Effect of cattle silvopastoral systems relative to forests on the diversity, richness, and abundance of birds

This comparison provides a supplementary vote count analysis for the article, “Meta-analysis shows overall benefits of cattle silvopastoral systems for biodiversity in fragmented forest landscapes,” submitted to the journal Ecological Applications. The meta-analysis examines the effect of silvopastoral systems (SPS) relative to treeless pastures and forests on three measures of biodiversity (species richness, abundance, and diversity) across seven taxa (birds, dung beetles, insects other than dung beetles, vertebrates, plants, soil bacteria and fungi, and soil macroinvertebrates). To do this, we calculated standardized effect sizes (log response ratios) that combine species richness, abundance, and diversity values reported in the 45 scientific documents included in our meta-analysis.

We use this ORKG comparison to conduct a simple vote count of SPS effects based on the values originally reported in these documents, focusing on the effect of SPS relative to forests on birds (n=11 contributions, referred to as effect sizes in the meta-analysis). In 8 out of the 11 contributions, there was no significant difference in bird biodiversity between SPS and forests. One contribution reported a negative effect of SPS on bird biodiversity. Three contributions lacked a corresponding comparative statistical analysis, indicated by “NA” in the “outcome” row. Consistent with this vote count, the meta-analysis revealed no significant difference between SPS and forests for this taxon.

Please note that the following documents were included in the meta-analysis, but were not included in this ORKG comparison because they did not meet the platform’s requirements:

“Diversity and structure of bird and mammal communities in the Semiarid Chaco Region: response to agricultural practices and landscape alterations” by Decarre (2015)

“Influencia de sistemas silvopastoriles en la diversidad de aves en la cuenca del río La Vieja, Colombia” by Fajardo et al. 2009

“Relación entre las comunidades de aves y la vegetación en agropaisajes dominados por la ganader'ia en Costa Rica, Nicaragua y Colombia” by Saenz et al. (2007).

“The Contribution of Agroforestry Systems to Bird Conservation in the Andes” by McDermott 2014

“Comparación de la composición y estructura de la avifauna en diferentes sistemas de producción” by Cárdenas Carmona 1998