Aspects of habitat use by birds during spring in natural forests and non-native plantation forests in the lower siret meadow (Eastern Romania)

Abstract

The Lower Siret Meadow forest habitats have been altered from natural structure because of commercial forestry operations, activities that are defning the forest management from previous decades. Afforestation programs aimed to test the introduction of exotic tree species in order to increase wood production and to reduce harvest time intervals. These commercial in?uences re?ect in the decrease of natural forest areas, aspect that could in?uence the birds presence. Studies on the ecological impact of plantations on birds are scarce, and no studies were found regarding this aspect in the region. Using six different sample areas both in native and non-native tree plantations, we investigated how bird presence is in?uenced by the support capacity offered by both natural or non-native plantations and which vegetation variables are related to our results. We compared the data from the surveyed areas to relate birds presence and dependence on certain characteristics of the habitats. Our results pointed out that species diversity is higher in natural forests with local tree species and vegetation characteristics like forest canopy density, shrub coverage, and herbaceous layer.