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A journal dedicated to conservation and wildlife management in the Pacific region.
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Habitat element associations in the bird fauna of an Australian farmland landscape

Michael J. Murphy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0333-6787 A * and Fiona R. Scarff https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0039-3871 B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Independent Researcher.

B Environmental and Conservation Sciences, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.

* Correspondence to: michaelmurphymoama@outlook.com

Handling Editor: Rob Davis

Pacific Conservation Biology 29(6) 503-525 https://doi.org/10.1071/PC22020
Submitted: 31 May 2022  Accepted: 14 November 2022   Published: 22 December 2022

© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Context: The decline of birds in farmland is of global concern.

Aims: The aim of this paper was to provide a local-scale case study of the bird fauna of temperate inland eastern Australia’s sheep–wheat belt.

Methods: Relationships between species occurrence and various habitat elements in the landscape were examined in a 342 km2 area of agricultural countryside near Wagga Wagga in southern inland New South Wales, Australia. The pre-agricultural bird fauna of this area was also investigated by collating records from previous studies of nearby larger woodland remnants.

Key results: The study identified a bird fauna of 115 species compared to 160 species known from nearby woodland remnants. Significant relationships were found with the presence of farm dams, extent of local woodland cover and roadside woodland at the levels of individual species, guilds and total fauna. A small ephemeral wetland also contributed substantially to waterbird diversity.

Conclusion: Twenty commonly recorded species typical of the farmland matrix and 15 species considered at particular risk of local extinction were identified. At the guild level, frugivore/granivores, small insectivores and hollow-users were found to be associated with remaining woodland elements in the agricultural landscape.

Implications: Ecologically sustainable management of agricultural areas is essential to avoid further local extinctions. Hollow-using species are expected to be particularly affected by the anticipated widespread loss of trees in the landscape over the next century.

Keywords: agricultural matrix, declining woodland birds, farmland birds, foraging guild, New South Wales South Western Slopes bioregion, roadside habitat, sheep–wheat belt, waterbirds.


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