Bird species richness in artificial plantations and natural forests in a North African agroforestry system: assessment and implications S. Hanane, S. I. Cherkaoui, N. Magri & M. Yassin Agroforestry Systems An International Journal incorporating Agroforestry Forum ISSN 0167-4366 Agroforest Syst DOI 10.1007/s10457-018-0281-z 1 23 Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Springer Nature B.V.. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be self-archived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your article, please use the accepted manuscript version for posting on your own website. You may further deposit the accepted manuscript version in any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months after official publication or later and provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The final publication is available at link.springer.com”. 1 23 Author's personal copy Agroforest Syst https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-018-0281-z (0123456789().,-volV)(0123456789().,-volV) Bird species richness in artificial plantations and natural forests in a North African agroforestry system: assessment and implications S. Hanane . S. I. Cherkaoui . N. Magri . M. Yassin Received: 30 January 2018 / Accepted: 2 August 2018 Ó Springer Nature B.V. 2018 Abstract Watershed tree plantations in Morocco are complexity (PC1) in all seasons, habitat artificiality expanding under the National Watershed Management (PC3) in spring, breeding season, and autumn, and tree Plan and thus their value for native fauna and size (PC2) during winter and autumn. Overall, our agroforestry system dynamics requires investigation. findings stress that, in our study area, artificial Using generalized linear mixed models, we assessed plantations do not have the same ecological value as the relative value of artificial habitats—olive and the original habitat. We therefore advise restoring eucalypt plantations—over four seasonal periods, by native forests rather than reforesting eucalypt species. comparing their avifauna richness to those of natural Research programs should continue in order to assess habitats—Thuya forests. Bird species richness the impact of conservation actions on biodiversity and depended on both habitat type and season. Our results determine how this agroforestry system would change showed that natural Thuya forests supported higher under the increasingly detrimental effects of drought. bird diversity than both olive and eucalypt plantations. Moreover, bird diversity was higher in eucalyptus Keywords Birds Á Tetraclinis articulata Á Olea plantations compared to olive plantations during the europaea Á Eucalyptus sp. Á Seasonality Á Morocco winter period, while the opposite trend was observed in autumn. A principal component analysis also revealed a significant positive effect of shrub layer Introduction Electronic supplementary material The online version of Worldwide, forestry and agricultural strategies aim to this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-018-0281-z) con- increase reforestation and agricultural plantations. The tains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. overall objectives of these actions are to: (1) decrease rates of deforestation; (2) protect water and soil S. Hanane (&) Á N. Magri Á M. Yassin against erosion; (3) conserve biodiversity; (4) improve Forest Research Centre, High Commission for Water, wood production and the standard of living of riparian Forests and Combating Desertification, Avenue Omar Ibn Al Khattab, BP 763, 10050 Rabat-Agdal, Morocco populations; and (5) reduce atmospheric concentra- e-mail: [email protected] tions of carbon dioxide (Potter et al. 2007; Reino et al. 2009). Tree plantations have received special attention S. I. Cherkaoui in the past decade both in Southern Mediterranean Universite´ Moulay Ismail, Ecole Supe´rieure de Technologie de Khe´nifra, BP 170, 54000 Khe´nifra, (e.g. Proenc¸a et al. 2010; Calvin˜o-Cancela et al. 2012) Morocco 123 Author's personal copy Agroforest Syst and South America (e.g. Zurita et al. 2006; Jacoboski Assessment of bird richness is widely conducted by et al. 2016). comparing the number of bird species using a Before- In the Mediterranean Basin, eucalypt (Eucaplyptus After-Control-Intervention (BACI) approach (Bro sp.) (Proenc¸a et al. 2010; Calvin˜o-Cancela 2013) and et al. 2004; de Lucas et al. 2005; Kleijn et al. 2014). olive (Olea europaea) orchards (Mun˜oz-Cobo 1987; This is a powerful tool for addressing wildlife Kristin et al. 1999; Rey 2011) are among the most management problems (Bro et al. 2004) and evaluat- numerous tree plantations in terms of surface area. ing the impact of management activities (Geldmann Eucalypts are generally used for their timber (mainly et al. 2013; Conner et al. 2016). In our study, data on for the pulp industry) while olive trees are used for bird species richness were not available before the olives and oils. Assessment of the biodiversity value of establishment of these plantations. Therefore, we these plantations was conducted in Europe [e.g. assessed bird richness by comparing the number of Portugal: Proenc¸a et al. (2010); Spain: Calvin˜o- bird species between natural and artificial habitats, a Cancela et al. (2012), Calvin˜o-Cancela (2013); useful approach for evaluating the impact of manage- Poland: Myczko et al. (2013)]. However, no such ment activities on bird population (Zurita et al. 2006; assessment has been carried out in Northern Africa Paillet et al. 2010; Sweeney et al. 2010; Calvin˜o- (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt). Cancela 2013; de la Hera et al. 2013). In Morocco, forest degradation is equivalent to Given that (1) several studies in Southern Euro- 30,000 hectares annually, which corresponds to 0.3% Mediterranean countries have found lower bird rich- of the total forest area of the country. The main causes ness in plantations compared to natural forests (Farwig of forest degradation are increased human pressure, et al. 2008; Proenc¸a et al. 2010; Calvin˜o-Cancela soil erosion, and climate change (M’Hirit and Blerot 2013; de la Hera et al. 2013), (2) olive orchards are 1999). The Moroccan government has therefore known to be important for many birds both while undertaken intensive activities aimed at forest reha- wintering (areas of concentrations) (Kristin et al. bilitation, erosion control, and soil and water conser- 1999;Rey1995, 2011) and breeding (nesting support) vation. Forest rehabilitation activities include the (Hanane 2014a), and (3) the Central part of Morocco is establishment of large plantations of fast-growing mostly dry, we hypothesized that natural forests would species, such as eucalypts and pines (Khattabi 1999), contain higher bird diversity than olive and eucalypt and fruit orchards, particularly olive trees (World plantations. Bank 2012). In Morocco, eucalypt plantations cover 202,356 ha (M’Hirit and Blerot 1999) while olive plantations reached one million hectares in 2016 Materials and methods (MAPM 2017). These two species are chosen because both can (1) withstand a dry climate (Lahrouni et al. Study area 2015), (2) stabilize soil, and (3) provide a major source of revenue for the country (production of wood, pulp, This study was conducted in a Central Moroccan olive fruit and oil, and honey). agroforestry system (15,736 ha) located within the Assessing the importance of plantations for biodi- Oued Mellah watershed (33°12039.400N; 7°02088.400). versity is essential for management process, planning The area has a semi-arid climate with average annual and decision making. To date, little is known about the rainfall of 320 mm, most of which falls during the importance of fruit and exotic plantations for biodi- winter rainy season (November–January). Tempera- versity in Morocco. Thus, this study was conducted to ture varies widely, being cooler during winter, with (1) evaluate and compare bird species richness in peaks in summer reaching as high as 42 °C. The natural forests versus olive and eucalypt plantations, altitude ranges from 331 to 663 m a.s.l. (Hanane and and (2) understand whether the use of these habitats is Yassin 2017). seasonally-dependent. Understanding spatiotemporal This agroforestry landscape is mainly composed of patterns in the use of natural and artificial habitats three macrohabitats: natural Thuya forests (5599 ha), provides insight into management strategies to agricultural lands including olive plantations enhance habitat quality for birds. (2182 ha), and eucalypt plantations (187 ha). In natural forests, the tree layer consists mainly of Thuya 123 Author's personal copy Agroforest Syst (Tetraclinis articulata) in association with wild olive conducted [ 50 m from forest edges to account for (Olea europaea oleaster), Lentisk (Pistacia lentiscus) variation in species detectability within the edge and Tizra tree (Rhus pentaphylla) (Hanane and Yassin (Bereczki et al. 2015; Terraube et al. 2016). All point 2017). Olive plantations, located most often in a cereal count surveys were conducted by two personnel platform (ha) dominated by wheat (Triticum turgidum experienced with bird identification and point count and T. aestivum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare), are surveys (I.C. and S.H.). Each point was surveyed for mono-specific stands with olive trees almost uni- 10 min, after a 1 min pause to reduce the impact on formly separated (5–10