Feature, patch and refuge area: some influences on diversity of bird species

Abstract

Censuses of birds (individuals and species) were made in northern Queensland in woodland habitats that were near special features (streams, swamps, rocky outcrops) and in habitats representative of the features themselves. Those features whose habitat was more varied than the surrounding woodland supported a higher diversity of bird species than did the woodland. This was not, primarily, because the features supported a distinct and discrete avifauna, but rather it seemed because some specific need of a particular species was provided by the feature and that species could now use the area adjacent to the feature or because the feature concentrated certain resources relevant to several species common to the general area. The features studied, therefore, importantly influenced the diversity of bird species in contiguous woodland. Influences of this kind upon local diversity of bird species may be common in Australia and would call in question the value here of census techniques developed for northern temperate avifaunas and environments.