Bird communities of highland birchwoods
- 1 July 1989
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Bird Study
- Vol. 36 (2) , 123-133
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00063658909477014
Abstract
Breeding birds in 36 birchwoods in the Scottish Highlands [UK] were counted by point censuses which generated 4630 records of 28 species. Community gradients were found by Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DECORANA) and identified by regressing site scores on habitat factors. The important habitat factors influencing communities were longitude and shrub cover. Longitude had a dominant effect on overall bird density and on species richness, which could not be explained by correlation with other habitat factors. Canopy cover, which was greater to the East, influenced total densities but not community composition. Low shrub cover had a weak effect; there were no pure shrub or high forest elements to communities. Species richness, within a wood, however, did increase with the horizontal variety of extent of shrub cover in addition to the effect of longitude.This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
- On the Variable Circular Plot Method of Estimating Animal DensityBiometrics, 1987
- Birds of Restocked Conifer Plantations in WalesJournal of Applied Ecology, 1985
- Scottish Birchwoods and their conservation — a ReviewTransactions of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, 1984
- Multivariate Analysis in Community EcologyPublished by Cambridge University Press (CUP) ,1982
- Detrended correspondence analysis: An improved ordination techniquePlant Ecology, 1980