The importance of maize fields as a summer and autumn habitat for birds – a spatial and resource utilization analysis with respect to the landscape configuration.

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas Gottschalk
• Subject Area: Ecology of Land Use
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 467966074

The aim of this project is to provide significant data on the importance of maize as a habitat for birds in summer and autumn. Additionally, for the first time the project will analyse the effect of the landscape (especially the percentage covered with maize and of wooded areas) surrounding the maize fields on bird abundance in maize. The innovative approach of the project will be based on a network of volunteers and project staff members, which will record bird data in maize fields on a national scale and by using an automatic radio‐tracking system.Providing food and biomass for energy production for an expanding population, while at the same time maintaining biodiversity, is a global challenge for agriculture. In Germany, policies to accelerate the uptake of renewable energy technologies have supported the cultivation of maize for biogas production. This has led to the fact that 7.6% of the total German land is cultivated with maize. Most studies show that maize fields are of minor importance for biodiversity. However, the results of the few studies investigating the use of maize as a habitat by birds suggest that maize fields might be an important habitat and food resource for birds during summer and autumn. Still, no general conclusion can be drawn, as those studies are based on a low number of sample sites. Furthermore, the influence of the surrounding landscape on the occurrence of bird species in maize and the interactions between maize fields and other habitats have not been taken into consideration. Therefore, in the project the number of bird species and individuals resting and the time birds spend in the maize field will be recorded by a constant effort mist-netting approach between August and October. Changes of the birds’ weight and physical condition will be determined by using the capture-recapture method. In addition, food resource availability for birds in maize fields will be sampled by determining the arthropod biomass.Such information is essential to draw conclusions on the attraction and importance of maize fields as a habitat and stopover site for birds. To obtain data on the exact daily home ranges of birds in the maize fields, as well as on the potential interactions between maize fields and surrounding habitats, a spatial analysis of selected birds’ activity using an automatic radio-telemetry system will be conducted. This analysis will provide detailed information on the temporal and spatial utilization patterns of maize fields by birds. Due to the large global increase of maize cultivation, the results of the project are of high relevance for environmental and socio-economic policies. Results can be used to determine the importance of maize fields as a habitat for birds and hence a major component of biodiversity. Through this research, maize cover thresholds in terms of increasing biodiversity and bird abundance can be quantitatively defined.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants