The importance of habitat diversity and plant species richness for hazel grouse occurrence in the mixed mountain forests
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ORIGINAL PAPER
The importance of habitat diversity and plant species richness for hazel grouse occurrence in the mixed mountain forests of the Western Carpathians Marcin Matysek1,2 · Robert Gwiazda2 · Zbigniew Bonczar3 Received: 7 February 2020 / Revised: 1 July 2020 / Accepted: 21 July 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Hazel grouse habitat requirements are relatively well known in coniferous forests, and less known in mixed or deciduous forests. We studied habitat differences between sites occupied by hazel grouse Tetrastes bonasia and control plots in mixed mountain forests of the Western Carpathians in 2009 and 2010. Hazel grouse presence at sites was determined in April and May. The habitat variables (n = 21) and the proportion of tree and shrub species (n = 22) were collected both in sites of hazel grouse presence and control plots within a radius of 100 m. Greater numbers of tree species and greater proportions of deciduous trees (mainly birch Betula sp.) were found in sites where hazel grouse was present. Lower canopy cover was an important variable for hazel grouse occurrence, and sites with hazel grouse had a greater proportion of young trees ( 50% Presence/absence Presence/absence Presence/absence Presence/absence Presence/absence Presence/absence Presence/absence
Decid Conif Tree 120 Tree rich Tree cover Bush rich Bush cover Un rich Un cover Herbs rich
Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species Proportion of this species
Spr Pine Fir Larch Oak Beech Birch Hor Ash Syc Lin Ald Pop Haz Wil Elm Row Vib Haw Wcherry Bcherry Beige
Herbs cover Glades ClearFell FallTree DeadW Ravin Stream Unroad
composition was determined by the proportion of tree and shrub species in the studied site in a circle with a radius of ca. 100 m (Table 1).
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Statistical analyses Statistical differences of habitat factors between sites where hazel grouse was present and control plots were compared using the Mann–Whitney U test. A generalized linear model (GLM) with a binomial distribution was used to assess the importance of environmental variables at sites where hazel grouse was present. To build a multivariate model, it was necessary to reduce the number of variables. ‘Deciduous and coniferous tree proportion’ was not included in the multivariate model of the habitat factors because proportion of tree and shrub species was analyzed in the model of species composition. Principal Component Analysis was used to check collinearity among the environmental variables (Freckleton 2011). Correlated factors were c
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