The bird communities in three cemeteries of Bratislava (the Ondrejský cemetery, the Ružinov cemetery and the Slávičie údolie cemetery) were investigated within the period 1992-1995 with the aim to characterise breeding bird communities in this urban type of habitat. A total of 33 breeding bird species was found in the localities, with nine species constantly breeding in each of them. The mean density varied from 3.30 to 14.72 breeding pairs (BP)/ha. Altogether, five species were classified as dominant: Turdus merula, Carduelis chloris, Sylvia atricapilla, Serinus serinus, Streptopelia decaocto. The breeding bird communities follow the geometric model of abundance distribution, indicating harsh environment. The occurrence of breeding birds depended on the location of the cemetery in the town, and on the age, structure and composition of its vegetation. Passer montanus, Passer domesticus and Sturnus vulgaris occupied habitats with old lime trees characterised with high basal area. Fringilla coelebs was associated with high ash trees and Luscinia megarhynchos with dense young trees. Birds most connected with dense conifers included Turdus merula and Carduelis chloris. Areas with medium tree and shrub cover were prefered by Serinus serinus, Sylvia atricapilla, Parus major. Information generated by this study have important implications for management of vegetation in cemeteries.
Variation in nest survival rates is often ascribed to differences in predator communities. Because corvids are the dominant nest predators in many landscapes with fragmented woodland, their absence may have effect on both the overall nest success and its relationship to habitat features. Nest success of Sylvia atricapilla was examined in two habitats in agricultural landscape of SW Slovakia, where corvids were rare/absent. The daily nest survival rate (126 nests) was 0.977 (95% CI: 0.966–0.984) and 0.966 (0.948–0.977) for the egg and nestling stage, respectively, yielding a nest success of 0.52 (0.37–0.64) over a 24-day period. These values are higher than in comparable studies from central Europe, although predation was still the leading cause of nesting failure (more or equal to 71% of 48 failed nests). Correlational evidence suggests link between local absence of corvids and the relatively high nest survival, which was only weakly affected by nest site and habitat characteristics. Nest survival was not detectably higher in forest fragment than in windbreaks and did not increase with distance from forest-field edge or with vegetation concealment. We conclude that both the habitat features and composition of local predator community should be considered when explaining patterns in nest survival rate.
he breeding bird communities in four networks of line corridors were studied during the period 1993-1996 with the aim to characterise the influence of intersections and dead-ends of corridors on the breeding bird distribution. The results of this study show that species richness and number of territories in line-corridors depend on the vegetation volume, width and distance of the section from the nearest intersection or dead-end. Moreover, the abundance of corridor-dependent species is influenced not only by the distance of the section from the nearest intersection or dead-end, but also by the section type. Sections adjacent to intersections support more territories of corridor-dependent species. In our study we recorded increasing number of territories of nightingale, blackcap, whitethroat, lesser whitethroat along with the decreasing distance of sections from dead-ends or intersections. Territories of great tit and icterine warbler were more common in sections adjacent to intersections. Only one species (tree sparrow) was associated with sections adjacent to dead-ends.