Publication
How important is the availability of food resources for breeding birds at montados ? Exploring bird-arthropods relationships on a Mediterranean landscape
| Summary: | The management practices of Mediterranean oak systems can enhance their susceptibility to insect outbreak. At these habitats the insectivorous bird species are dominant within the breeding community. Accordingly, we aimed to assess the importance of arthropod community for breeding birds and identify which species may be related with insect outbreak (defoliator and buprestid beetles) at central Portugal in montado systems dominated by Cork Oaks Quercus suber. We used variance partition to determine the relevance of three environmental variable groups for birds: arthropod community, vegetation characteristics and management practices. As a result, arthropods presented the highest pure effect with 11.24% of variance explained from a total of 61.20%. Bird-arthropod relationships were direct when associated with a potential-prey or indirect mostly when dependent on a breeding site selection. Thereafter, linear regression was used for pest insect modeling in function of bird community parameters. The obtained regression coeficients indicated that Great Tit Parus major, alone or with other foliage-dwelling birds, and Short-toed Treecreeper Certhia brachydactyla were potential predators of defoliator insects. Whereas the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos minor appeared to be an indicator of Buprestid outbreak. Consequently, the protection of hole-nesting birds can improve the conservation of oak habitats |
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| Main Authors: | Pereira, Pedro Miguel Filipe |
| Subject: | birds arthropods pest outbreaks montado |
| Year: | 2010 |
| Country: | Portugal |
| Document type: | master thesis |
| Access type: | open access |
| Associated institution: | Universidade de Lisboa |
| Language: | English |
| Origin: | Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa |
| Summary: | The management practices of Mediterranean oak systems can enhance their susceptibility to insect outbreak. At these habitats the insectivorous bird species are dominant within the breeding community. Accordingly, we aimed to assess the importance of arthropod community for breeding birds and identify which species may be related with insect outbreak (defoliator and buprestid beetles) at central Portugal in montado systems dominated by Cork Oaks Quercus suber. We used variance partition to determine the relevance of three environmental variable groups for birds: arthropod community, vegetation characteristics and management practices. As a result, arthropods presented the highest pure effect with 11.24% of variance explained from a total of 61.20%. Bird-arthropod relationships were direct when associated with a potential-prey or indirect mostly when dependent on a breeding site selection. Thereafter, linear regression was used for pest insect modeling in function of bird community parameters. The obtained regression coeficients indicated that Great Tit Parus major, alone or with other foliage-dwelling birds, and Short-toed Treecreeper Certhia brachydactyla were potential predators of defoliator insects. Whereas the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos minor appeared to be an indicator of Buprestid outbreak. Consequently, the protection of hole-nesting birds can improve the conservation of oak habitats |
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