Dynamic multi-species occupancy models reveal individualistic habitat preferences in a high-altitude grassland bird community

Moist, high-altitude grasslands of eastern South African harbour rich avian diversity and endemism. This area is also threatened by increasingly intensive agriculture and land conversion for energy production. This conflict is particularly evident at Ingula, an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area located within the least conserved high-altitude grasslands and which is also the site of a new Pumped Storage Scheme. The new management seeks to maximise biodiversity through manipulation of the key habitat variables: grass height and grass cover through burning and grazing to make habitat
suitable for birds. However, different species have individual habitat preferences, which further vary through the season. We used a dynamic multi-species occupancy model to examine the seasonal occupancy dynamics of 12 common grassland bird species and their habitat preferences. We estimated monthly occupancy, colonisation and persistence in relation to grass height and grass cover throughout the summer ...

南非东部湿润的高海拔草原孕育了丰富的鸟类多样性与特有物种。该区域同时面临日益集约化的农业活动及能源生产用地转换带来的威胁。这一保护与开发的冲突在因古拉（Ingula）尤为突出：该地是一处重要鸟类与生物多样性区域（Important Bird and Biodiversity Area, IBA），地处保护程度最低的高海拔草原范围内，同时也是新建抽水蓄能电站项目（Pumped Storage Scheme）的选址地。当地新实施的生态管理方案旨在通过火烧与放牧调控草高、草被覆盖度这两项关键生境变量，优化生境以适配鸟类生存，从而最大化区域生物多样性。然而不同鸟类物种具有独特的生境偏好，且此类偏好随季节动态变化。本研究采用动态多物种占用模型（dynamic multi-species occupancy model），分析了12种常见草原鸟类的季节出现率动态及其生境偏好，并在整个夏季逐月估算了与草高、草被覆盖度相关的物种出现率、定植率与存续率……