Birds on farms: a review of factors influencing bird occurrence in the temperate woodlands of south-eastern Australia

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map of the location of long-term studies of birds in temperate woodlands of south-eastern Australia. Across these large-scale studies, a total of 872 sites (each comprising a 200 m transect; see Table 1) have been surveyed repeatedly on an annual and biannual basis for between 12 and 23 years.

Figure 2. Conceptual model of the drivers of change in the presence and/or assemblage composition of temperate woodland birds in south-eastern Australia and approaches to mitigate (and potentially reverse) those declines. The top part of the diagram illustrates how the interacting processes of land clearing and grazing can lead to habitat loss and habitat fragmentation and can have direct effects on bird site occupancy or their impacts can be mediated through influences on populations of competitors and predators such as the Noisy Miner and the Grey and Pied Butcherbird (Westgate et al. 2021b). The bottom part of the conceptual diagram illustrates the direct and indirect effects of revegetation and grazing control on bird occurrence. Note that attempts to reduce fragmentation by directly connecting patches of native vegetation have not been illustrated as the effects on birds of boosting connectivity relative to simply increasing the amount of vegetation cover remain unclear (Lindenmayer et al. 2020a).

Table 1. Summary of six large-scale, long-term studies maintained by The Australian National University in which sites were surveyed repeatedly for temperate woodland birds with the aim of determining the impact of land use changes and management interventions on avian biodiversity.

Monitoring Programme	Location	Number of sites	Description	Example citation
Nanangroe Natural Experiment (established 1998 – ongoing)	Between Tumut and Jugiong in southern New South Wales	143	Documents bird responses to changes in landscape context as semi-cleared grazing land is converted to an exotic softwood plantation. Control sites are in woodland patches on farms where land conversion is not occurring	(Lindenmayer et al. 2019)
South West Slopes Restoration Study (Established 2001-ongoing)	Between Gundagai and Albury and west from east of Tumbarumba to Temora	218	Monitors bird occurence in tree plantings and in woodland remnants within landscapes characterised by different amounts of woody vegetation cover	(Lindenmayer et al. 2020a)
Woodland Intervention Study (2007-ongoing)	Western Murray catchment of New South Wales, including areas close to Berrigan, Deniliquin, Urana	111	Monitors the response of birds and other groups to management interventions associated with an agri-environment incentive scheme	(Lindenmayer et al. 2012b)
Victorian Biodiversity Monitoring Program	North-east and Goulburn-Broken catchments in north-eastern Victoria	40	Monitors bird and other biotic responses to management interventions in temperate woodlands	(Michael et al., 2014)
Grazing Study	Between Cowra and Boorowa in southern New South Wales	92	Monitors bird and other biotic responses to different livestock grazing regimes	(Tulloch et al. 2016; Sato et al. 2019)
Environmental Stewardship Program (2010–2017) (monitoring regime continued in an altered form by a new contractor)	Central New South Wales to south-east Queensland	268	Monitors bird and other biotic responses to management interventions in temperate woodlands under the Australian Government’s Environmental Stewardship Program	(Lindenmayer et al., 2012c; Sato et al. 2019)

Westgate, M. J., Mason, M., Florance, D., and Lindenmayer, D. B. (2021b). Synergistic impacts of aggressive species on small birds in a fragmented landscape. Journal of Applied Ecology 58, 825–835. doi:10.1111/1365-2664.13838

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Lindenmayer, D. B., Blanchard, W., Foster, C. N., Scheele, B. C., Westgate, M. J., Stein, J., Crane, M., et al. (2020a). Habitat amount versus connectivity: An empirical study of bird responses. Biological Conservation 241, 108377. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108377

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Lindenmayer, D. B., Blanchard, W., Westgate, M. J., Foster, C., Banks, S. C., Barton, P. S., Crane, M., et al. (2019). Novel bird responses to successive large-scale, landscape transformations. Ecological Monographs 89, e01362. doi:10.1002/ecm.1362

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Lindenmayer, D. B., Wood, J., Montague-Drake, R., Michael, D., Crane, M., Okada, S., MacGregor, C., et al. (2012b). Is biodiversity management effective? Cross-sectional relationships between management, bird response and vegetation attributes in an Australian agri-environment scheme. Biological Conservation 152, 62–73. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2012.02.026

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Michael, D. R., Wood, J. T., Crane, M., Montague-Drake, R., and Lindenmayer, D. B. (2014). How effective are agri-environment schemes for protecting and improving herpetofaunal diversity in Australian endangered woodland ecosystems?. Journal of Applied Ecology 51, 494–504.

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Tulloch, A. I. T., Mortelliti, A., Kay, G., Florance, D., and Lindenmayer, D. B. (2016). Using empirical models of species colonization under multiple threatening processes to identify complementary threat-mitigation strategies. Conservation Biology 30, 867–882. doi:10.1111/cobi.12672

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Sato, C. F., Florance, D., and Lindenmayer, D. B. (2019). Drivers of temperate woodland condition through time in an agricultural landscape. Land Degradation & Development 30, 1357–1367. doi:10.1002/ldr.3325

 Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Lindenmayer, D. B., Zammit, C., Attwood, S. A., Burns, E., Shepherd, C. L., Kay, G., and Wood, J. (2012c). A novel and cost-effective monitoring approach for outcomes in an Australian biodiversity conservation incentive program. PLOS One 7, e50872.

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar