Habitat preferences of the Skylark Alauda arvensis in southern Finland

Abstract

The agricultural environments of forest-dominated northern Europe are different from those in southern Europe. One could expect corresponding differences in the ecology of farmland birds such as the Skylark. We studied the habitat characteristics of the Skylark in an agricultural landscape of 30 km2 in southern Finland. GIS-based methods were applied to analyse the habitat associations and distribution of Skylark territories. We found that landscape factors were associated with Skylark occurrence: The species was always present in sufficiently large patches of farmland (> 11.5 ha). Skylarks avoided forest edges, and the isolation of farmland areas also decreased the probability of Skylark occurrence. Year-round vegetative cover of fields and the amount of open ditches (ditch margins) had a positive effect on Skylark density. Set-aside regimes and buffer zones along ditches would thus be beneficial to northern Skylark populations.