Data from: Villages and their old farmsteads are hot spots of bird diversity in agricultural landscapes

To counteract the decline of farmland biodiversity in Europe, it is crucial to recognize habitats that are hot spots. Old rural settlements (e.g. villages) may be such important habitats, although these presumably biodiversity-rich habitats have received little attention. Socio-economic changes in central-eastern Europe since 1989 mean that old homesteads and farmsteads are being replaced by new ones. We investigated bird species composition, richness and abundance at three spatial scales (single rural property, village and landscape) in the farmland of Poland to test: (i) their association with age (built before vs. after 1989) and type of property (farmstead vs. homestead), (ii) their relationship with the increasing share of new homesteads at the village scale and (iii) the difference in diversity between the village environment and four other environments (open fields, forest–field ecotones, forests and towns) at the landscape scale. At the single property scale, 15 out of 33 species preferred old farmsteads, while only one species preferred new homesteads. Old properties hosted a higher number of species and individuals than new ones, and farmsteads hosted a higher number of species than homesteads. At the village scale, bird species richness and abundance were markedly negatively associated with the proportion of new homesteads. At the landscape scale, species composition differed between villages and the other environments, and villages had the highest average bird abundance. Synthesis and applications. Rural villages and old farmsteads are important habitats for many farmland birds; thus, the increasing number of new homesteads not associated with farmland production will likely lead to a substantial further decline of farmland bird numbers and biodiversity. To counteract this process, we recommend (i) implementing educational programmes to develop rural residents’ awareness about the importance of farmsteads and homesteads for biodiversity, (ii) including villages and farmsteads and consideration of bird-friendly habitats within these as part of EU conservation policies and (iii) compensating for changes in the structure of rural villages by increasing the amount of similar alternative habitats in the surrounding landscape.为应对欧洲农田生物多样性的衰退，识别作为生物多样性热点的生境至关重要。老旧乡村聚落（例如村落）或许便是这类重要生境，尽管这些本应富含生物多样性的生境鲜少受到关注。1989年以来中东欧的社会经济变革，使得老旧宅地与农场宅地（farmstead）不断被新建宅地取代。本研究在波兰农田区域的三个空间尺度（spatial scale）下，调查了鸟类的物种组成、物种丰富度（species richness）与多度（abundance），以检验以下三项假设：（i）鸟类群落与地产建造年代（1989年前 vs 1989年后）以及地产类型（农场宅地（farmstead） vs 乡村宅地（homestead））的关联；（ii）村落尺度下鸟类群落与新建宅地占比上升的相关性；（iii）景观尺度（landscape scale）下村落生境与其余四种生境（开阔农田、林-田交错带（ecotone）、森林与城镇）的多样性差异。 在单个乡村地产尺度下，33个记录物种中有15种偏好老旧农场宅地，仅1种偏好新建乡村宅地。老旧地产的物种数量与个体数量均高于新建地产，且农场宅地的物种丰富度高于乡村宅地。在村落尺度下，鸟类物种丰富度与多度与新建宅地占比呈显著负相关。在景观尺度下，村落与其他生境的物种组成存在显著差异，且村落的平均鸟类多度最高。 综合与应用：乡村村落与老旧农场宅地是众多农田鸟类的重要栖息生境；因此，与农田生产无关的新建宅地数量持续增加，或会进一步导致农田鸟类种群数量与生物多样性大幅下降。为应对这一趋势，我们提出三项建议：（i）开展科普教育项目，提升乡村居民对农场宅地与乡村宅地生物多样性价值的认知；（ii）将村落、农场宅地及其内部的鸟类友好型生境纳入欧盟（EU）保护政策框架；（iii）通过增加周边景观中同类替代生境的面积，弥补乡村村落结构变化带来的影响。