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Schön, M.

Bevorzugung von Kleinstrukturen mit Kümmerwuchs im Ackerland durch die Feldlerche Alauda arvensis in den beiden letzten Dritteln der Brutzeit während vier Brutperioden.

2004

101

29–40

Key words
(von 1994 bis 2006 vergeben)

arable land, conservation, micro-structures, stunted growth, traditional land-use

Kulturland, Ackerland, Artenschutz, Vegetationsstruktur, Bewuchsdichte, Landwirtschaft, Siedlungsdichte

Schlagwort_Vogelart
(wissenschaftlich)

Alauda arvensis

Schlagwort_Vogelart
(deutsch)

Feldlerche

Schwäbische Alp, Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland

deutsch

Abhandlung

Preference of the Sky Lark Alauda arvensis for micro-structures with stunted growth on arable land during four breeding seasons. – In four years habitat preferences of Sky Larks Alauda arvensis during the second and last thirds of the breeding season were studied in two study areas in southwest Germany. Sky Larks showed a preference for arable fields with relatively low vegetation, and within the fields, a preference for patches with such vegetation. Within the fields, places with stunted growth originally caused by traditional cultivation practices or by geological conditions were strongly preferred as compared to random distributions (Fig. 3, Table 2). About four fifths of all centres of Sky Lark territories were associated with such places, and about one third of these places were re-used in subsequent years. Such micro-structures with stunted growth of vegetation were often found in areas where several old, smaller cultivated plots border on each other with their narrow sides (ends), or at shallow micro-depressions along the margins of old, much smaller, cultivated plots within the larger fields, or at depressions of dolines over karst, or at places that were temporarily wet or stony due to the local geology. Conversely, places with stunted growth caused by modern cultivation practices, e.g. edges of actual stands, clay- or grass-covered country-lanes, edges of narrow tarmacked farming roads, and arbitrary places anywhere in the fields were avoided (Fig. 3). Thus, traditional micro-structures in arable land are apparently of great importance for the Sky Lark and other farmland birds. There-fore, such patches with stunted growth should be preserved, or else similar ones should be constructed.