The effects of habitat variables and land use on breeding birds in remnant wetland strips in an arid, rural landscape

The Jordan Valley exemplifies the pressure of multiple human actions including intensive livestock grazing and agriculture on bird diversity. The abundances and occurrence of breeding birds were studied along remnant perennial streams which flow into the River Jordan. A patch - landscape approach was used to study the influences of vegetation cover and disturbances at the local and landscape scales. For 21 species, Principal Component Analysis was used to reveal the importance of each spatial scale and relationships with habitat variables were modeled. The abundances and occurrences of 57% of the species were predicted by local habitat variables only, while most others were apparently influenced by a mixture of habitat and landscape factors. Birds with restricted distribution were associated with less degraded wetland habitat strips with heterogeneous vegetation including reed beds and inundated Tamarix thickets. Some species were negatively influenced by intensive grazing and the spread of invasive mesquite Prosopis juliflora. Most species appeared to be tolerant to low levels of grazing within the habitat and current land use in the surrounding landscape. Based on the results, we emphasize the importance of protecting and managing remnant strips or patches of natural and semi-natural wetland habitats in the Jordan Valley.