2025/08/05 by Louis Hunninck, Judith Zellweger‐Fischer, Pius Korner +1 · 1 voice
Environmental Science · #Avian ecology and behavior #Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/ibi.13430
Farmland bird diversity has declined precipitously for decades because of the incessant intensification of agricultural practices in semi‐natural landscapes in Europe. Consequently, formerly common and widespread ground‐nesting species, such as the Eurasian Skylark Alauda arvensis , have shown severe declines on intensive grasslands and arable areas in western mainland Europe. In the Swiss Alps, populations are more stable, suggesting that high‐elevation areas could act as refugia for Skylarks. We studied the habitat preferences of Skylarks in subalpine and alpine habitats across Switzerland. Using 3 years of territory mapping across a wide range of habitat types, land‐use management and topographical characteristics, we aimed to elucidate the limiting factors for these populations to better inform conservation management. Skylarks occurred more frequently at lower elevation (1400 m versus 2600 m), with gentler, south‐facing slopes and areas with higher land‐management diversity. Skylark occurrence was lower closer to tall structures and higher in the presence of conspecifics. Skylark densities in these alpine areas are also much lower than in remaining intact lowland populations in Switzerland and their reproductive output is lower because of a shorter breeding season, questioning the role of alpine areas as refugia. The areas with high Skylark occurrence are also those most at risk of development for agricultural intensification or infrastructure projects. At the same time, the abandonment by farmers of extensively used agricultural areas – exacerbated by a longer vegetative growing season due to climate change – results in shrub encroachment in higher‐elevation areas thereby further limiting the potential of alpine areas as a refuge for Skylarks. Management should limit the intensification of agricultural areas, but also prevent further abandonment of extensively used meadows and pastures to maintain open landscapes. Our results also indicate that establishing new populations in areas unoccupied by Skylarks could be far more difficult than maintaining or expanding existing populations. We therefore stress the importance of protection of those grasslands that currently host Skylark populations.