Land use types influenced avian assemblage structure in a forest–agriculture landscape in Ghana

The conservation of biodiversity within tropical forest regions does not lie only in the maintenance of natural forest areas, but on conservation strategies directed towards agricultural land types within which they are embedded. This study investigated variations in bird assemblages of different functional groups of forest-dependent birds in three agricultural land types, relative to distance from the interior of 34 tropical forest patches of varying sizes. Point counts were used to sample birds at each study site visited. Data from counts were used to estimate species richness, species evenness and Simpson’s diversity of birds. Mean species richness, evenness and diversity were modelled as responses and as a function of agricultural land type, distance from the forest interior and three site-scale vegetation covariates (density of large trees, fruiting trees, patch size) using generalised linear mixed-effect models. Mean observed species richness of birds varied significantly within h...