We describe the qualitative community structure of birds nesting in and around the village of Mokrice (46°00\u27N, 15°55\u27E) over a period of twenty years (1971–2000). The Mokrice rural area (614 ha) was divided into three areas for this investigation: A-area (village itself), B-area (mainly forest and vineyards), and C-area (mainly meadows, arable land with small water areas and small isolated forests). A total of 74 nesting bird species were registered in all three areas. The studies showed that there was no significant difference in the qualitative structure of bird communities per nesting period (1971–1980, 1981–1990 and 1991–2000; Sorensen’s index of similarity: QS>80), but that there was a significant difference among nesting areas (A-area, B-area and C-area; QS80), ali je bilo razlike prema različitim područjima gniježđenja (A, B i C područje; QS<80)

Z. Dolenec

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ISSN 1330-0520 original scientific paper / izvorni znanstveni radQUALITATIVE STRUCTUREOF THE COMMUNITY OF NESTING BIRDSBETWEEN 1971–2000 IN THE MOKRICERURAL AREA (NW CROATIA)ZDRAVKO DOLENECDepartment of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb,Rooseveltov trg 6, HR–10000 Zagreb, Croatia (e-mail: dolenec@zg.biol.pmf.hr)Dolenec, Z.: Qualitative structure of the community of nesting birds between 1971–2000 inthe Mokrice rural area (NW Croatia). Nat. Croat., Vol. 12, No. 3., 121–130, 2003, Zagreb.We describe the qualitative community structure of birds nesting in and around the village ofMokrice (46°00'N, 15°55'E) over a period of twenty years (1971–2000). The Mokrice rural area (614ha) was divided into three areas for this investigation: A-area (village itself), B-area (mainly forestand vineyards), and C-area (mainly meadows, arable land with small water areas and small iso-lated forests). A total of 74 nesting bird species were registered in all three areas. The studiesshowed that there was no significant difference in the qualitative structure of bird communities pernesting period (1971–1980, 1981–1990 and 1991–2000; Sorensen’s index of similarity: QS>80), butthat there was a significant difference among nesting areas (A-area, B-area and C-area; QS<80)Key words: nesting birds, qualitative structure, Mokrice rural area, NW CroatiaDolenec, Z.: Kvalitativni sastav ptica gnjezdarica na podru~ju sela Mokrice u razdoblju od1971. do 2000. godine (sjeverozapadna Hrvatska). Nat. Croat., Vol. 12, No. 3., 121–130, 2003,Zagreb.U razdoblju od 1971. do 2000. godine pra}en je kvalitativni sastav ptica gnjezdarica u samomselu Mokrice (46°00'N, 15°55'E), ali i {irem podru~ju koje pripada spomenutom selu. Podru~je selaMokrice (614 ha) podijelio sam na tri dijela: A – podru~je (naselje sa stambenim i gospodarskimzgradama, vrtovi, vo}njaci), B – podru~je ({umske i manje vinogradarske povr{ine) i C – podru~je(livade i oranice, manje vodene povr{ine, dio srednjeg toka rijeke Krapine, pojedina~no drve}e imanje izolirane {umske povr{ine). Ukupno su (na sva tri podru~ja) zabilje`ene 74 vrste ptica utridesetgodi{njem razdoblju. Istra`ivanja su pokazala da nije bilo razlika u kvalitativnom sastavuptica gnjezdarica izme|u razdoblja (1971–1980, 1981–1990 i 1991–2000; Sorensenov indeks sli~nosti:QS>80), ali je bilo razlike prema razli~itim podru~jima gnije`|enja (A, B i C podru~je; QS<80).Klju~ne rije~i: ptice gnjezdarice, kvalitativni sastav, selo Mokrice i njegovo {ire podru~je sa {u-mama, poljoprivrednim povr{inama i dr., sjeverozapadna HrvatskaNAT. CROAT. VOL. 12 No 3 121¿130 ZAGREB September 30, 2003Croatian Natural History Museum, Demetrova 1, Zagreb, CroatiaINTRODUCTIONEnvironmental changes are becoming both more numerous and more intensive.The global warming of the atmosphere is between 0.2 and 0.5° C for every 10 years(HOUGHTON et al., 1992). Birds are important indicators of the climatic changes(FURNESS & GREENWOOD, 1993). In the last 50 years, some bird species have movedtheir nesting areas more toward the north (e. g. THOMAS & LENNON, 1999), somehave begun to nest earlier (e. g. CRICK et al., 1997), some return earlier from theirwintering areas (e. g. MORITZ, 1993). All this underlines the need for more intensivestudy of bird populations (using both qualitative and quantitative methods). Thisstudy contributes to the knowledge of the structure of birds nesting in the Mokricerural area between 1971–2000. Very few studies have been published on the qualita-tive structure of birds in this area (e. g. KRONEISL, 1950; RUCNER, 1967; DOLENEC,1993). Most studies on Hrvatsko Zagorje ornithofauna are focused on the nestingcharacteristics of particular species (e. g. DOLENEC, 1994; 1999a).STUDY AREA AND METHODSThe data were gathered in and around the village of Mokrice (46°00' N; 15°55'E), from 1971–2000 (Hrvatsko Zagorje region). The analysis encompasses a periodof 30 years. The Mokrice rural area (614 ha) was divided into three areas:A – area consists of the village itself with all the buildings (houses, byres, ga-rages, etc.), gardens, orchards and trees and bushes at the end of the village.B – area is a little higher southern part of the village (3/4 forests and 1/4 arableland and vineyards). The dominating tree is the Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus). Thebush layer includes Hornbeam and European elder (Sambucus nigra) and someother species.C – area includes the lowest north-western part of the village, which goes as faras the left bank of the Krapina River. It consists of meadows, arable land andsmaller forest areas in the form of islands. The dominating trees are Hornbeam andCommon Oak (Quercus robur). Other three species present in low proportion areCommon maple (Acer campestre), Ash (Fraxinus angustifolia) and Common Elm (Ul-mus minor). The most common bush species are the Black-thorn (Prunus spinosa)and Willow (Salix sp.). Along the Krapina grow the Willow (Salix sp.) and theSticky Alder (Alnus glutinosa).The agriculture is of the mixed farming type (the most common crops are wheat,corn and potatoes). All study areas were visited at least 10 times from mid-Marchtill mid-June (1971–2000).The study was performed early in the morning. The aimwas to gather as much information on the number of nesting bird species as possi-ble. According to OELKE (1980), such data can be used for qualitative analysis ofnesting bird communities. Possible nesting bird species were not taken into analy-sis, only those for which the nesting could be established with certainty; findingnests, eggs in the nest (e.g. Fig. 1, Fig. 2 and Fig. 3) and young birds in the nests(e.g. Fig. 4) enabled the definition of any bird that nested at least in one year dur-122 Dolenec, Z.: Qualitative structure of the community of nesting birds ...Nat. Croat. Vol. 12(3), 2003 123Fig. 1. Eggs of the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) in the village of Mokrice;A-area, 2nd May 1998 (Photo Z. Dolenec)Fig. 2. Eggs of the song thrush (Turdus philomelos) in the Mokrice rural area;B-area, 25th April 1999 (Photo Z. Dolenec)CMYKCMYK124 Dolenec, Z.: Qualitative structure of the community of nesting birds ...Fig. 3. Eggs of the tree pipit (Anthus trivialis) in the Mokrice rural area;B-area (vineyard), 16th May 1999 (Photo Z. Dolenec)Fig. 4. Nestlings of the starling (Sturnus vulgaris) in the Mokrice rural area;C-area 24th May 2000 (Photo Z. Dolenec)CMYKCMYKing this period as a nesting bird. This paper encompasses only the qualitative anal-ysis of nesting birds, and not the quantitative analysis. Therefore, only the numberof species (per area and per period) and not the number of nesting pairs was ana-lysed.The data gathered were analysed with the Sorensen index of similarity (QS):QS = (2c / (a+b)) × 100following the instructions by TOMIAL/ OJ] et al. (1984); where c is the common part ofthe sets, a is the size of the first set and b is the size of the second set as used byother authors (e.g. BIADUN, 1994; VOGRIN, 1998a; 1998b).RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe qualitative analysis of the structure of the community of nesting birds wasdone on the basis of data gathered over a 30-year period (Tab. 1). Similar studieshave also been performed in other European countries (e. g. SMITH et al., 1992;AMAN, 1994; ZOLLINGER, 1996; CHRISTEN, 1997). In the 1971–2000 period, 74 speciesof nesting birds were registered (Tab. 1). 31 species were registered in the A-area, 48in the B-area and 47 in the C-area. I registered a total of 51 bird species that nestedevery year during the 30-year-period and 23 bird species that did not nest everyyear. This group includes former nesting birds (birds that used to nest, but do notnest any more), new nesting birds and occasional nesting birds. The species Ciconiaciconia and Dendrocopos martius nested only in the 1971–1980 period. One pair ofCiconia ciconia nested until 1973 in a willow (Salix sp.) in the Krapina valley. Eightbird species, Ciconia ciconia, Dendrocopos martius, Pernis apivorus, Actitis hypoleucos,Otus scops, Coracias garrulus, Upupa epops and Lanus minor do not nest in the villageof Mokrice any more. They were found nesting in the last 10 years of the study.Two species Coturnix coturnix and Miliaria calandra were again found nesting in the1991–2000 period after the 1971–1980 period. After 1971–1980 period, 5 new nestingbird species were found. In the 1981–1990 period, Phoenicurus ochruros (DOLENEC,1999b) was found nesting. The colonization of the species Phoenicurus ochruros isconnected with the general spreading of the species from mountain to lowland ar-eas during the last two decades of the 20th century. The species Remiz pendulinuswas first found nesting in the Hrvatsko Zagorje region in 1988 (DOLENEC, 1990). Inthe 1991–2000 period, three new nesting bird species were registered: Ardea cinerea(DOLENEC, 1997), Alcedo athis and Delichon urbica. The colonization of the speciesArdea cinerea is probably connected with appearance of small ponds in the old bedof the Krapina. The species Alcedo athis nested only in 1994 and 1995 on the banksof the Krapina. The species Delichon urbica was first registered nesting in the villageof Mokrice in 1998 (in the suburban settlement of Oroslavje, 1 km away, it wasfound nesting several years). In the C-area it has been nesting since 1991 (not a reg-ular nesting bird). The species Otus scops was not found nesting from 1991 to 2000in any research area.Nat. Croat. Vol. 12(3), 2003 125126 Dolenec, Z.: Qualitative structure of the community of nesting birds ...Tab. 1. Qualitative structure of breeding bird communities in the Mokrice rural area(NW Croatia) from 1971–2000. Birds that did not nest every year in at least one of the pe-riods are marked with (+).area periodA B C 1971–1980 1981–1990 1991–2000Ardea cinerea – – + – – (+)Ciconia ciconia – – + (+) – –Anas platyrhynchos – – + + + +Pernis apivorus – + – + (+) –Milvus migrans – – + (+) (+) (+)Accipiter nisus – + – + + +Buteo buteo – + + + + +Falco tinnunculus + + + + + +Perdix perdix – – + (+) + +Coturnix coturnix – – + (+) – (+)Phasianus colchicus – + + + + +Gallinula chloropus – – + + + +Vanellus vanellus – – + + + +Actitis hypoleucos – – + – (+) –Columba palumbus + + + + + +Streptopelia decaocto + – – + + +Streptopelia turtur – + + + + +Cuculus canorus – + + + + +Otus scops – + – (+) (+) –Athene noctua + – – + + +Strix aluco + + – + + +Asio otus – + + + + +Caprimulgus europaeus – + – (+) (+) (+)Alcedo atthis – – + – – (+)Coracias garrulus – + – + (+) –Upupa epops + – – + (+) –Jynx torquilla + + – + + +Picus canus – + – (+) (+) (+)Picus viridis – + + + + +Dendrocopos martius – + – (+) – –Dendrocopos major + + + + + +Dendrocopos minor – + – (+) (+) (+)Alauda arvensis – – + + + +Hirundo rustica + – – + + +Delichon urbica + – – – – (+)Nat. Croat. Vol. 12(3), 2003 127Anthus trivialis – + – + + +Motacilla alba + – – + + +Erithacus rubecula + + + + + +Luscinia megarhynchos – + + + + +Phoenicurus ochruros + – – – + +Phoenicurus phoenicurus – + – + + +Saxicola torquata – – + + + +Turdus merula + + + + + +Turdus philomelos – + + + + +Turdus viscivorus + + – + + +Acrocephalus palustris – – + + + +Acrocephalus arundinaceus – – + + + +Sylvia communis – + + + + +Sylvia atricapilla + + + + + +Phylloscopus collybita – + + + + +Aegithalos caudatus + + + + + +Parus palustris + + + + + +Parus caeruleus + + + + + +Parus major + + + + + +Sitta europaea + + + + + +Certhia brachydactyla – + – + + +Remiz pendulinus – – + – (+) +Oriolus oriolus – + + + + +Lanius collurio + + + + + +Lanius minor + – + + (+) –Garrulus glandarius – + – + + +Pica pica + + + + + +Corvus monedula – + – + + (+)Corvus corone cornix – + + + + +Sturnus vulgaris + + + + + +Passer domesticus + – – + + +Passer montanus + + + + + +Fringilla coelebs + + + + + +Serinus serinus + + + + + +Carduelis chloris + – – (+) + +Carduelis carduelis + + + + + +Coccothraustes coccothraustes – + – (+) (+) (+)Emberiza citrinella – + – + + +Milliaria calandra – – + (+) – (+)Total (number of species) 31 48 47 68 67 66According to some authors, if the QS – value is more than 80, we can talk aboutthe same bird communities (e. g. SU[I], 1988; BIADUN, 1994). Following that crite-rion, there was no significant difference in the qualitative structure of nesting birdsbetween nesting periods (QS > 80, Tab. 2). However, the difference in the qualita-tive structure of birds between several study areas was significant (QS < 80, Tab. 3).Received July 2, 2002128 Dolenec, Z.: Qualitative structure of the community of nesting birds ...Tab. 2. Qualitative similarity of birds nesting in the Mokrice rural area from 1971–2000(according to period)Period number of nestingbirdscommon species Different species index of similarity(QS)1971–1980 68 64 494.811981–1990 67 64 31971–1980 68 61 791.041991–2000 66 61 51981–1990 67 61 691.731991–2000 66 61 5Tab. 3. Qualitative similarity of birds nesting in the Mokrice rural area from 1971–2000(according to three areas)Area number of nestingbirdscommon species different species index of similarity(QS)A 31 22 955.69B 48 22 26A 31 20 1151.28C 47 20 27B 48 30 1863.16C 47 30 17REFERENCESAMAN, F., 1994: Der Brutvogelbestand in Allschwilerwald 1948/49 und 1992/93. Orn. Beob. 91,1–23BIADUN, W., 1994: The breeding avifauna of the parks and cemeteries of Lublin (SE Poland).Acta ornithologica 29 (1), 1–13.CHRISTEN, W., 1997: Veränderung des Brutvogelbestandes einer Jungwaldfläche zwischen 1982und 1996. Orn. Beob. 94, 31–37.CRICK, Q. P., GLUE, D. E. & THOMSON, D. L., 1997: UK birds eggs earlier. Nature 388, 526.DOLENEC, Z., 1990: Gnije`|enje plazice vuge (Remiz pendulinus L.) na podru~ju Hrvatskog za-gorja. Troglodytes 3, 19.DOLENEC, Z., 1993: Kvalitativna struktura zajednica ptica gnijezdarica Medvednice, Ivan{}ice iCesargradske gore. Larus 45–46, 41–48.DOLENEC, Z., 1994: Nest structure and egg-characteristic of the Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) in aregion of Croatia. Vogelwarte 37, 304–305.DOLENEC, Z., 1997: Siva ~aplja (Ardea cinerea L.) nova gnjezdarica Hrvatskog zagorja. Larus 46,128.DOLENEC, Z., 1999a: The laying dates of Starlings Sturnus vulgaris in northwestern Croatia. Or-nis Svecica 9(4), 224–226.DOLENEC, Z., 1999b: The successive territory occupation and the breeding characteristics of theBlack Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) in the lowlands of Hrvatsko Zagorje. Larus 47, 29–35.FURNESS, R. & GREENWOOD, J. J. D., 1993: Birds as Monitors of Environmental Change. Chap-man and Hall, London.HOUGHTON, J. T., CALLANDER, B. A. & VARNEY, S. K., 1992: Climate Change 1992. The Supple-mentary Report to the IPCC Scientific Assessment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.KRONEISL, R., 1950: Prilog poznavanja ornitofaune gorja Savsko-dravskog me|urje~ja u Hrvat-skoj. Larus 3, 305–308.MORITZ, D., 1993: Long-term monitoring of Palearctic-African migrants at Helgoland (GermanBight, North sea). Ann. Sci. Zool. 268, 579–586.OELKE, H., 1980. The bird structure of the European spruce forest biome – as regarded frombreeding bird censuses. In: OELKE, H.: Bird census work and nature conservation, Gottingen,p. 200–209.RUCNER, D., 1967: Prilog poznavanja ekolo{kog zna~enja ornitofaune okolice Klanjca. Larus 19,86–106.SMITH, K. W., BURGES, D. J. & PARKS, R. A., 1992: Breeding bird communities of broadleavedplantation and ancient pasture woodlands of the Naw Forest. Bird Study 39(2), 132–141.SU[I], G., 1988. Struktura zajednica ptica du` visinskog gradijenta Risnjaka i Papuka. Diserta-cija. PMF Sveu~ili{ta u Zagrebu.THOMAS, C. D. & LENNON, J. J., 1999: Birds extend their ranges northwards. Nature 399, 213.TOMIAL/ OJ], L., WESOLOWSKI, T. & WALANKIEWICZ, W., 1984: Breeding bird community of a pri-meval temperate forest (Bialowieza National Park, Poland). Acta Ornithologica 20, 241–310.VOGRIN, M., 1998a: Composition and structure bird communities of wet meadows in NE Slove-nia. Riv. ital., Milano 68 (1), 85–93.VOGRIN, M., 1998b: Bird community in a Beech forest in Lower Savinja Valley (Slovenia).Avocetta 22, 20–26.ZOLLINGER, J. L., 1996: L'avifaune nicheuse des jeunes stades d'une succession secondaire fores-tiere du Plateau suisse. Nos Oiseaux 43, 421–444.Nat. Croat. Vol. 12(3), 2003 129SA@ E TAKKvalitativni sastav ptica gnjezdarica na podru~ju sela Mokriceu razdoblju od 1971. do 2000. godine (sjeverozapadna Hrvatska)Z. DolenecU razdoblju od 30 godina pra}eno je gnije`|enje pti~jih vrsta na dijelu sjevero-zapadne Hrvatske (selo Mokrice s okolnim pripadaju}im {umama, poljoprivrednimpovr{inama i dr.), na 3 razli~ita podru~ja. Najmanji broj vrsta na gnije`|enju zabi-lje`en je u samom naselju (A – podru~je) – 31 vrsta, na B – podru~ju 48 vrsta i na C– podru~ju 47 vrsta. Izme|u pojedinih podru~ja istra`ivanja vidljiva je zna~ajnarazlika u kvalitativnom sastavu ptica gnjezdarica (QS<80). Ma|utim, to isto nijezabilje`eno izme|u pojedinih razdoblja istra`ivanja (QS>80). Na sva tri istra`ivanapodru~ja ukupno su zabilje`ene 74 vrste ptica na gnije`|enju. 51 vrste gnijezdile susvih godina istra`ivanja, a ostale 23 vrste – ili su gnijezdile povremeno, ili suprestale gnijezditi, ili su to nove gnjezdarice.130 Dolenec, Z.: Qualitative structure of the community of nesting birds ...

Kvalitativni sastav ptica gnjezdarica na području sela Mokrice u razdoblju od 1971. do 2000. godine (sjeverozapadna Hrvatska)

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