Bird conservation values of off-reserve forests in lowland Nepal

•We compared bird assemblages among forest tenures in lowland Nepal.•Differently management off-reserve forests support complementary bird assemblages.•Bark-foraging birds were more abundant in protected areas and community forests.•Community forests can be valuable complements to protected areas.

Although protected areas are central to global biodiversity conservation, off-reserve forests are increasingly recognized as potentially important for the long term conservation of biota, particularly in less-developed countries where communities rely directly on resources from natural areas. We assessed the conservation value of differently managed forests for birds in lowland tropical forests of Nepal. In particular, we explored whether their conservation value was additional or complementary to those of formal protected areas. Using data collected from 112 sites in protected areas (n = 31), state managed forests (n = 37) and community managed forests (n = 44), we assessed how bird species richness, abundance, diversity and community composition varied among tenures. Although sites in protected areas had the greatest species diversity, community managed forests supported a complementary assemblage. Of 124 species recorded, only 45% were common to all management tenures. Overall, the distinctiveness and richness of species in sites in forests outside of protected areas contributed substantially to regional avifaunal diversity. These results highlight the potentially critical role of appropriately managed community forests. The maintenance of diverse bird assemblages in forest regions depends on complementary management of forests both outside and inside the established protected areas.