Bird Communities in the Alps Shaped by Farming Intensity and Habitat Diversity
New research shows that natural habitat patches and diverse crop mosaics are key to sustaining bird richness and function in intensively farmed Alpine valleys
A Farming intensification and the biodiversity crisis
Traditional farming once created rich mosaics of fields, hedgerows, meadows, and orchards across Europe’s mountain landscapes, supporting an abundance of birds and other wildlife. But intensification – marked by larger, uniform fields, pesticide use, and the removal of natural features – has transformed these areas into simplified, artificial habitats. A new study led by Matteo Anderle and colleagues, published in the *Journal of Environmental Management*, explores how bird communities in the Italian Alps are directly and indirectly shaped by both farming practices and natural environmental conditions.
Surveying South Tyrol’s farmed landscapes
Researchers conducted bird counts across 64 sites in South Tyrol, covering apple orchards, vineyards, and arable fields between 2019 and 2023. They also mapped surrounding habitats, analysed vegetation structure using LiDAR, and assessed topographic and climatic variables such as elevation and slope. With these data, they applied structural equation models to disentangle the direct and indirect drivers of bird richness, diversity, and the presence of key indicator species such as Eurasian Skylark, Red-backed Shrike, Yellowhammer and Eurasian Wryneck.
Natural habitats boost diversity
The presence of natural and near-natural habitats within cultivated landscapes emerged as the most consistent positive influence on bird communities. Hedgerows, isolated trees, shrub patches, and small woodlands provided crucial nesting and feeding sites, raising both species richness and functional diversity. For example, Yellowhammers and Red-backed Shrikes benefitted strongly from these habitat features. However, a few open-habitat specialists, such as Skylarks, were negatively affected when natural elements fragmented their preferred continuous fields.
Habitat heterogeneity: mixed results
Compositional heterogeneity – the diversity of habitat types within a landscape – was generally positive for birds, supporting richer and more functionally complex communities. Structural heterogeneity, however, often showed negative effects, especially for species preferring open or uniform habitats. The authors suggest that this may reflect the proxy role of vegetation height diversity for nearby forests, which many farmland species actively avoid.
Elevation, slope, and farming intensity
Elevation generally promoted species richness and functional diversity, partly because higher fields tend to be managed less intensively. Slope also played an important role, with steeper fields retaining more natural elements that indirectly supported birds. In contrast, valley-floor orchards and vineyards, while highly productive, were associated with some of the poorest bird communities due to extreme simplification and heavy chemical use.
Conservation and management implications
The study highlights the importance of restoring natural elements within intensively cultivated farmland. Increasing hedgerows, flower strips, buffer zones, and mixed crop systems can significantly improve biodiversity and ecosystem resilience, while also boosting ecosystem services such as natural pest control. The findings also align with new European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) eco-schemes, which encourage practices like agroforestry, extensive orchard management, and reduced pesticide use. The authors stress that effective conservation requires landscape-scale planning that balances the needs of both generalist and specialist farmland birds under intensifying agriculture and climate change.
September 2025
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