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Birds in the matrix: the role of agriculture in avian conservation in the Taita Hills, Kenya

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posted on 2023-08-30, 14:30 authored by Olivia Norfolk, Martin Jung, Philip J. Platts, Phillista Malaki, Dickens Odeny, Robert Marchant
Agricultural conversion of tropical forests is a major driver of biodiversity loss. Slowing rates of deforestation is a conservation priority, but it is also useful to consider how species diversity is retained across the agricultural matrix. Here we assess how bird diversity varies in relation to land use in the Taita Hills, Kenya. We used point counts to survey birds along a land-use gradient that included primary forest, secondary vegetation, agroforest, timber plantation and cropland. We found that the agricultural matrix supports an abundant and diverse bird community with high levels of species turnover, but that forest specialists are confined predominantly to primary forest, with the matrix dominated by forest visitors. Ordination analyses showed that representation of forest specialists decreases with distance from primary forest. With the exception of forest generalists, bird abundance and diversity are lowest in timber plantations. Contrary to expectation, we found feeding guilds at similar abundances in all land-use types. We conclude that while the agricultural matrix, and agroforest in particular, makes a strong contribution to observed bird diversity at the landscape scale, intact primary forest is essential for maintaining this diversity, especially among species of conservation concern.

History

Refereed

  • Yes

Volume

55

Issue number

4

Page range

530-540

Publication title

African Journal of Ecology

ISSN

1365-2028

Publisher

Wiley

File version

  • Accepted version

Language

  • eng

Legacy posted date

2016-11-09

Legacy creation date

2016-11-07

Legacy Faculty/School/Department

ARCHIVED Faculty of Science & Technology (until September 2018)

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