Landscape Context and Fragmentation Effects on Forest Birds in Southern Ontario

We examined the effects of patch size, local forest cover, and regional forest cover on the numbers and species composition of forest birds detected during fixed-radius point counts in 287 forest patches in four replicate study areas in southern Ontario. Each study area consisted of two subareas differing in regional forest cover. The number of forest-interior species (as classified from the literature) detected per count, after controlling for forest patch size, tended to be higher in subareas with greater regional forest cover, but this effect was much stronger in some study areas than others. In contrast, numbers of edge species and interior-edge generalists were higher in subareas with lower regional forest cover. Within study areas, the number of forest-interior species increased and edge species decreased with both woodlot size and core area (amount of forest >100 m from an edge), but total species diversity at a point was relatively unaffected. Analyses of individual species generally corroborated the patterns, except that some so-called interior-edge generalists were more likely to be detected in large woodlots, while others were more likely in small woodlots. There was a tendency for the loss of forest-interior species with decreasing woodlot size to be greatest in subareas with low regional forest cover. In the context of highly fragmented landscapes such as southern Ontario, where many forest-dependent species have become rare, forest conservation should focus on protecting or restoring larger forest tracts in areas with substantial remaining regional forest cover. Efectos del Contexto del Paisaje y la Fragmentación sobre Aves de Bosque en el Sur de Ontario Resumen. Examinamos el efecto del tamaño de parches y de la cobertura de bosque a escalas local y regional sobre el número y composición de especies de aves de bosque. Las aves fueron detectadas mediante puntos de conteo de radio fijo en 287 parches de bosque, en cuatro áreas de estudio replicadas en el sur de Ontario. Cada área de estudio consistió en dos sub-áreas, las que se diferenciaron en la cantidad de cobertura regional de bosque. Luego de controlar por el área de los parches, el número de especies de interior de bosque (clasificadas según la literatura) detectadas por conteo tendió a ser mayor en sub-áreas con mayor cobertura regional de bosque. Sin embargo, este efecto fue mucho mayor en algunas áreas de estudio que en otras. En contraste, los números de especies de borde y especie