Natural grazing by horses and cattle promotes bird diversity in a restored European alluvial grassland.

ABSTRACT:

Context

A challenge in grassland conservation is to maintain both the openness and the heterogeneity of the habitat to support the diversity of their animal communities, including birds-a taxon that is known to be sensitive to disturbance. An increasingly used management tool in European grassland conservation, especially in rewilding projects, is grazing by large herbivores such as horses and cattle. These grazers are believed to create and maintain patchy landscapes that promote diversity and richness of other species, but their influence on birds is often debated by conservationists, who raise concerns about the impact of disturbance by the grazers.

Objectives

Our aim was to examine the relationship between the abundance and species richness of birds across four foraging

SUBMITTER: Lovasz L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11262302 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature