Trait-dependent occupancy dynamics of birds in temperate forest landscapes: fine-scale observations in a hierarchical multi-species framework

Silvicultural practices lead to changes in forest composition and structure and may impact species diversity from the overall regional species pool to stand‐level species occurrence. We explored to what extent fine‐scale occupancy patterns in differently managed forest stands are driven by environment and ecological traits in three regions in Germany using a multi‐species hierarchical model. We tested for the possible impact of environmental variables and ecological traits on occupancy dynamics in a joint modelling exercise while taking possible variation in coefficient estimates over years and plots into account. Bird species richness differed across regions and years, and trends in species richness across years were different in the three regions. On the species level, forest management affected occupancy of species in all regions, but only 3–5% of the total assemblage‐level variation in occurrence probability was explained by either forest type and successional stage and