Farms with natural landscape features provide sanctuary for some Costa Rica rainforest birds

Small farms with natural landscape features similar to coloration timber, hedgerows and tracts of intact woodland provide a safe haven for some tropical fowl populations, in step with an 18-year find out about in Costa Rica.

For nearly twenty years, ornithologist James Zook has been gathering detailed data on just about 430 tropical fowl species discovered on small farms, plantations and undisturbed forests within the nation.

While birds thrive probably the most in undisturbed rainforests, Zook stated some species generally present in forests can determine populations in “diversified farms” that in part mimic a natural woodland surroundings.

“How you farm matters,” stated Nicholas Hendershot, a Stanford University ecologist and co-author of the study published Monday within the magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“In these diversified farms, you see growth over the long term in bird species with specialized needs,” similar to protected and shady nooks to construct nests and various meals assets, Hendershot stated.

That development was once “in stark contrast to what we saw in intensive agriculture,” or monocrop pineapple and banana plantations, he stated.

The findings would possibly appear intuitive, however Natalia Ocampo-Penuela, a University of California, Santa Cruz conservation ecologist now not concerned within the find out about, stated it’s extraordinarily uncommon to have detailed long-term knowledge from tropical areas to turn that numerous farming landscapes can maintain some woodland fowl populations.

“With 18 years of data, you can show the species is persisting in that area, not simply passing by,” she stated.

Three-quarters of the 305 species present in diverse farms confirmed solid or rising populations over the time of research. These come with the collared aracari, a small toucan-like fowl, with a yellow chest and large beak, in addition to a number of individuals of the manakin circle of relatives — small brightly coloured woodland birds recognized for elaborate courtship dances.

“It’s a huge contribution to have documented that some birds aren’t just going there, but staying there and populations are growing,” stated Ruth Bennett, an ecologist on the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, who was once now not concerned within the analysis.

Still, such habitat sanctuaries don’t offset total inhabitants losses from the conversion of number one forests to plantations, the authors wired. “A pineapple plantation is like a ‘bird desert’ here,” stated Zook.

Increasingly, scientists say maintaining species would require being attentive to landscapes with a human footprint — now not simply untouched spaces.

“Modern conservation has to happen not only inside the fences of protected areas, but within agricultural areas and even urban areas, where there’s potential habitat for at least some species,” stated the University of California’s Ocampo-Penuela.

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