in 1995 was already present in 1989. Furthermore the effectiveness of the scheme did not increase with time. Thus we found no conclusive evidence that the conservation measures themselves did result in higher territory numbers. Currently, we do not have sufficient ecological and behavioural knowledge of meadow birds to explain why the higher reproductive success does not result in higher settlement densities.     

Autumn-sowing of cereals reduces breeding bird numbers in a heterogeneous agricultural landscape

The switch from spring-sown to autumn-sown cereals and the loss of habitat heterogeneity are often suggested to be key drivers of breeding bird decline on arable farmland. Yet, both factors are interlinked and it remains uncertain whether autumn-sown cereals reduce breeding bird numbers also in the structurally complex arable farmland of northern Europe. We tested whether autumn-sowing of cereals at both local and landscape scales affected the breeding bird community in a heterogeneous agricultural landscape of south-central Sweden. Rotation between sowing types was used as a semi-experiment based on 34 spring- vs. 41 autumn-sown cereal plots centred on infield non-crop islands of similar structure, size and surroundings. Species richness and territory abundance of ground-foraging species were significantly lower in autumn- than in spring-sown cereal plots both in the crop fields and the infield non-crop islands during the breeding season. No such effect was observed among foliage gleaning birds. Species richness in spring-sown cereal plots was less the more autumn-sown crops in the surrounding landscape within a 500 m radius. Average skylark densities did not differ between autumn- and spring-sown cereal plots because habitat preferences changed; densities declined in autumn-sown cereals during the growing season whereas they increased on spring-sown fields which had shorter swards throughout the breeding season. Our results indicate that negative effects of autumn-sown crops on breeding bird numbers spill over into both neighbouring non-crop and crop habitats. We conclude that agri-environmental schemes should place more emphasis on facilitating the value of the cropped area of fields as a foraging and nesting habitat. The retention of various non-crop habitats alone may not provide sufficient food close to nest sites for farmland birds that rely on crop fields for foraging.     

Changes in local species richness of farmland birds in relation to land-use changes and landscape structure

It has been suggested that an increase in the area of low-intensity land-use on arable land (e.g. set-aside fields and short-rotation coppice), and high or increased farmland habitat heterogeneity, may halt or reverse the observed population decline of farmland birds. We tested these hypotheses by undertaking farmland bird censuses during two contrasting periods of agricultural policies and land-use (i.e. 1994 and 2004) in a farmland region covering a gradient of forest- to farmland-dominated landscapes in Sweden. Local species richness (i.e. at 3 hectare sites) declined significantly between 1994 and 2004. Local species richness was positively related to habitat heterogeneity in both years of study whereas temporal change in species richness was not. Local change in species richness was positively associated with a change in the proportion of non-rotational set aside and short-rotation coppice (i.e. low-intensity land-use forms), but also to changes in the amount of spring-sown crops. However, the effect of low-intensity land-use was significantly dependent on the amount of forest in the surrounding landscape. An increase in low-intensity land-use was linked to an increase (or less marked decrease) in species richness at sites located in open farmland surroundings but to a decrease in richness at sites located in forest surroundings. This interaction between amount of forest and low-intensity land-use could be interpreted as a “rare habitat effect”, where an increase in a farmland habitat only positively affects biodiversity when it was originally uncommon (i.e. open farmland areas). Our results suggest that conservation measures of farmland biodiversity have to be put in a landscape context.     

Changes in agricultural management drive the diversity of Burkholderia species isolated from soil on PCAT medium

In order to assess the diversity of culturable Burkholderia populations in rhizosphere and bulk soil and to evaluate how different agricultural management regimes and land use history affect this diversity, four treatments were evaluated: permanent grassland; grassland converted into maize monoculture; arable land and arable land converted into grassland. Burkholderia isolates obtained on PCAT medium were grouped in 47 clusters using 16S ribosomal RNA gene based PCR-DGGE combined with BOX genomic fingerprinting (DGGE-BOX). The distribution of the isolates in the DGGE-BOX clusters was used to calculate the Shannon diversity index per treatment. Interestingly, we observed that the Burkholderia diversity was affected by changes in the agricultural management, since the highest diversity was observed in permanent grassland and in continuous arable land. In addition, the diversity tended to be higher in the rhizosphere than in the corresponding bulk soil. The use of species abundance models indicated that rhizosphere communities had more even distributions than communities collected from the bulk soil. Identification of isolates revealed that only 2% of these belonged to the B. cepacia complex and that the majority was assigned to either (1) new Burkholderia species or (2) Burkholderia species that had originally been isolated from soil. Isolates classified as B. hospita, B. caledonica and Burkholderia sp. ‘LMG 22934’ and ‘LMG 22936’ were found mainly in the arable land, while isolates belonging to Burkholderia sp. ‘LMG 22929’ and B. phytofirmans were associated with the grassland area. Another potentially new Burkholderia species, ‘LMG 22932’, was found in both areas, in close association with the maize rhizosphere.     

基于主观偏好和景观空间指标的农业景观特征偏好模型: 以北京市11个农业景观特征区域为例

本研究以北京市11个农业景观特征区域的真实照片为评价资料,通过对46位环境相关专业大学生进行的平衡非完全区组排序评判测试得到他们对不同景观照片的偏好数值。以250m为边长的正三角形在2006年110000土地利用图上截取出照片所对应的数据,根据这些数据计算了反映该照片景观特征的空间格局指数。利用多元逐步回归,以相对应的空间格局指数以及主观判断得到的绿色覆盖度和管理水平等共11个指标,分别针对不同景观特征区域构建景观偏好模型。研究表明,除各指标在权重上的差异外,有些指标在不同特征区域内,甚至在对景观偏好影响的方向上都有所差异:绿色覆盖度、管理水平、斑块黏合度、斑块聚合程度、分维度指数均体现出对景观可视偏好的正向影响,开阔地比例在可视范围体现了对景观偏好的逆向影响,而斑块数量、蔓延度、最大斑块指数、干扰比例和林地比例在不同景观特征分区内则表现不同的影响趋向。