Oksuz, D.P. & Correia, R.A. (2023) Wood-pasture abandonment changes bird functional diversity and composition with potential drawbacks to pest regulation.
Community Ecology, 24(1), 9-20. DOI:10.1007/s42974-022-00129-z (IF2022 1,7; Q4 Ecology)Traditionally managed wood-pastures are undergoing changes driven by opposite trends related to the intensification of land exploitation resulting in degradation and loss of habitat or the abandonment of regular, non-intensive management. Wood-pasture intensification often reduces taxonomic and functional diversity with negative effects on ecosystem services, but the consequences of abandonment remain poorly explored. Land abandonment may also lead to the loss of ecosystem services such as pest control, with potential negative consequences on the health and productivity of these woodlands and other surrounding habitats. In this study, we explored how the taxonomic and functional diversity and composition of insectivore birds that contribute to natural pest control vary across a management gradient in wood-pastures. We sampled wood-pastures in the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa to characterize a management gradient ranging from non-intensively and actively managed wood-pastures with heterogeneous vegetation structure to less heterogeneous and shrub-dominated areas resulting from land abandonment processes. We detected significant changes in the functional diversity and composition of insectivore birds, specifically in ground-foraging, larger and long-billed species, responding to the abandonment of regular and moderate management. The loss of these species is likely to have negative consequences on the amount and the diversity of pests consumed in wood-pastures. Our findings suggest that wood-pasture abandonment results in substantial changes in habitat structure and insectivore bird functional diversity with potential outcomes for natural pest control. We emphasize the need for functional approaches to better understand the consequences of different management regimes on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
