Effectiveness of protected areas for bird conservation depends on guild

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Conservation Biology
• Ornithology

Background:

• Protected areas are crucial for biodiversity conservation and mitigating extinction risks.
• The effectiveness of protected areas in achieving conservation goals remains largely unquantified globally.
• This study investigates the impact of protected areas on common bird species abundance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effect of protected areas on the abundance of 196 common, resident bird species.
• To determine if landscapes with a higher proportion of protected areas exhibit higher avian densities.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of bird survey data from grid cells in the Greater Gauteng region, South Africa.
• Estimation of bird abundance using the Royle-Nichols model in relation to the protected area proportion within each grid cell.
• Examination of abundance variation across avian guilds (diet and foraging mode) using regression tree analysis.

Main Results:

• Protected areas showed a significant positive relationship with abundance for 26% of species and a negative relationship for 15%; 59% showed no significant relation.
• Three distinct avian guilds exhibited differential responses to protected areas.
• Frugivores, ground-feeders, hawkers, predators, and vegivores (Group 1) showed positive abundance correlation, while granivores (Group 2) showed negative correlation; gleaners (Group 3) showed no relation.

Conclusions:

• The protected area network in Gauteng sustains relatively higher abundances of common birds.
• Protected areas play a significant role in avian conservation within the study region.
• The effectiveness of protected areas varies among different avian guilds.