Download Bird diversity in Irish Forests

Bird diversity
y in
Irish Forests
Mark Wilson
School of Biological, Earth & Environmental
Sciences, University College Cork
Outline
 Introduction to biodiversity
 Recent studies on forest biodiversityy
 Bird diversity in Irish forests
 Hen Harriers
 Conclusions
Land Cover in Ireland
Some historical patterns
Aileen O’Sullivan
O Sullivan
Modern forest landscapes are dominated
by exotic conifer plantations
But broadleaved planting is on the increase
increase.
Prroportion
n of Broadleaves
s
Proportion of broadleaves in new
planting (1994 – 2009)
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
Year
Forest Service (2010)
What is biodiversity?
Definition of Biological
g
diversity
y from Rio Convention 1992
“the
the variability among living organisms from all sources
including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic
y
and the ecological
g
complexes
p
of which they
y
ecosystems
are part; this includes diversity within species, between
species and of ecosystems”
Does Biodiversity Matter?
 Ecosystem Services
Society values the goods and services provided to humans by
natural ecosystem for several reasons:
Aesthetic
Economic
Amenity
Ecological
 Provisioning services: such as plant and animal food, medicines,
industrial processes
 Supporting services: such as waste processing, the production of
a sustained clean water supply, flood abatement, maintenance of
soil fertility
fertility, pest control and climate moderation
moderation.
aesthetics, education and amenity
amenity.
 Enriching services: such as aesthetics
Interactions between all components
of forest biodiversity
 Primary producers
 Herbivores
 Predators
 Detritivores
 Fungivores
 Nutrient cycling
Irish Forest Biodiversity Research
(2010-2013)
O
Open
Space
S
BIOFOREST
(2001–2006)
Afforestation
Landscape
p
Growth Stage
FORESTBIO 2nd Rotation
(2007–2010)
Natives
BIOPLAN
Network of
ongoing
monitoring
sites
Mixes
RHODO
(2007-2011)
Invasives
HEN HARRIER Conservation
(2007-2012)
Decision
making tools
Truly interdisciplinary projects
 Partners with complementary
p
y areas
of expertise:
– School of Biological, Earth and
Environmental Sciences, UCC
– Department of Botany, Trinity College
Dublin
– Coillte Teoranta,, The Irish Forestryy Board
– Waterford Institute of Technology
– Forest Research, UK
– Input from several other national and
i t
international
ti
l agencies
i
Methods
Taxonomic Groups
 Vegetation - habitat mapping, species
recording, quadrats
 Ground inverts - pitfall trapping
 Canopy inverts - fogging
 Hoverflies - Malaise trapping
 Birds - Point counts and walkover surveys
Management Information
 Landowner surveys
 Database queries (Coillte, FIPS)
 Examination of maps
10 studies and over 200 study sites
across Ireland
Pre-afforestation habitats
1st rotation growth stage
2nd rotation growth stage
Open space in forests
Mixed canopy plantations
Road width experiment
Native woodlands
L
Level
l 1 monitoring
it i
Testing forest indicators
Impact of grazing
PRE AFFORESTATION HABITATS
PRE-AFFORESTATION
Forest Cycle
STAGE
AGE
STRUCTURE
PRE-THICKET
THICKET
MID-ROTATION
MATURE
4-8
9 - 19
20 - 29
30 - 50
Low open
canopy
Closed
canopy
Reopening
OR closed
Tall open
canopy
Forest Rotations
AFFORESTATION
BIOFOREST project
REFORESTATION
FORESTBIO project
Mixed species plantations
Non-intimate (discrete) mix
Intimate mix
Native Woodlands
 Stages
g of forest cycle
y
delineated by
y stand age
g and
forest structure
 Representative stands of the different stages were
surveyed
NATIVE WOODLANDS
Between 80 and 90% of birds detected
during a survey of 12 mature conifer
plantations around Ireland were of just
five species:
Chaffinch
Goldcrest
Robin
Wren
Coal Tit
Why do Irish plantation forests have a
low diversity of birds?
1. Geographic situation
2. Long history of deforestation
3. Nature of plantation forests
FEW FOREST
SPECIALISTS
How can we encourage more of these
birds into Irish forest plantations?
Feed in leaf litter
WOODCOCK
BLACKBIRD
Forages
g in bark crevices
TREECREEPER
Nest in holes in old trees
GREAT TIT
BLUE TIT
Nest in cover on or near ground
BLACKCAP
CHIFFCHAFF
DUNNOCK
Associated with scrub or
broadleaved trees
LONG-TAILED TIT
BULLFINCH
JAY
Nu
umber off bird sp
pecies
Shrub and non-crop tree Cover (%)
Bird species richness along forest roads is positively
related to cover of shrubs and non-crop trees
Associated with young forest habitats
WILLOW WARBLER
REDPOLL
Associated with open habitats
and pre-thicket plantations
GRASSHOPPER WARBLER
WHITETHROAT
STONECHAT
MEADOW PIPIT
REED BUNTING
Associated with mosaics of forests
and open habitats
NIGHTJAR
HEN HARRIER
S
Species
i richness
i h
18
No differences
16
Sp
pecies rich
hness
14
12
1st Rotation
10
2nd Rotation
8
6
4
2
0
PRE‐THICKET
THICKET
Site Type
CLOSED CANOPY
PLANFORBIO: HEN HARRIER
PLANFORBIO Hen Harrier
 AIMS
– Increase understanding of Hen Harrier breeding ecology in
afforested areas in Ireland
– Investigate relationship between habitat use and breeding
success
– Generate information enabling improved management of
forested areas for Hen Harriers
PLANFORBIO study covers 1/3
national population
 Chicks tagged and
ringed
46 in 2007
37 in 2008
25 in 2009
21 in 2010
 Hatch year (right)
Red = 2007
Green = 2008
Yellow = 2009
Black = 2010
 Natal area (left)
Red = Kerry
Green = West Clare
Yellow = Ballyhouras
y
Black = Slieve Aughties
Results
 Pre-thicket p
plantations are important
p
for Hen Harriers
 They could benefit from longer pre-thicket stage
 2nd rotation habitat associated with lower breeding
success Could be due to increased predation
success.
predation, access
or reduced prey availability
Foraging Habitat Study
© Richard Mills
Male Hen Harrier with GPS backpack
GPS location data from breeding female Hen Harrier
NEST
Each colour represents a different day
Conclusions
 Plantations are
important in Irish
landscape.
 Enhance
E h
overallll
plantation diversity.
 Presence of stands
across a range of ages
will support both open
and forest associated
species
 Particular consideration
to the capacity of mature
forest adjacent to felled
stands
 Size
Si and
d shape
h
off overmature patches
 Create a more ‘natural’
natural
forest state in
plantations.
 Potential of continuous
cover forestry
 Deadwood
Acknowledgements
 COFORD
 NPWS
 Forest Service
 IRCSET
 EPA
 BIOFOREST team
 PLANFORBIO tteam
Thank you for listening!