Autumn-sowing of cereals reduces breeding bird numbers in a heterogeneous agricultural landscape
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Published source details
Eggers S., Unell M. & Part T. (2011) Autumn-sowing of cereals reduces breeding bird numbers in a heterogeneous agricultural landscape. Biological Conservation, 144, 1137-1144.
Published source details Eggers S., Unell M. & Part T. (2011) Autumn-sowing of cereals reduces breeding bird numbers in a heterogeneous agricultural landscape. Biological Conservation, 144, 1137-1144.
Actions
This study is summarised as evidence for the following.
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Sow crops in spring rather than autumn Action Link |
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Plant crops in spring rather than autumn Action Link |
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Sow crops in spring rather than autumn
A replicated, controlled paired sites study in 2004 in Uppsala, Sweden (Eggers et al. 2011), found that there were significantly greater numbers of ground-foraging breeding birds and more species in spring-sown barley than in autumn-sown wheat (0.8 species/ha in spring-sown vs. 0.5 species/ha in autumn-sown plots). Territory densities of lapwing Vanellus vanellus and wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe were also higher in spring-sown (lapwing: 0.08 territories/ha; wheatear: 0.12) compared to autumn-sown cereal plots (lapwing: 0.02; wheatear: 0.05). There was no effect of sowing time on skylark Alauda arvensis or yellowhammer Emberiza citronella breeding density. In spring-sown plots, numbers of species decreased significantly as the proportion of autumn-sown cereals in the surrounding landscape increased. Forty-one independent pairs of autumn-sown wheat and spring-sown barley plots were selected, each centred on an infield non-crop island. Non-crop islands were surveyed for cover of trees, shrubs and weeds and cereal height was measured on five occasions in each field. All birds were recorded within a radius of 100 m from the centre of each plot during five point counts of seven minutes (mid-May - end of June 2004).
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Plant crops in spring rather than autumn
A replicated paired site comparison study in 2004 of autumn-sown wheat and spring-sown barley in Sweden (Eggers et al. 2011) found that there were significantly greater numbers of ground-foraging breeding birds in spring-sown cereals. There were 0.8 species/ha in spring-sown compared to 0.5 species/ha in autumn-sown cereal plots. Territory densities of northern lapwing Vanellus vanellus and northern wheatear Oenanthe oenanthe were also higher in spring-sown (lapwing: 0.08 territories/ha, wheatear: 0.12) compared to autumn-sown cereal plots (lapwing: 0.02; wheatear: 0.05). There was no effect of sowing time on Eurasian skylark Alauda arvensis or yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella breeding density. In spring-sown plots, numbers of species decreased significantly as the proportion of autumn-sown cereals in the surrounding landscape increased. Forty-one independent pairs of autumn-sown wheat and spring-sown barley plots were selected, each centred on an infield non-crop island. Non-crop islands were surveyed for cover of trees, shrubs and weeds and cereal height was measured on five occasions in each field. All birds were recorded within a radius of 100 m from the centre of each plot during five point counts of seven minutes (mid-May to end of June).
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