One landscape, many habitats for supporting bird diversity in a mixed-use landscape in east-central Alberta, Canada

To maintain bird abundance and diversity at both the local and landscape levels, it is important to understand how habitat affects avian species. The goal of this research was to determine how diversity of bird communities (i.e., bird abundance, species richness, diversity, evenness, and composition) differs by habitat type (i.e., native grassland, aspen parkland, boreal forest, and agricultural land) in east-central Alberta, Canada. We used acoustic autonomous recording units during the late spring and early summer of 2016 and 2017 to detect birds by habitat types and associated sub-habitats (i.e., wetland and upland). The number of detections per day was higher in wetland than upland sites, but the other biodiversity metrics did not differ. Native grassland sites had higher species richness than agricultural sites and aspen parkland sites, and boreal sites had a higher evenness index than native grassland sites. All habitat types had different species compositions with different indicator species. Our results can help rural municipalities and conservation organizations develop and implement bird conservation programs in mixed-used landscapes.