Improving 'silvopastures' for bird conservation

September 19, 2018, American Ornithological Society

The adoption of "silvopastures"—incorporating trees into pastureland—can provide habitat for forest bird species and improve connectivity in landscapes fragmented by agriculture. But how do silvopastures measure up to natural forest habitat? New research from The Condor: Ornithological Applications shows that birds in silvopasture forage less efficiently than those in forest fragments but offers suggestions for how silvopasture habitat could be improved.

The University of Florida's Bryan Tarbox and his colleagues observed the foraging and flocking behavior of insect-eating birds in silvopastures on farms in the Colombian Andes between 2013 and 2015. They found that silvopastures were less structurally complex than forest fragments, with fewer and smaller trees, a sparser understory, and less diversity of tree species. Birds in silvopastures attacked insects less often, were less selective about where they foraged, and were less likely to join mixed-species flocks. Flock members attacked prey more frequently than solitary birds in forest fragments, but not in silvopastures, suggesting that something about silvopasture habitat negated the benefits of joining a flock.

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