<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xml><records><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Bird community responses to vegetation heterogeneity following non-direct regeneration of Mediterranean forests after fire</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">ARDEA</style></secondary-title></titles><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2011</style></year></dates><publisher><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">NEDERLANDSE ORNITHOLOGISCHE UNIE</style></publisher><pub-location><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">C/O PAUL STARMANS, OUDE ARNHEMSEWEG 261, 3705 BD ZEIST, NETHERLANDS</style></pub-location><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">99</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">73-84</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Mediterranean forests are highly resilient to fires, showing a rapid recovery after disturbance. However, in some cases direct tree regeneration fails leading to radical changes in landscape composition. In this study, we evaluated the impact of landscape changes on the conservation value of bird species using the new landscape mosaic arising from non-direct regeneration after a fire. We used data from a large fire that occurred in central Catalonia (NE Spain) in 1998. The fire affected about 26,000 ha of a land mosaic mainly covered by Black Pine Pinus nigra forests and farmland dominated by cereal crops. We used line transects to estimate bird abundance and gathered information on dominant vegetation covers and landscape variables. Redundancy analysis (RDA) and generalized linear models were used to explore how the measured environmental variables explain bird species abundance and to analyze how post-fire heterogeneity in vegetation affected the conservation value of the bird community. Factors describing the main patterns in the post-fire landscape explained up to 31.2% of the total variability in bird community composition and described three main groups of bird species sharing similar ecological requirements. Additionally, 71% of the studied species significantly responded to one of the first three vegetation gradients distinguished in the study area. Finally, the conservation value of the bird community significantly decreased in areas dominated by Q. humilis resprouters and significantly increased in shrubland areas. Overall, our results suggest that large fires affecting non-direct regenerating forest types lead to a new and radically different mosaic landscape offering new opportunities to species with unfavourable European conservation status.</style></abstract></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Clavero, Miguel</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Hermoso, Virgilio</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Brotons, Lluís</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Delibes, Miguel</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Natural, human and spatial constraints to expanding populations of otters in the Iberian Peninsula</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Journal of Biogeography</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Andalusia</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">freshwater environments</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">landscape gradients</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Lutra lutra</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">mammals</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Mediterranean streams</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">otter surveys</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">recolonization</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">recovering species</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2010</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2010///</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2010.02377.x</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">37</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2345 - 2357</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Aim To determine the relationships between otter (Lutra lutra) distribution dynamics and environmental and spatial constraints over a 20-year period. Location Andalusia, southern Iberian Peninsula. Methods We synthesized otter distribution data from three otter surveys (1985, 1995 and 2005) using subcatchment areas defined by hydrological barriers. Subcatchments were characterized by two ‘natural’ (climatic and orographic variables) and two ‘human’ (land use and population density) gradients. In addition, we calculated two contagion variables (the distance to previously occupied subcatchments and the percentage of occupied subcatchments within a 50 km buffer) for consecutively surveyed subcatchments. Results Between 1985 and 2005 the percentage of subcatchments with otters present increased from 42% to 72%. Otters tended to be rare or absent from human-dominated areas. Anthropogenic gradients were better predictors of otter distribution than natural ones. Human and natural gradients showed strong covariation, but for any value of the natural gradients otters tended to be present in subcatchments with lower human impacts. Colonization of new subcatchments was found to be strongly related to contagion variables and expansion rates were slower than those estimated in other studies. Newly colonized areas tended to be located in areas with intermediate human influence, while repeated absences occurred mainly in areas where human impact was most severe. Main conclusions Our results suggest that recent otter expansion across Andalusia is a reflection of large-scale improvement in environmental conditions. Otter populations that survived the period of strong and generalized declines appear to be acting as sources from which neighbouring areas are colonized, probably aided by improved water quality and increases in food availability. However, the further expansion of otters into their full original range is likely to be constrained by human-impacted landscapes.</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">12</style></issue><notes><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">The following values have no corresponding Zotero field:&lt;br/&gt;publisher: Blackwell Publishing Ltd</style></notes></record></records></xml>