Original scientific paper
Habitat Selection and Similarity of the Forest Songbird Communities in Medvednica and Žumberak – Samoborsko gorje Nature Parks
Tamara Kirin
; Dipartimento di tecnologie, ingegneria e scienze dell’Ambiente e delle Foreste (D.A.F.), Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
Jelena Kralj
orcid.org/0000-0002-1500-5897
; Institute of Ornithology, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb
Davor Ćirković
; Institute of Ornithology, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb
Zdravko Dolenec
; Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb
Abstract
The effect of floristic and structural characteristics of vegetation on the forest songbird communities in two Nature Parks: Medvednica andŽumberak – Samoborsko gorje was studied. The point-count method was used for analyzing songbird communities and circular plot method for habitat mapping, on 101 points at both sites. Non-parametric test were used (Kruskal– Wallis and Kendal Tau). The tree basal area was used to classify studied points into five forest types (beech, oak, mixed deciduous, coniferous and mixed coniferous forests) and as indication of the stand maturity. The total of27 and 32 songbird species were recorded on Medvednica and Žumberak –Samoborsko gorje respectively. Diversity was higher on Žumberak – Samoborsko gorje due to greater habitat fragmentation, while population density of songbirds was greater on Medvednica. Among structural characteristics, those related to forest age (average tree basal area and number of the small trees) had the most pronounced effect to the total songbird density and densities of different ecological groups of birds. Sorensen index showed that in spite of the differences in floristic composition between particular forest types in two studied areas (0.475 ± 0.120), songbird communities showed high similarity (0.872 ± 0.070). The highest similarity of songbird communities between Parks was recorded in beech and oak stands. Oak stands showed the lowest similarity in tree species composition and no significant difference in structural characteristics, while beech stands had many different structural features and several differences in densities of ecological groups of birds. The greatest difference of bird densities in the particular forest type between two Parks was found in beech and mixed coniferous stands. High structural differences between these two forests were the result of the forest age; bird populations had higher densities in older stands.
Keywords
forest habitat; Nature Parks; songbird communities; vegetation structure
Hrčak ID:
75070
URI
Publication date:
31.10.2011.
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