Ecological engineering with high diversity vegetation patches enhances bird activity and ecosystem services in Philippine rice fields

Horgan, FG; Ramal, AF; Villegas, JM; Almazan, MLP; Bernal, CC; Jamoralin, A; Pasang, JM; Orboc, G; Agreda, V; Arroyo, C

Ecological engineering with high diversity vegetation patches enhances bird activity and ecosystem services in Philippine rice fields

Horgan, FG

Ramal, AF Villegas, JM Almazan, MLP Bernal, CC Jamoralin, A Pasang, JM Orboc, G Agreda, V Arroyo, C

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Regional Environmental Change, 2017, 17 (5), pp. 1355 - 1367
Issue Date:: 2017-06-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Horgan, FG https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3796-667X	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Ramal, AF	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Villegas, JM	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Almazan, MLP	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Bernal, CC	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Jamoralin, A	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Pasang, JM	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Orboc, G	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Agreda, V	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Arroyo, C	en_US
dc.date.issued	2017-06-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Regional Environmental Change, 2017, 17 (5), pp. 1355 - 1367	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1436-3798	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/115221
dc.description.abstract	© 2016, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. This study examines the potential for ecological engineering to enhance the beneficial ecosystem services provided by birds in tropical rice fields. Bird activities were monitored at six sites in the Philippines with high-diversity vegetation patches (HDVPs) established as an ecological engineering approach to restore ecosystem services. Adjacent plots of conventional rice were monitored as controls. Predatory birds (shrikes, Lanius spp., grassbirds, Megalurus palustris, and kingfishers, Halcyon spp.) were more active in the ecological engineering fields where they foraged for arthropods and snails among the rice plants. Pied trillers, Lalage nigra, and yellow vented bulbuls, Pycnonotus goiavier, foraged more in the HDVPs than in rice. These birds mainly responded to the availability of bamboo for perching in the HDVPs, although patch vegetation beneath the bamboo was also used for perching by some species. Aerial hunters such as swallows, Hirundo spp., avoided HDVPs likely because the tall vegetation and bamboo stakes represented an obstacle for their flight. Small changes in the design of HDVPs could avoid any negative effects on foraging by swallows and swifts. The results indicate that ecological engineering of rice paddies can have multiple benefits for farmers and the environment, including improved nutrition for farming communities, the creation of habitat for wildlife, and the enhancement of regulatory ecosystem services provided by insectivorous and snail-eating birds.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Regional Environmental Change	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1007/s10113-016-0984-5	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Ecology	en_US
dc.title	Ecological engineering with high diversity vegetation patches enhances bird activity and ecosystem services in Philippine rice fields	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	5	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	17	en_US
utslib.for	MD Multidisciplinary	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science/School of Life Sciences
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	5	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	17	en_US

Abstract:

© 2016, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. This study examines the potential for ecological engineering to enhance the beneficial ecosystem services provided by birds in tropical rice fields. Bird activities were monitored at six sites in the Philippines with high-diversity vegetation patches (HDVPs) established as an ecological engineering approach to restore ecosystem services. Adjacent plots of conventional rice were monitored as controls. Predatory birds (shrikes, Lanius spp., grassbirds, Megalurus palustris, and kingfishers, Halcyon spp.) were more active in the ecological engineering fields where they foraged for arthropods and snails among the rice plants. Pied trillers, Lalage nigra, and yellow vented bulbuls, Pycnonotus goiavier, foraged more in the HDVPs than in rice. These birds mainly responded to the availability of bamboo for perching in the HDVPs, although patch vegetation beneath the bamboo was also used for perching by some species. Aerial hunters such as swallows, Hirundo spp., avoided HDVPs likely because the tall vegetation and bamboo stakes represented an obstacle for their flight. Small changes in the design of HDVPs could avoid any negative effects on foraging by swallows and swifts. The results indicate that ecological engineering of rice paddies can have multiple benefits for farmers and the environment, including improved nutrition for farming communities, the creation of habitat for wildlife, and the enhancement of regulatory ecosystem services provided by insectivorous and snail-eating birds.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/115221