Bird records and habitat covariates databases (11 species; Oaxaca 2016-2018)

Assessing the impact of working landscapes on biodiversity and defining
locally contextualized management guidelines for productive activities are
key for sustainability. Occupancy dynamics provide information about sites
in the landscape that are either avoided or preferred by populations
through the estimation of extinction and colonization probabilities,
respectively. We identified the habitat traits that affected colonization
and extinction probabilities of target birds (forest-dependent, endemic,
or conservation-concern species) within a Neotropical working landscape by
using multi-season occupancy models to point-count data collected through
a participatory monitoring approach, and considering our imperfect
detectability of species in the field. We provided colonization and
extinction scenarios according to local land uses (forestry plots,
urban-cropfield areas, conservation forests) to recommend management
activities that could have a positive impact on bird conservation. Shrub
cover was key for local colonization of most of our focal species.
Increasing values of tree size and tree species richness can enhance
microhabitat complexity, which in turn promotes the presence of arboreal
birds. Selective forestry management, in which only the largest
individuals of a few tree species are extracted, promoted high
colonization rates of birds because the structure of the vegetation
remains relatively unaffected. In contrast, intensive forestry management
plots, in which most trees are removed, resulted detrimental for bird
occupancy. Local management guidelines should pay special attention to
maintaining shrub cover, tree size, and tree species richness above
critical values (>50%, >30 cm, > 7 tree species,
respectively) to promote habitat use by birds in this type of working
landscapes.