Reduce inter-specific competition for nest sites of songbirds by removing competitor species
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Overall effectiveness category Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)
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Number of studies: 3
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Effectiveness
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Supporting evidence from individual studies
A paired site study of patches of remnant eucalypt woodland in Victoria, Australia (Grey et al. 1997), found a significant increase in bird abundance and species richness after reduction in the numbers of noisy miners Manorina melanocephala in two of three sites. The differences were attributable to an influx of honeyeaters and other small insectivorous birds. In a third site, possibly as the result of the presence of understorey vegetation, there was only a small starting population of noisy miners. The reduction in their numbers influenced the species composition but not bird abundance.
Study and other actions testedA controlled trial in 2001-2 in beech, holly and oak forests on Sicily, Italy (Sara et al. 2005), found that blue tits Parus caeruleus (also Cyanistes caeruleus) occupied a higher proportion of nest boxes in an experimental area where hazel dormice Muscardinus avellanarius were excluded from nest boxes over winter, compared to a control area where dormice were not excluded, but this difference was not significant. The authors argue that the lack of significance may be due to the small sample size (25 nest boxes in each treatment). Dormice were excluded by blocking nest box entrances between November 2001 and March 2002. This study is also discussed in ‘Provide artificial nesting sites’.
Study and other actions testedA before-and-after study of bird species in privately owned remnant eucalypt woodland in New South Wales, Australia (Debus 2008), found a decline in small and medium songbirds after a dense colony of noisy miners Manorina melanocephala became established. The number of bird species increased after a cull of the noisy miners, and improved further as new planting of native trees and shrubs became established. The results are consistent with noisy miners causing a decline in small woodland bird diversity by competitive exclusion, released by culling. The restoration of a shrub layer is likely to have played a part in the maintained increase in the diversity of bird species, but the relative contributions of the cull and planting cannot be quantified. The study was not replicated or controlled, and the cull was unofficial and unsanctioned.
Study and other actions tested
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This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:
Bird ConservationBird Conservation - Published 2013
Bird Synopsis