Overview of the bird diversity in oak (Quercus spp.) forest habitats in Isparta province, southwestern Turkish Anatolia

Abstract

Natural and semi-natural oak (Quercus spp.) forests in Turkey are rich ecosystems of high conservation value that are increasingly threatened by logging and transformation into coniferous plantations. They harbor a diverse fauna and flora, but the current knowledge of their associated biodiversity is limited for many groups of organisms. In this paper, we present our preliminary results from inventories of the birds inhabiting various oak forests located in Isparta province in southwestern Turkish Anatolia. The bird species diversity was assessed both quantitatively and a qualitatively using random observation walks and fixed-radii point counts in 17 oak forests ranging in mean age from 30 years up to 300 years. A total of 52 bird species belonging to 43 genera and 24 families were identified. The three most abundant species were Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler (Phylloscopus orientalis), Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) and Common Blackbird (Turdus merula). Birds of national or international conservation concern are highlighted. Furthermore, we present an updated taxonomical species checklist.

Keywords

• Quercus,Birds,Succession,Indicator,Habitat

Güneybatı Türkiye, Isparta ili meşe (Quercus spp.) ormanı habitatlarındaki kuş çeşitliliği üzerine genel bir bakış

Abstract

Türkiye’nin güneybatısındaki doğal ve yarı doğal meşelikler yüksek koruma statüsüne sahip zengin ekosistemler olmakla birlikte, artan üretim ve konifer plantasyonlarına dönüştürülme tehditleri ile karşı karşıyadırlar. Bu özel ekosistemlerin zengin fauna ve flora çeşitliğini barındırdığı bilinmektedir, ancak pek çok tür için biyoçeşitlilikle ilgili mevcut bilgilerimiz oldukça sınırlıdır. Bu makalede, Türkiye’nin güneybatısında yer alan Isparta ilinde farklı meşe türlerinden oluşan orman alanlarında bulunan kuş türlerine ait elde edilen ilk envanter sonuçları verilmektedir. Çalışmada kuş türlerine ait çeşitlilik, hem nicelik hem nitelik bakımından değerlendirilmiş olup, içindeki fert yaşlarının 30-300 arasında değişkenlik gösterdiği, 17 meşelik alanda, rasgele belirlenen hatlar üzerinde ve sabit çaplı alanlarda gözlem ve tespitler yapılmıştır. Çalışma sonucunda, 24 familya, 43 cinse ait 52 kuş türü belirlenmiştir. En fazla rastlanan üç tür; Boz çıvgın (Phylloscopus orientalis), İspinoz (Fringilla coelebs) ve Karatavuk (Turdus merula) olarak tespit edilmiştir. Makalede kuşların ulusal ve uluslararası koruma statülerine de değinilmiş olup, güncel taksonomik tür listesi de verilmiştir.

Keywords

• Quercus,Kuşlar,Süksesyon,İndikatör,Habitat

References

1. Albayrak, T., Erdoğan, A., 2004. Habitat requirements for the nest preference and the distribution of Krüper’s Nuthatch (Sitta krueperi) in Antalya. 1st International Eurasian Ornithology Congress, 8-11.04.2004, Antalya, Turkey, pp.34-37.
2. Albayrak, T., Erdoğan, A., 2018. Distribution, density, and important hotspots of Krüper’s Nuthatch Sitta krueperi in Turkey and Lesvos Island, Greece. Turkish Journal of Zoology, 42: 578-584.
3. Atmiş, E., Özden, S., Lise, W., 2007. Urbanization pressures on the natural forests in Turkey: an overview. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 6: 83-92.
4. Bednarz, J.C., Ripper, D., Radley, P.M., 2000. Emerging concepts and research directions in the study of cavity-nesting birds: keystone ecological processes. The Condor, 106: 1-4.
5. Bereczki, K., Ódor, P., Csóka, G., Mag, Z., Báldi, A., 2014. Effects of forest heterogeneity on the efficiency of caterpillar control service provided by birds in temperate oak forests. Forest Ecology and Management, 327: 96-105.
6. Bergner, A., Avcı, M., Eryiğit, H., Jansson, N., Niklasson, M., Westerberg, L., Milberg, P., 2015. Influences of forest type and habitat structure on bird assemblages of oak (Quercus spp.) and pine (Pinus spp.) stands in southwestern Turkey. Forest Ecology and Management, 336: 137-147.
7. Bergner, A., Sunnergren, A., Yeşilbudak, B., Erdem, C., Jansson, N., 2016. Attributes of trees used by nesting and foraging woodpeckers (Aves: Picidae) in an area with old pollarded oaks (Quercus spp.) in the Taurus Mountains, Turkey. Zoology in the Middle East, 62: 288-298.
8. Bibby, C.J., 1999. Making the most of birds as environmental indicators. Ostrich, 70: 81-88.

9. BirdLife International, 2017. European birds of conservation concern: populations, trends and national responsibilities. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International.
10. Blondel, J., Farré, H., 1988. The convergent trajectories of bird communities along ecological successions in European forests. Oecologia, 75: 83-93.
11. Boulinier, T., Nichols, J.D., Hines, J.E., Sauer, J.R., Flather, C.H., Pollock, K.H., 2001. Forest fragmentation and bird community dynamics: inference at regional scales. Ecology, 82: 1159-1169.
12. Çolak, A.H., Rotherham, I.D., 2006. A review of the forest vegetation of Turkey: its status past and present and its future conservation. Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 106B: 343-354.
13. Cramp, S., Perrins, C.M., Brooks, D.J., 1993. Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palearctic, Vol. 7. Oxford University Press, New York. Cramp, S., Perrins, C.M., Brooks, D.J., 1994a. Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The Birds of the Western Palearctic, Vol. 8. Oxford University Press, New York.
14. Cramp, S., Perrins, C.M. , 1994b. Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palearctic, Vol. 9. Oxford University Press, New York.
15. Ding, T-S., Liao, H-C., Yuan, H-W., 2008. Breeding bird community in different successional vegetation in the montane coniferous forests zone of Taiwan. Forest Ecology and Management, 255: 2038-2048.
16. Drever, M.C., Aitken, K.E.H., Norris, A.R., Martin, K., 2008. Woodpeckers as reliable indicators of bird richness, forest health and harvest. Biological Conservation, 141: 624-634.
17. Ertuğ, F., Tümen, G., Çelik, A., Dirmenci, T., 2004. Buldan (Denizli) etnobotanik alan araştırması 2003. TÜBA Kültür Envanteri Dergisi, 2: 187-218.
18. Furness, R.W., Greenwood, J.J.D., Jarvis, P.J., 1993. Can birds be used to monitor the environment? Birds as Monitors of Environmental Change. Springer Netherlands.
19. Gil-Tena, A., Saura, S., Brotons, L., 2007. Effects of forest composition and structure on bird species richness in a Mediterranean context: implications for forest ecosystem management. Forest Ecology and Management, 242: 470–476.
20. Gregory, R.D., van Strien, A., Vorisek, P., Gmelig Meyling, A.W., Noble, D.G., Foppen, R.P.B., Gibbons, D.W., 2005. Developing indicators for European birds. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 360: 269-288.
21. Gregory, R.D., van Strien, A., 2010. Wild bird indicators: using composite population trends of birds as measures of environmental health. Ornithological Science, 9: 3-22.
22. Hutto, R.L., Pletschet, S.M., Hendricks, P., 1986. A fixed-radius point count method for nonbreeding and breeding season use. The Auk, 103: 593-602.
23. IUCN, 2015. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015:4.
24. IUCN, 2018. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2018:1.
25. Jansson, N., Coskun, M., 2008. How similar is the saproxylic beetle fauna on old oaks (Quercus spp.) in Turkey and Sweden? Revue d’Ecologie (Terre et Vie) Suppl., 10: 91-99.
26. Julliard, R., Clavel, J., Devictor, V., Jiguet, F., Couvet, D., 2006. Spatial segregation of specialists and generalists in bird communities. Ecology letters, 9: 1237-1244.
27. Kaniewski, D., de Laet, V., Paulissen, E., Waelkens, M., 2007. Long-term effects of human impact on mountainous ecosystems, western Taurus Mountains, Turkey. Journal of Biogeography, 34: 1975-1997.
28. Kavgaci, A., Čarni, A., Tecimen, B., Özalp, G., 2010. Diversity and differentiation of oak forests in NW Thrace (Turkey). Archives of Biological Sciences, 62: 705-718.
29. Kaya, Z, Raynal, D.J., 2001. Biodiversity and conservation of Turkish forests. Biological Conservation, 97: 131-141. Khanaposhtani, M.G., Kaboli, M., Karami, M., Etemad, V., 2012. Effect of habitat complexity on richness, abundance and distributional pattern of forest birds. Environmental Management, 50: 296-303.
30. Kiliç, S., 2015. Doğu Anadolu Meşesi (Quercus brantii) ve Mazı Meşesi (Quercus infectoria) yapraklarının silajlarına ilave edilen değişik meyve posalarının silaj kalitesi üzerine etkilerinin belirlenmesi. Doktora Tezi, Dicle Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, Diyarbakır.
31. Kılıç, D.T., Eken, G., 2004. Türkiye’nin Önemli Kuş Alanlari. 2004 Güncellemesi. Doğa Derneği, Ankara.
32. Kirwan, G., Demirci, B., Welch, H., Boyla, K., Özen, M., Castell, P., Marlow, T., 2008. The Birds of Turkey. A&C Black Publishers Limited, London.
33. MGM, 2017. Climate of Turkey, Meteoroloji Genel Müdürlüğü, Ankara, http://www.emcc.mgm.gov.tr/files/climateofturkey.pdf, Erişim: 26.10.2018.
34. Moskát, C., 1991. Multivariate plexus concept in the study of complex ecological data: an application to the analysis of bird-habitat relationships. Coenoses, 6: 79-89.
35. Moskát, C., Waliczky, Z., 1992. Bird-vegetation relationships along ecological gradients: ordination and plexus analysis. Ornis Hungarica, 2: 45-60.
36. Müller, J., Hothorn, T., 2004. Maximally selected two-sample statistics as a new tool for the identification and assessment of habitat factors with an application to breeding-bird communities in oak forests. European Journal of Forest Research, 123: 219-228.
37. OGM, 2015. Türkiye Orman Varlığı. Orman Genel Müdürlüğü, Ankara.
38. Özkan, K., Svenning, J-C., Jeppesen, E., 2010. Environmental species sorting dominates forest-bird community assembly across scales. Journal of Animal Ecology, 82: 266-274.
39. Pereira, P., Godinho, C., Roque, I., Marques, A., Branco, M., Rabaça, J.E., 2014. Time to rethink the management intensity in a Mediterranean oak woodland: the response of insectivorous birds and leaf-chewing defoliators as key groups in the forest ecosystem. Annals of Forest Science, 71: 25-32.
40. Ranius, T., Niklasson, M., Berg, N., 2009. Development of tree hollows in pedunculate oak (Quercus robur). Forest Ecology and Management, 257: 303-310.
41. Rey-Benayas, J.M., Galván, I., Carrascal, L.M., 2010. Differential effects of vegetation restoration in Mediterranean abandoned cropland by secondary succession and pine plantations on bird assemblages. Forest Ecology and Management, 260: 87-95.
42. Robles, H., Ciudad, C., Matthysen, E., 2011. Tree-cavity occurrence, cavity occupation and reproductive performance of secondary cavity-nesting birds in oak forests: The role of traditional management practices. Forest Ecology and Management, 261: 1428-1435.
43. Roché, J.C., Chevereau, J. ., 2001. Guía sonora de las aves de Europa. 10 CD. Lynx, Barcelona. Saab, V., 1999. Importance of spatial scale to habitat use by breeding birds in riparian forests: a hierarchial analysis. Ecological Applications, 9: 135-151. Sama, G., Jansson, N., Avcı, M., Sarıkaya, O., Coşkun, M., Kayış, T., Özdikmen, H., 2011. Preliminary report on a survey of the saproxylic beetle fauna living on old hollow oaks (Quercus spp.) and oak wood in Turkey (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae). Mun. Ent. Zool., 6(2): 819-831.
44. Svensson, L., Mullarney, K., Zetterström, D., 2009. Fågelguiden – Europas och Medelhavsområdets fåglar i fält. Andra omarbetade och utökade upplagan. Bonnier Fakta.
45. Telleria, J.L., Santos, T., Sánchez, A., Galarza, A., 1992. Habitat structure predicts bird diversity distribution in Iberian forests better than climate. Bird Study, 39: 63-68.
46. Telleria, J.L., Santos, T., 1994. Factors involved in the distribution of forest birds in the Iberian Peninsula. Bird Study, 41: 161-169.
47. Touihri, M., Villard, M-A., Charfi-Cheikhrouha, F., 2015. Nesting habitat requirements of two species of North African woodpeckers in native oak forest. Bird Study, 62: 386-393.
48. Uğurlu, E., Roleček, J., Bergmeier, E., 2012. Oak woodland vegetation of Turkey – a first overview based on multivariate statistics. Applied Vegetation Science, 15: 590-608.
49. Uslu, E., Bakiş, Y., Babaç, M., 2011. A study on biogeographical distribution of Turkish oak species and their relations with the Anatolian Diagonal. Acta Botanica Hungarica, 53(3-4). DOI: 10.1556/ABot.53.2011.3-4.21: 423-440.
50. van Dorp, D., Opdam, P.F.M., 1987. Effects of patch size, isolation and regional abundance on forest bird communities. Landscape Ecology, 1: 59-73.
51. Verner, J., 1985. Assessment of counting techniques. In Johnston, R.F. (Eds.) Current Ornithology. New York, Plenum Press.
52. Waliczky, Z., 1991. Bird community changes in different-aged oak forest stands in the Buda-hills (Hungary). Ornis Hungarica, 1: 1-9.
53. Yaltirik, F., 1984. Türkiye Meşeleri. Teşhis Kılavuzu, Orman Fakültesi, İstanbul Üniversitesi.