Sunflower damage and bird diversity data 2014-2015

The “sunflower damage and bird data” provides a summarized dataset on the amount of bird and insect damage to commercial sunflower seed crops in 30 fields in Yolo County, California. Data was collected over 2 years and was spread geographically across the sunflower regions of the county to incorporate fields that were varying distances from remnant natural habitat in the county. Fields had either bare/weedy margins (the linear areas along the edges of fields that are not planted with crops), or had woody vegetation along margins (trellises, riparian corridors, or hedgerows). Sunflower damage was measured by randomly sampling from 10 plants at distances from 0-200m from the field margin and estimating the proportion of all seeds removed by birds or damaged by sunflower head moth. Avian diversity metrics were calculated using data from two site visits in the summer and two in the fall- each visit included a 200m one-sided line transect to count birds utilizing field margin habitat, and a 10- minute point count to count birds utilizing field interiors. Data includes the mean proportion of 10 sampled sunflowers at each distance from the field edge that was damaged by insects or birds. Information on the field margin habitat complexity, the proportion of natural habitat within varying distance bands (50m-800m) from the center of the field margin, and numerous avian diversity and abundance metrics collected in both summer and fall are also included. The exact locations of fields and names of sites are not included to protect farmer privacy. A metadata tab is included in the spreadsheet to provide information about each column of data. Data is presented as an excel file including two tabs- one with the data, and one containing metadata explaining each column. Keywords: agroecology, Crop damage, ecosystem services, farm, Hedgerow, Integrated Pest Management, Pest Control, landscape, ornithology