Initial Changes in the Avian Communities of Remnant Eucalypt Woodlands following a Reduction in the Abundance of Noisy Miners, Manorina melanocephala

In: Wildlife research, Volume 24, Issue 6, p. 631

Abstract

It has been postulated that aggressive honeyeaters like the noisy miner,
Manorina melanocephala, may contribute to rural tree
decline by excluding small insectivorous birds from remnant patches of
woodland, thereby reducing the level of predation upon defoliating insects.
Previous studies provide correlational evidence that avian diversity and
abundance is lower in remnant patches of woodland occupied by noisy miners
than in those without noisy miners. Noisy miners were removed from three small
remnant patches of woodland in north-eastern Victoria. The removal of the
majority of noisy miners from a site, or even the removal of only part of a
noisy miner colony from a site, resulted in a major influx of honeyeaters and
other insectivorous birds to these sites in the following three months. Such
major invasions were not observed on matching control sites. At two of the
three removal sites, this led to an increase in both the abundance and
diversity of birds on the site. At the third site, there was an increase in
the diversity, but not the abundance of birds. These experiments are the first
to demonstrate that noisy miners affect avian diversity and abundance by
aggressive exclusion of small birds. They also showed that if domination by
noisy miners is reduced, small, degraded woodland remnants can support
significant populations of some small insectivorous birds and honeyeaters.
Noisy miners did not reinvade the experimental sites during the following 16
months and avian diversity and abundance remained higher at the experimental
sites than at the paired control sites. Long-term monitoring is needed to
determine whether the small invading bird species have a lasting effect upon
insect populations and tree health.