Title:

The breeding bird community of a primaeval temperate forest (Białowieża National Park, Poland) at the end of the 20th century

Subtitle:

Acta Ornithologica, vol. 37, no. 1 ; Zgrupowanie ptaków lęgowych pierwotnego lasu Białowieskiego Parku Narodowego pod koniec XX wieku ; Bird community of a primeval forest

Creator:

Wesołowski, Tomasz (1950– ) ; Tomiałojć, Ludwik (1939– ) ; Mitrus, Cezary ; Rowiński, Patryk ; Czeszczewik, Dorota

Contributor:

Polska Akademia Nauk. Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii

Publisher:

Muzeum i Instytut Zoologii PAN

Place of publishing:

Warszawa

Date issued/created:

2002

Description:

Bibliogr. p. 43-44 ; P. [27]-45: ill. ; 27 cm ; Abstract in Polish. Taxa in Latin

Type of object:

Journal/Article

Subject and Keywords:

breeding birds ; birds ; bird communities ; Poland ; Białowieski National Park ; Białowieża National Park ; community structure ; species richness ; bird community stability ; primaeval forests ; long-term study ; Aves

Abstract:

The 1995-1999 results of the mapping technique censuses carried out in permanent plots situated in three types of old-growth primeval BNP stands (ash-alder riverine, oak-hornbeam, mixed coniferous) are presented and contrasted with the data gathered in the same plots in the late 1970s. Most community parameters, such as composition of breeding avifauna, species richness, make-up and cumulative share of dominants, remained basically unchanged. Only the overall bird density has increased considerably, by 13-38% in different plots. This was due to parallel increases in numbers of several species, widely differing in their nesting places, food requirements and migratory habits. As numbers increased simultaneously in all the plots, the density differences across habitats remained the same, from highest densities in riverine stands at the forest edge (up to 124 p/10 ha), through oak-hornbeam stands, to lowest in the coniferous stands (48-50 p/10 ha). Despite this differentiation the breeding avifauna in individual plots was quite similar (density similarity index exceeding 50%), indicating that their breeding assemblages constituted samples from a single bird community. In most cases the numerical increases could not be attributed to changes in local environmental factors, such as food resources, weather conditions or changes in habitat structure. Only in the coniferous stands, habitat changes leading to diversification of their structure (gap formation, increasing number of deciduous trees) could be responsible for increasing species richness and abundance there. The apparent lack of relationship between changes in bird numbers and local situation suggests that the factors acting on a larger scale (outside the study area) could have been involved. Despite the directional changes in bird abundance observed in the Białowieża Forest, its breeding bird assemblage, when compared with amplitude of changes recorded over the same period in other areas and habitats, stands out as an example of remarkable stability.

Relation:

Acta Ornithologica

Volume:

37

Issue:

1

Start page:

27

End page:

45

Resource type:

Text

Detailed Resource Type:

Article

Format:

application/pdf

Source:

MiIZ PAN, call no. P.257-37-1 ; MiIZ PAN, call no. P.4568-37-1 ; click here to follow the link

Language:

pol ; eng

Rights:

Rights Reserved - Restricted Access

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. Access only on terminals at the Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, may be used within the limits of statutory user freedoms.

Digitizing institution:

Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Original in:

Library of the Museum and Institute of Zoology of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Projects co-financed by:

Programme Innovative Economy, 2010-2014, Priority Axis 2. R&D infrastructure ; European Union. European Regional Development Fund

Access:

Closed