The importance of maize fields as a summer and autumn habitat for birds – a spatial and resource utilization analysis with respect to the landscape configuration.

玉米田作为夏季和秋季鸟类栖息地的重要性——景观配置的空间和资源利用分析。

• 批准号: 467966074
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Thomas Gottschalk
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Hochschule für Forstwirtschaft Rottenburg
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/467966074?language=en
• 关键词: importance; maize; fields; summer; autumn

The aim of this project is to provide significant data on the importance of maize as a habitat for birds in summer and autumn. Additionally, for the first time the project will analyse the effect of the landscape (especially the percentage covered with maize and of wooded areas) surrounding the maize fields on bird abundance in maize. The innovative approach of the project will be based on a network of volunteers and project staff members, which will record bird data in maize fields on a national scale and by using an automatic radio‐tracking system.Providing food and biomass for energy production for an expanding population, while at the same time maintaining biodiversity, is a global challenge for agriculture. In Germany, policies to accelerate the uptake of renewable energy technologies have supported the cultivation of maize for biogas production. This has led to the fact that 7.6% of the total German land is cultivated with maize. Most studies show that maize fields are of minor importance for biodiversity. However, the results of the few studies investigating the use of maize as a habitat by birds suggest that maize fields might be an important habitat and food resource for birds during summer and autumn. Still, no general conclusion can be drawn, as those studies are based on a low number of sample sites. Furthermore, the influence of the surrounding landscape on the occurrence of bird species in maize and the interactions between maize fields and other habitats have not been taken into consideration. Therefore, in the project the number of bird species and individuals resting and the time birds spend in the maize field will be recorded by a constant effort mist-netting approach between August and October. Changes of the birds’ weight and physical condition will be determined by using the capture-recapture method. In addition, food resource availability for birds in maize fields will be sampled by determining the arthropod biomass.Such information is essential to draw conclusions on the attraction and importance of maize fields as a habitat and stopover site for birds. To obtain data on the exact daily home ranges of birds in the maize fields, as well as on the potential interactions between maize fields and surrounding habitats, a spatial analysis of selected birds’ activity using an automatic radio-telemetry system will be conducted. This analysis will provide detailed information on the temporal and spatial utilization patterns of maize fields by birds. Due to the large global increase of maize cultivation, the results of the project are of high relevance for environmental and socio-economic policies. Results can be used to determine the importance of maize fields as a habitat for birds and hence a major component of biodiversity. Through this research, maize cover thresholds in terms of increasing biodiversity and bird abundance can be quantitatively defined.

该项目的目的是提供有关玉米作为夏季和秋季鸟类栖息地重要性的重要数据。此外，该项目将首次分析玉米地周围景观（特别是玉米覆盖率和林地面积）对玉米地鸟类数量的影响。该项目的创新方法将以志愿者和项目工作人员网络为基础，通过自动无线电跟踪系统记录全国范围内玉米田的鸟类数据。为不断增长的人口提供粮食和生物质用于能源生产，同时保持生物多样性，是农业面临的全球挑战。在德国，加快采用可再生能源技术的政策支持种植用于生产沼气的玉米。这导致德国总土地的7.6%种植玉米。大多数研究表明，玉米地对生物多样性的重要性不大。然而，少数研究调查玉米作为鸟类栖息地的结果表明，玉米田可能是夏季和秋季鸟类的重要栖息地和食物资源。但是，由于这些研究所依据的抽样地点数量很少，因此无法得出一般性结论。此外，周围景观对玉米地鸟类发生的影响以及玉米地与其他生境之间的相互作用也没有被考虑在内。因此，在该项目中，将在8月至10月期间通过不断努力的雾网方法记录鸟类物种和个体的数量以及鸟类在玉米地中停留的时间。将通过捕获-再捕获方法确定鸟的体重和身体状况的变化。此外，将通过确定节肢动物生物量对玉米地中鸟类的食物资源可用性进行取样，这些信息对于得出玉米地作为鸟类栖息地和中途停留地的吸引力和重要性的结论至关重要。为了获得有关玉米田中鸟类的确切每日活动范围以及玉米田与周围栖息地之间潜在相互作用的数据，将使用自动无线电遥测系统对选定鸟类的活动进行空间分析。这一分析将提供详细的信息，时间和空间利用模式的玉米地的鸟类。由于全球玉米种植面积大幅增加，该项目的成果与环境和社会经济政策高度相关。结果可用于确定玉米地作为鸟类栖息地的重要性，因此是生物多样性的主要组成部分。通过这项研究，玉米覆盖阈值增加生物多样性和鸟类丰度可以定量定义。