Grassland songbird abundance is influenced more strongly by individual types of disturbances than cumulative disturbances associated with natural gas extraction.

ABSTRACT: Grassland birds have undergone widespread global population declines due to loss and degradation of native grasslands. Activities associated with non-renewable energy derived from oil and natural gas extraction have substantially increased on grasslands. The cumulative disturbance generated by natural gas development creates a network of non-linear (e.g., bare ground and exotic plant species) and linear (e.g., roads, trails, pipelines) features that may degrade habitat quality for grassland species. We quantified grassland songbird abundance in two areas of southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada, to determine whether variation in abundance 1) depended on the type and amount of disturbance at two spatial extents, and 2) was more affected by the cumulative impacts of natural gas development than

SUBMITTER: Davis SK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10022753 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature