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Areas of high conservation value support specialist forest birds

Bakx, Tristan LU orcid ; Green, Martin LU ; Akselsson, Cecilia LU ; Lindström, Åke LU orcid ; Opedal, Øystein LU and Smith, Henrik G. LU (2023) In Ecosphere 14(6).
Abstract
Scientists have deemed existing protected areas in European forests insufficient to halt and reverse biodiversity loss resulting from ongoing intensification of management. In Sweden, protected areas are therefore complemented with the so-called areas of high conservation value (AHCVs), that is, landscapes encompassing both protected and assumed biodiversity-valuable areas as well as surrounding land, where managers should pay increased attention to biodiversity. However, it is not known whether AHCVs are chosen so that the species they are intended to benefit inhabit such AHCVs to a higher degree. We investigated whether the occurrence and abundance of bird species that may be particularly vulnerable to intense forest management were... (More)
Scientists have deemed existing protected areas in European forests insufficient to halt and reverse biodiversity loss resulting from ongoing intensification of management. In Sweden, protected areas are therefore complemented with the so-called areas of high conservation value (AHCVs), that is, landscapes encompassing both protected and assumed biodiversity-valuable areas as well as surrounding land, where managers should pay increased attention to biodiversity. However, it is not known whether AHCVs are chosen so that the species they are intended to benefit inhabit such AHCVs to a higher degree. We investigated whether the occurrence and abundance of bird species that may be particularly vulnerable to intense forest management were higher in Swedish forest landscapes proposed as AHCVs compared with other forest landscapes. To this end, we fitted a joint species distribution model to bird count data for 70 forest bird species from a standardized Swedish bird monitoring scheme. Twelve of the 20 forest specialists (60%) were detected to occur more often inside AHCVs than outside, whereas no forest specialist was less likely to occur inside AHCVs. For forest generalists, the corresponding figures were 28% and 18%, respectively. Six of 15 red-listed species (40%) were detectably more likely to occur inside AHCVs. The relationship between AHCV status of landscapes and the abundance of individual species was not as consistently negative or positive. The higher occurrence of specialists and threatened species inside AHCVs than outside of them suggests that if managed correctly, AHCVs are important habitat for a considerable part of the specialized forest avifauna in Sweden. We conclude that AHCVs represent an opportunity for designing green infrastructure benefitting Swedish forest biodiversity. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
areas of high conservation value, joint species distribution modeling, forest birds, forest generalists, forest specialists, green infrastructure
in
Ecosphere
volume
14
issue
6
article number
e4559
pages
14 pages
publisher
Ecological Society of America
ISSN
2150-8925
DOI
10.1002/ecs2.4559
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ff37c769-e10f-4910-bfaf-769cb5771bcb
date added to LUP
2023-06-07 09:35:02
date last changed
2023-06-21 10:20:58
@article{ff37c769-e10f-4910-bfaf-769cb5771bcb,
  abstract     = {{Scientists have deemed existing protected areas in European forests insufficient to halt and reverse biodiversity loss resulting from ongoing intensification of management. In Sweden, protected areas are therefore complemented with the so-called areas of high conservation value (AHCVs), that is, landscapes encompassing both protected and assumed biodiversity-valuable areas as well as surrounding land, where managers should pay increased attention to biodiversity. However, it is not known whether AHCVs are chosen so that the species they are intended to benefit inhabit such AHCVs to a higher degree. We investigated whether the occurrence and abundance of bird species that may be particularly vulnerable to intense forest management were higher in Swedish forest landscapes proposed as AHCVs compared with other forest landscapes. To this end, we fitted a joint species distribution model to bird count data for 70 forest bird species from a standardized Swedish bird monitoring scheme. Twelve of the 20 forest specialists (60%) were detected to occur more often inside AHCVs than outside, whereas no forest specialist was less likely to occur inside AHCVs. For forest generalists, the corresponding figures were 28% and 18%, respectively. Six of 15 red-listed species (40%) were detectably more likely to occur inside AHCVs. The relationship between AHCV status of landscapes and the abundance of individual species was not as consistently negative or positive. The higher occurrence of specialists and threatened species inside AHCVs than outside of them suggests that if managed correctly, AHCVs are important habitat for a considerable part of the specialized forest avifauna in Sweden. We conclude that AHCVs represent an opportunity for designing green infrastructure benefitting Swedish forest biodiversity.}},
  author       = {{Bakx, Tristan and Green, Martin and Akselsson, Cecilia and Lindström, Åke and Opedal, Øystein and Smith, Henrik G.}},
  issn         = {{2150-8925}},
  keywords     = {{areas of high conservation value; joint species distribution modeling; forest birds; forest generalists; forest specialists; green infrastructure}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  number       = {{6}},
  publisher    = {{Ecological Society of America}},
  series       = {{Ecosphere}},
  title        = {{Areas of high conservation value support specialist forest birds}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4559}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/ecs2.4559}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}