PARENT SESSION
Organized Oral Session 28: Ecological processes important in the responses of bird populations to environmental change driven by agriculture
Organizer(s): K Norris, E Chambers, and J Vickery
Wednesday, August 10, 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM, Meeting Room 511a, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal

The importance of landscape context and spatial scale in the distribution of farmland birds in the UK.

Atkinson, Phil^*,1, Gillings, Simon^*,1, Robinson, Rob^*,1, Siriwardena, Gavin^*,1, Vickery, Juliet^*,1, ¹ British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford, Norfolk, UK

ABSTRACT- In Britain, a range of options exists within agri-environment schemes for habitat creation or management designed to enhance feeding or nesting resources for farmland birds. Although a great deal is known about the nature of the habitats required, how the effect of these habitats varies in relation to landscape context and the scale at which they should be created is less well understood. We address both these issues by drawing together a number of studies that have focused seed-rich foraging habitat in winter as a case study. We use extensive national data sets for breeding birds in lowland farmland in Britain to examine how the effect of seed rich-habitat creation on breeding bird populations varies in relation to the ratio of arable to grass crops in the surrounding landscape, and how the scale at which birds respond to this habitat varies between species. In addition, we relate these breeding data to national surveys of birds and their habitats in winter to determine the scale of habitat creation required to enhance local breeding populations. These studies have important implications for the development and implementation of agri-environment schemes as well as informing models designed to predict the impact of future agricultural change on farmland birds.

Key words: spatial scale, landscape context, farmland birds, habitat creation