Indicator and Monitoring Approach for Recording Species Diversity in Agrarian Landscapes using Breeding Birds

The sample consisted of 65 1-km squares. Fieldwork was carried out by about 20 skilled birdwatchers. Bird populations were monitored using a simplified territory mapping protocol, where each square was surveyed five times during the breeding season. During each visit, the area was covered as evenly as possible. The recommended observing time was the early morning. The given time intervals for the 5 observation runs were as follows: 15.-31.3. 15.-30.4. 1-15.5. 16.-31.5. 1.-15.6. All observations were transferred from the field maps in GIS. The territories for the individual species were determined from the digitalized observations. The breeding bird territories were determined according to the method described in Südbeck et al.