Changes in bird communities throughout secondary bilberry pine forest succession in south-western Belarus

Abstract

The article tracks the changes in the bird population during secondary succession of cleared bilberry pine forest. The field work was performed in the years 1996-2018 applying the conventional bird count methods. The study revealed that the bird species diversity in the course of succession (6 stages, 1-90 years old) increased from 10 to 45 species, total abundance - from 159.2±1.25 to 687.0±3.80 birds/km², total biomass - from 5.71±0.25 to 31.34±1.10 kg/km². The ornithological diversity included six faunal types. At the initial stages of succession the bird population comprised the European, European-Turkestan and Palearctic types of fauna. At the stage of 80-90 years old the species structure (55.6%) and the total biomass (47.7%) were dominated by the Palearctic types of fauna, and the bird population (48.6%) was dominated by the European types of fauna.