ARE CHISTMAS TREE PLANTATIONS
A SUITABLE HABITAT FOR
FARMLAND BIRDS ?
Robin GAILLY, Jean-Yves PAQUET, Nicolas TITEUX, Hugues CLAESSENS, Marc DUFRÊNE
Christmas tree plantations (CTP)
Non food perennial crops
i.e. Miscanthus, short rotation willow coppice
Southern Belgium : meadows
CTP
Belgium : about 5.000 ha Germany : about 25.000 ha
• first European producer
Bird survey
• Point count technique
• Birds recorded twice in a 100m-radius • Forest edges and villages avoided
Characterization of bird assemblages
CTP : 33 locations
Results
CTP locally increase
species richness and
abundance…
Characterization of bird assemblages
… without biotic
homogenization
Characterization of bird assemblages
-0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 -0 .4 0 .0 0 .2 0 .4 PCoA 1 (14%) P C o A 2 ( 9 % ) P.modularis A.arvensis M.alba E.citrinella C.corone S.vulgaris S.curruca S.communis S.borinS.atricapilla G.glandarius T.pilaris T.philomelos L.cannabina T.merula C.caeruleus P.majorP.palustrisP.domesticusP.montanus P.pica L.collurio C.palumbus F.coelebs A.trivialis P.trochilus P.collybita R.ignicapilla E.rubecula P.phoenicurus P.ochruros S.rubicola S.turtur C.chloris
Results
Difference of bird assemblages (PCoA)
Four species associated to CTP (IndVAL method)
Christmas tree plantations Meadows
Context !
Already impoverished farmland
Discussion
Abundance ≠ habitat quality
ecological trap ?
Are CTP an ecological trap ?
Christmas tree plantations
meadows
early stages of coniferous plantation forests
Ecological trap study :
• Habitat preference • Fitness
Model species : Stonechat
Order of settlement of males
at return from migration (2014-2016)
Habitat preference
Preference for
plantation forests
0 5 10 15 20 06/03/2016 16/03/2016 26/03/2016 05/04/2016 O cc u p ie d s it esOrder of settlement of males
plantation forests meadows
Demographic study
during three breeding seasons (2014-2016)
Fitness
forest meadows CTP 0 1 2 3Preliminary results :
no major difference between habitatsi.e. number of breeding success anova test : p-value = 0.671
Christmas tree plantations…
• interesting alternative habitat for farmland birds in impoverished
farmland
• habitat quality does not seem to differ from traditional meadow
and early stages of plantation forest for Stonechat.