Avian community responses to restoration efforts in a complex volcanic landscape

Monitoring of restoration efforts has focused primarily on the effects of restoration activities for the vegetation component of ecosystems, but restoration efforts should consider other wildlife groups to fully assess ecosystems recovery. We assessed differences in avian community responses among managed (restoration and reforestation sites), disturbed (abandoned cropfields and volcanic ash deposits), and natural (undisturbed and late-seral forests) habitats within a volcanic landscape with a complex disturbance history. Our results indicate that bird communities vary among managed habitats, as a consequence of both their disturbance history and current management strategy. Data indicate that restoration activities promote more diverse, even, and heterogeneous (both taxonomic and functional) bird communities that resemble those of natural habitats. Although we found that reforestation activities could enhance diversity and evenness of bird communities, planting only tree species as a management strategy might not be sufficient to achieve bird communities similar to those of natural habitats. Thus, we encourage restoration efforts, even in productive ecosystems, to enhance the effectiveness of biodiversity recovery. Based on our results, we highlight the importance of defining particular restoration strategies for each site, as local disturbance histories and site-specific characteristics could produce particular responses in bird communities, despite the presence of rich species pools in adjacent forests. We conclude that understory complexity is an important factor to consider in restoration programs that include wildlife components in their goals.

► Management and disturbance histories of habitats determine their bird communities. ► Ecological restoration promotes diverse, even, and heterogeneous avian communities. ► Restoration efforts in productive ecosystems enhance biodiversity recovery. ► It is crucial to consider understory complexity in bird-related restoration efforts. ► Restoration strategies must be defined from a locally based approach.