Study

Prairie restoration: effects on nongame birds

Actions

This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

Action Category

Restore or create grasslands

Action Link
Bird Conservation
  1. Restore or create grasslands

    A small study over the summers of 1973-1975 in two former corn and soybean fields (16 and 12 ha respectively) in South Dakota, USA (Blankespoor 1980), found that species richness and abundance declined over the study period, after the fields were planted with six species of native grasses in 1971. In the old corn field, species richness declined from 11 to 5 species and total abundance declined from 80 to 22 individuals/ha. Similarly, total abundance declined from 71 to 28 in the old soybean field but species richness remained at 6-7 species per year. Grasshopper sparrows Ammodramus savvanarum were the most abundant birds in the old corn fields whereas dickcissels Spiza americana were most abundant in the old soybean field. The author pointed out that the results may have been confounded by drought conditions. Species richness was comparable between restored and mature grasslands.

     

Output references
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